Mustangs to visit rival in football opener

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Quarterback Eddie Wasnock and his Barker/Roy-Hart teammates will host Medina/Lyndonville at 7 p.m. Friday at Middleport in the season opener.

Medina/Lyndonville will face rival Barker/Roy-Hart in a B East Division game at 7 p.m. Friday at Middleport to highlight the opening weekend of the high school football season.

The other local openers will have Albion visiting Lew-Port at 7 p.m. Friday and Holley hosting Nichols of Buffalo at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in non league contests.

Sophomore Izaiah Rhim will handle the quarterbacking duties for Medina/Lyndonville which returns experience at the running back spots in seniors Jake Cotter and Eric Neace and at the wide receiver spots in juniors Jalin Cooper and Mason Moore. Junior Brendan Luthart and sophomore Johnny Salone add depth to the receiver corps as does senior Dustin Joy at running back.

Up front the Mustangs are looking to senior Tyler Howard at center, senior Dawson Joy and junior Ian Joseph at the guards and senior Emmanual Sones, junior Chris Clark and freshman Mario Fidanza working at the tackle spots.

“Roy-Hart has got a very big, strong squad which likes to grind it out,” said Medina Coach Eric Valley. “So defensively we’ve really got to step it up and try to slow their offense down.”

Senior Ed Wasnock looks to open at quarterback for Barker/Roy-Hart which has Malik Smith, Aaron Curry and Eric Fitch at the running back spots, Brandon Lee Woods and Tim Maines at tight end and Jake Bruning at wide receiver.

The front line looks to include Gavyn Samanka at center, Ben Schwab, Trevor Meal and Nick Kubas working at the guards and Matt Steves and Savatore Gioeli at the tackles.

“We’ve got a big time challenge in trying to stop all of those weapons Medina has,” said Coach Bill Bruning. “We’ll have our hands full.”

The Mustangs have won the previous three meetings with Barker/Roy-Hart.

Albion at Lew-Port
Sophomore Bryce Pritchard will open at quarterback for Albion which returns experience at the running back spots in seniors Tom Mattison and Blake Aina and junior Meach Gardner, at tight end in senior Kory Reynolds and at wide receiver in senior Lamar Chambers.

Up front the Purple Eagles will be looking to senior Jared Hollinger, junior Justin Stritenger, sophomores Nate Moore, Ben Restivo and and Kirk Ellison and freshman Brennen Hughes.

Seniors Tony Rotoli and Tanner Ferris along with junior Jaquess Harrison and sophomores Matt Kovaleski and Ugene Harrison look to help bolster the Albion defensive unit.

“We have to play errorless football,” said Coach Gary Parisi. “Lew-Port has a very good football team so we can’t make a lot of errors.”

Albion holds a 7-1 lead over Lew-Port in the all-time series with the Lancers.

Nichols at Holley
New foe Nichols will provide the opening day opposition for Holley which looks to have junior Jeremy Mallett at quarterback.

The Hawks return experience at the running back spots in seniors Zach Day and Collin Papaj and at the receiver spots in juniors Camron Labarge and Ryan Andrews.

Anchoring the line will be juniors Glenn Thrower, Nate Towne and senior Nick Smith.

“We all just have to do our jobs and handle our responsibilities,” said Coach Wil Prince. “Defensively we’ve got to stick to our keys and get at them. Offensively we’ve got to get a push up front and control the line of scrimmage.”