The last time Jamestown football coach Tom Langworthy appeared at the Carrier Dome with his team and coaching staff, he came home with the ultimate prize — a New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship.

But that was five years ago.

So when the squad boards the bus this morning in anticipation of its 4 p.m. season opener against Section III’s Baldwinsville on the Syracuse University campus, Langworthy won’t be thinking for a minute about what happened in November 2014.

“That’s history,” he said.

Now he’d like his young team to make some history of its own.

“It’s just fun thinking about playing on that field,” he said, “and showing our talents on that stage.”

Sharing the Ernie Davis Legends Field turf with Jamestown at the annual Kickoff Classic, sponsored by the Syracuse Area Chapter of the National Football Foundation, will be a Baldwinsville team that is coached by a man — Carl Sanfilippo — long on experience and possessing a familiar last name to area football fans. Sanfilippo, the son of former Salamanca and Jamestown coach Joe Sanfilippo, is in his 35th year. A 1972 graduate of Salamanca Central School, Carl Sanfilippo has coached the father of the Bees’ starting quarterback, along with the fathers of five other players on the squad.

“Baldwinsville is a power team, probably not a big surprise if you know about Coach (Joe) Sanfilippo, who coached here,” Langworthy said. “They play a fullback and a tight end, they have a couple big backs and a couple big linemen. It will be a challenge.”

Baldwinsville, which is located northwest of Syracuse, is coming off a 4-5 season in 2018. By comparison, the Red Raiders finished 5-4, and will start just one senior on offense and two on defense today.

“We’re very, very young,” Langworthy said. “We have seven or eight seniors on the entire roster. Our junior class is really strong and we have four sophomores and a freshman. We wouldn’t have brought up the young guys if they weren’t going to play. We’re going to have a young team, but they’re young and talented, which is a great combination.”

Where the Red Raiders figure to be quite strong is in the backfield with the trio of juniors Savon VanSickle and Demari Jones, and sophomore Jaylen Butera.

“Those three are big and powerful,” Langworthy said. “It’s been difficult for teams to tackle them with one guy.”

Freshman Trey Drake will be making his first varsity start at quarterback. Juniors Carter Eganski and Simeon Leeper will be Drake’s top targets.

“I think we have some good receivers, who I know can win one-on-one,” Langworthy said, “and even though Trey’s a freshman, he doesn’t play like one.”

Based on how the Red Raiders performed in their scrimmage, Langworthy is encouraged heading into today’s contest.

“We really hit hard, we had a ton of enthusiasm and we really flew around out there. It was fun to watch,” he said. “And we had some explosive plays, which I was hoping for. Our expectations are high. We feel we have a lot of talent on this team. Even though we’re young, we feel we can win now.”

Will it be today?

“I want to be happy on the ride home,” Langworthy said. ” … Preparation leads to confidence. Our goal is to coach it so well that these guys can’t get it wrong.”

NOTES: Today’s game will be streaming at www.cnystream.com and broadcast on 1240 AM, 101.3 FM and WJTN.com. The station that was listed in Friday’s Post-Journal was incorrect.