Season Kicks Off Tonight
Dunkirk Travels To Lake Shore As 2022 Campaign Gets Underway
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ANGOLA -- High school football kicks off in Western New York tonight, as the Dunkirk Marauders travel to Angola to take on the Lake Shore Eagles in a non-league football contest at 6:30 p.m. at Lake Shore High School.
The contest is one of two games in Section VI on opening night of the season, while the rest of WNY has an extra day or two of practice before their seasons begin.
"We should draw a nice crowd, that part is exciting. The flip-side is, I think we are mentally prepared, but I just don't know where we'll be physically yet," said Dunkirk head coach Mark Benton.
Dunkirk will dress 23 players for the opening game, with seven more expected to be eligible to play in Week 2. However, of those 23 players, senior running back Quanteer Neallard is the only returning starter on offense playing the same position as last year when he ran for more than 1,000 yards.
"Quanteer Neallard is going to be the guy we hitch our wagon to," said Benton going into the season-opener.
Many of the new faces on the Dunkirk roster are first-year varsity players who have moved up from the junior varsity program.
"Starting the job last year, we had to build the program. This is the first year most of those guys come up to the varsity level," said Benton. "To get the program back to where it was a few years ago, it isn't going to happen overnight."
A year ago -- after a brief COVID pause -- the Marauders picked up their first win of the season against Lake Shore 20-6.
Dunkirk jumped ahead to a 6-0 lead after the first quarter, a 14-0 lead at halftime, and a 20-0 advantage in the second half against Lake Shore before the Eagles' only score of the game.
That 20-6 victory ended up being Dunkirk's only win of the regular season, but the Marauders won two games in the postseason Class B Chuck Funke Bowl consolation tournament. Lake Shore also finished the 2021 regular season with one victory, a 28-22 win over East Aurora.
This year will be a far different narrative, regardless of the result. All three Dunkirk touchdowns in last season's game were scored by players who no longer play for the Marauders. The first touchdown was a Ted Roberts carry, the second was a reception by Roberts from quarterback Javier DeJesus, and the third was a carry by DeJesus. Roberts later transferred to St. Francis and DeJesus graduated.
Dunkirk also lost many other players on both sides of the ball, but Neallard remains a constant for the Marauders' offense. Although he did not find the end zone in last season's contest against Lake Shore, Neallard led Dunkirk with 22 carries for 156 yards.
"Neallard played well for us (against Lake Shore) last year, especially on the opening series. He had a few big runs for us," said Benton.
Dunkirk's new starting quarterback this year is Noah Sikes, who comes into this season with a bit of experience from a year ago after filling in for DeJesus at times. Sikes started two games for Dunkirk last season. Now, it's his turn to be the main man under center.
According to Benton, Lake Shore figures to bring back a more experienced team this season after playing with a young roster a year ago.
"They've got a lot of their kids back. They have a solid roster, and they probably have more experience than we do this year," said Benton. "Their quarterback can both run and throw, so we'll have to plan for that. ... It will be a good game. I expect it to be a tough non-leaguer for us."
While Dunkirk is a much younger team this year, Benton does not know yet whether that necessarily puts the Marauders at a disadvantage.
"This is one of the youngest teams I've ever started a year with. That will be both exciting and interesting. I really don't know what to expect going in," said Benton. "Things have looked good so far. ... Now that the games are for real, I'll be interested to see how well we can perform."