BARKER — When Barker/Roy-Hart was going through practice Monday, players and coaches paused for just a second as the rain stopped and a rainbow stretched across the horizon.
But after that brief time was up, the rainbow once again was replaced by rain and practice resumed, for business had to continue. There was not much time to waste for a Barker/Roy-Hart team which has big goals this season.
After coming up one game short of making it to the Section VI Class C championship game and a trip to Highmark Stadium, the Bulls are motivated this year. The team wants to make the program’s first sectional title game since Roy-Hart made it in 1985.
“We were really close to going to the stadium,” Barker/Roy-Hart head coach Bill Bruning said. “If we just played a little bit better that day, I think we would have had an opportunity to play for the C title. But I thought that we were super close to getting to the stadium last year. … I think the kids that are coming back always want to do better than the kids that left. So that’s always the expectation.”
Last season, Barker/Roy-Hart went 8-2 overall, making it all the way to the Section VI Class C semifinals where it lost to Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton. The team entered the postseason after capturing the Class C Division North crown.
Through the first week of camp, Bruning has gained a tremendous amount of excitement for the season because of the work his players have been putting in. He is enthused by seeing the young players step up and fill the spots left behind by the 13 graduated seniors.
“(We are) just trying to execute the offense, execute the defense, just doing the things that we have to do on special teams to be successful,” Bruning said. “And just trying to improve 1% every day.”
One of those young players who will be heavily relied upon this season is junior quarterback Max Townsend. As a sophomore, Townsend sat behind Tysen McCaa and learned the system while also playing primarily on defense. Last year, Townsend had two carries for five yards and 44 tackles, one interception, one fumble recovery and six pass deflections.
Throughout camp, Townsend has been in Bruning’s words, a ‘step ahead of everybody.’ Heading into this off-season, Bruning and his staff knew that Townsend would be the starting quarterback this year after he got the second-team reps in practice last season.
“He (McCaa) taught me a lot,” Townsend said. “He taught me everything I know today, like footwork, reading the field, all the plays.”
Heading into this season, Bruning is looking for Townsend to have a breakout season alongside seniors Carter Desarkissian, Caden Rogers and Dylan Ames. If Townsend does have a big season, it will be because he did not try to force the issue when he does not have to and he followed the game plan every week.
Another one of the team’s key players this season will be Desarkissian who is heading into this season as the number one running back. Last season, he had 76 carries for 576 yards and six touchdowns while adding four receptions for 27 yards. Defensively, he had a big season collecting 46 total tackles, two tackles for loss, four pass deflections, three interceptions for 31 yards, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and one defensive touchdown.
“(We need to) play as a team, being not one as a group will destroy us,” Desarkissian said about what his team needs to do to have a big season. “So play as a team will be the big difference maker.”
The first test for Desarkissian and his younger teammates will be in the form of the Newfane Panthers at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4. Last year, the teams also opened up against one another and Newfane won 34-15. But this year under the lights at Barker, the Bulls are seeking a different result.
Regardless of the result though, the Bulls are looking to copy the way they responded to the loss when the team went on an eight-game winning streak after that. During the team’s eight-game winning streak, Barker/Roy-Hart outscored its opponents 319-189.
After losing to Newfane, the Bulls returned to the film room trying to fix the things that went wrong in the loss. The team cleaned up the missed tackles, and missed opportunities on special teams and it is what made the difference for the team.
The eight game winning streak helped Barker/Roy-Hart finish above .500 for the first time since 2012 when the team went 6-3.
“We made a bunch of mistakes in our first game and just looking at the film, making the corrections. We did it perfectly and we played as a team. We didn’t really play as a team against Newfane.”