Eric Valley first sounded the alarm after the 2023 Section VI Class C championship game.
Medina was struggling to find an adequate amount of bodies to field a team. And shortly after last season ended, Medina announced it was switching to eight-man football for the 2025 season.
Well, it didn’t last long.
Valley intended to play Section VI teams Frewsburg and Allegany-Limestone, along with a handful of Section V teams. But the Section V teams merged with other schools to play 11-man, killing the idea all together.
So the Mustangs were left scrambling to piece together a schedule in Class C North again. Because the schedule was already filled, Medina had to play against Section V Class B powerhouse Batavia in the regular-season finale rather than their traditional rivalry game with Albion.
The Mustangs now began a quest for their sixth consecutive league championship — fifth in Class C North — and they are preparing to do it with just 21 varsity players on the roster.
“We do have some very good football players, but we just don’t have many,” Valley said. “We’re just going to have to be very conscious of that and how we practice and how we prepare for games and try to stay as healthy as possible with the numbers we do have.”
The old theory is that success attracts participation in high school sports. And few Section VI teams have been more successful than Medina the past five seasons. It has gone 43-6, with three Section VI championship game appearances and two championships.
The Mustangs have been even more impressive in Class C North the past four years. Not only have they gone 22-1 in divisional games, but they have bludgeoned opponents 952-172 in those contests.
But Medina is proof that wins can only help so much when the district’s population is in decline. The district had 609 high school students in 2014, but enrollment plummeted to 412 by 2024, according to state data.
While more numbers create a greater chance at finding better players, that’s not Medina’s concern this year. Having enough players to practice and stay eligible, along with having less margin for error if a key player gets hurt.
“Last year we averaged like 15 kids at practice,” Valley said. “… I haven’t handed out practice pants since before COVID. We haven’t gone live once in practice, we just go thud in everything we do. We don’t want kids really mixing it up too much. They work all week, their payday is they get to hit someone else on Friday night.”
Roster size won’t change the expectations set by the program’s success in recent years, though. Especially since the Mustangs should once again field a high-powered offense that has averaged at least 35 points per game five seasons in a row.
Medina returns quarterback Preston Woodworth, who won the starting job last season as a sophomore despite not playing as a freshman. Woodworth threw for 900 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Woodworth’s arm should be a big factor this season as all his top weapons return, including third-year starter Kolton Fletcher and fourth-year starter Jerrell Nealy. Valley is also expecting big contributions from soccer player Vinny Gray.
But the offense runs through running back Christian Moss, who has recorded back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and emerged as one of Section VI’s top players last season as a junior. Moss re-wrote the school record book while ranking near the top of the section with 1,850 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Moss enters his senior season with 3,212 yards and 42 touchdowns and he gets to run behind an offensive line that features two returning starters — Matthew Jacobs and Frankie Stephens. He’s been the focal point of opposing defenses for two seasons, but few have found an answer as he’s averaged 10 yards per carry and has surpassed 200 yards more times (4) than he’s been held under 100 (3) in 19 varsity games.
“If it gets to be a situation where we’re getting pushed around a little bit, he’s actually a very good receiver,” Valley said. “We can split him out and force defenses to do some different things. He’s a very dynamic athlete and obviously demands some attention from the defensive side of the ball. So we like to stay creative and keep the ball moving around.”
Moss and his teammates also have some extra juice entering the season. Medina has won sectionals since 2021, bowing the last two years to Salamanca.
The Mustangs dropped a heartbreaker in 2023, but were humbled in a 50-7 loss to Salamanca in the semifinals. It was Medina’s most points allowed since 2017.
“We have a good group of guys,” Moss said. “We have that competitiveness. … We wanted to go to the stadium (last year). We want to go back this year. We just have to lock in this year.”