Trumansburg football trio enters final year

Trumansburg football was 2-3 in the shortened season that took place earlier this year, the second season since the team returned from a six-year hiatus. Now, the Blue Raiders are just over a week away from a full eight-game campaign led by a trio of seniors on offense.

Quarterback Ethan Fulton, wide receiver Aden Alexander and running back Bryce Grove have played together for years and are the core of the Blue Raiders’ exciting attack that scored over 37 points per game last season. This season will be their last chance to reach the postseason before moving on from Trumansburg.

“With us, this trio here in the backfield, it kind of seems like we actually have another chance at one last ride together on the field,” Alexander said. “No one can really stop us.”

Alexander and Fulton played together in elementary school and then convinced Grove to join them in sixth grade. However, there was no varsity football team in Trumansburg when they reached high school. At the time, Trumansburg was in its final year as part of the Tri-Town Titans, a combined team with Romulus and South Seneca. Alexander recalled the switch to eight-man football his sophomore year.

“It really felt like, in a way, that we were the underdogs, not knowing what we’re coming into and what the other teams have been practicing and having this team chemistry that we really hadn’t had,” he said. “I think that we’ve come a long way. In the spring, we really came out strong, and coming into the fall, we’re going to finish up business.”

Fulton added that this is their chance to “write their own story” in a Blue Raiders uniform. In June, Fulton led the Trumansburg baseball team to a storybook ending with a Section IV Championship, and that’s the quarterback’s goal this fall on the gridiron. He stepped into the quarterback role at the end of his sophomore year, and the chemistry in the backfield blossomed quickly after Grove and Alexander had already shared time on the Tri-Town Titans.

“Me and [Alexander] played on the Titans together,” Grove said. “I was his fullback, and he was halfback, and I would always lead block for him. [Fulton] wasn’t even our quarterback two years ago, so it was all new one game. But since all three of us are in the same grade, we’ve played together for so long, and it just clicked. We’ve just been improving ever since. There’s never a time where we went backwards. We’ve always been improving.”

In eight-man football, the offense relies heavily on run plays due to the openness of the field. That requires quick thinking and great communication on the fly, and the Blue Raiders backfield has those qualities on full display.

“We don’t ever have to pause or second-guess any of our decisions,” Alexander said. “We all trust each other. If I need Bryce to run up the middle hard, he’ll do it. If I need Ethan to look at me, he’ll do it. If Ethan needs a block from one of us, we’ll do it. There’s no second-guessing, just brotherhood.”

Grove detailed how much of an impact that chemistry makes during games as a running back.

“I think it’s the difference between a couple of seconds,” he said. “We run lots of options. So, [Fulton] knows that once I’m past his hip, it’s in there, and I’m holding on no matter if someone’s in front of me or not. I have to trust he’s going to pull it out or if he’s not. Aden has to trust Ethan’s going to pitch it.”

Alexander, Grove and Fulton have come a long way since they first played together and now are in a position to make a meaningful postseason run. It’s even more meaningful considering there was no postseason for their junior year.

“In the beginning, when we all started, we didn’t really see all of us being the trio that we are right now,” Alexander said. “Now, just seeing how everyone grew up and actually changed is crazy because time flies. Now that we’re right here, we have to make the best of it and just go with it.”

There is another week of practice and a scrimmage against Spencer-Van Etten/Candor before the team’s first game. Fulton explained that two of the team’s three starting offensive linemen from last season graduated and that the new starters are getting acclimated, but Alexander is confident that this group can overcome any issues. Grove put it best when he explained that the Blue Raiders are improving more significantly than their goal of 1% at every practice.

The first game of the trio’s final season together will be against Elmira-Notre Dame on the road Sept. 11. They’ll look to repeat a win over Elmira-Notre Dame as they did last season, defeating the Crusaders 44-8.