T-burg football aims for sectional title under new coach

The high school football season is almost here. Some teams will get underway with Week 0 action on September 6, while others will kick things off the following week. The 8-man football scene will once again be of great interest with three Tompkins County schools involved. Trumansburg is hoping this is their year to come out on top.

The Blue Raiders were so close to winning their first-ever sectional title last season. They made their first sectional final appearance since 2004 but were routed by Moravia. In the brief history of Section IV 8-man football, the trend has been that a different team is the dominant force each year. This is backed up by the fact that there have been no repeat winners since the inaugural 8-man championship in 2018. There’s strong belief within the program that it’s their turn to steamroll the competition.

“We’ve been pretty positive coming into the last few seasons that we would be fairly dominant, and that’s something I think will continue,” first-year head coach Chad Doolittle said. “Something I’m telling the kids all preseason is that we have small goals leading up to big goals. So right now, we’re focused on a good preseason, a good double session period, and then we’re gonna have a good first game week. We’re gonna have a good first game, and we’re gonna build on that week after week. Yes, we have our sights set very high, but one goal at a time.”

Doolittle takes over the program after coaching the modified team for the last few years. He has been involved in the Trumansburg football community for 15 years, including being the commissioner for the youth program. The fact that he’s worked with pretty much the entire roster since they first started playing the sport makes his transition to head coach that much smoother.

“I think it’s really valuable because I know what they respond to and what they don’t respond to,” Doolittle said. “I feel like you have to connect to your athlete, and I’m able to do that because I kind of know coming in what works for these kids.”

With a new coach usually brings a new identity for a team. Doolittle pointed out two things he wants to build his team around: community and unity. That former was on full display on August 28, as the Blue Raiders took time out of their practice schedule to spend time running drills with the youth program.

“Outward appearance is one thing that’s really important to us,” Doolittle said. “We have 150 kids in Trumansburg football, and our goal is to unite them all, football players looking out for football players. Another thing that we’ve been really emphasizing is togetherness. We’ve had offseason workouts all summer. Not only are the kids working hard, thankfully I’ve got a fit coaching staff and we work out with them. I feel like they think that that’s great because they’ve got not only leadership vocally, but leadership by example, as well. So that’s worked really well.”

The Blue Raiders return most of last year’s roster, including quarterback Nik Nelson. The senior enters his third season as the starting signal caller. With so many teams in the section starting new faces under center, Trumansburg already has the upper hand with Nelson’s experience and talent.

“He definitely hit the ground running,” Doolittle said. “We are definitely introducing some flavor to the playbook, but a lot of the same formation. He’s another coach on the field and he knows exactly what’s going on.”

The biggest loss for the Blue Raiders is undoubtedly Chandler Wright, the school’s all-time leading rusher and two-time All-State selection who is now playing Division III football at Springfield College. That means senior Dikota Hamilton will head the backfield.

“Dikota showed a lot of leadership in the offseason and a lot of leadership in preseason,” Doolittle said. “He’s a dominant force on the wrestling mat and on the football field, and we expect great things out of him. You can never overstate the loss of a kid like Chandler Wright, who is just a great guy to be around and just brought up the level of his entire team. But I feel like there is a void there, and Dikota and a couple of other kids on the team do a great job filling it.” 

No matter what happens at the end of this campaign, Doolittle and his coaching staff have certainly set them up for success on and off the field.

“We want to put our kids in situations where they’re physically not comfortable, because that’s when they get better, and that’s when they can make the decision, ‘Do I push through this discomfort and better myself, or do I have to settle down here and take a play off?’” Doolittle said. “Not only in football [but also] in life, those challengers are gonna present themselves, and we want to train them to do well not only this year, but throughout their lives.”

The Blue Raiders open the season on September 14 at Bolivar-Richburg, a Section V school located two hours southwest from Trumansburg.