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Sep. 5—CUMBERLAND — Allegany failed to meet the lofty expectations set before last season. It hopes to exceed them this time around.
The Campers sported a 23-player season class in 2023 and had their sights on a region championship and a trip to Annapolis. Instead, Allegany saw its season end with a disappointing 35-14 defeat to county rival Mountain Ridge in the Class 1A West Region I co-championship game to finish 7-4.
Those senior leaders are now gone, and an inexperienced roster with just eight fourth-years and three players who saw game experience take the stage.
Conventional wisdom might say that Allegany is primed for a rebuild, but the Campers aren’t looking at it that way.
“Our main goal this year is to get out of the region to see where we stack up with the rest of 1A,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “That’s what let Mountain Ridge the last couple years build and get momentum.
“If we can do this with a young group. We lost a lot of seniors, it may not be as talented, but if they get out of the region, then you’re building for next year.”
It was still a successful year for Allegany in 2023 by many metrics, as the West Siders strung together a second straight 7-4 year. Add in an 8-3 finish in 2021, the Campers are 22-11 since the COVID-shortened ’21 campaign.
However, Allegany lacked big-game wins, losing to eventual Class 3A state champion Oakdale, 41-24, Class 1A title-winner Fort Hill, 47-21, and Class 1A runner-up Mountain Ridge, 16-13 and 35-14.
Allegany took care of the games it was supposed to routing Albert Gallatin, 35-0, St. James, 42-7, Keyser, 56-13, Northern, 57-21, and Smithsburg, 50-14. It edged Hollidaysburg, 30-23, in its opener.
“There are times when you have talent and the pieces don’t click, and I kind of felt like that’s what happened,” Hansel said. “With Oakdale, Mountain Ridge,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/football-preview-2024-inexperienced-allegany-131600898.html
Author : Cumberland Times News, Md.
Publish date : 2024-09-05 13:16:00
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