FE Titans Media Day at Highmark Stadium
FE Titans Media Day at Highmark Stadium
Franklinville-Ellicottville Titans Football Coaches and Team Leaders Attend Media Day at Highmark Stadium Ahead Of Section VI Football Championships
A member of the WNY Athletics broadcasting crew interviews F-E Titans players Hunter Smith #36, Beau Bielecki #11, Gian Nuzzo #10 and Ben Brol #56, Koda Curtis #78 and Tyler Gibas #72 at the Section VI Football Media Day held Tuesday morning at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. The 8-2 Titans will play the 9-0 Randolph Cardinals in the Class D Championship game on Thursday, Nov. 10. Kickoff time is 3:00pm
Titans players and coaches boarded busses bound for Orchard Park’s Highmark Stadium Tuesday morning to take part in a media day organized by Section VI athletics for the ten teams that will be vying for five titles Thursday and Friday, Nov. 9-10 at the house that Ralph built.
Of the 70 Western New York high school football programs that began the season in a quest for an elusive championship title, only ten teams now remain in contention.
There are but two programs left standing in each of five ‘classes’, with Class AA schools having the highest student enrollment and Class D programs (which the Titans are part of) including schools with the lowest enrollment numbers.
As the only section in New York State Athletics that gets to play its slate of championship games in an NFL stadium, Western New York’s Section VI Football hosted the event and made available coaches, team captains and other athletes to the local media on Tuesday, Nov 8 for a preview of their championship matchups and for interviews down on the Buffalo Bills’ home field.
In the biggest football game of their young lives, the F-E Titans will strap on the pads for another go at the defending champion of Class D, the Randolph Cardinals, this Thursday, Nov. 10 at 3:00pm. In a rematch of last season’s championship tilt between these same two schools, the undefeated Cardinals (9-0) will take the field as the #1 seed, having spent the entire season as the 2nd-ranked program among all small schools in the Buffalo News Coaches Poll.
The Titans boast an impressive 8-2 record entering Thursday’s big game, and hold down the #8 spot in the News’ Coaches Poll by virtue of a pair of impressive playoff wins, which include a 35-14 victory over Gowanda/Pine Valley in the quarterfinals and an absolute drubbing of Portville, 49-3, in the semi-final game last week.
Titans players are under no illusions as to the size of the task they have ahead of them Thursday afternoon at Highmark, having lost what was easily the most physical game of the season to Randolph in Week 3 by a pair of touchdowns, 28-12. That 16-point margin of victory for the Cardinals was as close as any team has gotten to beating them this season - so far.
“We definitely have to respect (Randolph) and how physical they play,” explained Titans senior quarterback Gian Nuzzo after the win over Portville. “But if we play our best football, like how we played tonight, then I think we have a really good chance of shocking a lot of people,” he continued with a smile.
The Thursday, 3:00pm kickoff time for this game will certainly present challenges for folks who might want to attend, but it is inevitable that Randolph fans will find a way to pack their seating section with cheering people wearing red.
The $10 ticket for the event can be purchased at the school office or at the stadium on the day of.
Go Titans!