Climbing the Mountain - 2021 Football Preview

It has been over 600 days since the Alfred State football team has competed and the 2021 Pioneers are ready to continue their climb up the standings of the Eastern Collegiate Football League (ECFC).

The Pioneers showed vast improvement on both sides of the ball during the 2019 season. The offense averaged eight more points per game and 23 more yards compared to the 2018 season and the defense allowed five less points per game and twenty less yards per game. On the scoreboard, the Pioneers won two of their last three games of the season and overall they won three more games than in 2018. The four victories was the most victories for the program since in the 2013 season. 12 members of the 2019 team earned postseason honors with four of those players returning this year.

Rylie Van Fleet (Maine Endwell) leads the four All-ECFC honorees returning in 2021. He led NCAA DIII and the ECFC with 22 pass break-ups. He also led the team with 51 total tackles (44 solo) and recorded an interception. Van Fleet was also key in special teams as he was honored as the honorable mention return specialist. He was accumulated 196 yards on nine punt return attempts including a 75-yard return for a touchdown vs. Maritime. He was the only player in the conference with a punt return for a score on the season.

Van Fleet is excited to get back on the field after COVID cancelled competition during the 2020-21 school year. "We know we have to take it one week, even one day at a time. We believe that we have the right group of athletes this year that can take us to what we all want to achieve. Everyone is buying in to what our coaches are putting in place and we just have to execute day in and day out. Camp has been very productive and simply a lot of fun thus far. I think we are learning more each day, getting better as a team, and becoming a close football family. Guys are competing, giving good effort, and have the right attitude for the standard that we have here."

Alfred State head coach Scott Linn (3rd season) echoes the excitement of Van Fleet. "Camp has been going great. We have seen outstanding competition at every position on the field. We are seeing improvement every day. My biggest goal right now is to work on getting better each and every day. If we continue to do that from now until November, I expect us to be playing some very meaningful games at the end of the season."

Brock Weist (Harpursville) will also be counted on to anchor the front line of the defensive unit. Weist is coming off a monster 2019 season in which he recorded 44 tackles (25 solo and 16.5 for a loss). He also led the team and the ECFC with nine sacks. Weist also recovered two fumbles and forced another.

Cade Marks (Wellsburg/Elmira) and Shy'rel Broadwater (Syracuse/Cicero North Syracuse) were both 1st team All-ECFC selections and return in 2021. Marks, a 6-7, 240 lb. tight end, was key in the improvement in the run game in 2019. He caught only one pass but teamed with the offensive line to help the Pioneers to the second best (176.1 yards per game) running attack. Broadwater led all the Pioneer receivers with 529 yards and seven scores in just seven games. 

Marks is has seen a growth of culture during camp. "I feel that our hard work and preparation, which actually began here last fall, has definitely impacted this camp beneficially. Returners as well as new faces to the program are all competing as well as bonding in the right ways. The culture that this team has been trying to create is becoming a reality. I am impressed with what has gone on so far and am excited to see the progress that will continue throughout the rest of camp and the season. Looking at our team during camp, I can see that we have the right pieces to be very successful when everything meshes together coherently."

The preseason roster features nearly 100 players from six different states (New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and Maryland). 24 of those players having college playing experience with approximately another 20 players that were in the program during the 2020-21 COVID year. 

"It has been absolutely awesome to get back to a regular pre-season camp this fall," stated Coach Linn. "While I am always looking forward to this time of year, this is the most excited I have ever been for a football season.

Getting back on the field has felt different for Van Fleet "We have to get used to being on the field and working towards our goals everyday again after a year of only a handful of spring practices and for some of the newcomers nothing in almost two years. We all feel like we have something to prove this season as Alfred State football players. We have been waiting almost two years for this opportunity and we are excited to take it. We are going to use that to motivate us for the upcoming season and we can't wait!"

"I am grateful and pumped to get the chance to be back on campus practicing in preparation for upcoming competitions," Marks commented. "Just stepping on the field again that first day of camp with my teammates felt incredible. My brothers and I are chomping at the bit to get this season rolling and to show all the work that we have put in. Nothing feels better than to be back at it playing the sport we love after it was stripped away last year. As football players, we miss playing the game normally as soon as the season ends. So, if anything, this longer break has only made us hungrier to go out there and give it our all. You never know when your last snap on the field could be and that was definitely proven to us this past year."

Coach Linn, Van Fleet, Marks and the rest of the Pioneers get the 2021 season started on September 4th. The schedule starts with four non-conference games in September and then moves on to a six-game ECFC schedule starting the second week of October.

Three of the Pioneers four non-conference games will be the first meeting between the two institutions. The Pioneers will host Utica (9/4) and the University of New England (9/18) and travel to Defiance (9/25). The final non-conference game is 9/11 vs. Rochester and it will be the eighth meeting between the Pioneers and Yellowjackets.

Alfred State was predicted to finish 4th in the preseason ECFC coaches poll. The ECFC portion of the season kicks off of October 9th vs. Maritime. Homecoming 2021 will feature a battle with Anna Maria, the 2019 contest between the schools went down to the final minutes of the game. A pair of road trips to Gallaudet (10/23) and Keystone (10/30) follows (The trip to ECFC newcomer Keystone will mark the first conference battle between the Pioneers and Giants). The blue & gold play their final home game of the season on November 2nd when they host Castleton and then wrap up the regular season at defending ECFC champion Dean College on November 9th. 

The ECFC champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA DIII Championships - A goal for the Pioneers as they Climb the Mountain!