Same league, new look

This season looks to be like its going to be a good one as far as the Northeastern Football Alliance, as the league grew from eight teams to now twelve teams for 2011.

Each year you always have a few teams coming and going trying to find the right league. I always thought staying in best competitive league and trying to improve was always the best way to go. So once again we are heading into our fifth season in the NFA, but this year we know we will have that target on our back from day one from winning the league last year.

This year is different from most though. The league as a whole has been trying to improve and grow, with reason, to make it better for all teams. So this season we have split up into an East and West divisions with six teams in each division.

In the east (where we will be playing) it will be Troy, Glove-Cities Colonials (Johnstown), New York Stallions (Oneonta), Utica Yard Dogs, Watertown Revolution, and the North Country Warriors (Potsdam). Three of the five are new to the league this year and should add some fun to the east.

In the west it will be the Buffalo Gladiators, Lyndonville Tigers, Jamestown Chiefs, Finger Lakes Impact (Waterloo), Cortland Bulldogs, and the Southern Tier Diesel (Olean).

As a competitor and player I wish we got a chance to play the Buffalo Gladiators as they were the only team to beat us all of last year! We also had a REAL good game vs. Lyndonville in the semi-finals last year that all the fans enjoyed. We still could see either in the championship game though as the winner of the east playoffs will cross over to play the winner of the west playoffs for the title.

But there will be some great games again this season with at least two showdowns with the Glove-Cities Colonials who had a good season last year in the NAFL. Also the New York Stallions and Utica Yard Dogs will be tough teams. I think Watertown will start strong as always and then fade like they have the past few years and the North Country Warriors are brand new I think they will struggle in there first year, but who knows its semi-pro that’s why its so great!

Hopefully it will be another successful year and a great time. Hope to see many of you out and catch a game at Schenectady High School this year.