At mid-season, the Buffalo Football team faces a daunting 1-5 record. Though negative scores are being brought up by the Buffalo offense, players are still looking forward to scoring and improving as the season progresses.
Even during preseason, the team acknowledged it needed more players. “What we can improve on is having more numbers, we could use more players and that’s one of the biggest things that’s hurting us because when you have a game that requires you to have 11 guys on the field and you have a considerable amount of those players that are playing both ways, on everything… the kids are going to get worn out,” says Coach Steve Barlup.
During this preseason, the team practiced every week thoroughly. They played in 7v7 tournaments to get a feel for the season games. “We got a speed trainer that taught us a lot and made us better… we met with coaches and players on weekdays to work on fundamentals and passing, and running defense some nights…” said quarterback Trevin Arnold.
During the first game on Sat., Aug. 8 the Buffaloes played away at Juniata Valley, resulting in a 7-34 loss. Trevin Arnold’s pass to Ethan Grove was completed for the only Buffalo touchdown.
Game two was held on Aug. 30 at home against Line Mountain, which resulted in another loss with a score of 0-40, This was followed by game three on Sept. 6, which was away at James Buchanan. The Buffalos lost to the Rockets 0-34.
The fourth game of the season was held on Sept. 13. The team faced a home loss, 14-43, against Camp Hill. Zach Bates’s pass to Myles Devlin resulted in the first touchdown, and Dalton Kratzer rushing into the endzone earned another touchdown.
In the closest loss yet against county rival Susquenita, the Buffaloes ended with a 26-29 loss in overtime. Zach Bates rushed into the endzone to get a Buffalo touchdown, then Trevin Arnold threw one pass to Justin Still and another to Landon Cigic for two more touchdowns.
The most recent game, a home game on Sept 27 against Milton Hershey, resulted in the Newport Buffaloes’ first win. With a score of 20-18, every touchdown was scored by Zach Bates by rushing into the endzone.
The Buffaloes are not looking forward to any specific games. “We take one game at a time so we look forward to the rest of the games we have and play one at a time… if we were to have a game to look forward to the most it would be Halifax, and we will have a good week of practice and then just play ball from there,” said running back Dalton Kratzer.
The Buffaloes faced Tri-Valley League opponent Juniata for the Homecoming game on Friday, Oct. 4 resulting in another loss. They still have three more games to finish the season.
