Star players look to make their mark on Salamanca-Portville rivalry

By SPENCER BATES - Olean Times Herald

The Salamanca and Portville/Cuba-Rushford football teams are far from unfamiliar with each other.

But on Thursday, the new chapter that will be written in the history books of this rivalry has a slightly different emphasis on it. Not only will the battle resume in the Section 6 Class C Final, but it will do so under the lights of the Buffalo Bills’ Highmark Stadium.

And while each team enters the game on the back of two different paths, something that the two teams share is a new generation of leadership.

Salamanca quarterback Maddox Isaac and wide receiver Cory Holleran have been to this stage in the season before. Last season, as juniors, they were big parts of the Warriors’ first Section 6 champion in over two decades.

Now, they are at the forefront of an undefeated team who will look to put Section 6 play behind them on Thursday.

“Last year when me and Jaxson (Ross) split reps, it felt good knowing that I had someone that would have my back when I was having an off game,” Isaac said, reflecting on sitting for a majority of the Section 6 final last season. “I knew he would come in and step up. So it was good. We were both each other’s biggest supporters, so it was huge.”

As for the confidence he is entering Thursday with, now with the reigns solely in his hands:

“It’s a lot,” Isaac said. “There’s not much to say, but just a ton of butterflies.”

Holleran shares in the excitement of his quarterback. After having just one catch for 10 yards in the final last year, he is ready to take his spot at center stage, but has also managed to go about preparing for the game in a more calm demeanor, using his experience to his advantage.

“Last year I was pumped, this year I’m pumped too, but I feel more business-like and being glad that I’m in the moment,” Holleran said. “This year, we’re coming in focussed again, we got a tough matchup against Portville, they’re a tough team and I think we’re all really excited.”

Salamanca has the edge in experience playing at the crown jewel of Section 6 football. But while the Warriors’ players may have gotten a glimpse at what it took last year, both teams share a new regime of leaders looking to make a statement.

For Portville/C-R, another such player thrust into a new leadership position this year has been star running back Maxx DeYoe. Sitting behind the Panthers’ effective backfield duo of Kaedon Holcomb and Ethan Coleman last year, DeYoe became a sponge for knowledge as he learned what it took to reach the level he needed to operate at to be successful in his own right.

“Since I was little, I came up playing with Kaedon Holcomb, Ethan Coleman came in later, he wrestled, I wrestled with him, I’ve always looked up to those guys,” DeYoe said. “Kaedon Holcomb has always been there to help me. I’ve always been (the) backup, me and him always go at it in practice.”

But now DeYoe, who has amassed 1,393 yards on 200 carries this year — nearly five times as many carries as the next PCR rusher — will have his chance on the biggest stage of his high school career thus far.

As a newfound leader on the team, he praised the mentality PCR’s new players, specifically his fresh linemen, approach the season with.

“Our entire line graduated,” DeYoe said. “I knew someone had to step up and luckily they all did. They’ve done a fantastic job, I couldn’t do it without them.”

But ahead of Thursday’s game, slated to kick off at 6 p.m., there is a bit of a chip on the shoulder of DeYoe who, over the course of his entire football career has yet to best a Salamanca squad. He will look to lead his team toward that goal, but knows it won’t come easy.

“I think it will be a tough game,” DeYoe said. “Definitely a rivalry. I’ve never beat Salamanca, all the way up through modified so to lose by five to them in Week 2, I think it will be a tough game for both teams.”

Isaac shares DeYoe’s latter sentiment. While the two teams have a great understanding of each other and their tendencies, that adds another layer of difficulty in these matchups.

“It makes it a lot harder,” Isaac said. “They know our schemes, we know their scheme, so it’s just going to come down to who wants it more and the little things.”

According to Holleran, there’s no place like Highmark Stadium to hash it all out.

“They’re a great team,” Holleran said. “That was the closest game of our season, we know them really well, they know us really well. You can’t get a better atmosphere to play them in and Thursday’s going to be a great game … it’s going to be a dog fight.”