Cortland Standard .net

By TANEY BEAUMONT
Staff Writer
Cortland High head football coach Dave Darrow is looking forward to this season, which gets underway when his Purple Tigers take on Watertown in a non-leaguer Friday at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
The second contest in a Dome doubleheader, the game is tentatively set for an 8 p.m. start.
“We’ll be in the mix. I think we’re as good as anybody,” Darrow said in discussing the outlook for the Section 3 Class A American Division this fall. “Fulton and East Syracuse-Minoa should be strong, and Jamesville-DeWitt and Mexico will be better. We want to be in every game with a chance to win, win the league title and get to the (sectional) playoffs.”
Oswego is also in the league but, as a Class AA school playing down in order to rebuild its program the Lakers are ineligible for the league championship as well as sectionals.
CHS returns 17 players, while losing 16 via graduation, from the squad that went 2-4 in the league and 2-6 overall last fall. Five starters on both offense and defense are back.
Joining those veterans this time around are 22 varsity newcomers.
Key losses from 2009 were first-team all-league linebackers Caleb Wright and Camerin Edgar, second-team all-leaguers Dyquann Barlow (wide receiver, 18 receptions for 372 yards and five touchdowns, Shane McCaskill (quarterback, 46-for-115 passing for 742 yards and seven TDs with nine interceptions) and Jake Robillard (punter, 30.19 yards average) and all-league honorable mentions Jordan Prior (running back-cornerback) and Justin Burns (running back-linebacker).

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