SHEFFIELD — It’s been nearly a year since football was played on Wolverine Mountain.
Sheffield’s 2020 football season began with an 86-0 loss to Keystone. It ended there, too, after the Wolverines decided to cancel the rest of their season.
The loss of the program’s co-op with Abraxas hurt numbers, and the mix of delays and uncertainty brought to the fall sports season by COVID-19 didn’t help, either. Under new leadership, however, the Sheffield football program is back for 2021.
The Wolverine roster may surprise some people. It certainly surprised Mike Barr.
“Taking over in your first year, you don’t know what to expect, and I guess I’m pleasantly surprised by how the kids are coming around to what we’re putting out there,” said Barr, a former Sheffield assistant who now enters his first year as head coach. “There was a lot of concern. I was offered the position at the end of March, went right in and met with the kids and had a good turnout at the school. But again, that’s April.”
Barr received interest from nearly two-dozen kids in the spring. What got his attention, though, was the summer.
Barr held workouts on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, consistently drawing nearly 20 attendants. When fall practice began, he had 27 from Sheffield and another 14 from Abraxas, with the co-op renewed.
“I came home and told my wife that, these kids, there’s a want here,” Barr said. “With all of the questions that were out there, putting 40 kids on a football field, I’ll take that all day.”
Barr previously served as an assistant to the late John Bonavita in the early 2000s, and said that his current roster is comparable to those from that era.
“I don’t know if it was them actually seeing a fall without football at Sheffield or not, but there is a difference,” Barr said. “These kids are wanting to learn, and it’s a great feeling to have. I’ve got a great staff with me this year and we’re going to give it our all, that’s for sure.”
Barr took his Sheffield players to Abraxas to hold practice there for a week, hoping to strengthen team chemistry.
“It’s been a seamless transition,” he said. “The Abraxas kids, they fit right in. There’s something different with this year’s season.”
Barr had high praise for his group of skill players, and called his linemen group one of the biggest he’s seen come out of Sheffield. Having a larger roster than many of the Wolverines’ Class A counterparts, he said, has helped ensure ample live looks in practice.
Quarterback Michael Mihalec, who started Sheffield’s lone game last season, returns to lead the Wolverine offense. The 6-1, 170-pound senior has had a busy offseason.
“This kid has really put in the time and effort,” Barr said. “We get done with our sessions around 8 p.m., and by 8:30 or 9 I’ll have a message from him saying, ‘Hey coach I’m thinking about this,’ or, ‘Hey coach I’ve been watching this.’ He’s emerging as the team leader, which is good. That’s what a quarterback needs to do.”
Cooper Traister will bring what Barr called a “strong, physical presence” to the backfield at fullback, while Dana Campbell and Wyatt Lindsey anchor the linemen. All three are seniors.
“These have been the core guys coming up through,” Barr said. “It seemed to me in the past, coaching at Sheffield, that we had strong kids at one position, and then had to patch the rest. It seems like now we have football-knowledgable kids at every facet. We’re hoping this transitions into a great foundation to rebuild.”
Sheffield will compete in the District 9 Small School North league this season. The Wolverines weren’t given any early-season scheduling favors, as they’ll play the district’s best small school competition over the first month of the season.
Trips to Union/AC Valley and Coudersport will follow a Week 0 home opener against Smethport. Then, Sheffield will host Redbank Valley, the favorite to win the D9 Small School South division.
“I love our league,” Barr said. “(Sheffield’s) teams always seemed to be competitive, and I think that’s been lacking the last few years. People will circle us on the schedule. I want that competitiveness back.”
One of Barr’s main goals in starting to rebuild? Establishing a physicality factor.
“That’s my mission: We’re going to get back to being physical,” he said. “I can remember back in the day, Sheffield may have lost, but the other team knew they were in a football game. It wasn’t a cake walk, so to speak. Win or lose, I’d like to get back to that. Those are the first steps in the rebuild.”
THE RETURNING starters:
Michael Mihalic, senior, 6-1, 170, quarterback/cornerback
Cooper Traister, senior, 5-11, 150, fullback/outside linebacker
Danah Campbell, senior, 5-11, 295, guard/defensive tackle
Wyatt Lindsey, senior, 6-2, 265, guard/defensive tackle
Cyrus Sears, senior, 6-0, 295, tackle/defensive tackle
Matt Lobdell, junior, 5-10, 195, center/middle linebacker
Collin Brown, junior, 5-8, 135, running back/safety
ALSO LETTERING were:
Gage Mott Macalush, junior, 6-1, 150, running back/defensive end
Garrett Waters, junior, 6-1, 175, running back/defensive end
THE PLAYERS, by position:
Offense
Quarterbacks: Mihalic, Malique Outland (jr., 5-10, 150)
Running backs: Traister, Waters, Mott Macalush, Brown, Colby Barr (fr., 5-10, 150), Mason Silvis (jr., 5-10, 150), Alex Marfink (fr., 5-10, 145), Derek Kendrick (fr., 5-11, 160), Donovan Cribbs (so., 5-7, 140), Chase Kyler (so., 5-8, 125)
Receivers/Ends: Lucas McNeal (jr., 6-3, 140), Dylan Hardwick (so., 6-1, 140), Tony Richards (sr., 6-2, 160), AJ Barnes (jr., 5-7, 135), Angel Rodriguez (so., 5-8, 165), Zeke Myers (so., 6-0, 135), Marquis Alston (so., 6-0, 160), Gavin Felman (sr., 6-1, 130)
Guards/Tackles: Lindsey, Sears, Campbell, Owen Cable (jr., 5-8, 160), Lakota Swanson (so., 5-10, 295), Alden Hulings (sr., 6-3, 250), Zyler McQueen (fr., 5-10, 175), Jeremy Mathis (so., 5-11, 175), Ethan Confer (fr., 6-0, 235), Mary Faye Muzzy (sr., 5-5, 140)
Centers: Lobdell, Andrew Kyler (fr., 5-10, 160)
Defense
Ends: Hulings, Alston, Macalush, Richards, Waters
Guards/Tackles: Campbell, Lindsey, Confer, Kyler, Sears, Swanson, McQueen, Mathis, Muzzy
Linebackers: Kendrick, Barr, Lobdell, Marfink, Silvis, Traister, Cribbs, Rodriguez, Barnes
Defensive backs: Outland, Hardwick, McNeal, Fehlman, Brown, Kyler
Kickers: Lobdell, Outland
THE SCHEDULE:
August
28 — Smethport, 1:30 p.m.
September
3 — at Union/AC Valley, 7 p.m.
10 — at Coudersport, 7 p.m.
18 — Redbank Valley, 1:30 p.m.
24 — at Cameron County, 7 p.m.
October
2 — Keystone, 1:30 p.m.
9 — at Port Allegany, 1 p.m.
15 — at Elk County Catholic, 7 p.m.
23 — Otto-Eldred, 1:30 p.m.
