The Cardinals wanted a chance for revenge and they got it.
In 2021, a team loaded with juniors broke out for an undefeated regular season and Section 6 Class D championship for the Randolph football team. No team made the Cardinals look mortal in 2021 until the Far West Regional, when Section 5’s Oakfield-Alabama/Elba knocked them off 28-22, shutting out Randolph in the second half.
So after a repeat in Section 6 — courtesy of a 30-14 win over Franklinville/Ellicottville on Thursday at Highmark Stadium — what better way to erase the only blemish of the last two seasons than a rematch?
Randolph will face Oakfield-Alabama/Elba again on Monday in the Far West Regional set for 6 p.m. at SUNY Brockport. Originally scheduled for Saturday in Batavia, NYSPHSAA moved its Far West Regionals to Monday in anticipation of this weekend’s snowstorm.
At the time of Randolph’s sectional win, its regional opponent was still to be determined, between Oakfield-Alabama/Elba and Alexander, who both entered the Section 5 championship undefeated.
“You know that’s all they’ve talked about for a year and it’s taken us a year to get back to that spot,” Brown said. “I’m sure we’ll have a good week of practice this week. I don’t know who it’ll be, Oakfield or (Alexander), they’re both undefeated over there, so it could be either one but whoever it is we’ll be ready to play.”
This week, the Cardinals received some individual recognition for two seniors. Running back/safety Xander Hind was named as one of 10 nominees for the Connolly Cup, the award presented annually to the best player in Western New York. Ryan Carpenter earned one of the 12 nominations for the Trench Trophy, the top prize for WNY linemen.
Winning every game by an average score of 36.9-11, so far, no team has played Randolph closer than a two-touchdown margin as the Cardinals won both games against F/E by 16 points. The Aggies have been just as dominant, if not more, in Section 5, winning by an average score of 51.4-8.6.
Last week, Randolph came in fourth on the New York State Sports Writers Association ranking in Class D, with Oakfield-Alabama/Elba second.
Randolph (10-0) remains the No. 2 team in The Buffalo News’ Western New York small school poll behind only fellow sectional champion Iroquois (Class B).
Now the Cardinals are in a spot they wanted to reach all season.
“We wanted that game really bad,” running back Xander Hind said. “Last year we were unprepared, none of us really were watching film, we made a bunch of mistakes, super sloppy game, so just game prep as usual and get our revenge on them.”
With almost all of that group back for another run as seniors, success to this point was almost a given in 2022 for Randolph, but losing to the Aggies gave this team a motivator through the offseason.
“That loss last year,” Hind said of the team’s biggest motivation. “That was huge on us, we didn’t expect it, we weren’t prepared for that game. We just never want to have that feeling again, end our high school career on a loss, so we’re going for it all this year.”
