The County Renegades football team of the Greater New England Youth Football League (GNYFL) is gearing up for their inaugural season, and have announced their revised schedule.
The team has been in preseason training camp at their practice facility at The Airport Field in Houlton for the past two weeks. They begin play with an out-of-league controlled scrimmage with the Houlton Shiretowners at the Renegades’ home field (The McIntyre Field in Hodgdon at the south end of the McIntyre Road) on Monday, Aug. 26 at 5 p.m.
From there, they play the two-time defending GNYFL Champion Madawaska Mustangs at home under live game conditions in a preseason tilt on Saturday, Aug. 31 at noon. The regular season kicks off on Sept. 7 with the team’s longest road trip of the year to Medomak Valley High School for a 1 p.m. contest.
The Renegades are on the road again at 2 p.m. in Caribou on Sept. 14, then play three straight home games at McIntyre Field versus Madawaska and Central Maine on Sept. 21, and Caribou on Oct. 5. All games begin at 2 p.m.
The team finishes on the road at Madawaska on Oct. 12 and at Milo on Oct. 19. If they make the playoffs, that playoff game will be at the higher seeded team’s field Oct.26, and the League Championship game is Nov. 3 under the lights at Husson College in Bangor.
“We’re a pretty big team, so we are hoping to be able to play a little ball control,” said Head Coach Steve Martin. “As a brand new team, we do need to be conservative, especially until we get all the bugs worked out of the offense.”
The team has several boys in the 300-pound range, and a couple of reliable running backs, so it will be a run-oriented attack, according to Martin.
“It’s not that we can’t throw,” said Chris Bond, offensive coordinator , “we just want to make sure that we set up the pass by making the opponent respect our ground game first.”
The team has a current roster of 22 athletes from Patten to Hartland, N.B.
“It is very interesting to see these kids coming together,” Martin added. “A lot of these guys had never even heard of one another until our minicamps started back in April. But, they are making themselves into a team before our eyes.”
The Renegades play under the auspices of Southern Aroostook-Woodstock Youth Football, a 501 c.3 corporation, which encompasses all high school-aged players in southern Aroostook County and Carleton County, New Brunswick who are not eligible to play for Houlton High School. The team is still $1,000 short of their needed expenses for this first year and welcomes donations or sponsorships.
For more information, call coach Martin at 532-3635 or e-mail mepatriot@juno.com.
Renegades Roster
7 Dakota Reinhardt 10 5’11” 175 Katahdin QB/DB
11 Devon Targonski 11 6’1” 160 Hodgdon QB/DB
21 Joseph Alden 11 5’7” 130 Hodgdon RB
2 Ethan Fink 11 5’7” 135 Hodgdon CB
32 Shiloh Bond 11 5’7” 130 Hodgdon WR/DB
34 Jed Grant 9 5’10” 175 GHCA RB/LB
35 Zeke Lundbohm 12 5’10” 135 Hartland DB
45 Joe Silliboy 11 5’7” 185 Hodgdon FB/LB
46 Aaron Holmes 12 5’11” 172 GHCA RB/LB
52 Sam Geary 9 5’3” 135 GHCA LB/DB
55 Tim Glatter 9 5’11” 155 Homeschool FB/OG
66 Colby Seely-Jones 12 6’4” 345 Woodstock DT/OT
68 Brandon Suitter 11 5’11” 185 Hodgdon C
70 Collin McMahon 12 5’9” 165 Hartland OL
73 Tyler Jones 10 6’2” 195 Hartland OL
77 Cody Brownlee 11 6’0” 180 Katahdin C/LB
78 Lester Rideout 9 5’11” 320 Hartland DT/OT
82 Jamin Cheney 12 6’2” 185 Woodstock TE/LB
88 Gavin Russell 11 6’2” 165 Katahdin WR/S
92 Tristan Larson 11 6’3” 245 Hodgdon TE/DT
98 Jared Smith 11 6’5” 292 Hodgdon DT/OT
99 Andrew Bejczi 11 6’3” 310 Hodgdon DT/OT
