YORKTOWN— “Friday Night Lights” is a series looking in on area high school football programs ahead of the 2024 season.
The York High School football team is hoping to bounce back after a tough 2023 season.
Last year, the Falcons closed with a 3-7 record. After losing the first three games, York was able to get in the win column against Jamestown in a tight contest. The team also saw back-to-back wins against New Kent and Bruton. The Falcons then lost in the first round of the playoffs to Grafton in a 45-0 shutout.
“It was an interesting season, in that we went into the season not realizing actually how young and inexperienced we really were. We thought we had the guys, we thought we had guys that through their JV experience were going to be in pretty good shape. What we realized was, our rising seniors had sat behind three really good senior classes back-to-back-to-back. When our seniors walked in, we had only two with starting experience,” explained Falcons head coach Doug Pereria.
Returning to the team are sophomore quarterback Anthony Custis, sophomore running back Evan Muangkhao, senior center Jayden Davis, senior defensive lineman Xavier Ransome, senior defensive lineman Cobey Jones, senior defensive lineman Elijah James, junior outside linebacker Carter Ward, senior inside linebacker Jack Speth, junior inside linebacker Brandon Overton, senior defensive back JaMarcus Tyler, junior defensive back Logan Uphoff, senior defensive back Brady Conner, junior running back/quarterback Seamus Cassidy, sophomore wingback Jordan Hawthorne, junior offensive lineman Dylan Read, junior offensive lineman Ryan Berube, sophomore offensive lineman Jordan Smith, junior outside linebacker Ben Ward, sophomore defensive back J’Shon Teague, and senior defensive back Nazir Sanfiorenzo.
As Coach Pereria enters his 18th season at the helm, he is hoping to make 2024 a winning season.
“Our hopes are that with our experience from last year, both winning and losing, pays off and that these guys have that year under their belt to make themselves the players we need them to be this year. They are all capable, now they have the experience, so now we need the confidence and we need the team to gel, buy into what we’re doing, and if they do that, we’re right back to where we belong,” Pereria said.
As Coach Pereria looked over the 2024 schedule earlier this year, he knew there would be some tough battles.
“Always Lafayette, that’s a given. Smithfield is always athletic. Tabb is our rival, that’s a hard game, no matter what, every year. Poquoson, that’s just an old-school rivalry where you feel like you have to claw the whole game to get through it, and they feel the same way about us,” Pereria said.
With practice underway, Pereria and his coaching staff have been speaking to the players about the importance of pacing.
“We need to get good at what our base stuff is and then build off of that. I have to remind them to not go so crazy with stuff at times and to take it slow. I want them to be more defined on what we know we have to be good at and then we go from there,” Pereria said.
Coming off a difficult season, Pereria is drawing inspiration from “Ted Lasso” to inspire his team.
“The word we’re putting on the back of our shirts this year is ‘believe.’ The guys have to believe that they can do it first. The selling point this year is that we have to play four quarters of football every time, but we have to go into each game believing that we’re the guys, we’re the better team, we’re the good team, and we have to play like it. The bottom line element of it is these guys are athletes, and I want them to play like the athletes they are,” Pereria said.
York will kick off its 2024 season at home against Gloucester High School on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m.
York High School football 2024 schedule:
Sept. 6 — home vs. Gloucester High School
Sept. 12 — away vs. Warhill High School
Sept. 20 — home vs. Tabb High School
Sept. 27 — home vs. Jamestown High School
Oct. 4 — away vs. Smithfield High School
Oct. 11 — away vs. Poquoson High School
Oct. 17 — home vs. New Kent High School
Oct. 24 — away vs. Bruton High School
Nov. 2 — home vs. Lafayette High School
Nov. 8. — away vs. Grafton High School
