ON TAP TODAY: ANNUAL WAVERLY, TIOGA FOOTBALL DOUBLEHEADER HIGHLIGHTS SATURDAY'S ACTION (2025-08-30)

Valley Sports Report
THE VALLEY — Football in New York State is off to an unusually early start, and Waverly and Tioga both took advantage of the earliest possible play date with their annual doubleheader at Waverly's Memorial Stadium.

"Waverly Game Day" activities begin at 10 a.m. on Broad Street. There will be food, music, and the shops on Broad Street (and near Broad Street) will be open.

FOOTBALL
Tioga vs. Windsor, 3 p.m. @ Memorial Stadium, Waverly: The Tigers open the 2025 season against Windsor, hoping for a repeat of last year's 31-20 win at Haggerty Field in Week 2.

"We played (Windsor) last year, and it ended up being a really good game," said Tioga coach Nick Aiello.

"It was one of our better games of the season, and we were lucky enough to come out on top," noted Aiello. "They ended up having a really good year.

"They graduated a lot, but they have some really good players back," he added.

Both teams have had less than two weeks of practice to get ready for the Week Double-Zero game.

"Honestly, I don't know much about them," said Aiello. "I'll tell you, trying to get ready for a game in two weeks is tough because you're trying to get over that preseason soreness, trying to install, and trying to just get enough in to play a game.

"I can foresee us have some first-game issues, but I think our experience will play out," added Aiello. "We're going to be ready to go."

WHEN WINDSOR HAS THE BALL
"What will we see from Windsor's offense? That's the million dollar question right now," said Aiello.

"I know they have a couple good linemen back, so we're expecting some power stuff, some downhill running.

"At the end of last year, they were running a lot of different stuff, but they graduated a really good quarterback," noted Aiello.

"We're just preparing our guys for everything, power stuff and some spread stuff we know they have," added Aiello. "At the end of the day, we just have to stick to pour base rules ... what we really want to see is some fast and physical defense."

WHEN WINDSOR IS ON DEFENSE
"We know they return several pretty good players on defense, a couple of lineman, and a linebacker," said Aiello.

"If they stick to what they did last year, they'll be in a base 4-4," noted Aiello. "They have some aggressive outside backer play and tend to stick to cover-3.

"It seems they're really comfortable in that defense, so that's what we're anticipating," added Aiello. "If we don't get that, we stick to our base rules and adjust from there."

AIELLO'S KEYS TO THE GAME
"My kids need to understand this is a Week Double-Zero game," he said. "My kids should understand we're going to try to get a look at everybody, so it's their job to go out and show us what they've got.

"As we look to the season and really start to get our starters locked in, we want to try to play everyone as much as possible.

"In terms of keys to winning the game, it simply comes down to execution," added Aiello. "We only had two weeks of practice, so the better we execute, the better our chances of winning."

Troy (1-0) at Waverly, 6 p.m. @ Memorial Stadium: The Wolverines open the season in a much-anticipated match-up against the defending PIAA Class AA state champion Troy, which opened the season last weekend with a 57-8 win at Sayre.

"Troy is a really, really good football team," said longtime Waverly football coach Jason Miller. "I mean they're a really good football team.

"They lost a lot, they have to replace a lot of really talented people, but they have three-fifths of their line back, and they have the four-headed monster back in Brendan Gilliland, Mason Smith, Cael Millard, and Reed Palmer.

"They have some big kids playing all over the field," added Miller. "And they are very well-coached."

Miller sees some similarities between the two programs in 2025.

"Honestly, I think we're in similar situations," he said. "We both have to replace some big names, and we have kids playing different roles than they were playing last year."

WHEN TROY HAS THE BALL
"Everyone think Troy has the veer option and the midline option," said Miller. "Well, yeah, but there are about five or six different ways they run it, so it's a nightmare to prepare for it.

"I'm concerned about their team speed, it's a lot greater than ours, so we're going to have to be really sound on defense.

"We're going to have to be extremely disciplined," noted Miller. "I don't want to say it because it sounds like an excuse, but it's challenging to prepare for them in a short  time.

"But, I like the way things are going. We've worked hard, and everything is on schedule," he added.

Miller believes he'll see bit of everything from the Trojans.

"I think they will run, run, run," he said. "I think they'll run power, and I think they'll run option.

"And, they always have a trick play up their sleeve, whether it's a toss pass, a reverse, or a fake punt ... we don't necessarily see that a lot — teams in Section IV kind of smash you, and you either stop it or you don't. 

"You really can't prepare for the trick plays, you just have to be disciplined, and stay home and it will take care of itself," Miller added.

Miller said Mason Smith, who has shifted to QB this year for the Trojans, is someone the Wolverines will have to contain.

"Now, Mason Smith will have the ball in his hands every play; that's a big factor for them," he said.

"Instead of getting the ball to him once in a while on a jet sweep or a toss off motion, he'll have the ball in his hands every play.

"That's really scary, that's going to be scary for the NTL, and that's going to be really scary as they move forward in the playoffs because he's special, too," added Miller.

Miller said there's one must-do for the Wolverines — tackling.

"First and foremost, if we don't do a good job of tackling, it will be a long and challenging night."

WHEN TROY IS ON DEFENSE
"Defensively, we're going to see a 3-4," said Miller. "Typically, man-to-man, cover-1, and sometimes cover-0.

"It's hard to say what they'll do against us," he noted."If they play cover-0, you know seven guys in the box to stop the run, we'll chuck it.

"They're pretty basic," added Miller. "They don't blitz a lot, they just kind of out-man you and control the line-of-scrimmage, and they do a very good job of it."

MILLER'S KEYS TO THE GAME
"The biggest key is not to beat ourselves," said Miller. "We just cannot beat ourselves. If we get beat by them, that's OK, but if we beat ourselves, that's inexcusable.

"We have to tackle, that's a key," noted Miller. "Millard is a load, and Gilliland is a special player."

BOYS SOCCER
Elk Lake (1-1) at Athens (1-0), 1 p.m.: The Wildcats are coming off a 1-0 win at NEB, while the Warriors dropped a 3-1 decision at home to NEB.

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