Senior year of high school is memorable for so many reasons. And for the Black Knights the seniors on this team want to make this year one to remember. "Last ride, gotta make the most of it,” senior QB Mark Barrone said. "No more waiting time. It’s always been in tenth grade, ‘I got two more years,’ last year, ‘there’s always next year,’ there’s no more of that this year. So 110% every practice” The senior leadership on this team is what makes it run and it starts with QB Mark Barrone to WR Dewayne Tillman III, to the defense led by Carter Brazinski. “Having them help the younger guys to help the process go faster because we could sy it one way over and over, but the way their teammates might word it, it might click even better,” head coach Jake DerCola said. “So, we’re starting to see that a lot of the guys are helping out and the leadership is going very well.” “It’s a big change,” Tillman III said. “Being a young guy at the time, seeing my older friends always played, you fill that role. You just want to see what you can try to do different, see what other people can really compete. Just more being a leader and a captain, being more vocal, just sticking out more.” “We have more of a senior team coming back, so they’ve gotten a lot of experience so now we get to actually move it a little quicker than we used to because a lot of them know our base schemes and we had a good offseason. So I just keep telling them we got to ‘win the day’.” If you were to ask anyone on this team what makes this years team different from last year’s team from just a few days of camp, they’ll say there’s just a feeling that comes with their collective experience. “I think everybody’s friends,” Brazinski said. “We have a ton of seniors that have been playing together, I’ve been playing with Chad and Dwayne for almost 10 years now. So, I think everyone’s really good friends, everyone knows each other really well off the field, outside of practice. Everyone keeps it close.” “We’ve had some wins with 3-6, but you can tell this year feels a little bit more different,” DerCola said. “They want it more. They’re seniors so we have that leadership. We have the talent. It’s just putting it all together and getting the jitters out and good things will come.” Rome Free Academy Black Knights 2026-27 Schedule: September 4 vs. Vestal, 6:30 pm September 10 @ New Hartford, 6 pm September 18 vs. Carthage, 6:30 pm September 26 @ Proctor, 1:30 pm October 2 @ Liverpool, 6:30 pm October 9 @ Baldwinsville, 6 pm October 16 vs. Cicero-North Syracuse, 6:30 pm October 24 @ Henninger, 12 pm
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