Last season saw Groton’s grand return to 11-man football for the first time since the COVID-altered spring 2021 season. The Red Hawks enjoyed a solid campaign with a 5-4 record but missed out on a postseason berth. With the Class D playoffs expanding and the Red Hawks retaining plenty of key players, there’s plenty of optimism heading into the 2026 campaign.
2025 was quite the roller coaster of the season from a results perspective. The Red Hawks alternated between losing and winning for the first eight weeks before breaking the trend and defeating Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour to cap things off with back-to-back victories. Head coach Nick Dyson felt that after the first few games, the Red Hawks got acclimated to life back in 11-man football.
“We kind of found our identity midway through the year,” Dyson said. “We hit our stride, started to put some points up offensively. The defense was solid all year. We had a little shock factor just stepping into 11-man these guys haven’t seen in a couple years, and then by the end of it, it was normalcy.”
That positive momentum carried into the offseason. Groton took part in multiple seven-on-seven tournaments, including one held at SUNY Cortland. With 56 teams competing, the Red Hawks rose towards the top and made it all the way to the championship game before losing to the reigning Class B state champions Monroe.
As the Red Hawks adjust back to 11-on-11 competition, they’re hungrier than ever to translate that summer success to autumn
“They’ve worked their tails off so far for me and are begging for more,” Dyson said. “It’s a smaller group this year, but it’s a good, quality 19-20 guys that will come to work every single day. There’s no excuses. They’re just leaning in and want more from their practices. They’re pushing me, so it’s a really good feeling. It’s one that I really haven’t had in the past, but it’s a really good thing for the program.”
One of Groton’s most notable returning players resides in the backfield. Lane Darling is coming off another season in which he rushed for over 1,000 yards. In his final season on the Red Hawks, Darling is dead set on making this swan song a special one.
“[I’m going to] do all I can, run as hard as I can, practice as hard as I can, do it all, and work my hardest, but make sure the biggest thing is that I have fun doing it,” Darling said. “I’m not taking another play off. Maybe freshman year I might have been timid. Sophomore year I was starting to come out of it, and then junior year I started to really put the blinders on. But now it’s all go. It’s all I got.”
Returning under center is Kam McClain. The junior took the reins of the offense last year and now feels more confident in his abilities with a whole season of quarterbacking under his belt.
“I’m 100% comfortable,” McClain said. “I was really nervous last year. I didn’t know what to expect my first year, but after that and all the things we’ve done in the offseason, I feel at home. I’m perfectly fine in the pocket, and I know what my teammates are going to do and how they’re going to help me. It’s just a big team.”
Like Darling and Kam McClain, senior Colson Slade is a team captain. Slade will be playing in a new position this year, sliding over from tight end to a lineman. That perfectly encapsulates the selfless nature of what it takes to be a leader.
“I’m willing to do whatever for the team,” Slade said. “I want us to succeed as much as we can.”
Groton’s high aspirations will be boosted by a change in the Class D playoff structure. Instead of just the top two teams in the two Class D divisions making the cut, they’ll be joined by the four best remaining teams regardless of division. That means Class D is the only class in Section IV that will have quarterfinal matchups.
As the Red Hawks aim to clinch the top seed in the playoffs, they know what they need to improve upon from last season in order to achieve something truly unforgettable.
“Our main issue was we gave everyone too much space last year,” Dyson said. “We were a little timid coming back into 11-man and widening the field and all that, so we allowed way too much space defensively and we didn’t find the space offensively that we needed to find. Our harp this year is to eliminate the space on defense and find the space on offense.”
Groton begins the season on the road at Sidney on September 3. The first home game is on September 11 against Greene/Oxford.
