For a day or two, their heartache must have been all-consuming.
Both, after all, had made it to the final day of the season, and did so in dominant fashion, pulverizing most of the foes on their schedule with perfect records (13-0 and 14-0, respectively) intact. Both, also, had come painfully close to the ultimate prize — Salamanca within eight yards of at least forcing overtime and Port Allegany within a 14-8 halftime score of a private school powerhouse — only to see it snatched away in the end.
And so, yes, for the Warrior and Gator football programs, it must have hurt deeply to watch a season of such incredible — and largely unprecedented — highs end with the low of a red ‘L’ attached to a state championship final.
But then came the remainder of a truly remarkable weekend.
SALAMANCA AND Port Allegany were welcomed home by two football-mad communities that had displayed unyielding love and support all season. They were feted at the annual Big 30 Football Testimonial on Sunday. They were recognized as the authors of two of the greatest gridiron campaigns in Big 30 history — and potentially the first to give New York and Pennsylvania a state finalist in the same season.
And for as difficult as it might have been to discern on their long bus rides home, it was likely made clear in the days following their arrival, as football giants: the good that came from this fall, when they often stood far above the competition, vastly outweighed the pain that came with a singularly bad day.
And part of that good was how they fared on postseason awards day.
Both teams had all five of their nominations selected to the Big 30 All-Star Team, accounting for one-third of the squad. Between them, they swept the top honors, with Port Allegany’s Aiden Bliss being named Player of the Year, the Gators’ Carson Neely securing Lineman of the Year (a back-to-back winner and the top lineman in a terrorizing unit that, incredibly, blocked for a 3,000-yard rusher), Salamanca’s Cory Holleran collecting Defensive Player of the Year and Port A’s Justin Bienkowski and the Warriors’ Chad Bartoszek earning Co-Coach of the Year accolades.
In a year where both went unscathed through the regular season, led their teams to a state championship appearance and elevated what had already been two stellar programs into something even greater, it was only fitting that Bienkowski and Bartoszek share the coaching award, named for both Alfred Joe Bunnell and Rod Rohl.
To them, as coaches tend to say, this was a “team” award.
But given just how good both teams were, they probably truthfully meant it.
“I’M OBVIOUSLY grateful and thankful that the committee thought highly enough of our program, and really it’s an honor that I take pride in,” Bartoszek said, “but it’s a representation of our team and the guys around us, our coaching staff, our players, our community. It’s a team effort and I think the fact that we’re being recognized is just a reflection of all of them.”
Bienkowski graduated from Johnsonburg in 1998, a year before Bartoszek at Salamanca. Both have a long history with local football, with Bienkowski starring in the former Allegheny Mountain League and Bartoszek a standout on a sectional-title winning Warriors squad.
Bienkowski is a “history guy; that’s what I teach in school. For my name as the leader of our program to be on a plaque, that means the world.”
Echoing Bartoszek’s sentiment, he added: “But there is zero BS when I say this — it has everything to do with our players, assistant coaches, parents and administration. I realized in the state title prep, our AD (Aaron Clark) and principal (Marc Budd) were rock stars. There are so many people that go into it and too many people to thank.
“My name and Chad’s name are on the plaque, but I’m sure he would tell you the same thing. There are so many that are responsible for making this happen. I’m just glad to represent our program.”
INTERESTINGLY, before being unified this season, these were also the last solo COYs, with Bienkowski claiming the 2022 award after guiding the Gators to a District 9 title and the PIAA Class A semifinals and Bartoszek in ‘23 upon steering Salamanca to its first New York State Final Four. They garnered the honor among a list of nominees that included Olean’s Phil Vecchio, who orchestrated a turnaround season at Olean (from 2-6 to 6-2) and Kane’s Matt Bodamer, the former record-setting Port Allegany quarterback who, in his first year, lifted a winless Wolves team to 3-7.
And though it didn’t end how they wanted, there was, undoubtedly, solace to be taken in the fact that both coaches, and their teams, went even a step further than those glorious seasons this fall …
Even if it has yet to fully sink in.
“The sting of it (a 26-20 loss to Schuylerville) hasn’t worn off quite yet,” said Bartoszek, now the only four-time Coach of the Year in Big 30 annals (he also won it in 2014 and ‘15). “On one hand it hurts because you just got so close. But over the last few days, just having the opportunity to talk to different people, really good messages from friends, family, other coaches, players … I think everyone understands that this was a pretty awesome season, a historic run two years in a row.
“It does hurt, but my biggest thing is, I don’t want our players to dwell on that and think just over and over about what could have been because it happens to someone every year. Getting as close as we did was pretty memorable. I think we’ll look back on with a lot of positivity.”
Said Bienkowski, whose team fell to Bishop Guilfoyle, 41-22: “I haven’t really processed it yet. We got to sit back and watch Central Clarion and Salamanca play in their state championship games, and then it really started to hit us that we’re done.
“Yes, we physically beat the heck out of teams, but I can’t remember one time I had a negative interaction with an opposing coach. It was kind of ‘game respecting game.’ Wilmington’s coach, Brandon Phillian, they don’t make them better than him, he had some nice things to say about our team.
“Yes, we are physical, but we also do things with class, and to hear that from other people, I’m very appreciative.”
Cattaraugus-Little Valley also won a pair of awards: D.J. Szata earned the New York 12th Man Scholarship (named for Mike Abdo) and the Timberwolves took home the Leon Abbott Sportsmanship Award. The Pennsy 12th Man Scholarship (the Joe Bizzarro Award) was Coudersport’s Preston Ayers.
