It was a season unlike any other – there wasn’t one in 2020. 

For the first time since the program’s inception in 1971, when John Murphy, the first league president, and then-Macedon mayor Joe Fratangelo, founded the idea of the “Pal-Mac Youth Football Raiders,” there wasn’t a Pal-Mac Youth Football and Cheerleading season last year, courtesy of a nation-sweeping pandemic. 

Nevertheless, this autumn the Raiders have returned to the gridiron to celebrate its 49th season – its 11th clad in scarlet-and-white with silver lining since shelving the traditional black-and-silver previously worn for 38 seasons – with opening weekend slated Sunday, Sept. 5 against Newark on the Reds’ territory. If not for the suspension of the 2020 season, the program would be celebrating its 50th season.

B-team football is head coached by Pete Belanger, assisted by John Martello, James Rouland, Joe Hill (varsity football assistant coach), Riley Belanger and William Steines (assistant high school football coaches). The B-team finished 2019 as co-division champions with an undefeated 7-0-1 record.

B-team cheerleading is led by head coach Brittany Boudrieau, assistant Allie Jensen and helper Kaylie Murry.

C-team football will be head coached by Rick Knaak, assisted by Shawn Ryder and helpers Chris Ossont and Robert Trapp. The C-team finished the 2019 season with a 3-5 record.

C-team cheerleading is led by head coach Emily Henning, assistant Stefanie Hoflich and helper Noelle Henning.

Flag football will be led by head coach Guy White and assisted by Dan Enright, George Polisse and Brian Steinruck. White, Enright, Polisse and Steinruck are all former Pal-Mac Youth Football players and played on the same JV and Varsity football team together.

Flag cheerleading is head coached this season by Jenn Lupi, assistant Jenn Preston and helper Kendall Miller.

The program is led by President Martello, Vice President Jason Minnamon (head varsity football coach), Football Director Belanger, Cheerleading Director Lupi, Registration Director Beth Burdick, Secretary Megan Lauster, Treasurer Mary Piccola and Concessions Director and Workers Board Coordinator Amanda Ryder.

The Raiders are now in its 24th season competing in the Finger Lakes Youth Football League, having made the switch out of the Vince Lombardi Youth Football League in 1997. The Raiders compete in the West division with Gananda/East Rochester, Honeoye Falls-Lima, Newark, Red Jacket and Wayne. In the Central division are Clyde-Savannah, Geneva, Lyons, Marcus Whitman and Midlakes. In the East division are Four Town Community Center, Cazenovia, Skaneateles, Southern Hills, Waterloo, and Jordan Elbridge.

For more information about Pal-Mac Youth Football and Cheerleading, please visit www.palmacyouth.com or search for the league on Facebook.