Canandaigua-Victor game more than a clash of brothers

One obviously glaring fact about Saturday’s 2 p.m. opening-day football game between the Victor Blue Devils and the host Canandaigua Braves at Evans Field is that it pits head coaching brother Jim Haugh (Victor) against head coaching brother Pete Haugh from Canandaigua. However, in talking with both coaches, if all you’re talking about is the fact that this game pits brother against brother, then you’d better look again.

Apparently for both of the Haugh brothers, the two of them coaching against each other is, ‘old news.’

“This game is so much more than just about me and my brother,” said Jim Haugh. “If this is what everybody is talking about heading into this game, than they are missing the point. This game is much more than just about that.”

For the Haugh brothers, it’s also not only about getting your season off to a good start having to play your biggest rival. When Victor and Canandaigua play each other, especially in football, it’s all about community pride.

“This is going to be a good game for the rivalry,” said Pete Haugh. “It’s going to be a good game for both teams and communities. Everybody knows how people in each community look forward to this game. Both teams communities get involved in this game.

“Because of all of that, it’s going to be a dogfight — a very tough game.  We are kind of 50-50 as to the advantages and disadvantages of playing this game with Victor so early in the season. The disadvantage is that the kids still have some kinks to work out. But I really have to say that it hasn’t been hard keeping the enthusiasm up this last couple of weeks.”
Pete then goes on to point at one glaring stat about his team.

“Thirty-one kids graduated from last year’s team out of a total of 47 we had on the team,” he says. “I’m eager to get it going to see what we have.”

Jim Haugh is equally as eager to find out what he has at Victor.

“We are going to be very concerned about coming out and being sharp at the beginning,” said Jim. “Limit our mistakes; take care of our house first.”

Both coaches also know what to watch out for in each others offensive and defensive schemes. While Pete Haugh lists his offense as an ‘I attack with multiple sets’ and that his defense will run a 4-3 scheme, brother Jim, when asked about his offensive and defensive styles lists, ‘multiple’ for both. The Blue Devils will feature a backfield with veteran senior quarterback Richie Chute calling the signals while the Braves will have senior Ryan Schlenker starting at QB but will also have QB Austin Coyle getting some playing time.

Josh Maves and Sean Hackel for Victor along with Ikey Ajavon, Ethan Mack and Rush-Henrietta transfer Derik Peters for CA will be a few of the game’s main running threats.  

“They put good pressure on the outside on defense and any club that can run as well as they did against Gates Chili in a scrimmage last week is going to be a big opponent,” Jim Haugh said. “They ran the ball really well last week. The key to this game is the fact that (CA) is so physical. Can we hang in there? That will be the key. We have to think of how well we will match up against their perimeter kids and their defensive scheme.”

Matching up, especially against one certain Victor lineman, is a concern for Pete, too.

“We need to do a good job of coping with Jimmy Wagner,” Pete said. “Rarely do you talk about a defensive lineman being the key to a game but you will never stop a player like him. All you can do is limit his ability to hurt you. He almost single handily shut us down last year. We need to know where he is all the time.”

With no time left to talk, it will come down to which team is the most ready.
“Saturday is going to be difficult yet fun at the same time. We can’t wait.”
Neither can anyone else in either community.