Marcus Heywood prepares to make a catch during an early practice session at Cohoes High School. (Photo by J.S. Carras - The Record).

The Tigers put together the best season in school history in 2008, so the bar has been set high for 2009. Cohoes, however, loses many members from a talented senior class a year ago, so if they look to make a push into the Section II Class B playoffs again, it will likely be from a new crop of players.

Josh Lemay and Tommy Durrant are two of the key returning players for the Tigers and they'll bring a lot of attitude and fire to the team, but they do it in different ways. Durrant, a fullback and defensive end, is the vocal leader and Lemay is the rock-solid lead-by-example guy on the line.

Josh Floeser and Kyle Farley are also among the players the Tigers are expecting big things from this season.

The success the Tigers had in 2008 certainly pulled a number of new players into the program and that puts this team ahead of the game, especially in practice sessions.

"Last year on the varsity level, didn’t have two full offensive units," said head coach James Ducharme. "This year we have that. Two full groups of linemen, backs and receivers and quarterbacks. That really helps us when we need to go against each other and get good looks."

Cohoes will break out the portable lights yet again in 2009 after such a successful test run in 2008 against Cairo-Durham. This year's home game against Hudson will now be played on Friday night October 2, rather than the originally scheduled Saturday afternoon date.