OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Dunkirk quarterback Phil Messina looks for an open receiver during last week’s win over Newfane. Dunkirk plays Hamburg tonight at home at 7:30 p.m with homecoming festivities happening beforehand.

The Dunkirk Marauders are sitting pretty heading into Week 5, with an unblemished 4-0 record. For the Marauders to keep the undefeated season going for another week, Dunkirk needs to beat the biggest school on the team’s schedule — Class A1 Hamburg — in a non-league game tonight.

To add to the intensity of the matchup, it’s Homecoming week in Dunkirk. With all of the excitement around the team this year, it will be even louder under the lights of Dunkirk High School tonight.

Dunkirk head coach Mike Sarratori is well aware of the challenges of this week. From the distractions that come along with Homecoming, to the feeling of a perfect record, to the only non-league game on the schedule against the biggest school of all for Dunkirk to face this year, Sarratori is challenging his team to stay focused on the task at hand.

“Our focus is Hamburg,” said Sarratori. “This is not about a league or a non-league game. This is not about the wins or losses on the record at this point. We have bigger things in mind this year than that. Our focus is on getting better every week.”

Sarratori is fueled by the bright spots — and the blemishes — of the past few seasons at the helm of the Dunkirk Marauders football program. His eyes are set on another trip to the state finals — the stage his team made it to just two years ago. Tonight is a measuring point for how much work his team may still need to do.

“We need to make sure we keep getting better every week,” said Sarratori. “This is an A1 school in Hamburg we’re playing.”

Hamburg (1-3, 0-3) has struggled against Class A1 this season, but when facing competition in Class B3 in Alden, Hamburg came away with a blowout win. However, so did Dunkirk, with a blowout of the same Alden team. Hamburg features a tandem at running back of Nick Hafner and Spencer Dix who have combined for nearly 600 yards and six touchdowns on the year.

“They’re a strong, physical team. They have a big, tough tandem at running back,” said Sarratori. “They are very physical defensively, as well. They come to smack you.”

As talented as the running back duo is for Hamburg, their impressive numbers on the season can’t compare to Dunkirk’s Quantavis Kleckley. The Dunkirk senior surpasses the Hamburg duo’s total yards and touchdowns by himself. Kleckley has 668 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on only 71 carries so far this season. That doesn’t account for the four quarters that Kleckley has rested on the bench after large halftime leads at each home game of the season to date.Kleckley has established himself as the Marauders’ focal point, especially now that Tywon Wright is done for the season with a knee injury.

“Ever since Tywon went down, Kleckley told us he wants to be the one to carry us,” said Sarratori. “He’s done that from the second half of the Tonawanda game on through this point. He’s really carried us.”

Coming off a 269 yard rushing game with three touchdowns against Newfane, Kleckley figures to be the focal point of Dunkirk once again tonight. However, it would not be a surprise if Dunkirk quarterback Phil Messina took a few shots downfield in the season’s only non-league game.

“We’re going to stick to what we do best,” said Sarratori. “But we know that we need to open things up a little bit if we want to be at our best moving forward. We’re going to try to do that if the opportunities are there and we’re comfortable with it.”

A key for Dunkirk will be starting strong early in the game. When Dunkirk has been at home, the Marauders jumped ahead early and ran away with the game each time. On the road against tougher competition, however, the Marauders have struggled out of the gates. In both the Tonawanda game in Week 2 and the Newfane game last week, Dunkirk had three turnovers. Dunkirk will need to avoid that against a team with the talent of Hamburg.

“With a young offensive line, we’re going to have some struggles getting going early at times, but we can’t put the ball on the turf,” said Sarratori. “The key to winning this game is no penalties and not putting the ball on the turf. We can’t have those kind of mistakes.”

Tonight’s game will reveal a lot about how Dunkirk stacks up against the biggest competition in the area. The Marauders will not face a school as big as Hamburg the rest of the season. But regardless of class size, Dunkirk feels it can compete with anyone it’s up against.

“I have confidence in my guys that if we play up to our potential and play our best, we can compete with anyone we’re up against,” said Sarratori.

Tonight will go to show if Sarratori is right, or whether the Marauders still have a lot of work left to do.

NOTES: Kickoff for the Homecoming game is at 7:30 p.m. There will be food trucks lined up outside of the stadium. Sarratori said Dunkirk is expecting a big crowd for the game, and advised to plan accordingly. “It should be a fun night,” said Sarratori. … Dunkirk starting tight end Conrad Thomas is a game-time decision after suffering a foot injury at the end of last week’s game against Newfane. Messina — who was also injured on the play — was cleared to play earlier in the week.

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