The Bears went undefeated during the regular season, outscoring opponents 241-138.

Frewsburg started 2-0 against Holley and C.G. Finney/Northstar Christian Academy before rallying to beat Wellsville 37-28. The Bears then beat Lyons/Sodus and Pembroke 66-38 and 55-24, respectively, to close the regular season 5-0 and earn the No. 1 seed for the postseason.

South Seneca forfeited the teams’ quarterfinal playoff matchup. Frewsburg then beat Canisteo-Greenwood 47-16 in the semifinals before falling to Red Jacket 48-6 in the championship game at Caledonia-Mumford High School.

KEY LOSSES: Frewsburg lost eight seniors from last season’s 7-1 team.

Running backs and receivers: Maddox Sheesley, Vincent Sanfilippo and Blake Weaver. In back are: Patrick Spencer, Chad Ramsey and Mason Eckman.

None of the losses was greater than tailback/wide receiver/quarterback Zach Winters, who ran 180 times for 1,641 yards and 20 touchdowns.

“He was primed to be a really good 8-man football player, and that’s not a negative toward 11-man at all,” Frewsburg head coach Terry Gray said. “When you are able to take somebody of his caliber and make him a running quarterback, he just excelled at that level. Interestingly enough, he went on to the Big 30 game, and I thought he played well there.”

At a tight end, Joel McLaughlin caught five passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns, but he made his biggest impact on the defensive side of the ball where he anchored the unit from his linebacker spot.

“Joel McLaughlin is a blue-collar, hard-nosed, do-all-the-things-you’re-supposed-to-do kid,” Gray said. “The cool part is, he’s a great kid.”

While the Bears didn’t play particularly well in the sectional final, McLaughlin shined.

Quarterbacks, pictured, from left, are: Chase Haglund, Payton Dustin and Draven DeJesus.

“He was the kid in the sectional finals when things didn’t go well, he didn’t stop,” Gray said. “My last memory of him is what you would hope it would be. That kid played to the final play and I have a lot of respect for him.”

Frewsburg also lost three main offensive linemen in Kole Bender, Landon Bragg and Kole Stelmack.

“They were good. Zach is skilled, but we were able to run and move the ball because of that offensive line. We are struggling with that right now.”

KEY RETURNEES: Frewsburg returns three seniors from last year’s squad.

Draven DeJesus completed 6-of-7 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 36 yards and five touchdowns. Payton Dustin also carried the ball a little bit while Patrick Spencer made his primary impact on the defensive side of the ball.

Kickers are: Kealy Caflisch, left, and Kaydan Bush.

Vincent Sanfilippo and Harrison Eckert are a pair of juniors who were integral pieces of last year’s team.

“What I’m very happy with to this point is that this is a great group of kids. They are wide-eyed and bushy-tailed,” Gray said. “It’s a bit overwhelming from the physicality and understanding the plays, but they aren’t quitting and they’re working hard.”

Gray says the program had 29 varsity players during the first week of practice. Two of them are likely full-time kickers and 10 are sophomores playing varsity for the first time while another five are seniors who haven’t played in at least a full season.

“We went into the winter looking at our roster and knowing that we had a lot of 10th-graders. I thought we’d be in 8-man another year and then we found out in January that we were not invited back so we made a big push,” Gray said. “We went through spring open gyms and had a pretty decent turnout. There was a buzz. … Then we got into the summer, we were excited and through a couple months of open workouts, our summer attendance was bad.”

Sophomore Chase Haglund and junior Blake Weaver could also make an impact for the Bears.

Linemen, pictured, from left, are: Harrison Eckert, Caleb Stahlman, Jamison Caldwell, Trevor South, Russell Steward and Tyler Becker.

“Chase is an unbelievable athlete. He’ll be contributing right away,” Gray said. “He’s either going to be a wing or my quarterback. He’s working really hard. Blake is right in the mix to play some tight end and linebacker.”

Frewsburg also has a pair of girls — Kealy Caflisch and Kaydan Bush — from the soccer team battling it out for the kicking job.

“I think we’ve created a culture. The girls soccer program, which is filled full of elite athletes, they bring that swagger to our football team. They are confident. They have a way about them,” Gray said. “You can tell they come from a winning program. I enjoy them being here and the boys do, too. We have two and they’ll have to duel it out weekly like the rest of our guys.”

OUTLOOK FOR CLASS D: Frewsburg has been away from 11-man football for three years and was merged with Randolph for the two seasons prior to that, so the Bears have not played in Class D on their own for more than five years.

“We’ve been out of the league, but Randolph, Franklinville/Ellicottville and Clymer/Sherman/Panama are going to be a challenge,” Gray said. “As young as we are, everybody is going to be a fight; then Wilson comes down and joins us.”

KEY GAME: Most coaches agree that the next game is the biggest game, but that may not be more true than it is in Frewsburg. Playing the numbers game, it’s nearly impossible to look down the road before knowing if the team is healthy enough to play that week’s game.

“Every game is a game and you focus on every game. You want to win every game. We are week to week trying to get better, but the win for us right now is that we have a team,” Gray said. “We have our own team and we are going to keep fighting to play football in Frewsburg.

“We keep trying to build toward the big picture. I want to keep having Frewsburg football,” Gray said. “Some day, I want to walk down to the school and still see football here; whether we are going to Highmark Stadium with 60 kids or just pulling back into 11-man.”

SENIORS: Tyler Becker, Draven DeJesus, Payton Dustin, Chad Ramsey, Trevor South, Patrick Spencer, Russell Steward, Ethan Vinopal

JUNIORS: Iesis Canada, Chris Cusimano, Harrison Eckert, Cameron Gibson, Grayson Lewis, Griffin Lewis, Vincent Sanfilippo, Bryson Smith, Caleb Stahlman

SOPHOMORES: Jamison Caldwell, Kael Collver, Mason Eckman, Andreus Fountaine, Chase Haglund, Maddox Sheesley, Blake Weaver, Noah Zimmerman