Bengals return to postseason
Tamarac ready for 1st playoff game in four years
It’s been four years since Tamarac’s football team has made the Section II playoffs. A series of futility fueled by an over-simplified offense and a team that didn’t make the extra effort plagued the program for years.
When the Bengals face off against top-seeded Stillwater on the road in the Class C quarterfinals on Friday, it will be an opportunity for a big upset. But it will also be the tangible result of a program that’s turning the corner.
“You take a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in four years and you add up all those things that they did and you add some new blood, so to speak, in coaches,” said head coach Erick Roadcap. “It’s a recipe for success. They’re great kids. They look forward to it. They see it as a huge accomplishment in the right direction.”
Roadcap sees a path to victory on Friday at 7 p.m. if their opponents take them for granted. He was showing Stillwater tape to his team on Monday afternoon, noting the quickness and skill they possess. Tamarac (4-3) hasn’t had the season that Stillwater (6-1) has had, but the Bengals will still have a chance to end that season with a win of their own.
“It could be our last game, but at the same time it couldn’t because we could go on,” said senior running back Luis Marmolejo. “I just want to give it my all for these guys, because they give it their all for me the whole season.”
The instillation of a more “complex” offense has helped Tamarac this season. They brought in several new assistant coaches who
added some nuance to the playbook. There has also been more accountability with the Bengals team this season. In the summer, more players showed up to workouts. Everyone went to 7-on-7 scrimmages against Ballston Spa. The team camps had almost 100 percent participation.
That’s been a difference maker for a program that clearly needed to see a difference after a handful of postseason-less years. Tim and Chris Legends, brothers, have been consequential in improving the offense this season.
“It’s just a matter of getting everybody involved and learning everybody’s abilities and what they can do on the field,” junior quarterback Mike Kowalchyk said.
For Roadcap, the head coach since 2008, he feels something a little different with this team. He knows he’s got a big team, but he’s facing a Stillwater group that “does a few things really, really well”.
He doesn’t feel like his team has played anywhere close to mistake-free football. He says he’d like to see what four quarters of mistake-free football looks like. Friday would be a good place to start.