by TYLER HATHAWAY
PENFIELD, N.Y– Fresh off of a program-first sectional championship in 2025, the Penfield Patriots are entering the 2026 season looking to defend their crown. And despite an off-season with tons of moving pieces, head coach Anthony Bianchi’s bunch has adapted and is gelling well early.
“I think the kids are really bonding together,” said Bianchi, the defending Class AA Coach of the Year. “When we started the summer, we had a bunch of kids in and out because a lot of our kids play baseball or lacrosse in the off-season, when we’re trying to do things. We really didn’t get our full group of guys back until the first day of practice, but we’re starting to put things together. The line’s looking a lot stronger, our skill kids are getting their timings better.”
“We’re all close together,” said running back Zane Kropman. “We’re a very close-knit group, and we have each other’s back. We always pick each other up if we’re down, and always bring ourselves up no matter what. I think that’s going to benefit us, it’s that next play mentality. One bad play to us doesn’t mean anything, we’re close and will just pick each other up.”
Kropman is one of 11 seniors suiting up for Penfield this fall. He’s returning this year not only as one of the team’s biggest leaders, but as one of its biggest producers. In his junior season, the back ran for 1,435 yards and found the endzone a team-high 13 times.
“He’s just such a great human being, works really hard,” said Bianchi of the senior. ”He’s like a family member on the team. Everyone loves him. Everyone works hard with him. He pushes everybody, and they push him. So just having him back to be a leader on this team is huge for us, and we’re hoping that he has another good year.”
“It was definitely the leaders on the line, and the close knit group we have,” Kropman credited his success a year ago to. “Everybody’s helping each other, just all the leaders that we have stepping up. So when the morale’s that high, it just, it’s definitely helps you get the ball moving and for me to be able to run the ball behind all five of those leaders that are blocking for me.”
Penfield will start its season on the road, against Victor on Thursday night in what will be the first game of the 2026 Section V football season.
“We have a lot of young kids, a lot of young starters that are coming up from JV that are going to have to step into some main roles,” Bianchi explained. “It’s going to be a big test for them to see how they respond week one.”
Bianchi believes the experience his team gained a year ago in playoff football will benefit them not just against the Blue Devils, but all year.
“A lot of the kids are from last year’s team,” said Bianchi. “Every week after the UPrep game last year we treated as a playoff game, playoff atmosphere. Being in those big moments is definitely going to help us this year when we play a lot of big games, especially in week one against Victor. We want to be ready to go, and having that experience I think will help us.”
“I think the mindset for our team now is to just start where we left off,” said Kropman. “Just keep it going, don’t give up. We got a lot of new guys, so just work as hard as we possibly can and do what we can to win.”
The Patriots got off to a 1-4 start in 2025 before winning six straight games on the way to the Class AA title. While Penfield would obviously prefer to start the season off in better fashion, Bianchi and his group knows that they have the capabilities to overcome adversity over the course of a season.
“I think it will be good if we can come out and get better each and every week,” said Bianchi of his team’s early-season goals. “It’s not how we start, its how we finish. Our goal is to start fast, but sometimes things can happen in a season and you got to stick together. That’s what last year’s group did, we stuck together instead of folding. Hopefully this year, we stick together as the whole season goes on and just keep getting better every week.”
The Patriots’ opening game is scheduled for Thursday night at 7:00 pm at Victor High School. Their full 2026 schedule can be found here.
“Definitely not moping around and just always being ready to work our hardest, whether that’s in conditioning, practice, whatever it is,” Kropman said of what needs to be done to start of the year with a win. “You just got to be always ready to go and just not lacking and just having each other’s back and just always ready.”
Leave a Reply