Bristol-Plymouth football graduated 26 players last year. Here's how they are rebuilding.

TAUNTON — It's always a bit challenging for a high school football team to replace a graduating senior class. Even more so when there were 26 of them.

That's the situation Bristol-Plymouth finds themselves in heading into the 2022 season, with key figures such as 2021 Taunton Daily Gazette Football All-Scholastic Anthony Fratelli and Second Team All-Scholastics Sean Cochrane, Mike Bruner, Jake Ambrose and Cody Guild all gone. In their place are a plethora of young Craftsmen looking to step up and make their mark on the program and so far, according to head coach John Parris, they're off to a good start.

"The kids came out with a good attitude," Parris said. "We’re moving and we’re just trying to fit people in positions right now."

With the openings and a much smaller senior class this year, Parris expects to see underclassmen get some serious minutes for B-P this fall.

"You’re going to see a lot of sophomores on the field for us this year," Parris said. "It’s a whole revamped team. I think we’ll have a lot of young kids stepping up. I like the looks of our offensive and defensive lines, I think that’s probably going to be our strength this year."

The linemen are among the most experienced members of the team, with seniors Warren Alexandre, Aric Duddy, JT McDonough and Jeremiah Soares leading the way on both sides of the ball, a role which Parris expects most of his players to perform this season.

As for the offense, junior Ryan Donovan is set to succeed Cochrane as the next B-P quarterback after a competitive camp and will look to form a solid connection with receivers such as Josh Pierre as well as tight ends Billy Donovan and Tucker Bumila among others. In the backfield, Brayden Alves and Ryan Barnes will look to establish themselves as leaders in the run game.

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Despite all the changes and new faces, Parris said don't call this season a rebuild.

"I’ve never been a fan of saying it’s a rebuilding year or a restructuring year because that’s not who we are," Parris said. "We’re going to come out and compete and we’re going to come out and play every week. We’re going to put the 11 best ball players on the field but playing young players always bodes well and always increases your chances."

One thing Parris said he really is looking forward to this year is having a more normal season for the first time since 2019, after seeing the 2020 season pushed back to the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then seeing a nearly one month break last season after the program was temporarily paused due to a COVID-19 outbreak last September and then as they were ready to return to action saw Cape Cod Tech forfeit their Week 4 matchup, further interrupting the final campaign for the Class of 2022.

"I’m not used to abnormal, I had to get used to that for two years and I did not enjoy it," Parris said. "I enjoy my kids, I enjoy coaching, my coaches are unbelievable. Everybody can say this, but I have the best staff in the world. Normal to us is good. Last year we never knew who we had game-to-game."

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In particular he cited last year's two games against Blue Hills. In their first matchup with the Warriors in Week 5, a fully healthy B-P put up a strong fight, nearly snapping their rival's then-11 game winning streak before ultimately falling 28-20. Then on Thanksgiving, with several key players ruled out due to illness or quarantine, the Craftsmen defense collapsed as Blue Hills ran up a 60-28 win.

"We played them and should’ve beat them and at the end of the year I’m missing those five or six kids and they beat the crap out of us, so hopefully normal is good," Parris said.

As for this year's Mayflower League Large schedule, Parris said that with such a young team, and changes at the league's other programs, it's tough to get a read on how B-P will perform but he said as the guys play he'll be able to better assess it and he'll never rule out his Craftsmen.

"I think everybody’s going to go in equal and I think we have a chance to compete," Parris said. "Wins and losses I can’t say right now, but going into our first game, a non-league game against Old Colony, they’re going to be very good this year and that’ll kind of gauge where we’re going to sit. With a young team it’s hard to tell exactly what we’re going to have."

Heading into the season with such a young squad, Parris said his goal for the team is simple: get better every week.

"(I want us) to learn and get better every week and to be a disciplined football team," Parris said.

While the season marks the start a new era on the field for the Craftsmen, it also marks the end of an era for their field itself, which B-P football has called home since their inception in 1972 and where Brian Cornell and 2022 Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee Bill Moan coached before Parris became the program's third head coach in 2008. With construction of the new high school in its early stages and taking off more next summer, the Craftsmen will soon bid adieu to their old home field and move to a brand new field on a different part of campus.

"Let’s get fans to this field this year," Parris said. "Let’s get people here and celebrate the last year on this field."

2022 Bristol-Plymouth Football Schedule

Week 1: Sept. 9 vs. Old Colony, 7 p.m.

Week 2: Sept. 17 at Upper Cape Tech, 12 p.m.

Week 3: Sept. 23 vs. Diman, 7 p.m.

Week 4: Sept. 30 vs. South Shore Tech, 7 p.m.

Week 5: Oct. 8 at St. John Paul II, 12 p.m.

Week 6: Oct. 15 vs. Tri-County, 5 p.m.

Week 7: Oct. 21 at Southeastern, 7 p.m.

Week 8: Oct. 28 at West Bridgewater, 6:30 p.m.

Thanksgiving: Nov. 24 at Blue Hills, 10 a.m.

Italics denotes a Mayflower League Large game.

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Young, revamped Bristol-Plymouth football team rebuilds in 2022 season