The Utica Proctor high school football team is looking to improve on last year’s 4-4 season and get back to the playoffs. Its season starts tonight at 6:30 on Spectrum News 1 at CBA.

This year, they take the field with a new starting quarterback – senior Todd Abraham, who takes over for Brandon Peterson.

Abraham has been keeping himself healthy for the season.

“As a quarterback, you know you have to lead the team,” he said.

With Peterson at quarterback last year, Abraham moved to running back. However, he was limited. He played with a broken ankle for about six weeks but didn’t know it.

“Right before the playoff game, we figured out it was taking too long to be a sprained ankle. Went and got an X-ray and the doc told me, he’s like ‘I don’t know how you walked in here; your ankle’s broken,’ ” Abraham said.

Abraham would have surgery, missing basketball season, but returning to excel on the baseball field. He’s headed to Binghamton University for baseball on a scholarship next year.

Head coach Steve Strife has coached Abraham for several years and says he’s a tough kid.

“Just [has] the will to want to play and not let the guy next to you down, and you know you can do a lot when you set your mind to it, and he’s a tough-minded kid, and obviously tough,” Strife said.

Abraham is confident he’s ready to lead the Raiders this season. He’s familiar with the quarterback position, having played it most his life. He’ll also be playing for his dad Byron Abraham, who has been the offensive coordinator at Proctor for the past nine seasons.

“He’s a good leader, he’s got a good sense of the guys around him, the respect of his teammates, and we hope he can have a good season and take command of our offense,” Byron said.

“This is definitely a playoff team. We’re going to compete every game and we’re going to be great,” said Todd Abraham.