The Oakfield-Alabama/Elba football team is playing for their second straight title this weekend. Since switching to 8-man football in 2018, the Aggies have won 15 straight games.

“The fundamentals of football are still there. You still have to block, you still have to tackle, you still have to scheme,” said head coach Mike Cintorino. “All those things are still there and if you teach good fundamentals, you're going to see very similar games."

"It's not that we like it better, we've found more success in it but it's also been, working year after year, we've finally found a rhythm we can consistently stick to," said Elba senior Dylan Rykert.

Once again, the Aggies have relied heavily on the play of multi-skilled quarterback Colton Dillon.

“You can play 18-man football and he's still going to find space and his vision is so good. He's got a lot of intangibles you can't teach,” Cintorino said. “He's over 6 feet tall, over 200 pounds, he's fast, (and) he's athletic.”

"I just look for little open gaps, I can't really squeeze through that sometimes, so sometimes I have to get a little rough," Dillon, an Elba senior, said.

The Aggies are one of a handful of teams playing 8-man football in Section V.

"(I’m) really excited about the game of 8-man football. I do think it's the future of small school football. Not just here in Section V but throughout New York state,” Cintorino said. “More and more teams are looking to it and it is real football and most importantly, it gives student athletes the opportunity to play this great game of football."

Oakfield-Alabama/Elba faces Maple Grove out of Section 6 in Saturday's championship at St. John Fisher. Kickoff set for 6:00 p.m.