EMPORIUM — Just three weeks into the 2014 football season, a disturbing trend had already been established.

Well, OK. It was more a fact than a trend.

In the Alleghany Mountain League, where its members have always been divided into two divisions, it was painfully clear that, at least during the 2014 season, teams from the South Division were much stronger than those that called the North Division home.

After three weeks of play, the six teams in the AML North — Cameron County, Coudersport, Otto-Eldred, Port Allegany, Sheffield and Smethport — sported an 0-15 mark in crossover games.

The five teams in the South — Brockway, Curwensville, Elk County Catholic, Kane and Ridgway — were 15-0 and owned a decided scoring advantage, 567-86.

Oddly, at least one North Division coach, Cameron County’s Mike Kunes, opted to find a silver lining in his team’s 4-6 season.

“Oh trust me, the District 9 webpage did a very good job of reminding all of us each and every week just how dominating the South Division was last year,” the third-year mentor of the Red Raiders noted. “There’s no doubt that whenever a North Division team lined up against a South Division team a year ago, it was like comparing apples to oranges.

“It wasn’t until we started to play teams in our own division that we could compare apples to apples.

“For the most part, the South Division teams were kicking our butts,” Kunes added. “But, in our very first game, we played Kane, which went on to win the District 9 (Class A) championship, very tough into the fourth quarter.

“In fact, while we lost 13-0, we did not allow them to score on our defense.”

The Wolves broke up a scoreless battle early in the fourth quarter when James Lingenfelter, who would go on to be named the Big 30 Defensive Player of the Year, blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for the first score of the game. Kane would later return an interception for a score.

“The fact that we played so well the first week of the season gave our guys the feel that they could play with anybody,” Kunes noted. “For us, here at Cameron, the entire season came down to making plays and not making plays. We were either doing what we were supposed to be doing or not. So playing Kane to a 13-0 loss during which our defense did not give up a score, our kids took a little something from that.”

After bowing to Curwensville in Week 4, Cameron County turned its season around, winning its next four starts to capture the North Division crown.

Then there was the rematch game with Ridgway.

When the two teams tangled in Week 2, a 42-8 loss on the road, Kunes’ team didn’t have much to shout about.

But when they met in the AML title game, eight weeks later, the final outcome was a little closer, 28-21.

“That was another reason why I felt we had a respectable season last year,” Kunes noted. “The first time we played Ridgway/Johnsonburg, they wiped the field with us, It was not much of a game.

“But when we faced them in the (AML) league championship game, we played them tough as nails and I still say we got robbed of a key play that might have, well, we can’t go back and change it now.”

Sixteen letterwinners return from last year’s challenging season.

“The kids who are back have grown immensely throughout the offseason, into the summer and right up to our speed drills (before practice started),” Kunes said. “There are leadership roles that have been vacated and we’re going to see who is willing to step into those spots.

“Even the large freshman class we had a year ago has grown leaps and bounds. They are sophomores this year and they are a group of good kids, big kids.”

Kunes noted a couple of players who should direct the Red Raiders to a winning season this time around.

“For starters, Derek Rieder is going to be an interesting story this year,” he said. “He started at offensive tackle a year ago, and we’re moving him to quarterback this year. “He’s every bit as big as his 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame suggests. He’s looked good in the 7-on-7 opportunities we’ve attended this summer.

“Of course, making crisp passes in an actual game is a different kind of dynamic,” Kunes added. “We’ll see once he starts just how good a move this is. He’s a big kid with a strong arm. In terms of leadership, he’s going to be good. The question is, can he deliver the big plays when we need them?”

Also high on Kunes’ list of expectations this year is senior Caleb Burnside.

“Caleb started at corner and tailback a year ago,” Kunes said. “He’s worked hard in the offseason I feel he’s capable of having a breakout season.”

In evaluating his preseason roster, Kunes noted, “I wish we had more numbers. Forty kids is much better than 29.

“I think we’re good in the speed department. We didn’t lose any of our burners from a year ago.

“In terms of strength, I’d put our guys up against anybody out there in the league,” he continued. “We averaged over 20 kids in the weight room. They all worked together and worked hard. They all lifted three times a week and did agility drills three times a week. They came together as a group.

“And while each of them have their own personalities, they are putting them on a shelf for the good of the team,” he added. “If anything, they are feeding off of each others’ strengths.

“When I know for a fact that the guys who are our best players are the hardest workers on the field, I will know we have something special.

“Right now, we’re flirting with that,” he added. “We have younger kids who are really busting their tails, perhaps harder than our best players … I think the better players, at least at this point in time, have this mindset that they can get by because of what they know and what they are capable of doing.

“When those guys pick it up a notch and give me the sign that they are the hardest workers, that’s when I will feel this can be a special team capable of accomplishing some special things.”

Coaching with Kunes this season will be defensive coordinator Nick Keller and assistants Jody Bailey, Jamer Cooney, Ryan Neyman and John Doud.

THE RETURNING starters:

Caleb Burnside, senior, 5-10, 165, running back/defensive back

Cory Clinger, senior, 6-0, 145, tight end

Austin Doud, senior, 5-11, 165, end/linebacker

Keegan Frey, senior, 5-6, 150, linebacker

Jason Smith, senior, 5-7, 165, linebacker

Wyatt Geist, junior, 5-11, 275, line both ways

Tristen Reed, junior, 5-11, 175, linebacker

Derek Rieder, junior, 6-3, 240, offensive tackle

Derek Beldin, sophomore, 6-1, 195, offensive line

Ethan Vislay, sophomore, 5-10, 140, split end/defensive back

ALSO LETTERING were:

Brad Fortney, senior, 6-2, 175, line both ways

Tim Banks, sophomore, 5-7, 190, line both ways

Eric Morton, sophomore 6-0, 165, split end/defensive back

Adam Streich, sophomore, 5-10, 150, quarterback/defensive back

Jared Whiting, sophomore, 5-10, 165, running back/linebacker

Nate Williams, sophomore, 5-11, 210, line both ways

THE PLAYERS, by position:

Offense

Quarterbacks: Rieder, Streich

Running Backs: Burnside, Reed, Frey, Smith, Whiting, Parker Lumley (so., 5-11, 165), Nate Dempsey (fr., 5-8, 185)

Ends: Clinger, Doud, Morton, Vislay, Chris Mcisaac (jr., 6-2, 180), Jesse Coffman (fr., 5-9, 130), Ethan Fields, (fr., 5-2, 122)

Linemen: Fortney, Geist, Beldin, Williams, Banks, Brady Thompson (jr., 5-11, 260), Adam Clark (so., 5-10, 190), Ryan Clark (so., 6-1, 230), Andrew Goss (so., 5-10, 190), Bryce Heim (so., 5-10, 220), Caleb Pifer (fr., 5-8, 160), Dustyn Spiegel (fr., 6-0, 230)

Defense

Linemen: Fortney, Geist, Rieder, Thompson, Banks, A. Clark, R. Clark, Goss, Heim, Williams, Spiegel

Linebackers: Doud, Frey, Smith, Reed, Belden, Lumley, Whiting, Dempsey, Pifer

Defensive Backs: Burnside, Clinger, Crosby, Mcisaac, Morton, Streich, Vislay, Coffman, Fields