It was not long ago that O’Neill stood near the top of Section IX’s small-school football landscape.
The Raiders finished 12–2 in 2022. They followed that season with seven more victories in 2023, giving the program 19 wins across a two-year stretch.
Then the bottom fell out.
O’Neill went 0–8 in 2024, scoring 46 points while allowing 227. The Raiders lost every game, suffered three shutouts and ended the season with another defeat against Chester in the Class C playoffs.
A program that had won 12 games only two years earlier suddenly entered 2025 searching for any evidence that it could begin moving forward again.
The Raiders found some.
But they did not finish the climb.
Progress That Cannot Be Ignored
O’Neill opened the 2025 season with a 14–7 loss at Haldane.
The Raiders responded six days later by defeating Liberty 40–6, ending a losing streak that had stretched across the entire previous season.
That first victory opened the door to O’Neill’s most encouraging stretch of football in two years.
After a narrow 21–14 loss to Burke Catholic, the Raiders traveled to Chenango Valley and won 47–18. They followed that performance with a 33–0 shutout of Monticello and a 28–21 road victory over Spackenkill.
O’Neill had won four of five games.
The Raiders had already quadrupled their victory total from the previous season. They were scoring points again, creating momentum and showing signs that the winless year had not permanently changed the program.
For the first time since 2023, O’Neill looked capable of becoming a factor in Class C.
Then the season turned.
The Finish Changed the Story
O’Neill entered its October 17 matchup against Dover with a 4–2 record.
The Raiders left with a 32–0 loss.
One week later, O’Neill pushed eventual Class C champion Chester before falling 29–21. The Raiders then lost a defensive battle against Highland, 7–0, and closed the season with a 39–15 loss to Burke Catholic.
A season that briefly appeared headed toward a winning record ended with four consecutive defeats.
O’Neill finished 4–6.
Still, the final record does not completely dismiss the progress.
The Raiders scored 205 points after producing only 46 the year before. They allowed 187, which was 40 fewer than they surrendered during the winless season. Despite finishing two games below .500, O’Neill actually outscored its opponents across the full schedule.
Three of the Raiders’ six losses were decided by eight points or fewer.
That is the difference between being completely overmatched and being unable to finish.
It is also why 2026 becomes so important.
Class C Has Opened Up
Chester, the defending Class C champion, has moved into Class D.
That removes the program that defeated O’Neill in each of the previous two seasons and beat Dover 42–6 in last year’s sectional championship game.
But Chester’s departure does not make the path easy.
O’Neill’s 2026 league schedule includes Rondout Valley, Spackenkill, Dover and Highland. The Raiders will face all four in consecutive weeks between October 2 and October 24.
Dover enters the year after consecutive Class C championship appearances.
Highland defeated O’Neill last season and reached the sectional semifinal.
Spackenkill will have an opportunity to avenge last year’s seven-point loss.
Rondout Valley enters the classification after competing in Class B.
Every program in the field can identify a legitimate path to the championship game. Chester is gone, but the opportunity created by its departure belongs to the entire class—not only O’Neill.
The Raiders must take it.
The Schedule Demands an Early Foundation
O’Neill will not have the luxury of waiting until league play to discover its identity.
The Raiders open against Haldane, the same program that defeated them 14–7 in last year’s opener. They then host Beacon before traveling to face Burke Catholic and Poughkeepsie.
That gives O’Neill four nonleague games before its Class C schedule begins.
Those games should reveal whether the Raiders have corrected the inconsistency that defined 2025.
O’Neill proved last year that it could beat competitive opponents. The victory at Spackenkill mattered. So did the dominant performances against Liberty, Chenango Valley and Monticello.
The problem was sustaining it.
The Raiders scored at least 28 points in all four victories. They scored 15 or fewer in five of their six losses.
That is a dramatic divide.
When O’Neill established itself offensively, it won.
When the Raiders were forced into low-scoring games or fell behind stronger opponents, they struggled to respond.
Becoming a legitimate championship contender will require a team that can win in more than one type of game.
Improvement Is No Longer Enough
The 2025 season proved that O’Neill was not going to remain at the bottom.
Four victories after an 0–8 finish represented real movement. The Raiders became more competitive, rediscovered their ability to score and entered the second half of the year with a winning record.
But the standard at O’Neill cannot simply be improvement from a winless season.
This is a program that won 12 games in 2022 and seven more in 2023.
The Raiders know what meaningful postseason football looks like.
The question is how quickly they can return to it.
In 2024, O’Neill needed to stop the collapse.
In 2025, the Raiders proved they could win again.
Now they must show that four victories were the beginning of a rebuild—not the temporary high point of one encouraging stretch.
Class C is open.
The schedule provides opportunities.
The recent history proves the program is capable of more.
O’Neill stopped the fall in 2025. Can the Raiders start the climb in 2026?
