One season can permanently change the way a program is viewed.
In 2025, Saugerties did more than win the Section IX Class B championship. The Sawyers ended one of the most dominant runs in Hudson Valley football history by dethroning Port Jervis, a program that entered the season pursuing its seventh consecutive sectional title.
For years, Class B had belonged to someone else.
Marlboro controlled the division before Port Jervis unexpectedly broke through in 2019. That championship began a new era under head coach Damian Striharsky. From 2019 through 2024, the Raiders won six consecutive Section IX championships and eventually reached the highest point possible by capturing the 2024 New York State Class B championship.
Port Jervis was no longer simply competing for championships. Winning the section had become the program’s standard.
Then Saugerties changed the story.
The Sawyers defeated the six-time defending champions and established themselves as the new team at the top of Class B. That victory gave Saugerties a championship season, but 2026 will determine whether it created something larger.
Did Saugerties build a championship team, or did it build a championship program?
That distinction matters.
A championship team can come together behind the right senior class, the right matchups and the right momentum. A championship program survives graduation, adjusts to increased expectations and continues winning after every opponent begins treating it like the team to beat.
Saugerties will no longer enter the season as the hunter. The Sawyers will carry the title, the expectations and the pressure that come with being the defending champion.
Every Class B opponent now has a measuring-stick game against them.
Port Jervis will also enter the season motivated to restore the order it established over six consecutive years. The Raiders know what it takes to sustain championship success, while Saugerties must now prove that its breakthrough was the beginning of a new standard rather than the conclusion of one historic season.
The 2026 Class B race will answer one of the most compelling questions in Section IX football:
Can Saugerties turn one championship into an era, or will Port Jervis reclaim the division it controlled for six years?