Sheffield senior quarterback Colby Barr File photo

Sheffield’s football team takes on Union City today in a cross-district game at 1:30 p.m. on Wolverine Mountain.

While it’s emotional for head coach Mike Barr to think about — as a former player himself and current coach of his son and four-year starting quarterback Colby Barr, this might be the Wolverines’ last varsity home game at Sheffield High School.

Or, more aptly named, Wolverine Mountain — the topic of a column this week at pafootballnews.com because, well, “Some teams play on a field. Some teams play in a stadium. But the Sheffield Wolverines? They play on a mountain,” according to the author.

“Dad was an assistant when I played,” said Coach Barr, and now his son Colby has led the Wolverines in rushing for almost every game this season, including 109 yards on 21 carries last week in a 33-7 loss at Cameron County and 104 on 12 attempts the previous week, a 56-32 homecoming game loss to Otto-Eldred/Oswayo Valley.

But from the interesting-but-doesn’t-mean-a-whole-lot department, Sheffield will play an opponent it has more wins than for the first time since 2016. The Wolverines were 2-7 when they defeated one-win Youngsville in the final game of that season.

Sheffield is 1-4 overall this year, but its season-opening 38-6 District 9 Region 3 win over Bucktail was its first win since 2019. The Wolverines’ next two opponents are winless, starting with 0-7 Union City, which has lost 11 straight dating back to last September.

Sheffield has been competitive for the first time in a while, scoring 90 points in five games; Coach Barr isn’t taking any opponent lightly after Sheffield had three straight winless seasons after resurrecting a program forced to co-op with Warren in 2020 due to low numbers.

“They are a run-heavy team,” said Barr. “We need to be disciplined and stay focused. Honestly, we need to minimize our mistakes, and we will have a great game.”

Bears’ senior Austin Brown leads the team with 613 yards (five 100-yard games) and two touchdowns. Union City has 210 yards receiving on the season.

Game plans aside, no need for any extra motivation in Sheffield’s last home game of the season (and a school board decision to close the high school being weighed).

“This game has emotional feelings all about it,” said Coach Barr. “I will definitely take a few moments to soak it all in for sure.”