For the Rochester Prep Tigers, showing progress on the scoreboard can be difficult in Section V football.
The Tigers play in Class B.
This is also the home of state champion Monroe and long-established East High/World of Inquiry, also a sectional champion last year. Honeoye Falls-Lima and Batavia, two other sectional championship contenders in recent seasons, are in the same class. Penn Yan/Dundee and Geneva, teams that have had strong seasons in an independent league, are in the group too.
The good news for the Tigers is that this appears to be their strongest team in its fourth varsity season, whether as the lead school in a merger or as a standalone program. There are four starters back on offense and defense, including two-way players Jayden
Gibson and Jha'mere Doyle-Spearman.
Some teams return more starters from 2025, but the Tigers should be able to count on competence and performance from third-year varsity members Kanye Roberts and Ja'vae Hudson along the line, plus Gibson, a running back/linebacker.
Doyle-Spearman, a receiver/defensive back, is in his fourth and final varsity season with the Tigers. His third was a pretty good one, as he was named a first team Section V Class B all-star.
Eddie Long, the team's coach and a Section V Football Hall of Famer as a player, led Bishop Kearney to state tournaments in 2015 and 2016.
Rochester Prep football at a glance
- Head coach: Eddie Long, third year at Rochester Prep, 17th overall.
- Classification: B
- League/division: Private-Parochial/Independent
- Last season's record: 2-6, no postseason
- Last Section V championship: None. First varsity season was 2023.
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Rochester Prep football schedule for 2026 season
- Friday, Sept. 4: vs. Batavia Notre Dame/Byron-Bergen, 6 p.m. at Rochester Community Sports Complex
- Saturday, Sept. 12: Vertus Charter, 1 p.m. at Rochester Community Sports Complex
- Saturday, Sept. 19: at East Rochester/Gananda, 6 p.m.
- Friday, Sept. 25: at Wayne, 7 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 2: at Geneva, 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 10: vs. Newark/Marion, 1 p.m. at Rochester Community Sports Complex
- Friday, Oct. 16: vs. Vertus, 7 p.m.
Rochester Prep top returning players
OL/DL Kyrell Chess, WR/S Jha'mere Doyle-Spearman, RB/LB Jayden Gibson, OL/DL Ja'vae Hudson, OL/DL Kanye Roberts, OL/DL Jaceon Williamson
Marquee matchups for Rochester Prep
The Tigers could be in line to take more lumps this season with East Rochester/Gananda, Geneva, and Class D sectional title contender Batavia Notre Dame/Byron-Bergen on the schedule. Wayne, another 2026 opponent, defeated Rochester Prep, 50-0 last season.
Or maybe, Rochester Prep has enough experience and talent to make these matchups competitive or pull off an upset or two. There are again two games against Vertus, a team at another charter school in Rochester. Rochester Prep, in its current edition, and Vertus entered varsity football within a year or two of another.
James Johnson, who grew up in the city of Rochester, has worked as a full-time journalist covering high school sports for the Democrat and Chronicle since 1996. Follow him @jjDandC on X (Twitter) and on Instagram. Please contact him at JAMESJ@Gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Prep football may have its best team yet
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