Coming out of week one, only two local football teams picked up victories, while four others suffered defeats. None of the teams faced a division opponent, so a win was just window dressing on a team's record, while the loss is perhaps a temporary blow to a team's confidence.

By no means does an opening victory ensure future success over the next two months of football. On the flip side, a first-game loss is certainly not a harbinger of bad things to come.

Now a few days removed from that season-opener, we asked the six area coaches to assess their team's performances:

* Tim Mattingly, B-G (56-8 losers to Dryden): "I don't think the first game was a true indicator of our capabilities. We have to be more physical on defense, and on offense, we just need to do a better job of blocking."

* Dave Gorton, Greene (21-0 losers to Windsor): "Offensively, we must be more consistent with our line play…we missed crucial assignments last week. It will help that we are suiting up more players for the line this week so we will have depth again."

* Mike Chrystie, Norwich (35-26 losers to Binghamton): "We did a lot of good things, and now our focus is putting together four quarters. We hung with a good Binghamton team for three of four quarters. We talked about not having a second-quarter letdown, and the way we responded in the second half shows a lot about our team."