— — Marcus Lobdell has to admit, he would have liked to be acknowledged as the Class AA North Offensive Player of the Year last season. Instead, running mate Martin Bailey got the nod.

“I was a little jealous,” Lobdell said with a laugh. “Obviously I’m proud of him. That’s my teammate. He’s like a brother to me. But yeah, I’d like it this year.”

Both were scintillating in their junior campaigns for the Blue Devils, and are off to a fine start this season as well, running for a combined 783 yards and 12 touchdowns in just three games.

So far, however, Lobdell is clear in the lead.

The senior quarterback has 407 of those yards to go along with 8-4 edge in the touchdown margin over his good friend Bailey. He ripped off 184 yards and three scores in a big Class AA North win against Riverside last week, and the two will lead the Blue Devils (2-1, 2-0 AA North) in a big division battle against Niagara Falls (1-2, 1-0 AA North) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Crosby Field.

The friendly competition between the two top backs has undoubtedly paid off for Ken West. Lobdell said that the two are constantly going at it about who has more yards in practice.

“This past three games, me and Martin have gone back and forth topping each other in yards. We’ll see what he does this week,” he said. “After last week, it’ll be fun to see if he’ll go a little harder.”

Of course, the competition is just fine by Blue Devils coach Rich Harris.

“Sometimes as a coach it’s construed as being selfish a little bit, but we try to put that aside because these are the type of athletes these guys are,” Harris said. “That type of healthy competition pushes both of them. It’s good.”

Harris said a big factor in Lobdell and Bailey’s success has been the big guys in the trenches.

“The offensive line played very well,” he said. “It’s starting to come around and we’re starting to see some development.”

With the entire unit running on all cylinders, the Blue Devils will be tough to stop. Not only can Bailey and Lobdell rip off long runs, but Lobdell is a factor in the passing game, too.

“Get those guys in the open field, they have a gift,” Harris said. “But if you stop one, the other will be there to bite you. You can’t key on two guys. It’s impossible defensively. When those guys get to the next level, it’s over. They run the distance.”

Lobdell said the Blue Devils have been playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulders since their Week 1 loss to Orchard Park. He added that the same could be said for last week against Riverside, a team that held Lobdell and Bailey to limited yards in last year’s matchup.

“I think I came in the with the mindset that we were all going to go as hard as we possibly could, especially after last year,” Lobdell said. “We felt pretty disrespected the way they came on our field last year. They beat us in a pretty tight game. We felt pretty embarrassed on our field.”

Lobdell pitched in his best passing performance of the season as well last week, finishing with 100 yards on just four completions.

“I have to start passing a little better,” Lobdell said. “Nick Hersey is doing a phenomenal job out there. He’s getting open, but I haven’t been able to get him the ball nearly as much as I’ve wanted. Hopefully I can get him in the end zone a couple times this week.”

And that certainly would make the Blue Devils even tougher to slow down the rest of the way.

“I think you’ve always trying to improve. He’s that type of athlete,” Harris said of Lobdell. “He comes here every day trying to get better and it shows in his performance.”