Salamanca's Holleran grabs top defensive prize
By SAM WILSON, Olean Times Herald
Whether he was the back line of Salamanca’s defense or the eighth man in the box, offenses always had to account for Cory Holleran.
If they didn’t, well, the results were usually great for the Warriors.
Holleran, a starting safety since his sophomore year, enjoyed a huge senior season, his second as a Big 30 All-Star. He intercepted nine passes, the most of any defender in Section 6. And he was the team’s second-leading tackler, behind only fellow two-time Big 30 selection Zach Trietley, a senior linebacker.
As the playmaking defensive back behind a Salamanca team that made it all the way to the last day of the New York high school season, Holleran won the selection committee’s vote to win the Big 30 Defensive Player of the Year plaque, officially named the Louis Foy Memorial Award.
Holleran has long had the goal of being among the Big 30’s best and playing in the annual Charities Classic in the summer.
“It’s an honor. As a kid, I dreamed about playing in the Big 30 game and hopefully I get selected to play in that,” Holleran said after Sunday’s testimonial dinner and banquet. “To be one of the best to play in the area is a great accomplishment and I’m excited. I wouldn’t be able to accomplish it without the rest of my teammates.”
Fellow DPOY nominees included Trietley, Pioneer defensive end Sam Platt (the 2023 winner) and Pioneer linebacker Karter Giboo.
Holleran first earned a spot on the field as a sophomore with “football knowledge” and “smarts,” coach Chad Bartoszek said.
“That’s a position where he works a lot with our D-coordinator Aaron Hill,” Bartoszek said. “The coverages are changed pre-play and Cory was able to pick up on it, so he did a lot of communicating and now by the time you get to his senior year, it’s just second-nature and he added weight, pounds of muscle and his speed improved significantly, and that’s where I think you saw some real high-level play from him this year. He’s so deserving of the award just based off the way he plays ... just always involved, always everywhere, and I think offensive coordinators always had to know where he was.”
His impact could be seen against the run and the pass, too.
“He’s either coming up to help stop the run or we’re putting him in coverage to confuse the defenses,” Bartoszek said. “We do manipulate our coverages quite a bit. We don’t just stick in one. We change off and we send a bunch of different blitz packages so there’s always little holes in the defense that he has to cover up for. It’s a lot of that football intuition that he has that knows where the ball is gonna go, knows where the play is gonna be. So it’s like having a quarterback on your defense.”
Since the award’s inception in 1970, Holleran is the fourth Salamanca player to win it and the first since Justin Hager in 2004.
Holleran, one of five Salamanca Big 30 All-Stars (along with quarterback Maddox Isaac, running back Xavier Peters, offensive lineman Warrick Kyler and Trietley), has always enjoyed the safety position.
“You can see everything,” he said. “You don’t gotta deal with the trenches. Sometimes you get the big boys coming at ya, but you can just fly like a torpedo and go hit somebody.”
On the topic of his big interception totals (which included a pick-six), Holleran quickly credited his teammates.
“I credit my defense, the rest of my team,” he said. “The D-line, the pressure. If we have a blitzing linebacker, they get to the quarterback quick and make him throw it and then just trust my other safety and corners and hopefully everybody else is in the right spot.”
And while his biggest impact still came on the defensive side, Holleran also became a big-play weapon on offense. Where last year he played some slot receiver with talented seniors on the outside, this year he was Isaac’s leading receiver at 25 catches for 688 yards (27.5 per catch) and eight touchdowns.
“He’s always had a great knack for the ball, getting open and like I said the speed changed the game for him and he’s been able to get over top of defenses,” Bartoszek said. “So a few of his passes have just been shots over the top, which is huge for us.”
As a receiver, some of his biggest plays came on the biggest stage, with five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s Class C state championship in Syracuse. He also made a huge special teams play, blocking an extra point to keep the game tied at 20-20 late in the fourth quarter.
But the eventual 26-20 loss to Schuylerville still stings Holleran, who received his Big 30 award a day later in Bradford, Pa.
Still, the Warriors had a lot to celebrate in a 13-1 season, including a perfect regular campaign, league title and repeats in both Section 6 Class C and the Far West Regional.
“It was incredible,” Holleran said. “I never want to lose. With how competitive I am, it was great to win all those games. I wish we won the last one, but that’s just how life goes. You don’t always come out on top.”
Holleran is undecided on a college but plans to play football next fall. At his high school, Holleran hopes the Warriors continue in the example he and his classmates set.
“I hope the culture stays high,” Holleran said. “You never stop working and you give 100% no matter what it is and hope your effort and mental toughness is always 100%.”
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