The members of the Jamestown Chiefs have had June 20 circled on their calendars for quite some time. The Chiefs will finally enter its first season of play with the kick-off of the 2009 Northeastern Football Alliance season in Lyndonville, NY, the first of a 10-game schedule.

It has been a long road to bringing semi-professional football to Chautauqua County since the formation of the team in September, 2008. The search for a league, players, volunteers and all of the elements that go into building a team have been, well, difficult.

“It’s been very difficult,” head coach Brendan Carter said. “We’ve had guys come and go, and we still have new guys coming in that are just hearing about it. Guys are starting to bring friends that weren’t quite sure of it. But we’ve got a good bunch of guys. We’re going give it everything we have on Saturday.”

Putting together the team from scratch has been daunting to say the least, according to team president and general manager Joe Scapelitte.

“You think about putting a football team together and you figure you get some guys together, you put some uniforms on, you get a schedule and you go,” Scapelitte said. “That’s not the case. It’s been so mind-boggling, just everything that goes into this.”

Saturday will mark the first official game in team history, but many of the players and coaches have been taking part in practices throughout the winter and spring leading up to the NFA season. Recently, the Chiefs participated in two scrimmages against Lackawanna and Lockport teams. At one point, the roster had swelled to around 55 players. According to Carter, approximately 40 will suit up this weekend.

The new team will face steep challenges right off the bat. Lyndonville finished its 2008 season with an 8-2 record and ranked second in the league in both offense and defense. When the Chiefs take to Strider Field for the first time on July 26 for the fifth game of the season, it will be against the Monroe County Sting, a team that ranked number one in the nation the past two seasons, Carter said.

“We’re going right to the wolves and we’ll see how we scrap with them,” Carter added.

With the competition, Scapelitte knows there’s likely to be bumps in the road.

“This league is tough,” Scapelitte said. “Two of the teams in this league are national champions of semi-pro football. I think if we can come out and win half of our games that would be exciting for a first-year team. We want to win every game, but realistically I want to see a .500 ball club by the end of the year.”

The Chiefs will officially play five home games- but the first will take place at UB Stadium against the Buffalo Gladiators on July 11. Jamestown will play at Strider Field July 26 against Monroe County, Aug. 8 vs. Glove Cities, Aug. 15 vs. Lyndonville and Aug. 22 vs. the Southern Tier Diesel, a team based in Olean. Scapelitte said the team is still searching for a bus driver to transport the team to selected away games throughout the season.

“The (intensity) has picked up considerably,” Carter said. “The last two weeks, each practice has gotten a little more intense. The guys are pretty pumped.”

Carter said the level of play the NFA will bring this summer will surprise some not familiar with the league.

“You’re going to see some good football,” he said. “This league is exceptional top to bottom. If you are a football fan, you’re going to see a good football game.”

And while building a team from the ground up has been anything but easy, the payoff that comes with the first whistle in Lyndonville on June 20 will officially take the Chiefs from an idea to a reality.

“It’s still surreal that it’s actually coming,” Scapelitte said. “It started with one or two guys running the show and now we have a 10-person board of directors.  We’ve all been making sure that when kickoff comes, we’re ready. You think about a small town like Jamestown being able to compete with Rochester and Syracuse, Buffalo and Albany; that’s pretty cool.”