Sweating It Out
As Summer Ends, Football Begins at Area High Schools

Area high school football camps opened up this week in preparation for the start of the season in early September.

by Danny Lopriore
and Michael Sabini
photos by Andy Jacobs
and Danny Lopriore

Aaron Wright knows high school football from both sides of the game - as a player at Peekskill High School and now as its head coach.

Coaches' schemes and philosophies may be more sophisticated than he remembers as a teen but the first day of summer practice hasn't changed over Wright's more than 25 years in the game.

"It's usually hot, but today's been okay!" said Wright, who graduated from Peekskill High in 1986 and is in his first year as the school's head coach.20 years later. "But that's the way it should be because the idea is to get into shape as quickly as possible. We'll take it slow the first few days, and then crank it up."

Peekskill High School joined dozens of other Westchester/Putnam and Rockland county schools as Section 1 scholastic football teams began practices Monday morning looking toward a September 9 opening day.

The weather, which can often be draining for late-August football practices when 90-plus degree temperatures linger, cooperated, delivering mid-80s temperatures and a gentle breeze that floated from Putnam Valley to Peekskill.

Putnam Valley High opened just five years ago and has quickly developed its varsity football program over the last three years. The team earned a school record seven wins against three losses in 2005 and is being coached by Frank Heitman, now in his second year running the program.

"We're taking it a little slow the first few days because we have a very young team and we're all learning a system," Heitman said. "We don't have one returning senior starter, so we can't force feed the kids too much too early. We're going to grow together over the next couple of years."

As for summer practice, Heitman, who was a standout quarterback for Carmel High School in the early 1990s, said his players were looking forward to the season after a summer of workouts.

"We've had weight training and football camp so the kids are ready to get going," Heitman said. "We'll be sure to get them in shape and then progress form there."

No more sleeping in
For De'Von Beaufort, a senior wide receiver for Peekskill, the first day of camp, which began at 12:30 p.m. at Torpey Field near the high school, waiting to see who would show up was uppermost in his mind.

"I'm one of the team leaders because I'm a senior, so I want to be sure everyone comes to practice," Beaufort said as he waited his turn in a kick-off chase drill. "There are a lot more players who said they would be here, so I'm hoping they make it. We need everyone here to be a good team."

Wright, who was also concerned about numbers, said the laid-back summer lifestyle was a difficult habit to break. He worked out his 24 players and looked for more.

"These kids need to know that it takes a commitment to be here when you want to be sleeping or hanging out," the first-year coach said. "We have kids who have jobs and others are still taking their physicals, so we're hoping more come out (today)."

Preseason football practice can be drudgery but not for John Jay senior running back Ryder Bohlander.
"There are a lot of things I enjoy about practice," Bohlander said. "I enjoy being around my friends and the coaches as well. That's something that means a lot because there is no where else where you can develop that kind of camaraderie and good memories."

Another reason for Bohlander's upbeat approach is because he plays for a head coach in Jimmy Clark, who puts a premium on discipline.

"It's very important to go out there and have a plan," Bohlander said. "Coach Clark has done such a great job in that, it's to the point where we know our plays like a muscle memory.

"That's key because when you're out on the field playing, you don't really have time to think. You have to know what you're doing before you go out there."

John Jay's goal is to go one step further than last season, when it reached the Section 1 Class AA championship game, losing to North Rockland 21-0.

"We just have to go out there and want it more than anybody else," Bohlander said. "Getting to the championship game and winning it, that's our goal. To achieve that, we just have to go out on the field and do what coach Clark tells us what to do. If we do that and execute, we'll be fine."'

Maintaining momentum
Last year, Yorktown lost its first five football games but rallied late to finish at 3-6. The Huskers are riding a momentum memory into this summer camp.

"We have a young team this year but we started to play better at the end of last year," Yorktown senior quarterback Bryan Bagala said. "Now if we can take the momentum from last year, bring it into this year and continue to work hard, we should have a good season."

If the Cornhuskers want to have that good season, they need their younger players to develop, according to Bagala.

"We have to use this time in preseason practice to get our young players in sync," Bagala said. "They have a lot of talent, they just need time to jell."

As senior quarterback, Bagala realizes his work ethic will go a long way in the development of Yorktown's younger players.

"I like to work with the running backs and wide receivers after practices to make sure everyone has their routes right," Bagala said. "We even took some time in the spring and did this as well. That's important because you just can't expect the coaches to take care of everything for you, us as players have to take some initiative as well."

Finding positions
Senior Mike O'Hanlon could see time at both the quarterback and running back position this season for Walter Panas and will play either one coach Anthony Fata requests.

If he does have his choice, however, it's a clear which one he'll choose.
"Don't get me wrong, I like playing quarterback but I enjoy the running back position more," O'Hanlon said. "And I enjoy playing running back more because I love running the ball and I like it more than passing the ball."

O'Hanlon is one of the four captains that Fata named to run the teams' preseason captains' practices that led up to Monday's official start of practice.

"It's something (being a captain) that I take very seriously," O'Hanlon said. "Being a team leader is very important to me because I like having the responsibility of having to get the team ready for the season."

Alumni assistance
While the varsity players sweated out the afternoon session at Putnam Valley, twin brothers Chris and John Moljo were on the field to help their former coach. The Moljo brothers, who graduated from Putnam Valley in June and will attend Iona College in New Rochelle beginning next week, played for Heitman last fall.

"You never like to come back and leave the summer behind but once summer practice starts it's okay," Chris Moljo said. "We wanted to come by and help get the kids going. The program is getting better and better and we kind of miss being here."

John Moljo just remembers the heat.
"Summer practice was always really hot and you hated to do sprints," he said. "I can handle it from this side, though."

A family affair
At Somers High School, where the campus grounds, parking lots and athletic fields are undergoing reconstruction, Tuskers coach Tony DeMatteo seemed all too comfortable on his team's first day of "three-a-days" (sets of three practices each day).

The winningest football coach in Section 1 history was whistling his 38th consecutive opening-day practice. After spending 31 years at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, DeMatteo moved north to coach Somers seven years ago.

"I can't remember if it's 37 or 38 years since I had my first opening day," DeMatteo said as he sat in the team's locker room working out details of practice with his coaching staff. "From now until Thanksgiving it's football. We have a couple of weeks until opening day and it's a lot of work. I've never had a Labor Day holiday away from my teams."

DeMatteo said there are more distractions for teens these days as opposed to his early years when football drew larger numbers to his Yonkers high school and summer camp was well attended.

"Young people in the suburbs have so many things to do and we don't see the same turnout at our summer camps and training programs," he said. "Gorton (a Yonkers high school) came to our camp and brought 60 kids while some of the area schools had 20 or so. I think it's because many of the cities don't have the same options during the summer and are happy to be doing something. But I do see the same dedication from our kids here once we get going."

Dave Totten, a fourth-year player for Somers, said he has come to accept summer practice as a "good thing."
"I'm a senior now and I remember being a freshman and looking up to the older players at my first practice," said Totten, who has evolved from an aspiring quarterback to split end and cornerback since his freshman season. "I don't think anyone would say they like giving up two weeks of their summer to sweat it out on the field, but it has to be done."

According to Totten, who along with his teammates will "live" at Somers over the next weeks or so, DeMatteo's legendary work ethic rubs off.

"Coach is tough on you but it's for the good of the team," Totten said. "We know that it pays off down the road."
The summer session will be the only football played at Somers this year as the renovation on the school's new athletic fields moves through the fall.

"We're playing all of our home games at other schools," Totten said. "That means we'll have to be prepared."
For DeMatteo, who was busy making arrangements for the team dinner during a break between morning and afternoon sessions, summer practice is just the start of a season of dedicated work and "family" bonding. He is joined by son Dominick, an assistant coach, and son Albert, a senior player.

"I love it, so I' think I'll be back after my son Albert graduates," DeMatteo said. "We'll be practice three times a day and eating and working together."

And for all of the players and coaches in the area, it's all just good, healthy, summer fun -- and a lot of hard work.