I spent a fair amount of time this afternoon at Iona Prep. What more can I say than the Gaels have the best talent in the area?

Well, what I saw today was a lot like what I saw at least year’s Iona Prep scrimmage with New Canaan. The talent and potential were obvious. There were, though, a few areas where the Gaels can improve.

Nobody said replacing star receiver Chris Alfano and defensive back Darlos James would be easy. Alfano had almost 2,000 receiving yards in the last two seasons and James was a four-year starter. From what I saw this afternoon, the Gaels have a slew of possession receivers, guys capable of catching the ball between 15-20 yards, taking a hit and hanging on. But I don’t know if they have Alfano-type burner just yet.

The secondary is solid unit right now. But given the amount of shouting Iona defensive coordinator Geoff Azzari did this afternoon, perhaps there’s still room to grow. You can do all the speed and skill work you want at practice. But, more than any other postion, the only way to get better at defensive back is through live games. You can simulate the speed and size. You just can’t simulate the pressure of the ball being in the air in the fourth quarter and trying to make up ground after getting beat deep.

Time, though, is not something Iona Prep really has. Well, that’s depending who you ask. The Gaels’ goal this season is to repeat as CHSFL AAA Champions, which has nothing to do with how they fare on opening night. But when opening night is against Bergen Catholic before 15,000 fans at Giants Stadium, it tends to take on greater importance than everything else.

Will Iona Prep be ready? It’s hard to say. I liked what I saw today from Jeff Mack and Tyrae Woodson-Samuels. Mack has definitely packed on more muscle and hasn’t lost a bit of his explosiveness. Woodson-Samuels almost looked bored at times running Iona’s sophisiticated spread offense. He delivered the ball well and precise, which is what he’s done since his first snap last season.

The Gaels did not go full squad when I was there (7 on 7 with the linemen working seperately). When I watched the first-team offense go against the defense, the defense did all the talking and yelling and hitting… and the offense executed effortlessly, moving the ball down on the field. The defense has serious swagger. The offense is a more quiet and conservative unit.

Iona Prep is immense on both lines and appear to be very skilled. Again, over time these units will develop.

It brings us back to my only issue with Iona Prep playing Bergen on opening night: Will it be a fair representation of how good Iona prep will eventually be? Definitely not. But it just might be good enough to win.

This post isn’t going to make me a popular guy among area football coaches. But it’s something I’ve thought a lot about over the past few weeks, I feel quite strongly about, and is something that Section 1 and the state need to ask themselves:

Have offseason workouts in football gotten out of control?

In many cases, I believe it has. The NYSPHSAA and Section 1 have only one real rule against offseason workouts, which we’re all well-versed in thanks to Jonny McGhee: Workouts must be voluntary and a team cannot penalize a player for missing them. Otherwise, the state permits teams to meet in full pads whenever, wherever.

Sadly, the reason the state no longer has a rule against it, sadly, is because “the rules couldn’t be enforced.” What is this, jaywalking?

Now, I’m all for keeping your players sharp and in shape, and understand that having your team work on plays in May and June will pay serious dividends in October and November. It’s the primary reason many teams consistently contend for, and win, championships. Once a way to get ahead, now it’s the only way to keep up.

But is it too much?

Look at the University of Michigan, which is on the verge of an NCAA investigation for allegedly exceeding the permitted number of in-season, and offseason, practice hours. A few ex-players from the 2008 and 2009 seasons claimed in a newspaper interview that the team was required to participate in far more than the NCAA’s eight-hour limit per week for offseason workouts.

Eight hours? Pfff. There are high school teams in this area that wouldn’t get far through Tuesday in the offseason if there was an eight-hour limit.

Please, don’t get me wrong, this is not a Section 1 issue. It’s widespread across the state and, from what I’m told, is worse in other sections.

Nonetheless, something needs to be done because of the health, safety, time and participation issues at stake. The health and safety are most important, of course. The state requires teams hold five days of non-contact practices for “safety concerns” when the preseason begins. Yet, the state allows teams to work out in full pads every second up until Aug. 21. What sense does that make?

The time commitment gets worse every year, especially for the coaches. Most coaches want to meet with their players in the offseason, just nearly as much as they feel pressured to. But if Team A beats Team B in the championship, and Team A meets every day in the offseason and Team B doesn’t, what will Team B now feel compelled to do? Also consider that coaches don’t get paid during these workouts (not that anybody coaches for the money, of course). But most have families they have to give time up with, which can be a strain.

The CHSFL tried to curb this matter this winter by limiting offseason workouts to only seven players on the field at once. It was quite possibly the dumbest idea ever conceived. I watched it in practice at Iona Prep earlier this summer. Somebody is going to get seriously injuried as long as middle linebackers and safeties only have to commit to one side of the field and can tee off on receivers. It’s just stupid.

What should the NYSPHSAA do? Some believe ALL offseason workouts should be banned and the days of the “captains practice” should be brought back. Not a good idea. You can’t have unsupervised workouts. Plus, in those days, coaches were always lurking anyway.

Teams should be permitted, and encouraged to, hold workouts. Here’s what I propose to the NYSPHSAA:

1. A team can hold no more than THREE weight lifting, agility and conditioning workouts per week in the offseason (two hour max per session). That’s pretty standard already for every school. To me, those things are important to a child beyond football and promote health and safety.
2. A team can only participate in THREE DAYS of non-contact workouts (7-on-7s, Linemen challenge, etc.) during the offseason.
3. A team can only participate in TEN DAYS of padded (helmets/shoulder pads) workouts in the offseason. (example: Champions Camp for five days and five days at John Jay).
4. All offseason workouts must still be strictly voluntary.
5. Violation of any of these rules will result in postseason expulsion for one year.

These are hardly drastic. They’re designed to protect the overworked athlete and help the teams who simply cannot gather their players as much in the offseason as a handful of teams.

Amazingly, these limits are probably MORE than what 75-percent of the teams in the area are doing currently. But it’s those other 25-percent that blow past these numbers and need to be controlled.

The rule above that I feel most passionate about is No. 4. We’ve addressed it many teams over the past month with McGhee. My issue with the state rule is the word “penalize.” What is “penalize” really? Obviously, penalizing would be keeping an athlete from participating. But wouldn’t it be considered penalizing if a player misses workouts and is relegated to the third team and never plays? Very vague.

As I said, there are going to be plenty of coaches, parents and probably athletes who roll their eyes at these suggestions. But it’s something that needs to at least be considered at the section and state level.

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine what would happen in you had 5,000 high school-aged kids from an inner-city environment and could assemble one football team. It wouldn’t be a matter of winning a state championship, but how many.

It’s a discussion just about every athlete in Yonkers has had, well, probably even this week. Yonkers, though, has five high schools that, with independent football teams, struggles on a year-to-year basis. If combined, the state’s preeminent football program just might be born.

Merging at least two of those programs, Gorton and Roosevelt, into “Yonkers Central” almost happened this offseason, as I reported in today’s Journal News. Click here to read the article. A proposed plan to merge all five was squashed in the spring because Lincoln, Saunders and Yonkers flat-out refused. The Gorton and Roosevelt administrations couldn’t work out the logistical details of a merge and didn’t feel the need, right now, is pressing enough.

Josh Thomson also had a story today about how John Jay accepts students from North Salem, which is why the program is back in Class AA. Click here to read.

There was also talk in Yonkers about splitting into two teams — “Yonkers East” and “Yonkers West” — among the district’s five main high schools; Gorton, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Saunders and Yonkers High. I did a fair amount of research for this story and analyzed the statistics, which are outlined in the article:

• If you take away Gorton, Yonkers football teams have a combined record of 51-207 (.198) since the start of the 2000 season.


• Gorton had five winning seasons in that span. The other four schools have combined for one, Saunders in 2001.


• The combined enrollment of the five schools would be 4,879, which is over 1,000 more than the largest school in the state, Brentwood on Long Island, and almost twice as many as Section 1’s biggest, Arlington.


• However, the combined enrollment for Gorton and Roosevelt would be 2,284, which would be third most in Section 1 behind Arlington and New Rochelle, and just ahead of North Rockland and Mount Vernon.

I personally don’t think you could combine all of the Yonkers teams into one. It’s just too large of a population. But making two teams, as discussed, would be fair and almost seems necessary at this point.

Although Lincoln, Roosevelt and Saunders have enough players each year (barely) to field a team, the low turnouts are preventing them from seriously contending. A team with 23 guys just can’t consistently compete with one with 45.

Surely, the New Rochelles and North Rocklands wouldn’t be thrilled with a merger like this. But it would improve competition and bolster Section 1 football’s profile, which has a trickle down effect into recruiting and success at the state tournament level.

Every Yonkers player I spoke to pretty much guaranteed a state championship if there was one Yonkers team, and many were convinced that the kids who leave to play at Stepinac or Iona Prep would be more inclined to stay (I’m not sure about that one).

What could the effect really be? We just might find out in the next few seasons.

When I was at Spring Valley practice this afternoon, I stood on the sidelines behind new coach Andew Delva and watched the first-team offense. I couldn’t help but notice the t-shirt Delva was wearing, which said across the back: “Spring Valley UNDEFEATED 9-0.”

Below the bold lettering was the game-by-game results. The scores: 24-0, 48-0, 52-0, 35-0, and all the way down to the final game, a 24-12 win over Brewster. It was the only game the Tigers gave up a point.

What I couldn’t see was the year this all happened. When Devla turned around, I saw it was 2006… the junior varsity.

It was startling. It confirmed the fact that, as far as cities go, there’s as much talent in Spring Valley as anywhere in this part of the state. The problem is that the players don’t stay together.

“The backfield goes to Don Bosco and the secondary will be at St. Joe’s,” Delva said.

It’s a trend Delva hopes to change as the program’s young, energetic new head coach. That 2006 JV squad, which Delva coach, stuck together, for the most part and is now the senior group of this year’s varsity. Some of the guys left for private schools. But the core, according to Delva, remained at Spring Valley.

The impact Delva has on the players was clear to me at practice. The workout was lively and intense. There was plenty of hitting, a good amount of yelling and full energy on every play.

The talent is legit, too. Spring Valley is fair big up front with bookend tackles of Calvin Heurtelou (6-1, 240) and Fritz Menos (6-3, 290). I was really impressed with the pair of running backs the Tigers had in Reginald Allonce and Gerardo Cetoute. Both are fast and showed good feet and elusiveness. The quarterback, Shaquille Gould, is coming off solid junior season and will be a player.

Defensively, the Tigers rebuild their line but have their whole secondary and two linebackers back.

The biggest difference in the program already is the amount of time the players put in during the offseason. Spring Valley went to several 7-on-7s and camps, and were dedicated to the weight room as a team, not just a few guys. At the 7-on-7s, several people I spoke to were in awe with the amount of speed the Tigers had, and receiver Adonis Fils emerged as a potential breakout player this fall.

Can Spring Valley duplicate its JV domination? It will be hard to say. The Tigers have a chance to get to Week 3 at 2-0 with Port Chester and Pearl River on the schedule. Week 3, by the way, is a little outfit known as Nyack.

That’s all for today. I’m off tomorrow but will be back out at camps next week. I’ll check back in tomorrow with my updated Power Rankings. Any suggestions?

Made a quick stop this afternoon over at Clarkstown North, which was finishing up practice before heading upstate for the week for camp.

The Rams have promising numbers. According to coach Joe Trongone, there are over 80 kids in the program’s three levels. There’s not a huge senior class, either, with only 10 players. And the incoming freshman, he said, has a chance to be a special group.

The varsity team returns five starters on offense and four on defense. There would be a player or two more on each side but injuries have sidelined a few, including one player who seperated a bone in his foot while running in the rain forrest in Costa Rica — he was there building houses in a Habitat for Humanity-type organization. Sounds like a pretty good kid, huh?

Although young, North is experienced in key spots. Trongone said returning quarterback Luke Sullivan has looked really good this summer. Sullivan is a 6-foot junior who started all last year.

Danny Macalena has really developed into a good player and will start at fullback and linebacker. He’s a rock-solid 5-8, 190 pounds. Expect big things from him, as well as senior safety/receiver Mike Ciafardini. He and Joey Sanchez (5-9, 170) are back in the secondary, which will be the strength of the defense.

Where North is a “work-in-progress” to Trongone is on the offense line. There’s good size on the roster but just not many reps up front. Vinny Porcelli is back after starting last year as a sophomore. Trongone said camp this week will be vital for that unit to mature quickly.

The Rams won’t have much time once the season starts since it faces a brutal early schedule: North Rockland, Ramapo and then Clarktown South. Ouch. Remember, though, that North played Ramapo tough last year. It was in the game until the third quarter before the speed prevailed.

OK, now I’m heading over to Spring Valley. I actually tried to stop at South before but learned the Vikings already left for camp. I’ll have to catch them on my return to Rockland next week.

Be back shortly.

Nyack coach John Castellano and I played a little game when I visited camp this morning. Slightly giddy, he walked me over to one of the groups going through a one-on-one tackling drill and made a challenge:

“I want you to watch these guys,” he said, “And tell me when you see something.”

It took all of one play for me to spot Donald Davis.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound fullback/linebacker drove through the ball-carrier with a speed and force that you simply don’t see every day. You don’t see it often around Section 1, which made more sense when Castellano told me Davis transferred from Don Bosco when his family moved into the Nyack district this summer.

Davis, a junior, was slated to start at fullback for Don Bosco, the national power over the border in Ramsey, N.J. He’s a legit talent, evidenced by the first play I watched and then 20 minutes of analyzing the workout.

Nyack, the defending Class A sectional champs, are instantly serious contenders to repeat despite graduating 21 players, including Rockland player of the year Anthony Davis. Davis will be replaced by Davis, which should be a smooth transition in name and ability.

Donald Davis fills serious needs at fullback and linebacker for the Indians, who have more talent returning that you might realize.

Quarterback Ray Nichols is back after a strong junior season, highlighted by a sensational postseason. Many were looking at Nichols to carry the offense. He’ll be very good but has plenty around him.

Nyack gets back running backs Kivar Thurman and Venson Constant from injuries that cost them last season. Both are studs. When you see these guys this season, you’ll realize how remarkable last year’s run to the state semifinals was considering the Indians did it without these guys. If Thurman and Constant were healthy, we might be calling Nyack the “defending state champs.”

Elijah Sorel is also back at tackle after a torn ACL against Harrison in the playoffs ended his season. Maxim Ngolla returns at left tackle. He’s enormous, measuring in at 6-3, 270. Very quick and agile. I’m anxious to see Ngolla match up with Ossining’s Dakota Degree.

Nyack also got a transfer from Orlando, Florida in kicker Orlando Rivera (yes, he’s Orlando from Orlando). He booted a 50-yard field goal in practice the other day. Having the insurance of a steady kicker is vital.

I’m a far higher on Nyack now after visiting there this morning. Can it repeat in Class A? It’s going to be difficult considering it could face a playoff road that will surely include Ossining Rye. Can the Indians do that two years in a row? Tough call.

Off to Spring Valley. Check back in a bit.

I have a bunch of assignments to work on today, so I won’t be making many stops at football camps this afternoon. This morning, I did stop at Tuckahoe, home of the reigning Class D champs.

The Tigers are a team many write-off each season. They’re already in the Class D championship since they and Haldane are the only two teams in the conference. Whatever they do in the regular season versus a Class C schedule, in many eyes, is just a bonus.

This Tuckahoe team, though, has a real chance to really compete with the powers of C this season, which wasn’t totally the case since it won a state title three years ago.

The offensive line is very strong. John Jubilee, at 6-3, 270, will be one of the most improved lineman in the area. He’s back at tackle alongside talented guard P.J. Castracucco and center Kevin Chen. Tigers coach John D’Arco said Chen is deceiving with his 5-9, 240-pound frame. He’s very strong and won’t get pushed around by anyone.

Two-way starter Ryan Snavely, a senior tight end/defensive, is back and the Tigers should get a boost with the return of David Peaz. The junior started at guard/defensive tackle as a freshman but missed last season with a knee injury.

Kevin Garobitos has really won over his team as the new starting quarterback. He’s the best athlete on the team and will likely be more of a run-first option. As long as he’s capable of handing the ball off to fullback Jarett Sommer, he’ll be fine. Sommer, a junior, rushed for 1,055 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.

D’Arco said the program as a whole has really come a long way in the last two seasons, between offseason workouts, weight lifting and general organization and commitment. There was one player today who had to miss the practice because of a family commitment. To make up for it, he showed up before 8 a.m. and was running laps.

“A few years ago,” D’Arco said. “That never would have happened. These kids are really dedicated.”

Tuckahoe knows that, as the smallest school in Section 1 enrollment-wise, that it faces a difficult task. But a roster of 30 players has “no dead wood” according to D’Arco and has only seven seniors. The Tigers are going to be pretty good this season — and perhaps state final-worthy the next.

There must be a theme building around camps I’m visiting this afternoon. When I showed up at Gorton, coach Dan DeMatteo threw up both hands and made a proclamation.

“This has to be the most stressful day of my coaching career,” DeMatteo said.

The reason? He, too, is waiting for word from Section 1 regarding the eligibility of one of his star players, Casey Meltz. The senior guard/linebacker, like Dave Thomas at Roosevelt, requested a fifth year of eligibility because an injury prevented him from missing an entire season prior. Thomas was granted his request. Meltz, at the moment, is still in limbo.

Meltz was at practice this afternoon, on the sideline, along with Devon Knuckles, who was denied his request yesterday. Knuckles was at Stepinac two years ago, had an injury, and transfered to Gorton last year where he played three sports. But his request was turned down, although Gorton intends to fight for him still.

As for the eligible players, DeMatteo feels the Wolves are in very good shape. They have two solid lineman in guard/linebacker Alex Strong and tackle/nose guard Marcus Reid. The backfield has so much talent that the preseason competition has already been incredible.

“We have three right-half backs and three left-halfs,” DeMatteo said. “We have a couple of quarterbacks and three split ends. We have so much depth at the skill positions.”

Unfortunately, there’s only one football and DeMatteo knows he has to make decisions on how he’s going to distribute the ball each game. The best thing for Gorton — you know, other than running the spread offense to increase the number of plays, which the Wing-T loyal DeMatteo won’t soon do — would be to make it an open competition for the entire season. Don’t name any starters. Let it sort itself out on a week to week basis. Think guys would take a single down off at practice or fear missing a day? No chance. Competition only pushes guys to get better. It’s a fact.

As for Meltz, who is arguably Gorton’s top player, I’ll hopefully get official word later on his status. I know Gorton is anxious awaiting the decision.

I made two trips this afternoon to Roosevelt. The first time, the team was on break and there was nobody out on the field. The second time, the team was practicing… and it still looked like nobody was out on the field.

Numbers are a slight issue for Roosevelt this season. The Indians have only 25 currently on the roster, a few of which were out of practice today. The Indians have only seven linemen. But although they’re short on bodies, they’re deep in skill.

The Indians just might have as much talent as the skill positions as any team in Class A this season, especially now that running back Dave Thomas has been granted eligibility. The ruling came down earlier this morning from Section 1 for Thomas, who was given a fifth year because he sat out a season with an injury.

“You should have seen the reaction of the kids when I told them,” Roosevelt coach Mike Meade said. “You would have thought we won the Super Bowl.”

Thomas was ecstatic, too, as was Donovan Walker, the talented quarterback. They’re a dynamic combo. One without the other just wouldn’t work. Defenses now can’t key on one.

Walker, who’s built like an NFL safety, is going to miss the first two games of the season after tearing his ACL in March. Doctors told him he needs the full six months to recover.

The player who could make a serious impact is A.J. Pritchett at wide receiver. One of the coaches said “If he doesn’t lead the league in catches, I’d be shocked.”

Pritchett is 6-2, 180 and glides through the secondary. Great hands, from what I saw, and a real grasp for the position. His older brother was a standout receiver at Roosevelt in the early 90s, played at Rhode Island and is currently playing professionally in Germany. He’s also a Roosevelt assistant coach.

Health, like most teams, is the major concern for Roosevelt. If it can stay injury-free, it has a chance to really make a playoff push in its first season in Class A.

Back with another update soon.

One of the team’s that really intrigues me this preseason is Edgemont. Rye is out of Class B, leaving the championship up for grabs. Pleasantville, Nanuet and Sleepy Hollow are firmly in the mix based on talent. And I’m a firm believer that all success in high school goes through cycles—and the cycle is bound to come back here at Edgemont.

It was longer ago than you realize that Edgemont won those back-to-back-to-back state championships in Class C. It was 1998-2000, actually. There was a reminder of how long ago that was today when I stopped at practice and ran into assistant coach Matt Bernstein and Marc Saracino. Bernstein was a star at Edgemont during the glory days; Saracino was the quarterback at Rye that challenged those Edgemont teams each year. Now they’re coaches.

The new generation at Edgemont, at least this season, looks quite promising. The Panthers return nine starters on offense and have only four senior starters total. There’s only seven seniors on the roster.

Edgemont, which went 7-2 last year, has a very good nucleus to work with. Joseph Hoffman is back at quarterback after passing for 730 yards and five touchdowns last season and rushing for 890 yards and seven scores, averaging over seven yards per carry. I watched him for a little bit this morning. He has good command of the offense and is slightly bigger than the 6-foot, 175-pounds he played at last season. Expect the Panthers to tinker with the playbook to fit Hoffman’s size and speed. He’s going to be a player.

So will the Panthers’ two backs in Ed Jung, a junior in his second year at fullback. Jung is explosive and has a chance to really breakout this fall. Andrew Noble returns after a productive junior season at halfback (509 yards rushing and five touchdowns). Jung’s brother, David Jung, is back at left tackle. David will be a nightmare to block at 6-foot-1, 280 pounds. Sophomore David Chun is a force, as well, especially at linebacker. Very strong and put together well.

Edgemont has to replace Gabe Wittenburg, who seemingly made every tackle last season at linebacker. But the experience the Panthers have back should make up for it.

I’ll be out at camps later this afternoon, like Roosevelt and Gorton and perhaps a few others. Please, if you’re out at any camps post your thoughts here.

We’ve added a few more highlight films to our site on Lohud.com, which you access here. We’re up to 28.

The latest editions were David Jung, a 280-pound lineman at Edgemont, and Gabe Ostrow, a fullback at Nanuet.

We’ll be accepting highlight tapes from all high school players during the season. Please post your link here or email me it directly at kdevaney@lohud.com.

I made a quick stop this afternoon at Westlake, the team that reached the Class C championship last year but is being bumped back up to Class B this season.

The Wildcats were a mere footnote to history last fall. They were the team that upended Croton in the regular season and looked like they were going to be beneficiary of Dobbs Ferry getting upset in the semifinals. But Westlake ran into a far different Croton team it beat handily in Week 3 and had to watch as the Tigers reached the Carrier Dome three weeks later.

Westlake turned over most its roster from last season as the program as a whole has taken a different shape. There’s a JV team for the first time since 2003, which means there will only be about 25 players on varsity and 25 on JV (last year had about 40 on the varsity).

The Wildcats are a very young team, although many of the seniors it does have are two- and even three-year starters. The line is big, led by 6-6, 270-pound Joe Luckie, and athletic with guard Edison Gramajo, a senior captain. Although the roster is long, just about everyone on it, according to Rich Hennessey, will play.

Adam Ranellone will take over as the primary ball-carrier. The senior fullback has really packed on muscle in the offseason, and will be a problem to tackle at 5-foot-9, 210-pounds. Ranellone, also a linebacker, will be one of the conference’s top two-way players.

Will Duff, a senior, takes over at quarterback. And there a few good young tailbacks, the most intriguing being Matt DeBiase, the sixth brother to play for Westlake (there’s two younger brothers, too). Jesse DeBiase was Westlake’s standout running back/linebacker last season.

It’s difficult to forecast what Westlake will do this season in Class B. The teams on its schedule are all familiar from when they were in B two years ago. Briarcliff, Pleasantville and Edgemont all figure to be tough matchups. If the Wildcats can beat Irvington in Week 2 and Kennedy in Week 3, they’ll be in good shape to earn a playoff spot over the final three weeks.

That’s all for today. I’ll make a few stops again tomorrow. Suggestions are always welcome.

My first stop this afternoon was up in Chappaqua where I watched a few minutes of practice at Horace Greeley.

The Quakers are interesting team to me. They’re always in the mix, whether it’s in Class A or a few years ago when they reached the Class AA semifinals with a loaded squad. Last year, a young group went up a brutal schedule that included Ossining, Yorktown, John Jay and Poughkepsie in the regular season. The schedule isn’t any better, but Greeley should be far better equipped to compete in it.

The offensive line is back, with talented senior Ben Green, Ben Berkey and Michael Held and Kyle Schaub leading the way. They’ll be one of section’s biggest units, especially with th 6-foot-5, 280-pound Berkey at tackle.

Sophomore Justin Ciero has a chance to be one of the section’s breakout stars. He’s a thick 5-11, 190-pounder who looked comfortable running the offense. Coach Bill Tribou spoke highly about his potential during our conversation.

What really struck me was how the Quakers lined up on offense while I was there – in the spead. Yup, Tribou, a disciple and former player for Tony DeMatteo, is making room in his Wing-T playbook for some four-receiver sets. If you know the spread, you understand that’s a better scheme to run out of than anything. Greeley will look to do just that.

Greeley won’t have any trouble finding a group of tough, durable backs. It never does. And defensively, the Quakers are always physical and disciplined.

We’ll learn about Greeley early. It starts the season Poughkeepsie-Brewster-Lakeland, which Tribou believes is the toughest start of any team in Class A. Fox Lane is also on the slate.

Off to Pleasantville now. Then we’ll see where the day takes me from there. Enjoy a beautiful afternoon.

In Saturday’s edition of The Journal News, Rick Carpiniello wrote a column about how Dobbs Ferry plans to reestablish itself as the elite team in Class C. I had an article two weeks ago about Albertus Magnus’ plan to contend for the title. Carp had a report from Hastings on the first day and I stopped at Bronxville, and we reported how each feels it will be heavily in the mix for a sectional championship.

What about Croton?

The reigning Class C champs have gone somewhat overlooked this preseason, at least until today. I had a story in The Journal News on new quarterback Tyler Dorien, who has been very impressive so far and is poised for a breakout season.

Dorien, a lefty, was superb in the Big Apple Shootout, the 7-on-7 tournament at White Plains in June. He’s growing more and more comfortable at the position, which he’s never played before at any level.

Croton, in my opinion, is still the favorites to win in Class C. Between Dorien, Joe Tralli, Matt Tralli, Tyler Keppler and a handful of lineman returning, this is still the team to beat.

They will, however, face as much competition for that title as any team has faced in recent years. As I mentioned, Dobbs, Bronxville, Hastings, Rye Neck and Albertus will all be there in October believing they have a shot. It should create plenty of intrigue all season long in Class C.

During my stop yesterday at Mount Vernon yesterday, I ran into basketball coach Bob Cimmino. He had some not-so-surpring news about star point guard Jabarie Hinds.

The 6-foot rising junior has been inundated with scholarship offers this summer, most recently from Wake Forest, Louisville, South Carolina, Virginia and St. John’s. This isn’t just recruiting “interest.” These are OFFERS.

Hinds has long been on the radar at just about every Big East school, especially UConn, which has been on him since last summer. West Virginia and Ohio State are two other prominent schools keeping close tabs after a phenomenal summer with the Westchester Hawks. He also competed in the prestigious Reebok All-American Camp in Philadelphia in early July.

OK, back to football.