The moment I stepped on the track at Carmel High School this afternoon, I could hear the screams down in “The Pit.” By the time I reached to stairs that descend from the track to the bottom practice fields, I could see where they came from.
It was one of the great football scenes of the summer. The final few teams standing in the annual lineman challenge were engaged in the highly anticipated tug o’war before a throng of players, parents and coaches. The result was a bit of a revenge victory for Arlington, which beat Newburgh Free Academy in both the tug o’ war and the overall standings to win. Last year, Arlington finished second behind NFA.
The outcome should’ve been somewhat of a surprise considering Arlington graduated nine starters on offense, nine on defense and its kicker, punter and long snapper, but the Admirals’ cupboard is far from bare.
I talked to coach Dominick DeMatteo, who was optimistic about the strength of his team up front. Seniors Logan Murphy and Anthony Dabney were in the rotation at tackle on the offensive line. Murphy, whose brother, Tyler, was one of Arlington’s stars last season, will likely play guard this season. Why? We’ll get to HIM in a second.
The Admirals also return a key piece of their defensive line in John Migliaccio, who, along with the younger Murphy and Dabney, earned plenty of playing time up front. But another player who really excites DeMatteo is senior Eric Kuklinski. At 6-foot-6, 260 pounds, he’s the biggest player on the team and among the handful of biggest players in the section. The only reason we haven’t heard much about Kuklinski up until now is because he missed multiple games with an illness last season. By the time he returned, DeMatteo said he suffered a broken wrist and missed the remainder of the season.
“We think he can be the first true Division I-AA prospect we’ve had,” DeMatteo said.
The scary part? Kuklinski wasn’t even in attendance today, yet Arlington STILL walked away winning the prestigious event. The Admirals won five of the 10 events, including the bench press. Each of the five team members had a chance to lift 185 pounds as many times as possible in 30 seconds. Arlington’s quintet finished with 125 reps in what amounted to 150 seconds. That’s impressive.
Anyway, there were 29 teams involved in this year’s lineman challenge. Teams earned points (either 10, 8, 6, 4 or 2) for placing in the top five in an event.
Here’s how they were ranked in the end:
Final standings —
1. Arlington, 58
2. Newburgh, 52
3. Cornwall, 26
T4. Poughkeepsie, 20
T4. Mount Vernon, 20
6. Brewster, 16
T7. New Fairfield, 10
T7. Putnam Valley, 10
T7. Red Hook (No. 2), 10
T10. Our Lady of Lourdes, 8
T10. Carmel, 8
T12. Somers, 6
T12. Poughkeepsie (No. 2), 6
T12. FDR-Hyde Park, 6
T15. Gorton, 4
T15. John Jay-East Fishkill, 4
T17. Cornwall (No. 2), 2
T17. Wallkill, 2
The following did not score:
Scarsdale
Pleasantville
Newburgh (No. 2)
Pleasantville (No. 2)
Carmel (No. 2)
Arlington (No. 2)
Somers (No. 2)
Arlington (No. 3)
Pleasantville (No. 3)
Red Hook
FDR-Hyde Park (No. 2)
Wallkill (No. 2)
Event standings:
Bench press — 1. Arlington, 2. Poughkeepsie, 3. Somers, 4. Cornwall, 5. Mount Vernon
Farmer walk — 1. Arlington, 2. Mount Vernon, 3. NFA, 4. New Fairfield, 5. Brewster
Root hog — 1. Putnam Valley, 2. Carmel, 3. Cornwall, 4. Gorton, 5. Wallkill
Tire flip — 1. Arlington, 2. NFA, 3. Brewster, 4. Poughkeepsie, 5. Cornwall
Shiver — 1. Brewster, 2. NFA, 3. FDR, 4. Red Hook (No. 2), 5. Arlington
QB sack — 1. Mount Vernon, Cornwall, 3. Red Hook (No. 2), 4. Brewster, 5. NFA
5-man — 1. NFA, 2. Poughkeepsie, 3. Poughkeepsie (No. 2), 4. Gorton, 5. Arlington
Bag toss — 1. Arlington
Mystery mountain stack — 1. NFA, 2. Lourdes, 3. Cornwall, 4. Arlington, 5. Cornwall (No. 2)
Tug o’ war — 1. Arlington, 2. NFA
20 Comments
Concerned,
You tell em buddy…talk about an irresponsible comment and reckless accustation.
Of course it couldn’t be that they are just outworking everyone all winter over in LaGrange.
Its much easier in todays society to pat little Johnny on the back after getting beat and tell him, “thats okay Johnny, you would have won if they hadn’t cheated” and then take him out for ice cream. After all, who wants to recognize that their kids didn’t work hard enough to get it done when you can just call those who beat them cheaters.
I guess since Newburg has won this event like 9 of the last 10 years they must have some really good science going on over there as well. Or, the more likely scenario, they spent a decade working harder than everyone else to prepare for such an event.
It would be great if clowns like concerned didn’t make themselves feel better by beating down kids who worked very hard to achieve a common goal with their reckless and baseless accusations.
Where’s some reporting about the 7 on 7? It’s like it never happened. Nothing?
Josh…Any confirmation on Cas leaving Nyack and going to DB?
truth hurts ,
Boys stop with the steroid stuff. Slandering these guys is ridculous. NFA was never questioned why are you going to question Arlington?
***NFA was never questioned when they won in the past..
Please do not come on here and accuse athletes of any wrongdoing or you will be banned from posting here.
Stick to football. Thank you.
Seems as though P’ville will have another banner year next season.
Concerned!!
What happen it’s your son senior year!!!... And you know he is not gonna get on the field so this was gonna be what you was gonna Bragg about at work while you are standing around the water cooler!!!....lol
Congrats to Coach DeMatteo and his boys.
I was at the Friday night 7 on 7 and in my opinion Stepinac was the most polished team there on both sides of the ball. The Stepinac vs. White Plains 7 on 7 was the highlight of the night. I believe Step won 3 tds to 1 but WP has some really good athletes running around.
The rest of the teams looked like they were playing at a slower speed. Brewster and Carmel looked better then last year and Yorktown looked down from last year. I didn’t watch much of Ketchem but they looked like they had some decent athletes. Rye Neck and Byram Hills did not impress me at all.
Stepinac looked way more superior compared to every team at the Carmel 7 on 7. I thought WP looked good but nowhere near as good as Stepinac. WP has a lot of work to do being this is first year in spread offense, but by the time November comes around, I will be interested to see how good they are then.
As Carmel 7on7 said before, Brewster and Carmel looked better then last year and Yorktown seemed a little down. Rye Neck and Byram Hills looked like a JV team in my opinion.
Went to Carmel 7 on 7 sat. The lineman challenge hands down took over the day. The only team that seemed to show up was Arlington. Players were encouraging and very upbeat and focused at what they were doing. The rest looked like JV teams. Not one player stood out during the coarse of the day. The only other buzz I noticed was how fustrated coach walsh from Lourdes was getting with his QB. I have not seem him that upset in years. They are in trouble with a much tougher schedule this year from last. Apparently they have a parent coaching on the team and his son is attempting to play quarterback “Not good”. The poor kid coud not read the D or make the throws. They apparently are going to rely heavy on the running game. Huge offensive line all returners and are expecting big things on defense with a couple of freshman coming up from jv.
I thought rye neck looked ok they beat Brewster & held Carmel scoreless tied Yorktown and got beat up by ketchem.Ketchem looked very quick and sharp. A small C school against the big boys!
never sleep on a coach walsh team , they will be ready , massive line , could be biggest in section 1 , strong tailback , very quick d , coach walsh great game planner , look out
Real insider?????
Walsh has been getting frustrated at his QB’s for over 20 years, was told he has a freshman, to be a soph in fall that could be his guy for the next 3 years.
Don’t put too much stock in a 7 on 7 in June, hs football is about playing meaningful games in November.
Real Dutchess Insider good reporting!!
It is nearing the end of June how would you rank the teams from the old AA North for this upcoming season and who would you say are the top 5 players we need to know about?
Dear “The real Dutchess insider”
Newburgh came in second at the linemen challenge with 52 points. Arlington finished with 56 points and third place Cornwall finished with only 27 points. I think Newburgh showed up too only losing by 4 points.
someone who knows,
If you read my blog I said the lineman challenge took over the day. Apparently “YOU DON’T KNOW”.
friday nights 7-7 in carmel was pretty interesting, the problem is it doesnt amount to a hill of beans. if it did then brewster would have been the most shocking entry -beating white plains-kectham-carmel and yorktown.no offense bears some may think its time for josh to pay attention to you,maybe your rebuilding years are behind you.