Saugerties boasts strong core of seniors
Sawyers will show foes new look with multi-dimensional offense
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » A core group of three-year starters amongst 21 returning seniors has Saugerties High primed for a big season in Section 9, Class A football.
“We have good size. We have experience there. We’re ready to go.” said Drew Carpino, who takes over as head coach for Dom Zarrella.
Carpino joined the staff as strength and modified coach in 2015 and was defensive coordinator last season. Zarrella, who coached the varsity the past four years, hasn’t gone far. The Sawyers’ athletic director will handle the modified team. Joining the varsity staff is Orrin Logan and Lee Meisinger, a former Sawyers varsity head coach (2012-14) who comes up from the modified.
“The foundation’s here. Coach Zarrella and coach (Nick) Bernard have built a great foundation for us, making the playoffs the last two years,” Carpino said. “Our goal is to take these seniors and the foundation that they’ve built, get into the playoffs and try to make some noise.”
“It’s going to be interesting. We got new coaches this year — new plays, new defense, new everything. We should be better this year,” said senior quarterback Matt Bucci, who is one of the Sawyers’ three-
year starters.
Saugerties opens the season 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, at James I. O’Neill, the first of four road night games this season for the Sawyers.
“We’re really excited. We got some great games and some great places,” Carpino said. “We have a lot of guys in different spots and competing and getting better every day.”
The Sawyers ran into problems in 2017, losing four of their first five games before turning it around and finishing 4-5.
“We fell apart a little bit in the middle,” Bucci remarked. “We were all over the place with it.”
Senior tackles Noah DeGroat (6-foot-3, 295 pounds)
and Kyle Hartrum (6-2, 280) plus junior guard Craig Laurey (6-0, 210) anchor a Sawyers’ offensive line that lost Freeman All-Stars Brett Igoe (center) and Brandon Salmi (guard) to graduation.
“We have good size. We have experience there,” Carpino noted.
Jack Hindes rushed for more than 1,000 yards in ‘17 and finished with a school record 2,300 career yards. He’s now at SUNY Cortland. Junior Caleb Edwards has emerged as the Sawyers’ new primary runner. “Caleb is our big back this year,” Carpino said. “We’re looking for him to break out.”
In the past three years with either Hindes or Jimmy Ball, Saugerties had become a smashmouth running offense. Foes started slowing down that ground attack last year and, without Hindes or Ball,
the Sawyers are really looking to balance themselves.
“That’s the reason we had to change all the plays, because for years we had all the same plays. We were running the same things,” Bucci noted. “We have to switch it up.”
“This year we’re going to be more multiple, give different looks,” Carpino said. “We have great team speed. We’ll bounce in and out of different looks and hopefully we can keep the ball moving, make some big plays with all of our speed guys.
“This year we should be more equal in terms of runpass. We still have guys who can run the ball. Now let’s add the pass and be dimensional.”
The receivers will be led by senior Sean Costello.
“Probably our fastest player on the field is Sean Costello. He’ll outrun anybody out here,” Bucci said.
“He’s going to be a big part of our team this year.”
“Defensively, our group is pretty solid,” said Carpino, who sees senior end Anthony Owen — in his fourth year on the varsity — leading the way.
Also anchoring the defense is another three-year starter, senior linebacker Colden Staccio.
Other returning players are seniors Daniel Ball (defensive end/offensive lineman), Mason Beck (cornerback/receiver), Zach Belfance (center/defensive tackle), Brian DeSimone (cornerback/receiver), Jake Dodig (lineman), James Heinlein (receiver/safety), David Henkle (center/defensive lineman), Mike MacIntyre (receiver/defensive back), Thomas Peters (lineman), Jakob Piratzky (receiver/cornerback) and Connor Staby (lineman); plus junior Graeme Knisell
(running back/linebacker),
Newcomers are seniors Noah Hilton (receiver/cornerback), Nick Smith (receiver/safety) and Tom Stanley (defensive tackle/ offensive lineman); plus juniors Justin Arastiqueti (linebacker/running back), Aiden Becnel (defensive tackle/offensive lineman), Jack Bruno (linebacker/ running back), Christian Jensen (lineman), Alfredo Martinez (lineman), Sean McGirr (cornerback/receiver), Anthony Obermeyer (linebacker/running back), Anthony Paff (receiver/cornerback), Devon Weishaupt (receiver/safety) and Shea Wickham (lineman),
The realigned Class A is loaded. Port Jervis has moved down to Class B, but New Paltz has moved up from B and both Minisink Valley and Warwick have dropped down from AA. Saugerties is in Division 2
with New Paltz, Wallkill, Goshen and Monticello. Warwick, Minisink, Roosevelt and Cornwall form Division 1. Last year, the teams were in one group and six of the seven schools made the playoffs. This time, the top three from each division advance.
“We just want to be competitive. We should be able to compete with all these teams,” Carpino said.
“We definitely got some chemistry. We’ve all been playing together since seventh grade,” Bucci said. “We got speed this year. If we work together, I think we’ll going to be really good.”
SCHEDULE
AUG. — 31, at O’Neill, 6:30 p.m. SEPT. — 8, GOSHEN, 1:30 p.m.; 15, CORNWALL, 1:30 p.m.; 21, at New Paltz, 7 p.m.; 28, at Roosevelt, 7 p.m. OCT. — 6, MONTICELLO, 3 p.m.; 12, at Wallkill, 7 p.m. Home games in CAPS