Haldane Readies to Say ‘Hike!’

PUTNAM COUNTY – The 2026 high school football season was set to begin Monday, Aug. 17, with the first official day of practice in Section 1.

“This time of year is definitely exciting and we are looking forward to seeing the results of the work we all put in over the last few months,” said first-year Brewster Coach Ryan Cleary.

Haldane senior running back/linebacker Alex Gaugler agreed.

“It’s a great day for our program and seeing everyone committed to actually finally get their feet wet,” he said. “It’s great to see what a real practice feels like for the first-year players and new players and starters.”

By that he means it was the first official practice. In actuality, the players have been at it for weeks and months. There has been weightlifting, training, conditioning, camps, and scrimmages. But the rule is that the players cannot be coached during that time.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t learning, however – and setting the foundation for the future.

“At Brewster, we had kids doing off-season workouts three days a week,” said Cleary. “My high school players did a great job helping out with our weeklong youth clinic the first week of August. Our players ran drills and mentored our younger players. One of the areas we want to focus on is building the relationship with our younger players.”

“This helps increase our team chemistry and turns us into more than just teammates,” added Gaugler. “We become brothers.”

Contact drills, or “thud days,” as players call them, begin in a little more than a week. The season begins in earnest in the first week of September.

“I’m excited to get going,” said Gaugler. “It’s all different now. We’re all working with a common goal of winning on Friday nights and Saturdays. We want to build a great foundation for every team that comes after us. With a small school like us, it’s like we have to rebuild every year. I expect great things from our players and from myself.”