High School Football Season Kicks Off
BREWSTER – The first official day of high school football practice brought an air of excitement to all the teams.
Football got a week-long head start on all the other fall sports Aug. 17 by mandate of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, the governing body for most high school athletics in the state – including Section 1.
It was a day that AJ Accurso of Brewster High School has been looking forward to since the spring lacrosse season. That’s when lacrosse coach and new Head Football Coach Ryan Cleary told him he would be the starting quarterback, replacing his graduated buddy Chase Prohaszka.
The Bears started at 8 a.m., and went right to work.
“The first day of practice went well,” said Cleary. “The players came ready to work. The first official day always seems to have a little extra excitement around, and today was no different. We focused on some conditioning circuits and introducing our base offense and defense. Being out there today makes it a little more real for the seniors. They understand this is their last preseason, and with a scrimmage in 10 days it is going to go by fast.”
Of course, this is old hat for Ryan McConville, head coach at Haldane High School who is now entering his 12th season. But he said every year is different.
“It was great to finally get going today,” said McConville. “We started things off in the gym for some weight room testing – squats and max verticals – before heading out to the field for a 45-minute special teams session.”
The energy shift was noticeable.
“While we’ve been putting in the work with strength and conditioning all summer, there is a different focus and intensity when you’re officially in gear and setting the standards for the season,” said Cleary. “The guys were locked in and eager to get to work.”
That sure sums up life for Accurso at Brewster.
“The team looks very good – I’m very excited,” he said. “I would say it’s different than what it was in the summer. But today was about knocking off that rust and building some chemistry. Even off the field, we definitely do team bonding. We just talk amongst ourselves. And I definitely saw a boost in our team chemistry over the course of the summer due to that.”
Accurso is no stranger to the offense, as he was a running back and receiver for the Bears last year. “After seeing the boys ready to go at 8 a.m., I felt very confident in our team,” he said.
Accurso is also a lacrosse player, so a familiarity with his new head coach certainly doesn’t hurt.
“I’ve been with him my whole life, so I think he’s doing an absolutely fantastic job,” he said of Cleary. “I think the whole team loves him. He’s passionate. He’s got our team ready to go.”
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MAHOPAC – There’s a great movie line that has been oft-quoted: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
We’re going to amend that slightly: With great expectations come great responsibility.
Jack Kadan knows this and embraces it.
The two-way football star for Mahopac High School began the first official day of practice like thousands of others in the area last week – knowing there are high hopes for his team in 2026.
“I think we’re going to have a really good season,” said Kadan. “I think we’re going to win a lot of games and beat teams we normally don’t beat. I think we’re going to be a really good team.”
Perhaps that was an unconscious reference to Somers. Mahopac has always had its troubles with the Tuskers, dating all the way back to when the legendary Tony DeMatteo was the coach. His son Dominick is now entering his 10th season as head coach at Mahopac.
Kadan is one of the captains of the team. Even though the team has already been going through weeks and months of conditioning and weight training, he noticed an uptick in enthusiasm in the first few days of official practice.
“It was faster and it seemed like it was more competitive,” he said. “We had some full-speed reps and full-speed segments, and did pretty well.”
Kadan didn’t give away the farm, but said the first few days of practice were filled with working on techniques.
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