Football times five: a preview of Sullivan County teams

Are you ready for some football?

By RICHARD A. ROSS

PORT JERVIS, NY - In the early morning hours for the past two and a half weeks, Sullivan County’s five high school football teams have been rigorously practicing for the upcoming season that begins on September 1 and 2.

While practice sessions stress the fundamentals of the game and quickly get players into shape, live contact in a scrimmage is the first realistic indication of a team’s status. Anxious to get underway with their 2006 football campaigns, four Sullivan County teams traveled to the annual Port Jervis scrimmage held at the Port Jervis Middle School field on August 26. Tri-Valley opted to scrimmage at Spackenkill against Highland, Marlboro and FDR.

Meanwhile at Port Jervis, players from Sullivan West, Liberty, Eldred and Livingston Manor/Roscoe (LMR) were pumped and excited to get on the field and get their first licks in.

The scrimmage afforded teams an opportunity to kick and receive punts, try extra point kicks and test out their offense and defense against each of the other teams, which also included Goshen, James I. O’Neill and Port Jervis.

While coaches looked on closely and commented, sometimes vociferously, teams worked on running, blocking, passing and tackling.

Sullivan West’s Jason Leewe blitzed through Liberty’s secondary on a reverse for a score, and John Figueroa showed his quickness and ability to cutback on a rush up the middle. On a subsequent play, Figueroa scored for the Bulldogs. Will Schlott also made some headway. Jim Moloney looked good at quarterback and Sullivan West’s defense did a good job of stifling LMR and Liberty. Port Jervis was able to score on the Bulldogs.

At the other end of the field, Eldred’s defense slowed Goshen’s attempt to move the football. Quick and aggressive, the Yellowjackets honed in on the ball carrier and disrupted pass attempts.

When they got their turn on offense, quarterback Nick McCormick threw a strike to Sean Colley for a touchdown. He later hit Tom Compasso for another touchdown as coaches from Chester looked on and took notes.

Chester did not participate in this scrimmage. They got at it earlier in the day, as did Tri-Valley and other Section 9 teams in two other regional scrimmages. Chester will be playing all four Sullivan County teams this season.

Liberty’s André Brand got near the goal line on a keeper, but Bulldogs coach Ron Bauer got his players to induce a fumble to end the threat at the one. Meanwhile, LMR marshaled its forces against division rival Eldred and tried to keep up with larger Liberty and Sullivan West. Quarterback Tyler Schmidt was busy getting in some live play action, while fullback Kelly Lackey was finding out how his blockers will enable his exploits in the weeks to come.

The scrimmage afforded coaches an opportunity to shore up weaknesses before the season openers. Expect some bruising games in week one as area teams try to gel and stay healthy for the more important league contests that are down the line.

Port Jervis, a perpetual football powerhouse, looked strong, but somewhat smaller than in past years. Port will host rival Middletown in a non-league game on September 1 before beginning its league quest the following week at home against Wallkill. They’ll be on the road against defending champs Cornwall and then at home versus Rondout Valley.

Judging from the performance at the Port Jervis scrimmage this year, it looks as if all four Sullivan County teams will make a good showing before it’s all over.

Visit riverreportersports.com for articles on all of the Sullivan County football teams and albums of pictures from practice and Port Jervis.