Pawling Wins Home Opener 34-18 Vs. Haldane

Anthony Reda began his senior season with 272 yards on 24 carries from the line of scrimmage, leading the way for Pawling to rack up 469 yards on the ground.

“Reda is just a special kid, and he had an outstanding game,” said head coach Carl Ferraro. “He had over 270 yards from the line of scrimmage, had three touchdowns, had two more touchdowns called back, threw for a PAT, and covered well and had some big hits on defense. And this was all on day when the conditions were very tough, very hot and very humid. The two touchdowns that were called back were on a kickoff and a 60-yard run from the line of scrimmage.”

Doug Leonaggeo gained 94 yards on 12 carries for one touchdown and one PAT, and Zack Soechtig gained 51 yards on five carries, racking up 145 yards between them at the fullback position. P.J. Pancio ran for 37 yards on four carries, and Bill Vitro gained 15 yards on two carries and threw many outstanding blocks to spring the other running backs for big gains.

Ferraro commended his offensive line for a very good game, and gave them a lot of the credit for the success of the running game.

“Clarkson and Cato are the rocks,” Ferraro said. “They are the only kids who played on the starting line last year. Bauer played last year when Clarkson got hurt, but not at the guard spot where he is now, so he doesn’t have experience at his starting position. Bauer has really come on for us, and he played an outstanding game. From those three guys, those are the veteran guys and they played very well. We were just hoping the newer guys would step up and fill in, and they really did, especially Musella, Hyatt and Gordineer on the offensive line.”

Pawling had touchdown drives of 51 yards, 55 yards and 58 yards in the first half, pounding on Haldane with the ground game, with Pawling scoring one PAT at the end of the half to take the 20-18 lead. There was nothing fancy about the Tiger offense, as the line opened holes and the backs found the way into the secondary. Pawling stopped Haldane on the first drive of the game, then began their first drive at their own 49-yard line. Leonaggeo hit off right tackle for nine yards, Soechtig hit the same hole for six yards, Vitro scampered for 11 yards, Reda hit for six yards, Leonaggeo ran for six, and Reda sprang loose for 19 yards to the Haldane 8-yard line. Reda got four tough yards to the Haldane 4-yard line, then vaulted over the line to score his first touchdown of the day.

All of Pawling’s drives sounded the same way, with the Tigers marching 61 yards on six plays and 63 yards on eight plays in the second half to eat up the clock and extend the lead to the final score of 34-18.

“I saw a big difference in this game compared to the scrimmage,” Ferraro said. “In the scrimmage, I didn’t think the offensive line blocked very well, but in this game against Haldane, there were a lot of big holes. I am not even talking about the ones when Reda was running. When the other guys were running, they were going five yards before they were getting hit. On the first series, we moved right down the field, and Leonaggeo, Vitro, Reda and Pancio were all looking at big holes. When P.J. Pancio can run 15 yards on keepers, we must be blocking pretty well. Hyatt, Musella, Gordineer and Reinert did a very good job for us in the offensive line, and we were very pleased with that.”

Pawling started on offense with Clarkson at center, Bauer and Musella and the guards, Cato and Hyatt at the tackles, Gordineer at the tight end, and Reinert at the wide receiver. P.J. Pancio was the quarterback. Leonaggeo started and played the first half at fullback, but he cramped up and couldn’t play the second half. Zach Soecthig came in for the second half and did a great job as the fullback. Red and Vitro were the halfbacks.

“A big thing on offense was Soechtig playing the second half was huge,” Ferraro said. “He had worked all week at guard, but we started Musella to see how he would do. We kept Soechtig ready to play either guard or fullback, and he came in and played a great game in the second half at fullback. He threw some big blocks, and ran for some tough yards, so he did a great job for us at fullback. Soechtig played the whole game on defense and on special teams.

“For P.J., it was his first game as the starter for us at quarterback, so we were just asking him to run the team and manage the game, and he did a very good job of that. Can you run the team without getting penalties, can you run the team without committing turnovers? He did a great job for us. We had only the one fumble, and that was way downfield.

“Musella played well for a first game, especially when we put him in at linebacker for the second half to replace Leonaggeo. He played defense at crucial times and made some important tackles, so he has come a long way, and he is a real starter now.

“Just about every single kid played. The second offense was Mike Hom at guard, Grover at guard, Otto at tackle, Petti at tackle, with Clarkson at center. We had Gasparich and Maxwell at the tight ends, Soechtig at fullback, Johnson and Durkin at split ends, and Jon Sora, Chris Mayes, Soechtig and Rob Osborne in the backfield. Some of the kids didn’t play as much as we had planned, because they are on the punt team, and we didn’t have to punt the entire game.”

On defense, Cato was at middle guard, Clarkson and Petti at the tackles, Rieger and Gordineer at the ends, Bauer and Musella at the linebackers, the secondary was Soechtig at rover, Vitro and Mayes at the corners, and Reda at safety.

Gordineer and Rieger each had two sacks, and all of them came at crucial times to stop Haldane drives or thwart PAT attempts.

Ferraro also liked the push he got from Cato, Clarkson and Petti up the middle, and he was very pleased with defensive backfield.

“Rieger and Gordineer each had two sacks, and they both played extremely well at the defensive ends,” Ferraro said. “They both have good speed, and I think they both like coming in off the edge in our defense. Billy Vitro had a big interception that broke up a Haldane drive and set us up for a touchdown drive.

“Chris Mayes and Zach Soechtig came up for some big hits for us on defense, as did Vitro and Reda. I like our defensive backfield. We have four kids, and none of them are big, but they are all quick and athletic and none of them are afraid to hit. Two are seniors, Reda and Vitro, and Soechtig and Mayes are sophomores. I think we have a good mix back there.

“Rieger got a couple of sacks his first game ever as a football player. The kid is an athlete. He can run, he can jump, he is fairly strong, he has speed, he is an athlete. Gordineer got two sacks for us also, at really crucial times, and the two of them played an outstanding game. And the push up the middle from Cato, Clarkson and Petti has a lot to do with Rieger and Gordineer being free to come in off the corner. They all played very well against Haldane. Then the backs stepped up, and played very well.”

With only Reda, Clarkson and Cato returning at their positions from last year, plus Bauer who played a lot but in a different position, the Pawling Tigers are an all-new football team.

Ferraro got the game he expected from his veterans, but he was very pleased with the way all of the new faces played, the way the team played a tough second half and won that stanza 16-0.

“We expected to get a good game from Reda, Cato, Clarkson and Bauer, but we were also very happy with the game the new guys played,” Ferraro said. “We have only Reda, Clarkson and Cato at the positions where they started last year, and really, everybody else is in a new position, or didn’t play much at all last year.

“The kids played very well. The biggest thing was that, considering the heat and all that, it was a game where at halftime, we as coaches said, neither team deserved to lose this game. The circumstances we were playing in were tough, with the heat and the humidity. It was just a matter of which team was going to have more will at the end of the game. It was 20-18 at the half. In the second half, we did a good job where we didn’t give up any points, and they weren’t able to stop us the entire game. We never punted the entire game. We had one turnover on a fumble and we gave up the ball once on downs.

“For a first game, and with the conditions, I thought we played well. We have to continue to improve, and we will have to be able to do some more things against the other teams. We have so few kids returning for this year, so this was a very important game to get our new kids some experience, and we got a very big win. In the second half, it was easily a game that could go either way, but these kids stepped up. That is what I look at, that our kids played so well in the second half under very difficult conditions. It was a good first game for us, but of course, it is only going to get tougher as we go through the schedule. But I was very impressed with the game our new kids played, as well as the guys we knew we would be able to count on, Reda, Cato, Clarkson and Bauer.”

Ferraro welcomes a coaching staff of former players, Chris Doria, Jim Opuszenski, Mike Carter, plus the coach’s son, Mike Ferraro, a former all-state quarterback at New Paltz High School. Josh Sheldon and Justin Bell will be coaching, but they will also be doing the scouting for Pawling.