Coach Carl Ferraro gets 150th win as a head coach
By John M. Benson
October 13, 2007
Defeating Croton 24-6 on Saturday, October 13, the Pawling Tigers delivered head coach Carl Ferraro his 150th win as a high school football coach, extending the record that he already holds as the winningest coach in the history of Dutchess County high school football.
Ferraro has said all season that he and his team have dedicated this season to his father, Pops Ferraro, who has coached with Carl since they arrived at Pawling High School in 1986. Ferraro has won 118 of the games in his remarkable career at Pawling High School, with the first 32 wins at Highland High School prior to his move to Pawling.
Ferraro will receive an award for his 150 wins from the New York State High School Sports Writers Association, as he did for his 100th win some years ago.
“I think we just happen to have all this stuff happening at the right time, and everything is positive,” Ferraro said the following day. “This was a big game for a bunch of different reasons. We have all dedicated this season to Pops. Making the playoffs and going into the playoffs with the momentum off of the win, getting more wins than we had the year before, Reda getting his 1,000 yards for the season, the kids somehow finding out about my 150th win, there are a lot of different things going on. They have earned their place in the playoffs with a lot of hard work and dedication. There are at least two more games, and possibly more for this amazing group of kids.
“The game with Croton was a good game for hitting, there was a lot of good hitting. Our kids played hard. They wanted to get the final win at home, and they wanted to get into the playoffs and get there on a winning roll. I didn’t know they knew about the 150 wins, but I imagine that had something to do with it. But we played very well and I was very proud of our kids.
“We will have to play our A Game against Rye Neck to be competitive, but I believe it will be a very good game. I think if we play our A Game, we can play with anybody. I thought going into the season that other than Dobbs Ferry, we had a shot at everyone, and that is exactly what happened. We won three games against Dover, Croton and Haldane. We were down by three points in the fourth quarter at Bronxville with five minutes left in the game, and we lost by two points to Lincoln Hall, and then we lost to Dobbs Ferry.
“Against Croton, the guys played very well. We had some very good drives, two for touchdowns in the first half, and the really nice drive to start the third quarter that ended in the first touchdown for Osborne as a Tiger. I have always told the kids that the first possession of the third quarter is a real key to the game.”
Anthony Reda went over the 1,000 yard mark for the season. An outstanding talent and entirely relentless runner, he has gained his yards behind the amazing work of an offensive line that has only two returning members in the same positions, and the outstanding lead blocking of fullback Doug Leonaggeo and running backs Bill Vitro, Zach Soechtig and Chris Mays.
That offensive line consists of Cody Clarkson, Nick Cato, Ken Bauer, Nico Musella, Joe Hyatt, Ray Gordineer and split end Brendan Reinert and Drew Durkin. This line opened holes all day against Croton, as Leonaggeo pounded the ball up the middle and Reda raced free in the open field.
Reda had 145 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns to give him 1,004 yards on the season, plus one interception on defense.
Leonaggeo thundered for 135 yards on 22 carries, including one burst off left tackle that went for 18 yards and the Pawling touchdown that made it 12-0 with 8:52 remaining in the second quarter.
Sophomore Rob Osborne started his first game for Pawling at quarterback and had a very good day. He managed the offense very well, ran for the first touchdown of his Tiger career, and accomplished his first pass completion and his first pass interception.
The defense had a great day against Croton, with a lineup of Cato, Clarkson, Gordineer, Leonaggeo, Bauer, Reda, Dylan Rieger, Don Otto, Chris Mays, Zach Soechtig and John Petti. Pawling spent the day in the Croton backfield, with sacks and tackles for losses by Cato, Rieger, Otto, Leonaggeo, Bauer and Gordineer. Passes were broken up by Reda, Soechtig and Mays, and the Tigers got interceptions by Soechtig and Reda.
The roster includes Nick Cato, Cody Clarkson, Anthony Reda, Ken Bauer, Doug Leonaggeo, Jon Sora, P.J. Pancio, Zach Soechtig, Chris Mayes, Bill Vitro, Ray Gordineer, Luke Testa, Nico Musella, Rob Osborne, Mike Hom, Chris Johnson, Zack Grover, Reinert, Brandon Reinert, Dylan Rieger, Drew Durkin, Eric Gasparich, Billie Maxwell, Joe Hyatt, Don Otto, Corey Vitro and John Petti.
Ferraro was extremely proud of the way this team has come together this season, because Pawling had to replace all but three starters, Cody Clarkson, Nick Cato and Anthony Reda, and Pawling had to come up with an entirely new coaching staff.
As he said the day after the Croton game, “The kids in the offensive line have been doing great, and I can’t say enough about them, the quality way they are playing. We have Cato where he was last year, but Clarkson was hurt much of last season, and Bauer only started after Clarkson got hurt. Hyatt, Musella and Gordineer are all starting for the first time. We are really proud of those guys. They are finding a way to get it done out there, and they are really stepping up and playing well. I am giving them the credit. They have hung together and they have gotten a lot better. It is like they are working as a unit, and they are doing a great job.
“You have Petti and Rieger and Otto on the defensive line, three more first-time starters, and Vitro, Mays and Soechtig in the backfield, none of whom had started before this year. You have a bunch of kids who have stuck together and worked hard, and they are doing a great job, all of them.”
And the incredibly effective, almost all-new staff of assistant coaches, all men who have played for Ferraro.
As Ferraro said, “The coaches have also done a great job, Chris Doria, Jim Opuszenski, Mike Carter and Josh Shelton. This could have been a bad situation, with Pops being ill, and it happened in the middle of July when there wasn’t time to work with anyone else. Chris Doria has been with us, and all of them have played football for me, Doria, Opuszenski, Carter and Shelton. They have stepped up as coaches, and to do the job that they have done is amazing. We couldn’t have done any of this without these coaches, and they have been great with our kids all season. That is what has made it possible, that these guys stepped in and stepped up, and they already knew the system and what we are trying to accomplish.”
Ferraro is also very pleased with the expansion of the football program. “By having the junior varsity that we have this year, the kids are learning the system at that level, and they will be ready to move up to the varsity. They had six games this year, and they learned our plays, our terms, our system, so they will be ready to play for us when they move up. We have about 80 kids playing football this year, where we have had about 60 kids and just the modified and varsity.”
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