Ex-area Stacked with Dynamite Running Backs – 2025 Football Preview

Palazzolo, Somers Seeking Class A 4-Peat; Yorktown, Mahopac, Fox Lane Poised to Challenge; Pleasantville Seeks Another Title Run in Class B

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

Lots of great running backs within the abbreviated Examiner-area this fall. We’ll do our best to maintain our relations with the school districts and athletic programs in the region, especially those that are moving the needle. Here’s a look at just some of the terrific backs who will tote the rock this fall on local gridirons. Make some history, men!

 

Four-time reigning Section 1 champion SOMERS High is staring down history and not batting an eyelash as it does so. No varsity football team from Section 1 has been in the position to win four consecutive NYSPHSAA titles since Class C Edgemont three-peated (1998-2000), but coach Anthony DeMatteo’s Tuskers are poised to do so as the reigning three-time NYS Class A champions entering the 2025 campaign.

Somers, which has won four state titles since 2016 and nine Section 1 crowns since 2000, enters the 2025 season as the heavy favorites to do so again… despite losing a slew of skill and brawn to graduation.

But with one of the most dynamic players in the state on the roster, Somers is set to unleash All-NYS senior RB/WR Dean Palazzolo, perhaps the most electrifying player within the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.

“We are definitely reloading and improving a lot,” Palazzolo said, noting that junior QB Tristan Iglesias will assume the signal calling duties from his All-NYS brother, Miguel. “Tristan is our quarterback, who has put a lot of work in the offseason and has excelled a lot. We have two great running backs to replace (Mason) Kelly in Luke Balancia and Nate Mitchell. Both guys are coming back as very strong, fast runners that can replace Kelly. Our O-line is very good. We have a lot of kids coming back and we look bigger and stronger.”

That is why folks in and about Somers are booking their accommodations for December 5th at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse where the Tuskers expect to four-peat as state champs, but before they do so, Somers will open the season against CHSAA powerhouse Iona Prep in a Week Zero showcase game in Albany on Sept. 6 (7 p.m.).

The Tuskers, brash and bold as they are, could easily accept a run-of-the-mill opener, but coach D leaves nothing on the table when it comes to challenging his Tuskers, including receivers

Cameron Violante, Gavin Kelly and Jackson Whipple, RB’s Mitchell, Palancia and Palazzolo, linemen RJ Peterson, Ben Brenekmeyer, Hudson Ruby, Jaron Faulkner, Lozenzo Dambrosio and TE’s Bret Kennedy, Chris Decker and Luca Gambardelli, plus a whole lot more where that came from.

Somers is the team to beat in Section 1 Class A, make no bones about it, but Rye is Rye, and the Garnets will not be taken lightly.

FOX LANE will undergo some major changes as coach Andrew Giuliano resets a roster that has been depleted by graduation. Enter senior Justin Sorate, who when we last saw him was terrorizing Lakeland in a 28-14 Fox win, taking nine carries at FB for 90 yards and a tuddy, plus leading the defense with seven tackles at DE.

The 6-0, 185-pound Sorate will be under center this season calling signals for the Foxes and working as a strongside linebacker on D.

“Justin is our guy,” Coach G said. “He’s more athletic this year and has been moved to QB to lead the offense and he moved to ‘Sam LB’, which has been our best player over the last few seasons. We look forward to seeing him in these new roles. “

Senior OL/DL Joe Cerone will lead the way in the trenches.

“Joe is our best OL, a college-type player who is looking to have a great year on both sides of the ball,” Coach Giuliano said. “He’s a big-body, two-sport guy (basketball). With his basketball work, he really has solid footwork, which helps him be athletic at that spot.

Junior RB/S Evan Stackle is a fast and super-athletic kid, according to the coach, who also noted senior LB Gabe Rodgers is fast and provides a great knack for finding the ball.

The Foxes will open up with a week zero challenge from Independent League foe HORACE GREELEY, who will also need to contain sleepers Chase Stonecipher (Jr. WR/DB), another big-bodied athlete to replace Logan Mammola on both sides of the ball.

“Chase does a great job finding the ball and coming down with it. He’s a three-sport (hoops, lax), which we love,” the coach said

Senior WR/DB Will Broghammer is another fast player, who is having a great camp in the secondary and seeing things clear, according to coach G. He’s another three-sport athlete (hoops, lax).

The Foxes also have two talented youngsters in Gavin Mammola and Andrew Rudolph, both gifted sophs.

“We are young and graduated a ton of three- and two-year starters including QB,” Giuliano said. “There will be a lot of new faces stepping in and with that comes “finding who we are?”  Who are we?  I’m not sure yet.  We are still working on that. Whenever you graduate a tight group that’s been together it’s hard to get back that feeling, but I look at it as it will never be that same team, and I don’t expect this team to define themselves in that same way.  At this point, we are ahead of where I thought we would be as far as our install, and we are just starting to create that mojo of a “team”, which we look forward to building on.”

 

MAHOPAC is set to check out what host Somers is all about in a September 26 showdown when brilliant 6’ 185-pound Wolf Pac senior RB Nate Mascoll (4.0 GPA) and company take aim at their bordering rivals. Mascoll, when healthy, is among the best RBs in the state, and ninth-year Mahopac coach Dominick DeMatteo will need to unleash the speedster in what should be a very telling battle, in which the DeMatteo brothers will match coaching wits yet again.

“Nate will be one of the best football players in Section 1 and potentially all of New York State this fall,” coach DeMatteo said.

Captain Mascoll, who also thrives at linebacker, has some bulk up front in 6-4, 280-pound LT Peter Grishaj and 5-11, 255-pound C Matt Bentivenga to run behind. Junior QB Ethan Dedvukaj is a year the wiser and physically fit at 6-2, 215. Expect a big jump under center.

Mahopac should provide a healthy test for Somers should the Wolf Pac stay at full health, but reaching the sectional finals will be a tall order with Somers and Rye before them.

Sidenote: With 361 wins under his belt, venerable Rye coach Dino Garr is just four wins away from setting the NYSPHSAA record for coaching victories (Howie Vogts, 364), for which he is a shoe-in.

Prediction: Garr holds that record until Anthony DeMatteo rewrites the record book at Somers sometime around 2050.

 

And speaking of terrific running backs, YORKTOWN has itself one hell of a senior RB/WR in 5’11” 180 Tyler Galante (3.7 GPA smart), who will take his versatile All-NYS skill set and run roughshod over the better part of Section 1 this fall on both sides of the ball. Galante will run behind a pair of tough senior linemen in All-Section OL/DL Michael Desiderio, a 5-10, 230-pound four-year starting  center, and All-Conference OL/DL Rocco Lore, who goes 5’10, 230. Get All-League junior RB Tyler Caricati (5’11, 175), on your radar after really coming on strong as a sophomore last year.

Desiderio, a captain, stems from a unique situation. Originally a fullback in his YAC days in a Wing-T offense, Husker coach Pantelis Ypsilantis pegged him for a center and the successful transition was on.

“When I watched him play, I saw a center,” the coach said, “so I taught him how to snap, and he wound up starting there as a freshman on varsity, which is kind of unprecedented. He has steadily improved each year and started both ways for us last year. Super smart and stout, he anchors the O-line, makes all the calls. He really understands blocking schemes and pass protection.”

Lore is the other hog molly up front.

“My dude had a tough offseason with a lot going on, but he persevered through it all,” the coach said. “He is incredibly strong and tough and played in other teams’ backfields all year. He’s a beast. We look for him to try to be a two-way player this year and add some pancakes to his resume.”

Ypsilantis played on the O-line at Roosevelt High in the late 90s under legendary coach Tony DeMatteo, No.3 on the state’s all-time win list, with former NFL pro Jimmy Kennedy as his linemate. He knows a thing or two about developing linemen.

“I always think about kids in today’s world who would have been able to hang back then with those lines we had anchored by Jimmy Kennedy,” the coach said, “and Desi and Rocco are guys who would have been able to hang a bit and compete.”

Bodes well for the Huskers this fall as they begin the post-Kaden Gonzalez era: Enter junior QB Eamon Coney, who has some ‘huuuuge’ shoes to fill.

 

CLASS B

PLEASANTVILLE has graduated over twenty seniors from last year’s squad, which did nothing to tarnish the Panthers’ image as perennial Section 1 championship contenders.  That fact, coupled with a dip in class sizes at P’ville, has the Panthers hovering around thirty players this fall.

“Granted, we’ve been spoiled the last few years with roster sizes in the forties, which is unheard of for a small class B school,” veteran coach Tony Becerra said of the 2024 Class B runner-up Panthers (5-5), who are very thin on the O-line this year, both in numbers and in stature, according to Coach B.

“We’re going to have to be creative in how we move the ball around this year,” the coach said.

He will  rely on his senior captains to show the way;  including shifty 5-10, 165 pound senior RB/LB David Hundzynski, Braden Feeney (WR/OLB), Brian Doherty (LB) and QB Mason Rizzi under center.

“Like every year, if we stay healthy, we can be in the mix,” the coach said. “As you know, we have another Class A school dropping down to Class B in John Jay, so that’s always a challenge.” Pleasantville will be tested by John Jay week two. As for Class B itself, Pearl River is looking like a legit challenger to Ardsley’s championship throne while WESTLAKE and a much-improved Pelham team are said to pose as additional contenders. If not for four costly turnovers last November, Pleasantville was well on its way to a third sectional title in four seasons, so the tradition-rich Panthers, who have won five sectional titles since 2013 and lost the last two, expect to be in the mix.

Likewise, Westlake, which did lose a ton of athleticism to graduation, will feature 5-9, 150-pound senior RB Nicholas DiNapoli rushing behind 220-pound OT Anthony Nigrelli, 230-pound OT Charlie Hannon and 230-pound C Luan Celaj. The Wildcats’ schedule is daunting, though, opening up at mighty Bronxville before hosting BYRAM HILLS and reigning Class B champion Ardsley on Sept. 27, followed by Pelham and Pearl River, and they close with runner-up Dobbs Ferry, so Westlake will have its hands full but is up for the challenge under legendary coach John Castellano (249 career wins).

When last we checked in on Class B Byram Hills, junior RB Vince Palermiti was turning heads as a game-breaking sophomore who feared nothing, so the Bobcats figured to highlight their budding star this fall in a wildly competitive Class B (13 teams).

 

CLASS C

Perhaps defending Section 1 champion VALHALLA returns one of the scariest running backs in NYS in junior Luke Foisset, the 5-11, 215-pounder with a punishing, downhill style second to none in Section 1. The 2024 state semifinalist Vikings and coach Dan DeMatteo enter his second year with a primary option that the better part of Class C – with just seven teams – will not be able to contain. Foisset is your classic downhill Hummer, poised to run behind linemen like Shane Theil (OT), Robert Rizezzo (OT/DE) and Winn Blitzstein (C/NT)

“Luke is working hard,” coach Dan DeMatteo said. “He has a great work ethic and is a leader. He really has it all. I have a few young backs that I need to step up and my quarterback, Brayden McGinty, is returning and has had a very good summer so far.”

The Vikings might get a challenge from PUTNAM VALLEY, which features yet another solid pair of RBs in senior Andre Tarrant, a 5-9 180-pounder with burst and pop, and 5-10, 170-pound speedster Aaron Pierre. The Tigers are a deep dark horse under powerful first-year QB Mike Frey, providing a three-headed monster for the Tigers’ backfield.

 

Photo Credits Ray Gallagher and David Taber.