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BRONXVILLE, N.Y. Stephen Shoemaker, one of the foundation linemen who led the Bronxville High School football team to a two-year record of 23-1 and the New York State Class C championship last year, is currently settling in at Yale University where he is playing football this fall.
There are a ton of senior defensive tackles here, so I am most likely not going to travel with the team, said Shoemaker, whose Broncos won consecutive Section 1 titles in 2009 and 2010. But next year things are pretty wide open for me. Right now Im learning a lot and trying to get into the grind. Shoemaker, 6-2, 275-pound two-way lineman, joined Eliott Bartsch, Kevin Bisconti, Kieran Borcich, and Henry Palermo to give the Broncos a powerful interior on both sides of the ball.
The quintet came up playing together as elementary school teammates through their high school championship seasons. Shoemaker, who was named the 2011 Class C Player of the Year by The New York State Sportswriters Association, said he is looking forward to learning the college game and reuniting with another former teammate quarterback Dillon Mitchell.
"(College) Is definitely tough at first, but the older guys have been really cool," Shoemaker said. "I got paired with an older D-tackle Reed Spiller who has helped me a ton. He is my "big brother" as coach Williams says. It is a long day -- we have 6 a.m. wakeup and practice in the morning until about 10. Then I go to classes for the day and lift and film in the afternoon. I haven't been home at all since camp started but my whole family is coming up on Sunday to see the scrimmage."
Shoemaker's memories of last year's success are vivid.
Our D-tackle coach is also awesome -- Duane Brooks," he said. "I think about Bronxville a lot and how great high school football was. That ring doesn't let me forget. Things are going well and we have a scrimmage this Sunday against Hamilton (Dillon Mitchell's team) so that should be a good time.
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