Somers Football Team Begins Quest For 300 Wins

SOMERS, N.Y. – The Somers High School football team will begin its season and its quest to help coach Tony DeMatteo reach 300 career wins on Friday against Yorktown.

DeMatteo needs eight more wins to reach his milestone. He has 292 wins in his 43-year career including 13 years at Somers and 30 years at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers.  But he said at practice two weeks ago that he is more focused on winning each individual game than he is on reaching 300.

“I guess it’s important. It just means I’ve been around a long time,” DeMatteo said. “I’m excited about it but I’m more excited about the season. If we hit 300 this year, we’re having a great year. That’s going to be more important to me and I’ll enjoy it after the season’s over. But it is a milestone and I can’t ignore it.”

The Somers Tuskers, who went 6-3 last season, have a chance to start their season off on the right foot and help DeMatteo inch closer to that milestone but will have to go through their old rival the Yorktown Huskers to do it. The Huskers recently moved down to Class A from Class AA and will assuredly give the Tuskers a fight.

Yorktown senior quarterback Nick Mariano is coming off a season in which he threw for more than 1,100 yards and rushed for more than 900. He also had five passing and six rushing touchdowns. He will look to lead the Huskers’ potent offense against Somers.

And Yorktown still has the experience of eighth year coach Mike Rescigno at the helm.

But DeMatteo has won 292 games for a reason. He likes to rotate 20 to 25 players in throughout the game and does not typically let a starter play an entire game, even the quarterback. The somewhat unorthodox style has succeeded for the coach, and the Tuskers, thus far.

The league opponents will meet at Walter Panas High School at 6 p.m. on Friday. The last time they squared off was Oct. 2, 2009 when Somers earned a 20-0 win.

Be sure to vote in our poll and leave a comment below to let us know which team you think will win Friday's season opener.

Click here to follow Daily Voice Somers and receive free news updates.