Football: With resurgent season, Spackenkill makes its return to 11-man playoffs

Posted by Admin October 30, 2024 Football

Josh Riley remembers those conversations last fall, when the kudos from community members often was accompanied by, “Good job getting it back to 11!”

See, in taking over as Spackenkill coach three years ago, a paramount task was rejuvenating a football program for which interest and participation had declined. It was to the point that joining Section 9’s eight-man league, with its reduced roster requirement, was their best attempt to stay afloat in 2019.

So, the congratulations were in order last year after the Spartans had replenished their talent base and expanded enough to accommodate a return to the traditional 11-player format.

But, that was just a step.

“People were excited that we built the roster back up and were heading in the right direction,” Riley said, “but there wasn’t much to say about how we were doing on the field.”

Because the team took its lumps then, enduring a spate of injuries and setbacks while still adjusting to the schematic differences and level of competition. That three-win season was marked by some painful lopsided losses.

Which makes the turnaround this fall even more satisfying for the squad and its coaching staff.

Spackenkill now is riding a four-game win streak, including dominant wins over its last three opponents, and enters this weekend as the No. 4 seed in the Section 9 Class B playoffs.

“We’re very excited to be in the playoffs,” said Riley, whose team is 6-2. “But the kids don’t just seem content to be in there. They want to make some noise.”

After all, qualifying for the postseason was also just a step.

Spackenkill will host fifth-seeded Beacon at 6 p.m. Friday in a quarterfinal. The Bulldogs (6-2) have also enjoyed a breakthrough season and done so with a cadre of speedy playmakers on either side of the ball.

“It’ll be cool to face Gerald Ryan in the playoffs,” Riley said of the Beacon head coach, a former colleague when they were both assistants at John Jay-East Fishkill. “They’ve had a great year and we’re gonna have to come up with a good plan to slow them down.”

The Spartans have excelled defensively, surrendering only 9.4 points per game in their last seven, and they’ve done that with a relentless pass rush and a ball hawking secondary.

Defensive end Wayne-Daniel Russell has six sacks and fellow lineman Chris Greene has 39 tackles and 4½ sacks. Finn Lynch and Bryan Hoyt have four interceptions each to lead a unit that already has picked off 15 passes.

Jacob Brandenburg, a standout on both sides of rhe ball, has emerged as a lead ball carrier in their run-heavy offense. Hoyt contributes to that as a dual-threat quarterback, and Josh Bodrick and Joshua Lewis are solid outside weapons.

They’ve also gotten strong leadership from H-back Joey Fernandez and interior lineman Elias Lopez, both of whom the coach described as tone-setters.

“Throughout the offseason, this group seemed to be resilient,” Riley said. “It didn’t matter if things went wrong, there was no pouting, and the collective attitude was like, ‘We’ll fix it.’ That mentality let me know they could be successful.”

That, despite graduating some key players like Dan Collins, Richie Decker and Hassan Milligan, stars who helped make Spackenkill into an 8-man powerhouse.

But, Riley said, without some of its explosive weapons, the team relies more now on its fundamentals, and they’ve gotten significantly better at the basics. Blocking and tackling, the most rudimentary elements of the sport, have been emphasized by assistant coaches Tom Cavuoto, Jay Curtis, Andrew Tiess and Dave Riley. And it’s been impactful.

The Spartans concluded their regular season last week with a 46-18 rout of Fallsburg in which Brandenburg rushed for 135 yards and three touchdowns and returned an interception for a score. Bodrick, Jalon Morgan and Sanjiah Lassiter-Swaby each also scored, and Russell had three sacks.

“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t personal pride in this,” Riley, a former Spackenkill player, said of leading the rebuild. “I’m incredibly happy for the guys and I’m proud of what they’ve already accomplished. Now, I’m seeing people excited that we’ve got the program back to ‘11’ and that we’re winning.”

Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4