By Rob Potter
SULLIVAN COUNTY — September 3, 2010 — Since Aug. 23, the cheerleaders, coaches and players in the Town of Liberty Parks and Recreation Department Youth Football Program have been preparing for the upcoming season.
The program, which is a joint effort between the Town of Liberty Parks and Recreation Department and Liberty Central School Athletics, has 50 football players and 17 cheerleaders.
The players are divided into two teams, both of which are known as the Warriors. The Senior team is for youngsters in fifth and sixth grades. The Junior team is comprised of second-, third- and fourth-graders.
While most of the players are boys, there are a few girls playing on the two teams.
The cheerleading team includes girls from second grade through sixth grade.
The Liberty Youth Football program is in its fourth year of existence. Once again this fall, the two Warriors teams will play in the Sullivan County Youth Football League. The teams will play two games each against the Rockland Devil Cats, SCORS Monticello Jaguars and Tri-Valley.
The Head Coaches for the Warriors football teams are Kevin Keyes, Kevin Morgans, Charlie Roth and Jason Semo. Leading the cheerleading team are Coach Deana Fritz and Assistant Coaches Tatianna Ackerley, Brianna Doyon, Courtney Fritz and Kimberley Isaacs.
“It’s just great to see these kids out on the field and learning the game of football,” Semo said. “Our program is not like some other youth football programs out there that are cut-throat about winning and losing.”
Semo is excited about the season, which begins on Saturday, Sept. 11 with a game against the Rockland Devil Cats in Livingston Manor.
“Practices have been going really well,” Semo said. “The players show up to practice all ready to go. They are eager to learn about football and they are having a lot of fun.”
The members of the Junior Warriors team include: Christopher Bayer, Reed Black, Tyler Black, Breckin Cheh, Eric Decker, Jon DePaolo, Cascio Fonseca, Jarod Hellerer, Christy Leal, Steven Leal, Dylan Mann, Angel Melendez, Kelsey Morgans, Connor Roth, Lucas Roth, David Schiff, Joseph Schmidt, Aidan Semo, Ayden Sinceno, Owen Trask, Troy Willis and Alexander Wilson.
The members of the Senior Warriors team are: Zen Marcus Arscott, Maurice Belser, Mateo Borrero, Jason Call, Kelgin Cheh, Jonathan Decker, Joseph Decker, Brett Fiske, Michael Fritz, Carter Harman, Liam Keaveney, Nicole Keyes, Harrison Killian, Jarek Krebs, River Lounsbury, William Martinez, Carl McGuire, Gerald Melvin, Nicholas Molina, Karoline Monteiro, Adam Otero, Savannah Reck, Andrew Russell, Dara Schiff, DeMarco Tamburello, Morgan VanKeuren, Jonathan Wilson and Robert Wilson.
The members of the cheerleading team include: Ally Arpino, Taylor Arpino, Jasmine Bullaro, Abigail Conklin, Selena Covington, Kelsey Doyon, MaKayla Doyon, Maleiah Drayton, Aubreigh Fleischman, Jerikah Fleischman, Sydneigh Fleischman, Nicole Heins, Sarah Kleinberger, Elizabeth Lane, Jordan LoCascio, McKenzie Profeta and Sunny Thomas.