By Rob Potter
LIBERTY — The Town of Liberty Parks and Recreation Department Youth Football program is going strong.
A total of 57 players are suiting up this season for the program’s two teams, both of which are known as the Warriors. The Seniors team is for youngsters in the fifth and sixth grades, while the Juniors team consists of second-, third- and fourth-graders.
The Warriors began preparing for the upcoming season by practicing Monday through Thursday evenings for the past two weeks at Liberty Central School. Beginning this week, the teams will practice twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Town of Liberty Parks and Recreation Department Director Brian Scardefield and Liberty Central School Athletic Director Jason Semo are the Coordinators of the youth football program. Scardefield handles tasks such as ordering uniforms and organizing sign-up sessions for the players, while Semo oversees the practice schedule and coaching staff.
In addition to Semo, the Warriors are guided by Coaches Timothy Burke, John Frunzi, Jason Grossman, Kevin Keyes, Chris Lake, Chris Morgans, Peter Pekeny, Charlie Roth and Chris Vigilone.
Like last season, Liberty will be playing youth teams from Fremont, Rockland and Tri-Valley. The Fremont teams consist of players who attend school in the Sullivan West Central School District, the Rockland teams include players from the Livingston Manor and Roscoe Central School Districts and the Tri-Valley teams include players who attend the Tri-Valley Elementary and Middle Schools.
“Each team plays every other team twice,” Semo said. “It’s a really good league.”
Semo credited Fred Ahart, Bill Hendrickson and Chris Sinceno as three men who were instrumental in organizing youth football teams in their respective communities and forming the league.
“This is great for Sullivan County,” Semo said. “It gets more kids interested in football, which helps our high school teams in future years.”
The Liberty teams will open their season this Friday with a night game versus the Rockland Devil Cats in Roscoe.
Semo noted that recent Warriors practices have been going very well.
“The kids are out there having fun,” he said. “They are learning the fundamentals of the game and enjoying themselves.”
And it’s not just the players and coaches who are working to make the program enjoyable and successful.
“The parents are really involved this year,” Semo said. “That is really great to see.”
The members of the Liberty Warriors Seniors team are: Maurice Belser, Shane Black, Patrick Burke, Tom Butler, Jason Call, Tyson Charles, Joseph Decker, William DePaolo, Brett Fiske, Grant Harman, Alex Jefferson, Nicole Keyes, Jeremy Knack, Jarek Krebs, River Lounsbury, Carl Mcguire, Kevin Morgans, Savanna Reck, Ryder Roser, Jake Saccone, Earl Schoonmaker, Owen Trask, Jeramyia Waitley, Ray Watson and Robert Wilson.
The members of the Liberty Warriors Juniors team are: Cameron Burnett, Brett Campbell, Lucas Carrion, Jovane Dennis, Kymanni Dennis, Jon DePaolo, Michael Fritz, Dennis Gonzalez, Carter Harman, Walter Hayes, Ian Hill, Josh Knack, Nicholas LoCascio, Willie Martinez, Nicholas Molina, Kelsey Morgans, Elijah Olden, Adam Otero, Louis Rivera, Connor Roth, Andrew Russell, Cameron Santillo, David Schiff, Joseph Schmidt, Aidan Semo, Ayden Sinceno, DeMarco Tamburello, Alexander Wilson and Jonathan Wilson.