Varsity 845 Player Blog with Brandon Colon

Meet Minisink Valley linebacker Steve Hayes

Brandon Colon — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:58:59 +0000

I took time
out Wednesday after our pregame dinner to talk to one of our strongest
defensive players, Steve Hayes.

Age: 17

Year in
School: Senior

Sport: Football

My
favorite pro athelete (and why): I’d have to say Brian Urlacher. He’s the best linebacker
I’ve ever seen play, and nobody on the field is as tenacious as him.

The
coolest thing about my school is: The football team. We all are like brothers and bond during
the season and off the season.

My
favorite possesion: My
car. It gets me around from A to B, and I love driving so I’d have to say that.

My
greatest sports accomplishment is: Getting ready for this year during the whole off-season. I
worked my tail off each in every week since last year’s Newburgh
game preparing for this season, and everything I did really payed off.

If I
could change one thing about myself: I guess I wish I was a little bit taller.

Sport I
wish I could play:
I wish hockey was big around here in Minisink. I would love to play hockey for
the school just because I love hitting kids.

This
year my team will . . .: win the division, and make it into the section final.

Game
you’re most excited for? Definately Warwick at the end of the season. That game will have
playoff implications and most likely will decide the division.

Minisink at Monroe football game recap

Brandon Colon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:48:29 +0000

The weather was drizzly and cold, but the night was filled with excitement.

The last time Minisink Valley played Monroe-Woodbury was in that epic battle
these two teams shared for the Section 9 championship nearly 2 years ago.

The
highly anticipated matchup between these two teams last year as you all know
didn’t happen.

You could tell both teams this year were pumped to be playing
each other, and have been wanting to play for a while now.

My team, Minisink, was
comming off a 6-0 loss in a game where both teams wasted an abundance of
opportunities. Monroe-Woodbury on the other hand had just come off a 30 point
win against a perennial state power in Binghamton.

The game kicked off at about
7 p.m., and the Minisink offense took over, but wasn’t able to compile a
scoring drive. After that Monroe’s strong offense had the ball with all-state
signal caller Dan Scalo at the helm. Minisink’s defense stopped Monroe on its
first drive with a Sean Callaghan interception close to the end zone.

After
missed opportunities by the Minisink offense and a miscommunication on a snap and punt that gave Monroe-Woodbury the ball on the Minisink 1 yard line,
Monroe went into the half ahead 14-0.

The second-half of the game was practically
a defensive stalemate, where the only points of the half came on Packy Laird’s
field goal early in the fourth quarter. The final was 17-0, although it felt like
a closer game then the score.

Both teams played hard and tough until the very
last whistle was blown and both teams had the utmost respect for each other when
it came to the postgame handshake.

One of the top teams in the state,
Monroe-Woodbury, squares off against division rival Newburgh in week 3. The ninth
best team in the section, Minisink Valley, plays its home and league opener
Thursday against Washingtonville.

It’s going to be interesting seeing how both
teams respond and do in their league openers come the 17th.

Minisink at NFA – what more could a Section 9 football fan ask for?

Brandon Colon — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:36:42 +0000

“This is going to be a really big game. I’m pumped, the team’s pumped, the
whole school and community has just been waiting for this game to happen again”,
said senior running back and linebacker John Behler.

It’s been almost a year
since Minisink’s heartbreaking loss to Newburgh in the Section 9 semifinals last fall,
and nobody on this team has forgotten about it. Since November 1, 2008, the
players returning to this team have had the image of Newburgh running onto the
field elated after pulling a huge upset instilled in their minds.

Now nearly one
year later, these same two teams square off again for what seems
to be an incredible matchup, although with different rosters. Although these two teams play in different
divisions it has become one of the biggest and best rivalries around.

Each of
the last four games these team’s played have gone down to the wire, with the
outcome of the games not being decided until the very end.

“It was a really
tough loss last year, but this team has been working hard since the end of last
season and we’ve been preparing for the start of this up and comming season,”
said senior wide reciever and defensive back Jesse Valenti.

The atmosphere
around the school and in the locker room is really good, and at times intense.
For this past week senior running back Andrew Haelen has been giving speeches
before the start of practices to get everybody motivated, and to make sure they
don’t forget who they’re playing come Friday.

“We got Newburgh this week.”

“Newburgh,” he screams at the top of his lungs as the rest of the team gets
riled up while anticipating to play their new cross division rival.

Everyone
knows how big Minisink/Newburgh has become, and the players, students, and fans
of both schools know this is going to be a big game to kick off the year.

So if
you’re not doing anything all too important on Friday, Sept 4, come out to
Academy Field in Newburgh to watch what will be the best game to see this first
week.

16-0 … 1:16 to play, still in our heads.

Green & White scrimmage kicks off football season at Minisink

Brandon Colon — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:00:58 +0000

The start of a new season was here, and everyone from the players, coaches, and fans were excited.

It was the first time people got to see the Minisink football team suited up and playing in a game-like situation since its crushing loss to NFA nearly 10 months ago. The annual Green & White scrimmage has somewhat become a part of culture here in Slate Hill. People of all ages from across the community come to John Bell Field to gather around for a great night of fun.

At approximately 7 p.m. the scrimmage began with each team having a set of 10 plays to reach the end zone. After that, the varsity team plays two 10 minute quarters of football … running time.

The Green team scored first on Vinny Mauro’s 52-yard scamper into the end zone. The play was an absolute highlight reel as he broke about 7 tackles to get the first points of the game. Kevin Freeman also had a 36-yard touchdown run for the Green team that put them on top 13-0 after a blocked extra point.

Toward the end of the scrimmage, Andrew Haelen added an 8-yard touchdown run for the White team to narrow the score to only 6. The Green team received the ball again with less than 3 minutes to play. After a few crucial third down conversions with Kevin Freeman at the helm, the Green team prevailed and won the scrimmage by a score of 13-7.

The night was capped off with a big post-game barbecue for all the players and all who attended. At the end of the night people were happy and satisfied they got to see a preview of the 2009 Minisink Valley Football team.