Indians Hoped to go Farther, but Win Over Carmel was Sweet

MAHOPAC—The Mahopac High football team was certainly hoping to get into the playoffs and cause a little trouble for someone this fall, but it wasn’t to be.

Dillon Addonizio SKIP Addonizio SKIP PEARLMAN The Indians came out of the gate slow, and that hurt their chances of reaching the playoffs. Mahopac was 0-2 and hadn’t put a point on the board going into an unusual week 3 matchup against Carmel.

But Mahopac came out fired up on its own field and upset Carmel, winning for only the second time in the last 12 years against their rivals. The win was the high water mark of the Indians’ season.

Mahopac was eliminated from the playoffs after a loss to RCK, and went on to beat Lincoln, 37-14, in the last game of the season, finishing at 5-4.

“Making the playoffs is always the goal, so we fell short, and that is disappointing,” Indians coach Tom Donahoe said. “But we developed a lot of young players in the league—that’s a positive we take from the season. In this league one bounce can separate you from the playoffs…we’re a fairly young and inexperienced team, and we played a couple of good games. Beating Carmel was probably the highlight. That win got us going. It was a very good game against a very good team, and we got the same – another good game - the following week against John Jay of Cross River.”

John Maloney SKIP Maloney SKIP PEARLmAN Junior FB/ILB Dillon Addonizio led the team in rushing with 667 yards and six touchdowns on 129 carries, and was named All-Section 1 and All-League. Senior TE/OLB/K John Maloney was named All-Section Honorable Mention, and both players, along with Mike Brereton (12, OL/DL), Rob Ricci (12, OL/ DL), RJ DeMercurio (11, DL), TJ Foley (11, QB/DB), and Ryan Wagner (11, SE/ OLB/DB) made the All-League team.

Mahopac graduates five starters on O and five on the D side as well, but Donahoe is positive about next fall.

“We have a strong JV group coming up,” he said. “And the experience we got this year will help, so I am optimistic going into next year. And the off-season preparation is always important.”