'No Tarzans playing like Janes,' coach says as football Rams prep for season to kick off
August 24, 2023 at 1:52 a.m.
Sporting a new goatee and brimming with confidence despite being drenched with sweat in shorts and a T-shirt, a whistle around his neck, Port Chester Rams football coach Chris Halstead surveyed the first official practice of the new fall season at the high school Monday (8/21) and didn't seem overly concerned about the lack of size in the candidates for his offensive and defensive lines.
"Some players look like Tarzan and play like Jane," he said. "They look good in pads and strut around the field, but I'd rather have well-conditioned, highly motivated players who love the game and know what they are doing. And I think we have the makings of that kind of team."
It was hot in mid-afternoon, the temperature in the mid-80s, but those weren't the numbers Halstead was interested in.
The numbers are up
"We've got 41 players out for the team this year, and that's up from 28 the year before," he said. "And that means we can actually field a junior varsity team this year as well as a varsity. And as a football team in a soccer school, that means a lot. Because that means every player gets exposure, every player gets a chance to play and learn in game conditions. That's a luxury we didn't have last year when we didn't have enough players for a JV. And that means a lot of players had to stand around on the sidelines without getting game experience. That's not going to be what happens this year."
What was just as important to Halstead, an award-winning teacher in the Port Chester School District, is that he has taught a lot of his players since the eighth grade and schooled them on and off the field and he likes the mature young men they are turning out to be. "They're really solid, all-around decent, hard-working and want to represent the school and their community to the best of their ability," he said.
Lots going on
And that became increasingly apparent as Halstead roamed the field like the ringmaster in a three-ring circus where different schemes were being played out on offense and defense on various parts of the field. Here there were players following huge round orange balls spinning left and right, never knowing which way those balls were going in advance but focusing on them and tackling them. There were players running pass patterns, reaching up for long throws. Elsewhere players followed a yellow football attached to a tube, the ball moving clockwise, counterclockwise, back and forth, where it stopped nobody knew, but when it did, that was the moment for the tacklers to lunge forward.
Different coaching voices gave different coaching advice.
Words to learn by
"Eye on the ball, don't listen to the opposing quarterback's cadence, just focus on the ball, not a rival quarterback trying to draw you offsides, follow the ball, not the voice, plant your feet right and be ready to spring into action," one assistant defensive coach was saying while elsewhere an assistant coach on offense was reminding his running backs to "always run downhill, not sideways, keep going straight ahead."
There was a lot of basic instruction going on while players listened attentively even as they dodged around cones and barrels and ran through different drills, running between stations. "No walking, that was so last year," one coach screamed.
And as all this was going on, Halstead was either watching or instructing his hustling players, mindful that there should be frequent water breaks for the players to stay hydrated and intervals where the helmets would come off and the players would go through drills without helmets on to stay cool in the heat.
As a safety precaution, with no pads, blocks or tackles allowed during conditioning drills, players including Juan Hernandez (left) and Mark Dorsainvil practice what they call running downhill, moving forward, developing upper body strength and technique without wearing any protective equipment during the first day of football practice Monday (8/21) on the high school gridiron.Joseph DeCarlo|Westmore News
It was a long, well-run practice with a lot going on, all staged by a coach who has been around learning the ropes from Pelham to White Plains to Blind Brook where he led the Trojans to within one game of an undefeated season before taking over at Port Chester.
From AA to B, D
"We're basically considered a large Double A, ultra-competitive school although we have what amounts to a B league school football turnout," Halstead said, referring to scheduling based on student population on a decreasing scale (AA, A, B, D).
That basically means that Port Chester, where soccer is king because of its heavy Latino population, has Double A numbers of players trying out for Rams soccer and far fewer players coming out football. So there is really no way a once proud Rams football tradition can go up against a modern day powerhouse Double A program like Tony DeMeo's Somers, whose Tuskers have 66 players on the varsity roster, are undefeated defending state champions and also have junior varsity and freshman teams that were undefeated in 2022. But the Rams nonetheless have talented players capable of competing in an independent developmental league with similar teams working on building up their football programs.
And that is the kind of team Halstead is building around several players who could compete on any level.
Talented Rams roster
Halstead has recommended two-way running back John (Johnny D) Delcid as the Rams candidate for the Westchester and Lower Hudson Valley post-season All-Star "Golden Dozen" scholar athlete team. He thinks Alejandro Velasquez, Jaden Arbusto and Jalen Barbour can hit with the best on offense and defense. He predicts running back John Pauletti will make a name for himself this season and that Marc Dorsainvil has the kind of breakaway speed that would make him a threat in any backfield. And in quarterbacks Nate Provencher ("the hardest worker I have ever had," according to Halstead) and Alex Morel, he sees a strong one-two punch as his top signal callers and passers.
All of which helps explain why Ram football nation is looking forward to the season's opening home game next Saturday (9/2) at 1:30 p.m. against perennial C/D league powerhouse Tuckahoe with three more home games to follow: 9/8, a Friday game, against Walter Panas at 6:30 p.m.; 9/14, a Thursday, versus Briarcliff/Hamilton at 4 p.m. and Peekskill 9/23, a Saturday, at 1:30 p.m. After that comes the Rams’ first away game 9/29, a Friday, at 6 p.m. against Spring Valley in Rockland County. A lot can happen between now and then. And Halstead thinks that will include a lot of good things. With no Tarzans playing like Janes for the Rams.
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