Andy Verboys isn't sure how his Scarsdale football team will fare this year, and with good reason—for the fourth time in five years, the Raiders have completely changed leagues and now will play three schools for the first time.
"Once again we are now going in with an unknown," Verboys said. "It's hard to say how we'll do because we never played these teams.
"If we do an evaluation of ourselves, we're farther ahead than we've ever been, we're more skilled at the skill positions, and we're the strongest we've ever been," said Verboys, whose team comes back with 10 starters who can bench more than 200 pounds.
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Scarsdale has previously played in Class AA-West with Rockland teams, Class AA-North with Putnam and northern Westchester teams, and last year in Class AA-South with teams in Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle. Now it is in a Central Westchester league with a familiar rival, Mamaroneck, and three schools making the jump from Class A—Ossining, Yorktown and Fox Lane.
The Raiders' strengths on offense are team speed, a strong backfield and a good receiving corps, led by 6-foot-2 Matt Wheeler and 6-foot-3 Will Hewitt.
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Wheeler led the team in receptions last year.
"He's not the fastest kid but he has decent speed, and when the ball goes up in the air he has a belief that it's his," Verboys said. "He'll go get it at the highest point."
Another player to watch is guard/defensive tackle Ianni Drivas, who is getting looks from Ivy League schools.
"He has quickness, strength and a great motor," Verboys said.
The defense is led by a strong group of two-way players that include Drivas and fullback/linebackers Matt Friehofner and Lewis Leone.
Though the team isn't deep, it does have a strong group of seniors who beat powerhouse New Rochelle in a freshmen league game three years ago.
Verboys is pleased to finally be playing against schools that are more similar to Scarsdale's size of about 1,500 students.
"We have high hopes. We're excited," Verboys said. "We're a heckuva lot stronger and we're looking forward to some big things. But we still have to be a little nastier and a lot quicker in our execution."
