Eleven Mahopac alumni to suit up for this fall's college season

Beyond league and sectional championships, there are many ways to measure the success of a high school football program. Included among them are the number of players who go on from high school to play at the college level. Generally, these alumni are “all-in guys” when it comes to nurturing a culture of leadership and sacrifice, qualities that likely started at the youth level and only ramped up during their high school heydays.

This fall, the college ranks will include 11 recent Mahopac graduates, a fact that makes
football coach Dominick DeMatteo especially proud.

In addition to the individual players' talents, DeMatteo credits the culture the Wolf Pac program has established, instilling the necessary characteristics into the brotherhood of young men who play Mahopac High School football.

According to Coach D, the process of success on the gridiron is similar to that of everyday life for those who excel in and out of the classroom: Work hard, prepare like crazy and earn your stripes.

“Honestly, it’s something I think we do better than anyone else, considering we are a public school with kids from our own town excelling at the next level,” said DeMatteo, who took the reins of Mahopac football in June 2017. “Each kid that we send on to the next level has his own special story. When it comes to our football program, it’s a journey, something we are very proud of.”

Nothing comes easy at the next level. There are times when that big fish in a small pond becomes a small fish in a big pond, overwhelmed by the process of transformation. The big man on campus, oftentimes, struggles with their new surroundings—unless they are prepared for the next-level rigors.

“Just like anyone else, I had to earn my stripes,” said former Mahopac QB Anthony DeMatteo, the coach’s son who now serves as the top signal caller at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This fall, Anthony will serve as the D-III Engineers’ 2025 team captain.

“I had to gain the respect and trust of both my coaches and teammates,” Anthony DeMatteo admitted of his college football journey. “That took a substantially longer period of time compared to when I was at Mahopac, considering the kids on the RPI roster are from all over the country.”

DeMatteo’s development at Mahopac, much like the other 10 recent Pac grads, was key to reaching the next level. DeMatteo (Class of 2022) rushed for one touchdown, completed 42 of 61 pass attempts for 706 yards (a long of 62 yards) and five TD strikes in seven games played in 2024. He believes his three seasons under center at Mahopac had prepared him for collegiate football.

“What separated me from the other four quarterbacks that they brought in my class is my experience at Mahopac High School,” DeMatteo said. “Learning to fail, lose, and face adversity is something that not every kid can deal with, even college football players. While I had multiple moments throughout the past three years where I felt as though I would never play a meaningful down of football again, I am going into my senior year with three starts (and three wins) under my belt and as one of two captains of the RPI 2025 football team… I am the last QB standing of the five they brought in my freshman year.”

Prior to graduating high school, DeMatteo was blessed to play with a trio of D-I talents, including OL/DL Dominic Perricone (Marist College), WR/DB Andrew Cohen (University of Miami), and RB Joey Koch (SUNY Albany), who have gone on to impress at the next level. The 6-foot-5, 313-pound Perricone was a prize recruit, expected to make the jump with ease. Perricone played over 99 percent of the Red Foxes’ offensive snaps in 2024 as the starting right guard and has become an absolute fixture within the program after serving as one of Mahopac’s finest two-way linemen.

“Playing at Mahopac really helped shape who I am both on and off the field,” Perricone said. “The coaches pushed me to be accountable, disciplined and to lead by example, and that mindset carried with me to Marist. It helped me become the player I am today and gave me the toughness to fight through challenges like switching positions from tackle to guard and continuing to push forward. Mahopac football gave me a strong foundation, and I’m grateful for the experiences and people that prepared me for the next level.”

Cohen, on the other hand, unrefined and a diamond in the rough, emerged as a D-I talent out of the blue, literally walking his way onto a D-I roster while securing a master’s degree in business analytics at the Herbert Business School within the original “U” (University of Miami).

Koch, perhaps the finest running back in Mahopac history, is working his way back into form after suffering a leg injury that sidelined him for all of last year. The process at Mahopac prepared Koch to deal with adversity.

In fact, the Mahopac football program has had 22 student-athletes recently recruited, offered and committed to continue their academic and athletic careers at the collegiate level over the past eight seasons, including four from the Class of 2025: Landon Varley (Ithaca College), Kyle Pinto (Southern Connecticut), Jack Clifford (Hartwick College) and Justin Sanchez (St. Lawrence University).

“This fall we will have 11 student-athletes actively participating in collegiate programs at various levels and in legitimate capacities, which is something we are very proud of,” Coach DeMatteo said.