Fieldston Eagles aim to pounce, after disastrous 2015

By the time the Fieldston Eagles step on the field for their season opener at Rye Neck on Sept. 10, it will have been 10 months since their nightmarish 2015 season came to a close. The Eagles, whose program had been synonymous with success over the years, crash-landed to an 0-8 finish last year, and Kyron Thomas still feels the sting of that season.

“I have been waiting since Nov. 7 to get back on this football field and [wear] the same jersey as my brothers,” said Thomas, Fieldston’s senior wide receiver. “We have been waiting a while.”

Thomas’ teammate, Josh Godosky, has been waiting, too, and he has no intention of going through a season like last year’s again.

“We’ll definitely use last year as motivation,” said Godosky, Fieldston’s junior running back. “We’ve been looking back on it every day in practice. Everyone is constantly saying we don’t want to do that again.”

For head coach Gus Ornstein, who knows a thing of two about playing winning football from his collegiate career at both Notre Dame and Michigan State, last season’s lessons can be used this year to enhance the Eagles’ fortunes in 2016.

“For us, the coaches, last year was a shock for us,” Ornstein said. “We’ve been so good and so successful, and to have a year like that was tough. But we talked about it on day one in our first meeting. We said we either learn from that and that propels us through this year, and we talk about all the things that we missed and how to improve, or if we don’t learn from that – then it becomes that much bigger of a waste. So we either go one of two ways – we either jump from there, or that kind of thing keeps pulling us back down.”

Unlike last season, when numbers were lower and the Eagles margin for error was paper-thin, this season Fieldston boasts a roster of 35 players, and that added depth is something that will have a ripple effect on the Eagles, according to Ornstein.

“Our numbers are decent, we have 35 kids, and for us that’s more than we’ve had the last couple of years, which is nice,” Ornstein said. “It’s helping us in practice, it’s nice to have some depth and have some guys pushing each other at positions, which is something we have not had in the past. So we’re excited about that, we’re happy with the turnout.”

Included in those 35 players are a bevy of returning veterans who earned valuable game experience last season and should be ready to take the next step this time around. 

“We’re athletic and I think we’re pretty good in the skill spots,” Ornstein said. “I think we have a good core of receivers and our backs are good, but for me it’s about what you have up front. What are we going to put together up there? But I like our skill guys. Josh Godosky is going to be a three-year starter as a junior. He’s going to play running back and we’ll split him out at times. We’ll use him all over the place. He’s also a linebacker on defense. He’s our guy. And receiver-wise, I like Kyron Thomas who is going to be a returning starter as a senior. He’s fast and athletic with good hands, and he’ll play in the secondary on defense. He’s a good leader, a vocal leader who can be very explosive for us. Tyler Kemp is another tailback for us. He’s got some good speed and can be a breakaway guy. Harry Fletcher has had some injuries in the past couple of years, but he’s healthy now in training camp. He’s a smaller guy but really quick, and if we can get him out in space, he can cause some problems for people.”

One of the few seniors on the team, Matt Jalazo, will be the anchor of the offensive line from his guard spot, while the O’Hagen brothers, Pierce and Patrick, a wide receiver and a tight end by trade, will be inviting targets for whoever wins the quarterback battle between a pair of sophomores – Alexander Thorpe and Jesse Cooper-Leary.

Ornstein is especially high on what the O’Hagen twins can provide.

“They are both good players. I have high expectations for those two now as juniors, after they started as sophomores last year,” Ornstein said. “They are tough, gritty, go-getter type kids and they really get after it.”

In order to add a touch more athleticism to the team, Ornstein went about raiding some of Fieldston’s other programs and came away with a pair of players he thinks could be diamonds in the rough.

“We have some brand new guys that have come out. One of them is Nick Gibson, who has never played football before. He’s a basketball and lacrosse kid who is super athletic, and if he can figure it out, he can really help us,” Ornstein said. “We have high expectations for him and we’re excited to have him out here to see what he can do. And we have another kid who is a senior, Brandon Ko, who is a really good baseball player [whom] we have playing wide receiver right now, and he looks good. You’re always hoping for some surprises.”

Ornstein hopes, despite losing all eight games a year ago, that his young team picked up valuable lessons along the way. Lessons that can serve the Eagles well this season.

“I think we’re on the uptick. I think the one thing being as young as we were last year is so many guys got experience and a lot of them probably got experience before they were truly ready which made for a tough year while they were going through that,” Ornstein said. “But as we talked about in our first meeting, the fact that they got as much playing time as they did is only going to help us now. They’re just more game-ready now then they would have been.”

It’s a clean slate now for the Eagles. The memories of last year’s lost season are now in Fieldston’s rear-view mirror and Ornstein thinks he has the goods on his roster to make a run at a league title this season, just one year after never having secured a single victory.

“I feel good about our talent and I feel good about our numbers and I feel good about the kids we have here,” Ornstein said. “I expect us to be good and I expect us to compete for our league. We talk about goals from day one, and our goal is to win the league championship. And I think if we do what we need to do, and we play the way we should play and the way we expect to play. I don’t see anyone on our schedule that we’re not going to compete with.”

Like Riverdale, Fieldston plays in the Metropolitan Independent Football League, which has no postseason. But right now, all that matters to the Eagles is victories.

Godosky, for one, is ready to strap on the chinstrap and get this party started. He says the best way to finally cut the cord from last year is to start piling up some wins this time around – making the 2015 season an aberration.

“I feel it’s hard to erase last year. You can’t really forget about going 0-8,” Godosky said. “Basically we’ve lost nine games in a row going back to the last game of the previous year but you have to use that to move on and work hard. I think a lot of people are just putting everything they have into their summer to work hard and get ready for this season. I think we’re ready to win a lot of games this year. I‘m ready to go.”

The road to redemption for Fieldston starts with its season opener on September 10 at Rye Neck. And Ornstein is ready to move on from last year’s winless campaign.

“We’re excited to be back,” Ornstein said. “It’s always good to be back and try and flush last year away.”