Fallsburg’s Football Program Kicks Off
FALLSBURG, September 2021— Benjamin Cosor Elementary School (BCES) first grade teacher Dominick Scanna is passionate about several things—teaching early childhood bi-lingual education, coaching sports and the game of football. He expressed the importance of football on his own life and on the lives of the young people that he has met during his years working with modified and varsity football teams at Fallsburg Central School District when he hosted a BBQ on August 7, 2021 for parents and prospective football players at BCES Football Field.
“Football teaches us that we need each other,” said Coach Scanna. “There are two types of education. One teaches us how to make a living. The other teaches us how to live.” In twenty minutes of encouraging the young kids and their parents to come out for the modified and varsity football programs, Mr. Scanna summoned forth his inner Vince Lombardi and Martin Luther King Jr. He confessed that he was not a focused student in high school, and he admitted that he had to repeat a school year before he reached high school. Once he found football or, rather, football found him, he turned his life around.
He detailed all the things football taught him about teamwork and effort: he learned to develop the ability to adjust and overcome adversity; to worry about only the things we can control; he established the will to succeed; and how to define who we are, where we are going, and how we are going to get there.
You could see that the young people and their families were inspired by the coach’s words and spirit. He then introduced his coaching staff for the upcoming season: Assistant Coach David Mellan, in his second season; Modified Head Coach Patrick Sause, in his fifth year; Assistant Coach Johnathan Bruno; his son Jake Scanna, in his first season as Assistant Coach; and Coach Athan Zeno, in his first season.
FCSD Superintendent Dr. Ivan Katz was present to support Coach Scanna and to talk with parents. When he was a high school student, he discovered wrestling at Monticello High School. He learned many of the same lessons as Mr. Scanna, but from an individual and not a team sport.
The Comets will open the 2021 season either Friday, September 10 at Morningside Park or Saturday, September 11 at the school field. Details were not yet finalized at press time.