By Zach Smart
In August of 2022 in Dobbs Ferry, it’s fair to say there’s been a mountain of change throughout the past two years.
The quaint and small-knit community adapted to the unprecedented challenges of Covid, with shutdowns and virtual learning.
Student-athletes were forced to rapidly change their lifestyle and approach, with individual workouts and truncated seasons.
Yet where Ashford Avenue meets Beacon Hill Drive and Gould Field opens up before a jam-packed crowd, the expectation level tends to stay the same for the Dobbs Ferry HS football team.
“Things always change year to year based on who is out there on the field, we always try to fit things the best we can to our personnel,” said Eagles head coach Joe Cox, a homegrown Dobbs Ferry product whose team won a Section 1/Class C title and finished 11-1 during the 2021 campaign, the season culminating with a 52-14 loss to Schuylerville in the Class C New York State semifinal.
“Certain things, concepts are there. We try to play a really physical style of football. We want to be really good at blocking. We want to be really good at tackling. But our goal is always to be standing there at the end in Class C. We want to be out there on the last day in Class C, playing for a Section 1 title and our goal is to to win that game.”
The 2022 Eagles will again be predicated on a thorough running attack, especially out of the fullback position.
The program returns a bulldozing 5-foot-11, 220-pound Class of 2023 fullback in Brian Dann.
Barreling his way to a game best 215 yards and four touchdowns on 26 carries as Dobbs rolled to a thorough 41-14 throttling of Valhalla in last year’s Sectional title win, Dann is again the focal point as a prolific runner.
With his man-child frame, he’s able to embrace contact and really fight to break tackles and extend plays.
The first team All State Dall gobbled up 1300+ yards and powered his way to a Section 1 best 31 touchdowns last season. Now, as a seasoned senior captain on a roster that’s thoroughly cleansed following the loss of 13 seniors, Dann inherits some ownership of this team.
Both player and coach want it that way.
“Brian is an even better leader than he is football player,” Cox said.
“He cares tremendously and he’s a guy who takes great pride in his work. Being a fullback at Dobbs Ferry, being the captain of this team, it means a lot to him. We lean on him for a lot–on the field, off the field.”
Cox continued, “Brian’s obviously going to touch it a little bit. We’re going to count on him. He would be the first one to tell you, though, that he’s just one of 11. His job blocking is just as important as when he’s got the ball in his hands.”
Dann’s unique combination of intriguing size and motor enables him to be a difficult tackle at the Class C level.
Dann’s productivity in the red zone was evidenced last year. He turned in multiple performances of four touchdowns or more, including a 290-yard, four TD explosion during the Eagles’ 56-28 trouncing of O’Neill during the opening round of the New York State playoffs last season.
“Obviously I’m not your ordinary running back, I’m kind of bigger than most of those guys at this position,” Dann said.
“I just use it to my advantage. They kind of bounce off of me at times, to be honest. I just keep going after they hit me. I can break arm tackles. Coach (Cox) definitely expects more from me this year, especially with last year’s senior class moving on. But it’s definitely the same focus –running hard, getting the first down, keeping my legs chopping.”
Dann has help in the backfield from senior Brandon Holman, an elusive runner who is also a starting defensive back. There is noteworthy depth with a pair of athletic and two way pieces in Drexel Lewis and Andrew Deakins, both of whom will run the ball and simultaneously fill the void of the recently graduated classes departure.
Cox himself knows a little bit about adversity.
He was an undersized Center, helping anchor a 2001 Dobbs team which entered the year without much buzz or much expectation and wound up winning a Section 1/Class D title and garnering a berth in the NYS championship game, where they ran into a buzz saw that was then sophomore Mike Hart (who went on to play at Michigan) and Onondaga.
That ’01 team was a distinguished group, one remembered for bringing football prominence back to Dobbs following a brief hiatus.
Thus, the challenge of readying an infusion of new blood for the rigors of this season isn’t a daunting one for Cox. He’s confident this youth laden team will make a transition. The approach they took in ramping up with the unrequired work this past off-season, Cox noted, has been noteworthy.
Dobbs had several lopsided victories last season, games which enabled underclassmen to get critical playing time and learn the niceties of the system.
This young core, led by a sophomore quarterback in Kevin Hartnett, has embraced the off season with a steady load of weight room work and practices and skill development.
They’ve developed tight bonds off the field, with team dinners and gatherings at local spots such as Candlelight Inn in Edgemont.
Beyond developing the camaraderie that’s a pre-requisite for this type of culture, this younger core is eager to write their own chapter in the program’s storied history book.
Cox cited the younger core’s ability to fall in love with the process as aspects which have readied them.
“We told them that their time is now,” Cox explained.
“They want to invest a lot into the off-season and it’s all them. Anytime you are investing that much into it and then showing up here and really wanting to get better, I think it signifies that you have goals to be successful.”
Cox said he is sold on Hartnett’s work rate, poise, and all around capabilities as a game manager.
With the number of reps Hartnett got on the practice field as a freshman, along with his will and desire, Cox is sure there isn’t too much pressure riding on a 15-year-old kid.
“He completely committed himself to the off-season,” Cox said of Hartnett.
“Kevin’s a great kid. He’s a tough kid. He takes a great amount of pride in everything he does. He wants to be a great thrower. He wants to be a great runner. He wants to be great at being the Dobbs Ferry quarterback. We’re really excited for him and he’s ready to take that next step in his young career here.”
