Riverdale to open season defending its ‘King of Hill’ crown

If there is one thing Riverdale head football coach Joe Otero could change about the league his Falcons compete in, it would be that the Metropolitan Independent Football League (MIFL), Riverdale’s football home, would hold postseason playoffs. But such is not the case with the fledgling league.

“Unfortunately, the league is so fresh that we don’t have playoffs just yet, so we just sit with our record at the end of the year,” Otero said. “But I see that changing in the next year or two.”

So, while the Falcons program awaits the day the MIFL institutes postseason play, Riverdale plays for its own championship of sorts. The Falcons call it “King of the Hill,” and last year Riverdale was that king, the masters of Riverdale. We’ll let Otero fill you in on the details.

“The three ‘Hills Schools,’ Riverdale, Fieldston and Horace Mann, we play for what we call the King of the Hill Championship,” Otero said. “Last year we were the King of the Hill because we beat Fieldston and we beat Horace Mann for King of the Hill. These three schools have to play each other, and it’s a great neighborhood rivalry. The kids absolutely get up for these games 100 percent. In these games, the kids are playing their neighbors. One kid from the neighborhood goes to Horace Mann, one guy goes to Riverdale and one guy goes to Fieldston. They could all be in the same elevator coming out of the same building everyday and then they all go off to three different practices. There is a little bit more of a grudge, you could say, in these games, a little bit more intensity.”

Riverdale will open the season in defense of their King of the Hill championship right out of the gate, as the Falcons will host Horace Mann in their season opener on Sept. 10. So, how do the 2016 Falcons compare with last year’s 6-3 team?

“I think we can be better than last year, to be totally honest with you,” Otero said. “We have a lot of younger players coming in this year, so the presence is there. We just have to put it all together.”

The one player who will look to announce his presence with authority again this season is senior running back Avery Hoffman. Last season, he set a Riverdale school record by rushing for just under 2,000 yards, and he is looking to do further damage this season.

“The goal is over 2,000 this season,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman is just one of the stud offensive players the Falcons will unleash on opponents this season. There is also junior wide receiver Ernest Robinson, who is a favorite target of junior quarterback Ryan Rosensweig.

“Ernest caught seven touchdowns for us last year. He and Avery were our captains last year, and they are our captains again this year as well. Avery and Ernie were our top producers on offense and led the way for us. I expect them to be our leaders again this season. But we also have our quarterback returning as well in junior Ryan Rosensweig. The only big changes actually are on our offensive line, where we graduated three out of the five starters from last season. But we have some rookies coming in that I think are going to do very, very well. I’ve been the offensive line coach here for four years and that has been our biggest focus here in camp.” 

One player to watch – and at 6-6 and 300 pounds he would be hard to miss – is left tackle Nick Zagatero, whose job it will be to keep Rosensweig upright and in one piece this season.

“Nick will be anchoring the line at left tackle,” Otero said. “That’s what we need him to do. Offensive line was one of our concerns coming into camp, and we need him to protect Ryan.”

Aside from a talented roster, Robinson, the Falcons’ superlative wide receiver, thinks Riverdale has the main ingredient to post another successful season this year – team chemistry.

“On and off the field we’re great friends,” Robinson said. “It’s important to be great friends on and off the field for the chemistry. If you don’t have the chemistry it’s never going to work.”

So, does Robinson’s close friendship with Rosensweig translate into more passes coming his way in game situations?

“He sees me more than enough when I’m open, so there’s usually not a problem with that,” Robinson said, laughing.

The Falcons will be a little on the younger side this season, but Otero thinks their football IQ will more than make up for any lack of experience.

“We graduated about 12 seniors, but we did inherit seven freshmen who are awesome,” said Otero, who also had coaching pit stops at both Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers and Fordham Prep, before coming to Riverdale. “We’re a younger team for the most part because we don’t have too many seniors, so pretty much every position was open coming into training camp. There are a lot of guys working hard so that is a positive but our strength is our knowledge and our intelligence. We know football very, very well.”

The pieces all appear to be in place for another successful run for the Falcons this season. But once that run is over in early November, that will be all she wrote for Riverdale, with no postseason to head to.

“I would say it’s kind of tough when you look at other teams, like soccer, which have playoffs,” Hoffman said. “I think we would love to have playoffs but it’s a different kind of challenge in that every week we have to be prepared to win, because every week is like a championship game for us.”

And there is that King of the Hill crown to defend this season, so there is that to play for as well.

“There are a lot of rivalries going on between the ‘Hill’ schools, team-to-team and also player-to- player,” Robinson said. “You see the same players every year and when you go up against them – it’s another challenge. But it’s your opportunity to show them what you got, and for them to show you what they got, and whoever comes out victorious, that really shows who is at the top of the top of the league and who is at the top of the hill.”

It is that rivalry which keeps Riverdale hungry throughout the season, playoffs or no playoffs.

“Playing Horace Mann to start the season definitely helps us out,” Otero said. “A lot of these kids all grew up with each other and they all end up going to one of the three Hill Schools, whether it’s Riverdale, Fieldston or Horace Mann. So there is a lot of interest in that game and a lot of people come to that game. I compare it to the Giants and Cowboys rivalry. They always play each other in the first game, so it’s the same concept here. And because they don’t play for a league title, King of the Hill is very important to them.”

And it all begins when Riverdale plays host to their neighbors on Sept. 10 at 2 p.m.

“We’re really excited, especially because we see the kids who go to Horace Mann throughout the year because we all live pretty close to each other,” Hoffman said. “So it’s really nice to have that one game to brag about the whole year. It’s not just one game, it’s the whole year.”