The Resurgence of Port Jervis Football
Port Jervis Football.
Three words that represented one of the most feared programs in the Hudson Valley. Accumulating over 36 conference titles, 17 of which came between 1970 and 1998, the football program in the city of Port Jervis was one of the more successful programs Orange County had to offer.
Friday nights meant football. Crowds at Glennette Field were shoulder to shoulder. You would hear the sonorous cowbell that would be rung after every big play. Tomahawk chop gestures filled the bleachers whenever the tomahawk theme was played. Raider Alumni would line the wire which separated the field from the audience. You were lucky to find a place to stand to get a decent view of the game.
However, the program took a bit of a dive in the mid 2000’s which left most residents of Port Jervis unhappy with the direction the program had taken. By 2010, the vibe wasn’t the same, the crowd wasn’t as packed, and things were just different. That was until former Port Jervis quarterback Matt Polanis took over in 2011.
From the day Polanis was named head coach of the Raiders, he was ready to make a huge difference. From encouraging players to get into the weight room in the spring, holding summer sessions that included weight training and having players adapt to the system that he wanted to incorporate, Polanis was determined to reestablish Port Jervis as a top threat in Section 9.
“My main goal was to make sure the kids who played from here on out during my tenure had pride in what they were doing. They were going to represent their school, their town, their family, and their coaches with class. I wanted to make their experience on the Raider football team one that they would remember for years to come,” Polanis said. “I wanted them to understand that success doesn’t come just because you put the uniform on, that hard work and determination is what’s going to get us back to the championship caliber team that we have grown accustomed to here in Port Jervis.”
Anyone that’s ever put on a red and black football uniform for Port Jervis knows about the pride and tradition they represent. “When someone says Port Jervis Football I think pride. The second thing I think is true grit,” Jonathan Foley said. Foley is currently the defensive back coach for the Raiders and also is one of the coaches for the school’s wrestling team. Foley played for the Raiders in the early 2000’s, so for him, being able to coach for a program that he took a massive amount of pride in is an honor. “I think being a coach for the same school I went to, there’s a great deal of ownership and accountability on yourself as an individual because the tradition lives on with you with every decision you make.”
“From a player’s perspective it means to be apart of a family, to carry the torch that others have carried before you, to make the alumni proud of what you represent on the field at that moment,” said coach Craig Fisher. Fisher played for the Raiders from 1988 to 1990 and now coaches the defense for the team. “As a coach the goal is always to represent the Raider family as a leader and represent the community in a way that would not disappoint the Raider family.”
One of the biggest traditions the city of Port Jervis celebrates is their historical past. But when the program’s success started to fade away, people began to doubt the teams legitimacy. Polanis took over after the Raiders had a season in which they finished 1–8. Over the next few seasons, the program began to start looking up and started to give the residents of Port Jervis a sense a hope.
Port Jervis competes against Middletown every season for The Erie Bell. A game that has been played over 120 times, 60 times for the Erie Bell, and 53 times on Thanksgiving. The Port-Middletown game is the longest rivalry in the state of New York.
The residents of Port Jervis began to become more committed to the program once Polanis took over. People were decorating their yards again with Port Jervis football signs. When The Bell Game comes around the entire city is decorated in red and black, signs wishing the team luck are all over, and the addition of having the players parade around town before they take the field against Middletown has become something the people of Port Jervis look forward too.
“Whenever The Bell Game comes around you see something special. That’s when you really see how important the team is to the city. It’s an unreal feeling to be apart of,” said Bronson Krupunich. Krupinich was a member of the team from 2014 to 2015.
With the addition of some new Port Jervis football traditions, Polanis would bring back a tradition that had been a huge part of the Raiders success in the past, which was taking the team to football camp for a week.
“Going away every year for camp was one of my favorite things and was a big reason as to why our teams were so successful. We’d all learn to know each other better, we had no outside distractions, and we developed great chemistry,” said Richard Padgett. Padgett played on the offensive and defensive line for Port from 1982 to 1985. “It was something the team looked forward too. Seeing Matt bring that tradition back was huge and it’s shown.”
Since bringing back football camp, the Raiders have been to the playoffs five times and have managed to make it to two Section IX Class A Title games.
Port shocked Section IX when they made it to their first title game in over ten years in 2014. Defeating a Walkill team that had shown its dominance for many years, many people took notice and began to consider Port Jervis as a top contender once again.
“Nobody gave us a chance that night. We shocked Section IX and turned a lot of heads,” Krupinich said. “I think that was the game that really put us back on the map and made us a contender again.”
Although Port would go on to lose the title game that year, that didn’t stop the team from achieving success. Port would go on to make it to the Section IX Title game the following year and put up a helluva fight against a Cornwall team that’s been hard to score on, let alone beat.
“Looking up at the scoreboard and seeing it be 35–28 with a few minutes left was crazy. Nobody did that to Cornwall, but we did. The game didn’t end the way we wanted it too, but we put up quite a fight,” said Krupinich. “If every Port Jervis team goes into every game like we did that night, then this program will be a hard one to stop.”
In 2016, the team had high hopes and looked like it was ready to make another run at a Section IX title. However, the team had a tough season and only managed to win one game. But that’s not going to stop the coaches and players from succeeding in 2017.
“We had a lot of close games last year where we were in it until the end, record wise we had a tough year but you learn a lot about yourself and your team in order to improve the next year,” Fisher said. “We have very talented young men on the team that unfortunately didn’t always have the ball bounce their way.”
One bad season isn’t going to slow the program down. Polanis and the rest of the coaching staff for Port Jervis have had several successful seasons during Polanis’ tenure. The coaching staff still has an incredible amount of confidence in their players.
“We as coaches sit down and evaluate what happened and we make adjustments based on what we find and then we adjust. We are in a continuous evaluation of our actions in order to stay competitive so nothing major has to change we just have to stay focused on our goals,” Fisher said. “The vision we have for the program is to always be competitive with-in our division in order to make it to the next level, understand we see the program always making progress every year in order to remain competitive and make the playoffs.”
“Let me say this if it’s your goal be a good football player the proof is in the pudding. It’s not a math problem it’s actually pretty simple. To do that lift weights, get strong, be consistent, don’t miss any days, have passion, be coach-able, do the right things when no one is looking, do the small things like eat healthy fuel for your body, and be a good student. I think from a coach’s standpoint we always find ways to reach our audience,” Foley said.
“The total commitment from our coaching staff with fresh ideas coupled with a string of talented players who grew to understand what it takes to be successful has been a reason for our spurts of success over the past few years,” Polanis said. “The sky’s the limit for this program. Young players that are entering our program now seem to have an excitement for the game. They are being taught at the younger ages the right way to play and I feel that moving forward the Port Jervis Raider football team will be consistently back on top of this section.”
As for Coach Polanis, he continues to live his dream and coach the team he once played for. “Having the opportunity to coach the team you once played for is probably every young coaches dream,” Polanis said. “Being able to be the head coach of a football team steeped in the tradition that we have here is truly humbling. It’s a job that I take very serious and something I didn’t go into lightly.”
The coaching staff has confidence that the team will flourish this fall and put last season behind them. The Raiders will go into next season led by players such as Brandon Roesch, Henry Bowers, Mike Piscitelli, Carson Sauschuck, Chris Morgan, Arte Ichita, and much more. All promising athletes that could help get this team back into the playoffs, and more importantly, secure Port Jervis its first Section IX title since 2001.
To any readers that are interested in reading more about the history of Port Jervis football, the following link will connect you to be able to purchase “The Red and Black A Century of Port Jervis Football” by Phil Dusenbury.
