The 2020 high school football season had a different feel to it. After all the season was pushed back from the fall to the spring due to COVID, with teams playing just a four game schedule with no postseason.
It’s easy for the memory to brush past a season when there’s no playoffs to draw back on, though it would be hard to forget how truly dominant Greenfield was that season.
It was the second year of the co-op between Greenfield, Turners Falls, Mohawk Trail and Pioneer, and the Green Wave were loaded with talent, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Greenfield didn’t allow a single point in any of those four games, suffocating offenses with what was a dominant defense.
The Castleton football program was paying close attention and liked what they saw out of that defensive unit. So much so that the Spartans will have six players from that Greenfield defense — Cam Lococo, Drew Conant, Ryan Pulizari, Deion Brewington, Brendan Driscoll and Ryan Duclos — playing on it this fall.
“Castleton is a good school,” Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski said. “We have a bunch of former athletes playing up there. Castleton is far enough away where you feel like you’re away but close enough that you can get home when you need to. A lot of kids like that. I wish all our former guys the best of luck up there. I hope they work hard and make Greenfield proud.”
Lococo joined the Castleton football team in 2021 while Conant joined last fall, when the Spartans went 5-5 overall and 4-2 in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC). Lococo played as a defensive back while Conant is a linebacker.
Pulizari and Brewington graduated from Greenfield in 2022 and will be joining the team as freshman this fall while Driscoll and Duclos are transferring in, Driscoll not playing football last year while Duclos played at Southern Connecticut State last fall.
“We’re fortunate,” Castleton head coach Tony Valpone said. “[Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski] likes how we do thing here. From a logistical standpoint we’re straight up 91 and less than two hours to get here. You have to feel good that Cam and Drew, who have been here from the beginning, are having a good experience and are recommending it to their former teammates. Hopefully we can continue the pipeline.”
Kuchieski credits Lococo for getting the pipeline started and helping sell the program to the younger players.
“Those guys have been on Castleton’s radar,” Kuchieski said. “Brendan didn’t know what he wanted to do at first which is fine. Pulizari, Brewington and Drew knew they wanted to play there. Cam started it all. He was the captain of those guys. He’s a quiet leader who works hard. Him saying good things helped bring those guys up there.”
Kuchieski mentioned that during that abbreviated 2020 season, it was Valpone who showed initial interest in getting the Green Wave players up to Castleton.
That effort proved fruitful, as he now has six former Green Wave players on the roster to work with when camp gets underway on Thursday.
“That was a good bunch of kids,” Kuchieski said. “That COVID year coach Valpone came down and showed interest in a lot of our kids. They were getting recruited by a few schools but they liked the atmosphere up there. It’s a nice school and a good place to go. Those kids worked hard in those four games they had. They didn’t want their football season taken away and made a memory with the season they had.”
Valpone says he liked that each player he’s brought in from the Greenfield program has a different characteristic to their game, but saw all of them as defensive players first.
Former Green Wave players will be at each level of the Spartan defense, with Driscoll joining Lococo in the secondary, Duclos and Brewington on the defensive line, Pulizari playing at outside linebacker and Conant as an inside backer.
“Brendan Driscoll stood out at receiver but we needed help at corner and with his athleticism, we began a dialogue with him and he was gracious enough to say he’d give it a try,” Valpone said. “Cam and Drew are two physical players who are solidly build and are great in defending the run and playing the physical part of the game.
“Deion and Ryan Duclos bring a presence on the line,” Valpone continued. “Duclos is a little older and further along in his physical development. Both have athleticism, with Deion being more of an edge guy while Duclos is an internal guy. They’ll add value in those roles. Pulizari is a mix of athleticism and physicality. We’ll play him in a little more space on the outside backer level.”
Valpone says he valued the honest input he got from Kuchieski on his players, something you don’t always from coaches trying to promote their players.
Valpone noted the jump from the high school to the college level, with that jump being a big one for any high school athlete no matter what school they come from. So far, Valpone says the Greenfield players are adjusting well to the elevated level of play.
“We talked with coach about every single one of those kids at different times,” Valpone said. “We value his opinion. He’s an honest man and I appreciate that about him. He understands the realities of the step up from high school to college. It’s not specific to Greenfield — some people just think because they’re going Div. 3 it’s an extension of high school football when it’s not. It’s a jump and it’s a commitment and we’re hoping this group of Greenfield kids can understand that. So far they have.”
Kuchieski noted that Valpone is the kind of coach he wants his players to go play for, saying he will take care of them and put them in the best position to succeed.
“He’s a really good guy,” Kuchieski said. “The Greenfield guys are in good hands. He’s a good father figure and really cares about the kids on his team. They’ll be well taken care of. He’ll make them work hard and they’ll have to. Everyone is the same as you now. They’re all former captains from their high school teams. Div. 3 isn’t just glorified high school football. The competition is higher. It’s a good program and those kids will have to work hard to find a spot.”