O'Neill senior Marek Arbogast leads cast of 34 Section 9 players for all-state football

Marek Arbogast of James I. O’Neill was named the co-player of the year in Class C by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

Arbogast helped lead the Raiders to a fourth consecutive Section 9 Class C championship, capped by a 14-0 win over Chester. In 2023, he posted 83 catches for 1,535 yards (118 per game) and 17 total touchdowns; he added 12 carries for 62 yards and one score. His all-purpose yards total was 1,748. In October he surpassed Bruce Williams of Syracuse’s Christian Brothers Academy for the state’s receiving yards record, a mark that now stands at 3,845 – he had 405 as a freshman, 892 as a sophomore and 1,013 as a junior.

Arbogast did so despite not being a huge player, checking in at 5-feet-9 inches, 160 pounds.

In all, a total of 34 athletes from Section 9 were named to the all-state teams from Class B, C, D and Eight-man.

First-team choices include Burke Catholic seniors Joseph Perone at defensive line and Liam Benzinger at linebacker in Class D, and senior running back Rally Cruz of Sullivan West in eight-man.

The large-team selections will be announced this week.

Kmcmillan@th-record.com

X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR

Small-school all-state football choices

Class B

Fourth team offense: RB – Anthony Theodore (Port Jervis, Jr.)

Fourth team defense: DL – Carroll Dolshun (Port Jervis, Jr.)

Sixth team offense: QB – Miles Brooks (Marlboro, Sr.)

Sixth team defense: DL – Landon Ramsey (Red Hook, Sr.); DB – Josh Bishop (Highland, Sr.)

Honorable mention offense: QB – Dylan Fox (Port Jervis, Jr.); RB – Ryan Durling (Marlboro, Sr.); James Gescheidle (Highland, Sr.); End – Maddox McCormick (Port Jervis, Jr.)

Honorable mention defense: DL – Ivan Figueroa (Port Jervis, Sr.); LB – Kadofi Abbott (Marlboro, Sr.); Ryan Ross (Port Jervis, Sr.)

Class C

Co-player of the year: Marek Arbogast (James I. O’Neill, Sr., End, kicker)

Second team defense: DL – Jaydon Delgado (Chester, Sr.); Grant Lemler (James I. O’Neill, Sr.)

Third team defense: LB – Andre Jenkins (Chester, Sr.)

Honorable mention offense: QB – Chad Haley (James I. O’Neill, Sr.)

Honorable mention defense: DL – Brennan Pearson (James I. O’Neill, Sr.)

Honorable mention special team: AP - Thomas McGuiness (James I. O’Neill, Sr.)

Class D

First team defense: DL – Joseph Perone (Burke Catholic, Sr.); LB – Liam Benzinger (Burke Catholic, Sr.)

Honorable mention offense: QB – Rory Farrell (Burke Catholic, Sr.); RB – Liam Grafton (Burke Catholic, Jr.)

Honorable mention defense: LB – Frankie Shaw (Burke Catholic, Sr.)

Eight-man

First team: QB – Brett Clowry (Pawling, Sr.); Dan Collins (Spackenkill, Sr.); RB – Rally Cruz (Sullivan West, Sr.)

Honorable mention: QB – Adam Ernst (Sullivan West, Jr.); Reese Rotella (Onteora, Sr.); Nick Storms (Fallsburg, Jr.); RB – Griffin Alterio (Onteora); End – Donovan Hart (Fallsburg, Jr.); Line – Connor Petruso (Pawling, Sr.); LB – Matt Pfister (Pawling, Sr.)

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: O'Neill senior Arbogast named state Class C football player of year