High school football: Somers lineman Jake Polito always had a feeling about Navy

Jake Polito was committed the moment he stepped on campus.

The string of college visits that followed were made with an open mind, but ultimately served to validate what the standout lineman at Somers was feeling in April during a tour of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Polito is officially a year away from Annapolis.

“Serving in the military was something I had always wanted to do, but once the whole football thing picked up, that’s where my focus was,” he said. “I didn’t think about it that much for a while, but when I stepped on campus, and I know how cliché this sounds, it kind of felt like I was coming home.

“Once I learned about everything, talked with the coaches, talked with former players, I fell in love. I haven’t felt like that ever. It was a great feeling.”

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Polito gave a commitment to the Midshipmen on June 27.

Beat Army.

Visiting college suitors was a major undertaking. Polito was primarily targeted by schools in the Northeast and collected nearly 20 offers. He also recently participated in camps at James Madison and Auburn.

There was no point in narrowing the list to make the decision easier.

“I kind of knew, in my heart, the moment I stepped on campus the first time,” Polito said of Navy. “I was very fortunate in that I was given a lot of opportunities and my mom was very willing to go and explore a lot of them, so it feels like I’ve been just about everywhere in the Northeast. Once I learned about all the Naval Academy entails, not just the football, I kind of knew that was it for me. After that, most of my visits were checking off boxes, so I wouldn’t say that I had any finalists.”

There’s real emotion when the 6-foot-3, 285-pound all-section lineman recalls the sights and sounds of Annapolis.

‘Oh my goodness,” Polito said. “It’s the most impressed that I have ever been. It’s not just the college, it’s the place. You go in there and it’s a shrine to America. The whole place feels like a museum. It’s just beautiful. And they tell you what to expect before you get there, but once you get there you really have a ‘wow’ moment, like, ‘I can’t believe I’m here.’ ”

Polito has been starting for the Tuskers since freshman year and has played across the offensive and defensive lines. He’s likely a guard or tackle at the next level.

“I don’t believe there’s a more perfect place for me to play,” Polito added. “The way they win games is with that hard-nosed football that I’ve come to love. And they run a triple-option, which is very similar to the Wing-T offense we used to run at Somers. I think I’ll feel at home.”

Somers coach Anthony DeMatteo provided a quick second of that opinion.

“That's a tremendous fit," he said. "Jake started to work out with us as an eighth-grader. We projected him to be on the same level as a Nick Gargiulo who might get drafted next year and he's obviously lived up to the hype. Early on, he was part of a run-oriented Wing-T offense under my dad, knocking people over. Now that we've opened the offense up, he's become a student of the game. Jake was named a captain as a junior, which is extremely rare at Somers and shows what kind of person he is. He makes his peers better from a work-ethic and maturity standpoint. He's a dedicated student. He's selfless and understands there are bigger things than football, which is why he chose a service academy. All of that, along with what he possesses physically, makes him a perfect fit there. I think he's going to succeed at Navy for all those reasons."

After falling to Christian Brothers Academy 32-31 in the NYSPHSAA Class A title game last fall, the Tuskers are all revved up, knowing just how much one play can impact a season. The preparation for a return trip continues over the summer.

“I can’t explain to you how ready to go everybody is right now,” Polito said. “It’s like last season never ended. This year more than most I think we have the entire town of Somers fired up and ready to go. For me, and I’m biased since it’s my senior year, but this could be the most anticipated season of Somers football in quite a while.”

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Jake Polito, Somers football star, commits to Navy