How do you measure perfection? In team sports, wins and losses are the ultimate barometer of success.

When the 1972 Miami Dolphins won all 17 of their games en route to the Super Bowl championship,

many observers equated that feat with athletic perfection.

But if the Dolphins’ undefeated season represented athletic utopia, then the lexicon of superlatives needs

a new word to describe the magic carpet ride of the 1989 Nanuet football team. Not only were those

Golden Knights perfect in the won-lost column—10 victories in 10 games—they were also perfect in the

points-allowed column.

Final record: 10-0. Points scored: 239. Points allowed: 0. Ten straight shutouts. Undefeated, untied, not

scored upon—the only such high school team in the country that year, according to USA Today. That

banner season rates as one of the greatest in the history of Rockland County team sports. More impressive

is the fact that, because of a major renovation project at its home field that year, Nanuet played every

game on the road and practiced off-site at the Don Bosco Marian Shrine inWest Haverstraw.

"It was a unique situation," Rich Conklin, Nanuet’s head football coach then and now, said a few years

ago. "We needed something to motivate us, to pull us together, and traveling back and forth to practice

each day did that. The bonding that took place was something special."

Special indeed. Although the New York State post-season playoff system was not established until 1993,

Nanuet’s 1989 club advanced as far as the existing bowl schedule permitted. In their final game of the

season, the Section 1 Class C Bowl game, the Golden Knights blanked Bronxville, 21-0, to earn the

Colgate Cup as the top team in its class in Section 1 bowl competition.

Nanuet also secured the season-ending No.1 ranking in Class C in the final poll of the New York State

SportsWriters Association.

The Knights grabbed the lion’s share of local media headlines. By the close of their glorious campaign, few

people with even a fleeting interest in local sports had not heard about the Nanuet football phenomenon.

They even had other Rockland teams’ supporters rooting for them. When Nanuet arrived at Mount

Vernon’s Memorial Stadium for their bowl game against Bronxville, the team received a rousing reception

from North Rockland fans on hand for an earlier bowl game involving the Red Raiders.

Accolades poured in as Nanuet established one record after another: most shutouts in a season by a

Rockland team, 10; tied for the most consecutive shutouts over two seasons, 11; seven school records,

including fewest points allowed and most shutouts. And there were really no close calls, either. No opponent

even crossed the Nanuet goal line on touchdowns called back because of penalties.

The 1989 squad had three first-team All-New York State selections—T.J. Ford, Tom Furlong and Mike

Hussey—and Ford was chosen the New York State Class C Player of the Year. The club also had six

first-team All-League, three first-team All-Section 1, and three first-team All-Rockland County s

elections.

In addition, Ford was named to the first team among metropolitan area football players by the New York

Daily News, and Conklin was voted Coach of the Year in the league, in Rockland County, and by the

Daily News. The 1989 team was also the first Nanuet team to be ranked in the Daily News’ Golden 20.

Here is a list of the players from the 1989 team: Bob Rock, Lou Sciortino, T.J. Ford, Mike Butler, Peter

Weigang, JonWayne, Bob Dunne, Rob Carbone, Chris Annesi, Brian Dudek, Jason Goodstein, Mike

Santoro, Tim Tyler, Mark Coyle, Chris Bohlin, Michael Bohan, Michael Hussey, Chris Kiernan, Michael

Brennan, Bob Gallagher, Michael Garramone, Chris O’Neill, Graham Klein, Jared Begun, Jason

Kavountzis, Mike O’Hara, James Maritato, Chris Seidel.

The team’s coaching staff consisted of the following: Rich Conklin, Phil Carbone, Mike DelliPizzi, Rich

Loughlin, Rich King, Jamie Barry, Pat Mitchell, Joe Speechley.