Tim Martin is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media things are looking good for the merged Cairo-Durham and Catskill football programs after the first week of pre-season practice. First-year head coach Dan Hatch has been running the team through early morning practices and likes what he sees so far, Martin writes. “The camaraderie already between the players is great,” Hatch said. “We did the Ravena camp, we did the 7 on 7, we did some combines together and these kids are tight, real tight. A lot of them play other sports against each other, like baseball and basketball, and they all get along great. All respectful young men, you always have a couple of knuckleheads that you have to rein in, but, overall, I’m very optimistic for the season. Now do I have rose colored glasses on? Absolutely not. But we’re going to surprise some people this season.” The varsity squad consists of 27 players — 20 from Cairo-Durham and seven from Catskill. The level of interest among those at the modified level is even greater, with a total of 51 students enrolled. Hatch says travel logistics have been the biggest challenge so far. Games are played at Cairo Town Park, so transportation arrangements for players from Catskill to either the park or Cairo-Durham High School are still being worked out. Cairo-Durham/Catskill will participate in a four-way scrimmage at Corinth on August 25, and then kick off the regular season with a home game against Coxsackie-Athens on September 1. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.