The return of football season is only days away. The reigning New York State champion Rye Garnets, led by Dino Garr in his 51st year, kickstart the 2026 season with a home date against Cornwall South in Week 0.
Miss our recent Rye Lifer interview with Rye football Coach Dino Garr? Read it!
For the game preview, we turn to the Steve “The OG” Feeney, the voice of Garnet football:
CORNWALL GREEN DRAGONS at RYE GARNETS NUGENT STADIUM
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 7:00PM
It’s “Week Zero!” Time for a 7:00PM referee’s whistle to announce kick-off the 2026 Rye Garnet Gridiron campaign in a home contest on the Nugent Stadium turf. Usually, the Garnet and Black and the Cornwall Green Dragons meet in a November playoff pairing of the Garnets from Section One and the Green Dragons representing Section Nine on the “Road to Syracuse.” This year’s meeting is the second Week Zero contest between Rye and Cornwall, with the initial tilt occurring at Cornwall in 2022.
Just like “Puff the Magic Dragon,” the Cornwall Green Dragons go up in smoke as they did at the hands of the Garnets in the 2025 NYSPHSAA Eastern Final of the Class A Playoffs. The OG feels now is the time for the Rye Garnets to stonewall Cornwall’s Dragons.
GARNETS 27 — DRAGONS 20
