Matt Bonomolo -- One in a Long Line of Family Athletes

Pearl River’s Matt Bonomolo, a sports management major at Mount Ida College in Newton, MA, and an honors program student, also plays football.

 To those who know the Nanuet High School graduate--who only two years ago centered the ball for his brother Bret, the fullback—this combination of brains, brawn and dedication is not surprising.

“Matt is a great kid. He was a very intelligent offensive lineman. In fact, he made all of our line calls as a senior,” noted longtime Nanuet football coach Rich Conklin, whose ties to the Bonomolo family go back to when he was a teammate of Pete Bonomolo.

 Pete’s dad, also named Pete, is the brother of Jerry Bonomolo--Matt’s grandfather, who played at Pearl River and later was a highly successful basketball coach at Nanuet.

Matt’s brother Bret graduated last year after helping the Golden Knights make it to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse for the state championship football game. Their dad, JP, played football at Nanuet, as did their uncle Gary.

“I’ve known the family my entire professional career, and even in high school—I played with Pete,” Conklin said. “We go way back.”

Conklin made this definitive statement regarding Matt, a sophomore at Mount Ida who has started every game at center for the Mustangs.

“He maximized his natural abilities as well as anyone I’ve ever coached,” Conklin said. “He was not overly gifted, but he worked hard; a great team player. He comes from a great family with a tradition of athletics. One thing about Matt: if he had a question, he’d come and ask, and it was pertinent to what was going on. If he was in the huddle and something didn’t sound right, he’d tell me. He was like a coach on the field, even as a high school kid. He has a good understanding of the game.”

Jerry Bonomolo, Matt’s grandfather, was once Conklin’s assistant coach on the varsity. “For a while, we were JV coaches together,” Conklin said.

Matt was accepted into an honors program in the second semester of his freshman year, and was recently named to the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) all-academic team along with six teammates.

Bonomolo, who is already looking forward to next season, credits his coaches for his athletic, and academic success.

“Our head coach, Michael Landers, preaches the family aspect. School is the first thing with him,” Matt noted. “Whether you’re the best (player) or the worst, he’s on you.”

Backfield coach Matt Minich also serves as the academic coordinator. “He runs study hall, checks on your grades,” said Bonomolo, also lauding the contributions of offensive coordinator Kevin Gilmartin and line coach Bill Liedy.

Bonomolo, who remembers being a “B” student in high school, now carries a 3.74 grade-point-average at Mount Ida. He called his academic award “a great honor.”

As a freshman, Bonomolo was required to take three study halls a week and provide a weekly report to the coaches.

“They were great, that helped me out a lot,” Bonomolo said. “It’s working out pretty good.”

Besides playing football and keeping up his grades, Bonomolo helps in the school’s sports information office on a work-studies program.

"It’s a lot of work, no doubt. I’m taking six classes a semester, but I love sports information,” he said.

Bonomolo also said playing football in college is a lot different than it was in high school, noting “in college, you have 80-90 guys who were all-this, all-that. Day in and day out, it’s very competitive.”

The Mustangs were competitive enough to finish 6-4 overall, and 5-2 in the conference, good for second place.

“We went to a bowl game, and lost to (9-2) Springfield (26-17),” Bonomolo recalled. “It was our first bowl game in history. We went from 4-7 (the prior year), and we’re getting better. We’re very high on next season. We have an all-America running back, a junior; a junior quarterback, and five offensive linemen coming back. We really can’t wait to get going again.”