Somers head football coach Tony DeMatteo will retire after the high school football season winds to a close.

DeMatteo tells News 12 he just felt it was the right time.

“My family has made huge sacrifices and I just thought it was time to walk away from this madness,” says DeMatteo.

The New York football legend holds the second-most wins in statewide football history with 360 game wins and two state titles. 

Despite only being four games away from passing retired Bethpage coach Howie Vogts in coaching wins, DeMatteo believes the pandemic helped him realize a lot.

“The pandemic changed everyone's thinking. All of a sudden, you have to be careful. Life is very short, and I just thought, you know what, maybe someone is telling me something,” says DeMatteo. “The record really isn't that important to me. What's important to me, is the number of kids I helped.”

He confirmed that although a comeback may cross people’s minds, his coaching career in football has concluded.

“My coaching career in football is over. I am going to be a football fan…I want to see my grandkids play. I'm going to be Somers' No. 1 fan. I want to see them play,” says DeMatteo, “As I said, I want to be around for when my son Albert gets married. And my latest grandson, who is like 3 or 4 months old, I just want to see him graduate high school.”

Somers High School hasn’t announced a new head coach yet, but News 12 is told the process will begin in the following weeks.