High School Football

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BY MARC JIMENEZ

Good evening everyone and welcome to the 13th annual Outback Steakhouse Empire Challenge at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium. I will be providing updates throughout this summer football classic, which features the top senior players from Long Island going head-to-head with the top players from New York City. Long Island leads the series 6-4 and will look to rebound from last year’s 35-27. (In the first two years of the Empire Challenge, Nassau and Suffolk played one another.)

First Quarter:

11:49: LI started at the 20 yard line with Joe Sidaras at QB.

9:53: Trevor Perryman caught a 19-TD pass from Sidaras as LI took a 7-0 lead. LI went 80 yards on nine plays in 5:07. LI 7, NYC 0.

9:05: NYC started at the 35 with Jeffrey Legree at QB. On 4th and 6 at the LI 30 yard line, LI jumped offsides penalty before Legree picked up three yards on a QB keeper for the first down.

4:46: NYC is at LI's seven yard line.

3:23: On 4th and 8th, Legree three an eight yard TD pass to Shaahiyn Alston. NYC went 64 yards on 12 plays in 6:30. LI 7, NYC 7.

3:14: Brock Jackolski returned the kickoff 19 yards as LI started at the 29. Steven Probst replaced Sidaras at QB.

End of First: LI will be facing a 3rd and 8 at its own 49 yard line.

Continue reading "Outback Steakhouse Empire Challenge: LI vs. NYC" »

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BY GREGG SARRA

This was no way to start a Wednesday morning. Fax machines were backed up, phones were busy and there was a bit of an edge surrounding high school football. It was National Signing Day and I vowed to see as many happy faces as possible. Of course, I wasn't going to drive all over the Island again, like I did for the Super Bowl picks. But I'll admit that was fun.

Oh yeah, Floyd's Joe Sidaras and Alex Rivas of East Meadow, you were wrong, Giants Baby. Shout out to East Islip's Rob Calabrese, Larry Cohen, Tim Moller, Floyd's Brock Jackolski and Islip's Malcolm Brown and Edgar Cesar, you all picked the Giants to win. As Borat would say, "Very Nice".

Back to signing day. The East Islip people did it right. They honored Calabrese and Moller with a special signing get together. Two great kids, proud parents and lots of smiles at EI.

Same kudos at Floyd where the administration also thought enough of what the football team has produced in the district and proudly announced the big signings of Jackolski and Sidaras. Very professional and a class act all the way from the top to the bottom. By the way that WILLIAM FLOYD banner with the Colonial in the middle is ridiculously huge.

Congrats to all of Long Island's football players, who will continue to play the sport they love at the next level. Check out Andy Slawson's list of college signings. If we missed you, we apologize, and please contact me and we'll update the list.

For the underclassmen, follow your dreams, get great grades, train hard, listen to your coaches and get ready to hit next fall as our Mark LaMonica would say, because Big Suffolk is making his way into the 516!!!!

BY GREGG SARRA

One of the things Hofstra football coach Dave Cohen said when he signed on at the University was to recruit heavy on Long Island. He's held true on that promise, especially this year, where the Pride landed four of Long Island's top seniors.

Cohen made great strides in Mastic Beach when he got in early on the Colonials dynamic duo of halfback Brock Jackolski and quarterback Joe Sidaras during their junior year in 2007. He so impressed both players that they may have taken themselves off the market too early when they verbally committed to stay home and play for the Pride. Not that it's a bad thing. It's actually a great thing -- if you're a Hofstra fan -- because these two are special players.

He also grabbed Farmingdale's blue-chipper in quarterback Steve Probst, who garnered serious attention after leading the Dalers to the Nassau Conference I championship. Probst is your protoypical quarterback and the battle for starting time with Sidaras in 2009 should be interesting. Both guys are highly-regarded and made this the Year of the Quarterback on Long Island.

Hofstra will also bring in Brentwood's two-way lineman Jordy Paulemon, a wrecking ball of a defensive player. Paulemon, who can also block with the best of them, is another top prospect in the Class of 2008.

Nice job by Cohen and his staff!

BY RODERICK BOONE

In case you were under a rock and didn't know, Wednesday was national signing day. I was over at St. Anthony's for Scott Vallone's ceremony. The super talented defensive lineman is headed to Rutgers and his family members were extremely happy. In fact, he had half a dozen family members there, including cousin George Vallone. An offensive guard for Auburn from 2002-05, he made the trip all the way up from Auburn, Alabama to be there.

"It's great," said George, who was sporting his Capitol One Bowl ring. "It's good to see the family succeed. I'm stepping down from my chair and passing on the reins."

Scott Vallone's teammate James Brady was also on hand and the two celebrated their accomplishments. Brady is bound to play quarterback at Georgetown. All around, it was an exciting day for the people at St. Anthony's.

I, of course, am no Gregg Sarra. But he racked up some serious miles today and was all over the place. To take a peek at his signing day story, you can do that right here.

I also authored a piece for our recruiting package about how Vallone was one of select talented players from the Island to get recruited. It has a few interesting things from some people regarding the notion that Strong Island isn't a major player in the college football recruiting wars. You can check that out here.

There's tons of other good stuff on Newsday.com. Give it a gander.

BY GREGG SARRA

For those of you who celebrate awards at every level, here's another attempt by the New York State Sportswriters Association to select the All-State football teams at the schools with the larger enrollments. Let me first, congratulate the boys who were honored by the committee's selection. And if I may -- allow me to commiserate with the ones who were not selected.

The NYSSWA tries to identify the top players from all sections of the state. I don't know who they speak to about our players on Long Island, but they do miss many outstanding players each year. And we don't participate in the state championships sho what's the measuring stick here.

This year, Jordany Diejuste of Patchogue-Medford and Brock Jackolski of Floyd were selected to the Class AA first team offense. Diejuste was the Zellner Award winner given to Suffolk's top lineman and Jackolski was the Hansen Award winner given to Suffolk's top player. Those two were no-brainers. Some guy in Japan could have placed those two on the first team.

St. Anthony's Scott Vallone and East Meadow's Alex Rivas were picked for the Class AA first team defense. Again, easy pickings! Vallone was the Defensive player of the year in the CHSFL and the Rivas earned the Thorp Award given to Nassau's top player. Wow, those guys went out on a limb with those picks.

Congratulations to Sayville's Billy O'Connor for his selection to the first team defense in the Class A along with Lawrence lineman Keith Goodluck. Both had fabulous high school careers.

And there were some Long Island players sprinkled among the second, third and fourth teams in Class AA and second and third teams in Class A.

The one that really irked me was the choice for fourth team offense for East Islip's Rob Calabrese. Ok, I know it's tough, the All-Long Island team is hard enough to pick. But fourth team in the state for a kid like Calabrese, NO WAY!

Calabrese is one of the finest high school football players we've seen in a very long time. He was a two-way starter, equally important on both side sof the ball and headed to Central Florida. He led East Islip to an 11-0 record, the Long Island Class II championship over Lawrence, the defending champion, and he broke all of Boomer Esiason's records.

Pleeeeaassseee!!!!!

BY GREGG SARRA

We don't play in the state playoffs so why does a group of men upstate feel the need to recognize Long Island players for the All-State teams. These selections are sight unseen and fairly arbitrary. Can something be fairly arbitrary?

There is no representation in the voting process for the Long Island players. So the state announced the Class B and C All-State players last week. The committee will announce the All-State teams for the Class AA and A this week. I'm curious -- hopefully they recognize some of the great talent here on Long Island.

Congratulations to Seaford defensive back Mike Sapraicone for making the All-State Class B first team. And Seaford teammate Jake Asquino earned All-State second team on the offensive line.

Long Island has very few teams in the B, C and D classifications. We should see a ton of guys in the Class AA and the A classifications.

UPDATE: The Half Hollow Hills East football team had their meeting with Joe Pennacchio, according to Deana and Mike Lykos, and it doesn't look as if the school has any intention of bringing Pitman back.

Superintendent Sheldon Karnilow stated that the search for a new coach would commence in the spring, and not in July as first believed. He added that the school would maintain the weight-training programs that Pitman championed and that the administration wanted only the best for the team.

Also, some news, straight from Susan Burgazzoli, head of the HHHE boosters: The team will be holding another protest in front of the HHHE central office at 2:15 p.m. on Jan. 7 - right before a Board of Education meeting. They expect a large turnout.

BY LAURA ALBANESE

Half Hollow Hills East declined to bring back three-year football coach David Pitman last Thursday and his players are none too happy about it.

Pitman, whose record last year was a bleak 1-7, has nonetheless inspired some fervent admiration at HHHE. As of last week, students began to circulate a petition (hundreds of names strong after one day), made T-shirts, and planned a rally and possible visit to the superintendent - all geared at getting Pitman back to his post, said Deana Lykos, sister to wide receiver/cornerback Mike Lykos.

“My brother and his teammates were upset that a coach they want to play for was fired,” Lykos said. “They love playing for him.”

Pitman confirmed that he was fired but declined to elaborate, saying that he taught social studies at Half Hollow Hills and didn't wish to cross the administration. Athletic director Joe Pennachio declined to comment and after-hours phone calls to the school were unanswered.

“I put all I had into trying to build a program,” Pitman said, adding that he wished he could continue. The support, he said, “really is overwhelming.”

“I have the utmost respect for these kids.”

Nassau gave out its awards on Tuesday night.

East Meadow's Alex Rivas won the Thorp Award, given to Nassau's top football player. Click here to read the story.

Rivas also won the Piner Award, given to Nassau's top linebacker. Click here to read that story.

Farmingdale won the coveted Rutgers Trophy, given to the top team in Nassau as voted by the Nassau County Football Coaches Association. Click here

JFK's Evan Russell won the Martone Award, given to Nassau County's top lineman. Click here to read that story.

Farmingdale's Steve Probst won the Snyder Award, given to the most outstanding quarterback in Nassau County. Click here to read that story.

Baldwin's Ian Ball, Hewlett's P.J. Skellington, Seaford's Dominic Barone and Lynbrook's Andrew Vaughn were all named winners of the Unsung Hero Award. Click here to read that story.

Also, check out the video from the Nassau Awards dinner on Tuesday night.