It’s still July, but football is in the air in Lake Ronkonkoma. There was a buzz at Fred Fusaro Alumni Stadium on Monday night, which marked the first day of SYAG mini-camp for Sachem North football.
Players from seventh through 12th grade, in all levels of the Sachem football program, were on hand to work on the fundamentals and get started before the 2013 season comes into full bloom during September.
“This camp has been great for us to set our foundation,” said Sachem football coach Dave Falco. “It’s our starting point, our jump off. Our kids have been working extremely hard in the weight room, speed training and in 7-on-7’s, but this is where the football starts. It starts with some intensity and excitement.”
Get ready for big numbers
As if Sachem football hasn’t become known as a running back factory in recent years, just wait until you see the backfield this season. They’re all familiar names, just a year older: Trent Crossan, Malik Pierre, Anthony Ross and Kevin Bragaglia. Don’t count out a core of rotating quarterbacks and some other young studs waiting in the wings to shine.
They were running drills and hammering out plays on the first day of mini-camp at will. They clicked together like a set of players who have been together for years, and many of them have. This is the kind of senior season many athletes dream of, where you can have a tight knit group of skilled players, with high football IQs, who all get along.
“We have a fun team this year,” said Crossan, who is coming off an injury plagued 2012 season. “We know more than we did this time last year because we’ve all played with each other. We’re putting our work in and we have an LIC in mind. If you’re not playing to win, you’re not playing at all.”
Having torn ligaments in his knee and experiencing issues with his hamstring, most of early 2013 was spent rehabbing his leg injuries. But Crossan has made the most of his summer, getting back to his old form and hoping for a successful 2013 campaign. Before Sachem’s camps started this week, Crossan worked out at camps at Army, Stony Brook and New Hampshire, where his brother Dalton is a sophomore (redshirted his freshman season).
“Not playing [parts of] last year, it’s good to get out and compete because I don’t have as much film as the other kids,” he said. “It’s good for the coaches to see me in person and see me in action. It feels really good now. I’m doing really well. There is good competition there from throughout the country, but I’m still holding my own.”
New coaches, old coaches, same leaders
Back to the coaching staff is Mike Marrato, who spent last season on the staff at St. Anthony’s, where he is also a physical education teacher. He’ll help run the offense again and should infuse some more life into an already potent scoring unit.
“He brings a lot of energy and a lot of knowledge,” said Crossan. “I kept in contact with him and a lot of players did. We’re still really close and it’s like nothing changed.”
Sachem alums Dan Cancro and Dom Purificato will help coach Sachem’s JV squad this season. Cancro just finished up his college playing career at Cortland State. Purificato attended RPI.
Get ready for coverage, coverage and more coverage
It’s only July, so we’ll keep the football stories to a minimum, but 2013 season should be special in Sachem, so you can expect the usual gridiron coverage from East and North starting in late August. Training camp begins August 19 for all high school programs in Suffolk County, and Sachem’s teams head upstate for the last week of August before the season starts in early September.
Sachem East and Sachem North will play one another on Sept. 11 at East, starting at 6 p.m. This marks the first time North has played at East, but the sixth time the programs have played one another since the school district was reconfigured in 2004.
-Words/Photos by Chris R. Vaccaro
