The play is called Ace 41 Quick. It’s a staple from the varsity playbook at Sachem North. Dave Caputo called it with his team huddled around on the fields at the P.A.L. Sports Complex in Holbrook.
Danny Collins, a second grader at Cayuga Elementary and the son of former Sachem quarterback Larry Collins, Class of ’95, took a handoff from teammate Anthony Caputo, a classmate of his at Cayuga and the son of Caputo, Class of ’96, a former Sachem football captain and defensive back.
Collins, playing for the Seahawks, dashed up the sideline 40 yards to score a touchdown against the Raiders. It was the first time he touched the ball in his young football career and the first touchdown of the season for the Seahawks. His teammates rushed to him in the end zone and celebrated like they just won the Super Bowl.
“It was so awesome to see,” said the older Caputo, also the associate head coach and defensive coordinator for the varsity at Sachem North.
Later in the season, parents and supporters watched Aaron Ward, another second grader from Cayuga, who plays for the Giants, break through the offensive line with a strong stride and speed as he pulled away from Seahawks defenders.
“He looked like the next Dalton Crossan,” said Caputo, referencing one of the most electric players in Sachem football history, a former Hansen Award winner as the top player in Suffolk County and current star at the University of New Hampshire. “He was high stepping into the end zone.”
This is not varsity football. It’s not pee wee tackle. It’s just a couple of exciting examples from the new and vibrant flag football program adapted by the Sachem Sports Club (SSC) and sponsored by NFL Flag and USA Football.
SSC offered a junior division for 7 and 8 year olds, and a pee wee division for 5 and 6 year olds this past fall. There were more than 120 kids who played during inaugural season. Games were held on Saturday mornings and volunteer coaches from the community, many former Sachem football players and current coaches, took time to teach fundamentals and build the love of football for this young audience. The NFL sent jerseys with logos from professional teams, and provided flags, footballs and coaching certification and training.
Participation in NFL FLAG has grown about 8 to 10 percent each year since USA Football took over the program in 2011, according to Joe Frollo, senior manager of communications at USA Football. Currently, more than 265,000 children ages 5 to 17 take part in NFL FLAG, he added.
There are eight other flag football leagues on Long Island competing like Sachem Sports Club, according to USA Football. These include clubs in Bethpage, Center Moriches, Dix Hills, Hicksville, Jericho, Manhasset, Melville, and Shoreham.
Flag football has been a point of discussion with various youth sports leagues in the Sachem community. With the highly publicized and relevant topic of head injuries in football, more parents are gravitating toward safer methods of play at the youth level. Last year Tom Cutinella, a varsity player at Shoreham-Wading River High School, died after suffering a head injury in a regular season game.
The flag program was proposed at a meeting of the SSC Board of Governors in April 2015 and unanimously approved. Since then there have been more participants in the flag program, which only officially launched in May, than the tackle program, according to Terrence Dee, commissioner of the SSC flag program and a member of the SSC board of governors.
“Next year we expect the program to double now that the program is established,” said Dee, who added that the league will be expanding to more age groups as soon as next season.
SSC President Dennis Wandle says the ideal situation would be that all of the youth organization’s tackle teams play flag during the pre-season, go through instructional stations in practice to learn the game and then put pads on and go through all the proper tackle football training shortly after.
“This system may help some of the children who play just flag safely progress to tackle with proper instruction,” he said. “Flag football is a great opportunity to introduce football to the younger children and a fun way for the tackle players to play more of the game they love.”
Caputo and Jimmy Dee, who graduated from Sachem in 1996 and the brother of Terrence, have taken lead roles as coaches and influencers in the program. They spent time designing practice plans and plays that are age appropriate and focus on FUNdamentals. The fun is capitalized as part of the lingo used by the NFL and USA Football. They stress the need for kids to be engaged, educated and entertained.
Dee said his son Terrence, 5, a kindergarten student at Nokomis Elementary, would not be playing tackle football yet. He raves about the immediate impact and effect the flag program has had on Terrence.
“This is truly about fun,” said Dee. “The kids do not even realize they are learning the game because they are constantly moving. My son in particular slept with a football after his first practice, I think that says it all.”
Both of Caputo’s sons, Anthony, 7, and Dominic, 4, participate in the program. He said he is confident they will make the transition to contact football when the time is right.
“We must remember that these kids are five to eight years old and most children are not physically and mentally ready to play football in the contact form,” he said. “ I do not view this as a substitute for tackle football, instead, I view this as the first step of developing the fundamental skills necessary to play tackle football. Make no mistake about it, football is an aggressive sport and there will be a time and place for these players to transition. For now, they are learning about the game, building confidence, and having fun with their teammates.”
Jessica and Bryan Freund appreciate the instruction provided for their son, Sam, 7, a second grader at Cayuga. Each game and practice is run like a clinic. There is a rotation of plays that allow children to work on various skills, with multiple coaches who all have different perspectives on the game.
“We love that each station teaches the fundamentals of the game such as throwing, catching, proper positioning on the field, and speed and agility,” said Jessica. “We love that Sam gets the opportunity of being a real part of the game.”
Sam, like dozens of other children playing flag, also participated in the Sachem Youth Football Experience at Sachem High School North during the summer. That camp also featured mini stations to work on fundamentals, as well as program building exercises like autograph sessions with notable Sachem football alumni, and question and answer sessions with recent graduates.
“He is learning how to execute the sport and is having fun doing it,” Jessica said. “We love that this program keeps the children motivated and focused. It allows for them to get out on the field and create a love for the game of football. The kids love it and our son looks forward to it each week.”
Jimmy Dee said his son James, 7, who attends Merrimac Elementary, is a “football junky.” Like Jimmy, who grew up around football thanks to his father John Dee, the former head football coach at St. John The Baptist High School in West Islip, James has been around the game since he was a baby. Jimmy is a football coach at Sachem East.
“He’s grown up with it and has played tackle and flag,” said Jimmy. “He loves flag because he gets to run around and it’s a different type of game. He doesn’t worry. He is also with all his friends who wouldn’t play tackle.”
Dee’s daughter Josephine, 6, also plays and there is a growing contingent of young girls hitting the gridiron. Next year SSC is considering adding a powder puff division just for girls.
John Calabria, who was a quarterback at Sachem, graduated in 1989 and coaches football at Syosset as well as in the SSC flag program, said equipment is a major reason kids are not able to enjoy tackle football.
“It’s a lot more serious once you put that equipment on,” he said. “In flag they are learning the same exact skills they would in tackle, but don’t have the burden of the equipment and collision. This gets more kids involved at a younger age and a lot will put equipment on when they get to middle school or sooner. They’ll be prepared to get hit, but also deliver hits.”
Calabria’s son Johnny, 7, who attends Gatelot Avenue Elementary, asks him every day when he can put a helmet and shoulder pads on.
“He just wants to play football,” said Calabria. “He’s always very excited about the game and now there are so many more kids who are playing football than aren’t because of this program.”
The flag program will also lead to the infusion of youth players in Sachem playing in middle school and eventually working their way up to the varsity programs at Sachem East and Sachem North. Varsity programs, no matter the sport, are often served well by strong youth programs and instruction. Whether it’s West Islip lacrosse, Sachem wrestling, or East Islip baseball, there is a long list of local programs that benefit from early childhood education and exposure to specific sports. Sachem football is hoping to fall in line with a similar model related to the flag program.
“The goal and long term affect of this program is to get more kids playing football and learning the necessary fundamentals and skills to play the game safely and without fear of injury,” said Terrence Dee. “We are blessed with a tremendous talent pool in the Sachem community and the more we can expose those players to the game at a younger level and ingrain proper technics the better chance we have at those numbers translating to the secondary levels.”
Coaches at both Sachem East and North concur.
“As a program we couldn’t be happier about our communities flag football program,” said Sachem North coach Dave Falco. “Football teaches young kids many life skills that will help them navigate their high school years and beyond. Getting kids involved early is important to the future of our great sport.”
Added Sachem East coach Mark Wojciehowski, “The flag program is great! I think it creates the love of the game early in a safe environment. It gets all kids involved and running around, it allows for the basics to be taught without contact.”
Jimmy Dee and Caputo played with one another on Sachem’s 1995 team that won a Suffolk County championship and competed in the program’s first Long Island championship. They saw firsthand what it was like to go through a program together and culminate in the best outcome, victory.
“Everyone thinks talent is what wins, but we had such cohesion and we knew each other,” said Dee. “You played with each other and trusted each other. That’s just as important, if not more important, than talent. Everything you talk about with football is about relationships, loyalty, trust, and discipline. If kids are together and learning those things, it’s tremendous for us going forward. They are learning our terminology and getting in on that Sachem tradition.”
Caputo, who cares deeply about supporting the tradition of Sachem’s rich football culture for decades to come, is building for the future.
“Every Saturday I get excited thinking about the idea that these kids will one day be running through the head dress and having their names announced over the PA system at Fred Fusaro Alumni Stadium,” he said. “That is the reality of it. These are the future stars of Sachem football. When we hoist another Long Island championship trophy in the year 2025, I am confident that we will look back and say that this flag program played a major role. Sachem has always been a football community, and the atmosphere at the complex on flag game day tells me that our future is alive and well.”
-Words and photos by Chris R. Vaccaro