By TONY BELLISSIMO
On Monday, all 56 Nassau County high school football teams begin preparation for the upcoming season, scheduled to open with a handful of games on Friday, Sept. 12.
“Every year is a clean slate and I think everyone looks forward to the start of practice,” Section VIII football coordinator Pat Pizzarelli said. “Kids weight train and do agility drills during the offseason, and soon they’ll be back on the field doing their thing.”
The first three days of practice are non-contact, with helmets and shoes the only equipment permitted. Protective pads and blocking devises are used beginning on Wednesday of opening week. It’s full steam ahead from the sixth practice on. Scrimmages can be held after 12 practice sessions are complete. “Practices reach another level after the first week,” Pizzarelli said.
Representatives from each school will meet Monday night at Clarke for a mandatory safety clinic, which will focus on heat precautions and how to detect and treat injuries such as concussions. “We’ve reached out to coaches at all levels to attend,” Pizzarelli said.
Eight-game schedule returns
For the first time since 2003, teams will play eight regular-season games instead of seven. In order to keep the number of playoff participants in each conference at eight, Section VIII had to get approval from New York State since teams advancing to the county championships would be playing for an 11th time. “We could have gone back to two rounds of playoffs instead of three, but we didn’t want to slice the number of playoff teams from eight to four,” Pizzarelli said. “And we think the extra game is better for the power ranking system we use to determine standings.”
Teams failing to qualify for the playoffs will be allowed to schedule a ninth game for Nov. 8 if they find a willing opponent. A ninth game could become a guarantee as soon as next year.
Reshaped conferences
Ten teams switched conferences due to enrollment, including Long Beach, Valley Stream Central, South Side, Lawrence, Valley Stream South and Clarke.
Both Long Beach and Valley Stream Central dropped into Conference II from Conference I, with Herricks and MacArthur moving up. South Side and Lawrence went from the two smallest schools in Conference II (replaced by New Hyde Park and Roslyn) to the two largest in Conference III. Lawrence, the two-time defending Conference II champs, will clash with perennial Conference III powers Bethpage and Wantagh on Sept. 27 and Oct. 11, respectively. The Golden Tornadoes are seeded third and open at home against Glen Cove on Sept. 13.
South Side opens with consecutive home games against Westbury and Valley Stream South and also hosts Plainedge and Lynbrook. “We’re in Conference III by three students, so we might be right back in Conference II next year,” Cyclones coach Walter Denton said. “We haven’t played any of the teams on our schedule in a very long time. It should be interesting.”
Valley Stream South and Clarke are used to bouncing around the county’s two smaller conferences. South is back in Conference III after a three-year run in IV, while Clarke returns to IV after a brief stay in III. “It’s beyond our control,” VSS coach Lance Griffin said. “Now we’re probably in the most competitive conference in the county. It’s going to be a challenge.”
The Falcons are no longer in the same conference as Valley Stream North, and it might remain that way for a while since South’s enrollment is 37 students more than Clarke — the largest school in Conference IV. Griffin said coaches, players and fans at South and North are going to miss the rivalry game. “We not only lost North on the schedule but also Roosevelt, which we’ve developed a rivalry with over the years,” he said. “You never know how long it’ll last. Maybe we’ll be back in Conference IV in 2009.”
Trio of coaching changes
Of the 23 schools in the Herald’s coverage area, three hired a new head coach earlier this year. Anthony Cracco took over at Mepham, Frank Sansanelli’s at the helm for Kennedy and Jim Bernhardt is back for a second stint at Long Beach.
Cracco, who played at Kennedy and Central Connecticut, was a varsity assistant at Mepham in 2007 after serving as the JV head coach the previous season. Sansanelli spent the past four years as Kennedy’s JV head coach, while Bernhardt has more than 30 years of coaching experience, including 11 at the collegiate level. He was the Marines’ head coach from 1985-87 and went on to be an assistant coach at Hofstra, Brown and Central Florida.
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
