Football is back at Nazareth Regional High School.
It was just about a year-ago when the school announced the program would be scrapped.
“It wasn’t really a surprise,” Desmond DeFreitas, a former Nazareth footballer who served as head coach for the Kingsmen 10 seasons, told Scholastic Roundup. “We just didn’t have enough kids.”
That was then. But now….
Now, third-year principal Robert DiRe has different plans. “We hope to have a team playing an independent schedule this year with freshmen and sophomores. And perhaps a varsity schedule next year.”
DiRe is a football man — he coached at Holy Cross High School.
So, the Kingsmen had some 30 youngsters at Roy Wilkins Field in Queens, Saturday and met Holy Cross in an exhibition.
The Kingsmen suffered a 38-0 loss. “I expected that, and that’s OK,” said coach Gary Gooden. “We have 30 kids on our roster, and 25 have never played competitive football. In fact, this game was our first real contact.”
Gooden played his high school football at Nazareth, attended Indiana University and is the first Nazareth grad to play in the NFL — he was drafted in the ninth-round by the Los Angeles Raiders in April 1989.
Gooden has also been at Nazareth for 15 years coaching track and field.
The Kingsmen will go at it again Saturday with a scrimmage at New Utrecht.
As for DeFreitas, he played on Nazareth’s first freshman championship team in 1981.
He starred as a running back for Nazareth from 1987-91 — and was a member of the CHSFL championship teams his freshman and sophomore seasons.
He reportedly is coaching this fall in Nassau County at Kellenberg Memorial High School.
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Quarterback Luca Stanzani started the final four games for LIU in 2022 and went undefeated. He completed 21 of 33 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown, but the Sharks fell 27-10 in their season opener to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Saturday.
Davon Wells caught the 15-yard touchdown pass from Stanzani midway through the…
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