The Sewanhaka Indians football team has a season of change in store.
The Indians have moved up from Conference III to Conference II, due to an increase in enrollment, and are set to face teams that they have never seen before, according to head coach George Kasimatis.
“It is hard to gauge where we will be in this conference,” he said. “There is a lot of uncertainty as where we fit in.”
However, Kasimatis’ goal remains unchanged; to make the playoffs.
To do so, he will be relying on a lot of players to step up and fill the void left behind by last year’s seniors. On last years team, the starting quarterback, running back, and three of the four receivers were all graduating seniors.
While many of his players this year are seniors with varsity experience, they will be relied on to fill a much bigger role than in the past.
Kasimatis believes that the offense will be a more balanced attack, after relying on the pass a lot last season. This season, new quarterback, junior, Elijah Tracey, is very mobile, flashing his athleticism last season as a wide receiver for the Indians. He may even play corner back for the Indians, which is very rare for a quarterback.
To help establish the run game the Indians will rely on Breton Mighty, the teams senior running back. To do so the offensive line must step up, and he will be relying heavily on seniors, Danny Gianotti and Louie Segarra, two returning starters, as well as Adrian Gonzalez.
Filling the void at wide receiver will be Mike Parasconda and Xzavier Anderson.
Anderson originally planned to fill the role of backup running back, but worked so hard all offseason on his hands it makes him hard to take him off the field, Kasimatis said. He will now be used as the teams slot receiver.
On defense, the focus will be to stop the run. To accomplish this Kasimatis will rely on senior linebackers Peter Latorre and Pete Militano, along with his senior defensive ends, Justin Alexandre and Danorei Williams.
“When you look at our defensive ends, they are very tall, muscular, athletic kids,” he said. “If they live up to the potential it will help us greatly.”
He also expects senior, safety Adrian Harris, to be a big factor on the defense.
Kasimatis said the team is looking forward to taking on their new conference foes such as Elmont Memorial and Carey along with returning foe New Hyde Park Memorial, which is always a big game on the schedule.
“With all these schools being so close a lot of the kids know each other,” he said. “They are very excited to play these teams.”
Kasimatis said the team has to work on unifying. He said currently they are all competing for jobs, which is normal at camp, but as the season goes on they will start to gel.
