New-era Newfield on cusp of a program first
Newfield's Brandon Riggo looks to pass downfield. (Nov. 18, 2011) Credit: Alan J Schaefer
Isn't the first time the sweetest? Your baby's first steps. The first time you rode a bike. The first kiss.
Newfield earned the Suffolk football title for the first time in 52 years Friday night. The Wolverines did it in nail-biting fashion with a one-point win over traditional playoff power East Islip. They did it against a team with an all-time mark of 26-1-2 against them. A program that shut them out 18 times.
The moment completely overwhelmed the players. The capacity crowd that traveled to LaValle Stadium at Stony Brook to root for their team serenaded them long after the final seconds ticked from the clock. A dramatic second-half comeback wiped out a 13-point deficit and enabled the Wolverines to pull out a 14-13 win.
Nothing was lost in translation. Three-year starting linebacker Ron Denig declared it a moment that should be embraced by all former Wolverines.
"This is for all the guys that played here before us," Denig said. "And this is for all the guys who put in all the effort to make this a possibility this year. We knew what it was like to lose when we were all sophomores playing varsity football and getting our heads handed to us. And now we know what it feels like to be on top."
Newfield won for the fifth straight game and the second-half surge ended East Islip's eight-game winning streak. It was Newfield's eighth win of the season, tying a school record set last year when the Wolverines went 8-2 and were eliminated in the Suffolk playoffs by Bellport, which went on to win the Long Island Class II title.
The Black Shirts of Newfield have won all four playoff games on the road.
"I feel great for all of our seniors who have really led the way," junior two-way tackle James Manginelli said.
"This was about them. They paid their dues and earned the right to compete in the championship."
In seven years, head coach Joe Piccininni has changed the culture of Newfield football. A once-proud program that reached the division final three times in the 1970s is once again competitive.
"We took some big-time steps toward that winning culture last year," said Piccininni, who has a 37-26 record. "You could feel the confidence soar in this locker room at halftime -- the emotion was incredible. Now you can sense a camaraderie in the school and the community as people have started to rally around and believe in the team Our crowds have grown and the interest is there.."
Football does that for a community, especially an eclectic area like the hamlet of Selden. Football brings people together on the weekends. It is a source of pride. Newfield has lost that through a long stretch from 1993-2001 when the program had only eight wins in nine years. There were four 0-8 seasons. They no longer played the school fight song.
That has all changed with Piccininni, a 1978 Bellport graduate who was the Clippers' first All-State selection and knows all about heart and pride. Piccininni has always been a winner and he's taken that culture to Selden.
So do you remember the excitement of your first date? Those jitters, the adrenaline rush, Newfield is getting the feeling. The Suffolk Division II champions have a date with one of Long Island's most-storied programs, Garden City, for the Long Island Class II championship at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Garden City is 11-0 and has Long Island's stingiest defense, allowing only 54 points. The Trojans have earned a spot in the LIC 13 times and won four. Garden City, which beat Wantagh, 35-7, for its 19th Nassau title, has set the bar very high.
Coach Tom Flatley churns out Nassau titles year after year and has a career record of 235-38-7 for an .852 winning percentage.
There was one down year, if you could call it that, when the Trojans were 5-3 and missed the playoffs in 2002.
This Long Island Class II championship is a mismatch of epic proportions considering the history of both programs. Newfield had never won a county title, losing all three appearances in the 1970s. The Wolverines are ready to face a Garden City program that has won Long Island titles in 1993, 2000, 2005 and 2009.
When the lights go on at Shuart Stadium on Friday night, there'll be new blood in the LIC waters and traditional powerhouse Garden City will be waiting.
Can Newfield start its own tradition?
