Middle School Football Team Goes Undefeated For First Time in 4 Decades

The East Hampton Middle School's 7th and 8th grade football team has gone undefeated reportedly for the first time since 1972, according to head coach David Fioriello.

The team ended its season 6-0 on Friday. The boys swept the season with a 12-0 win at Center Moriches, which had also been undefeated until then, he said. Seventh-grader Michael Derrig, of East Hampton, and eighth-grader Ryan Lynch, of East Hampton, scored the two touchdowns in the game.

There are no playoffs at this level.

A member of League 4, a division for the smallest schools, East Hampton plays Greenport, Southampton, Hampton Bays, Westhampton, Port Jefferson, and Center Moriches. Over the 6-game season, they only gave up three touchdowns, Fioriello said. "Their defense was phenomenal."

The team, a shared athletic program, was composed of 44 boys. All students in feeder districts, as well as Bridgehampton and Pierson are invited to take part. There were 12 kids from Springs, one from Montauk, one from Bridgehampton and three from Pierson.

The boys are split up into two teams, a mix of both 7th and 8th graders, and they alternate quarters. A modified football program, there is actually a fifth quarter to allow all athletes playing time.

"I'm happy for them. The community has worked hard with the youth programs," said Joseph Vasile-Cozzo, the district athletic director. "It's nice to see some success." 

Fioriello, who has coached the team for eight years, gave credit to the two first-year assistant coaches — Scott Abran, a teaching assistant at the Springs School, and Nick Finazzo, a math teacher at East Hampton Middle School. "They were absolutely phenomenal," he said, adding that many of the players related to them because they know them from the classrooms. "We couldn't have done it without them."

The coach said the players demonstrated "a real understanding of the game" in a way he hadn't seen in a while. "They are only going to get bigger, faster and stronger," he said. "This is a good nucleus of kids. We're hoping they start a new tradition," he said.

"Our football program, from 7th to 8th grade to varsity, hasn't been that dominant of a program," said Fioriello, who works as the head grounds keeper for the East Hampton School District. "Hopefully, this is the start of something new."

Congratulate the boys on their winning season. Leave a comment below.