Glen Cove High School 2010 Football Preview

The Glen Cove High School football team certainly had the potential to win more games last season, but finished 2-6, the result of a poor collaborative effort, coach Pete Kopecky said.

"I think we had a talented group that didn't play together," Kopecky said of last year's squad. "That says a lot about playing together. We could have had a different record if we did."

Fortunately for Kopecky and Glen Cove, this year's group seems like more of a cohesive unit, he said, already showing that they can work tirelessly and play together.

"Most of the kids come out and play," the 19-year Glen Cove coach said. "We are happy with the preseason. We have a good group; they are a hard working group."

Being one of the smaller schools in Nassau County, Glen Cove must do its best to get the most out of its enrollment when it comes to athletics, with many of its student-athletes often playing more than one sport.

"We have a small school; we don't have a large number to draw from," Kopecky said. "You go with what you got. With the size of the school, we share players from different sports."

But Kopecky doesn't view this as a bad thing. In fact, he said that many colleges like to recruit football players who play multiple sports, especially wrestling, adding that Big Red has had several players who've participated in both demanding disciplines over the years. One of them was former All-County defensive end Daniel Belfiore, who will be playing at C.W. Post /L.I. University in the fall.

"When colleges draft a football kid who also wrestles, they know they're getting a tough kid," said Kopecky, who also served as head coach of the varsity wrestling team for a number of years, and now works as the team's assistant coach.

What Glen Cove lacks in size on offense, Kopecky will look to compensate for with athleticism, speed and motion in the backfield, which consist of four potent potential weapons: seniors Pietro LaFortezza and John Bellock,  junior Mateo Gaudio and sophomore Londell Keaton, who the longtime coach said has tremendous speed.

Kopecky also likes what he sees so far in new quarterback Shaheem Lilly.

"He has a nice arm and is throwing a good ball in the preseason," Kopecky said. Senior split end Owen Valence and senior tight end Ron Rant round out Big Red's offensive weapons.

The defense is led by seniors Chris Melillo (center/linebacker) and Aaron Sylver (tackle/defensive end), who also wrestles.

"Aaron is the strongest kid of the team, maybe in the conference," the 51-year-old physical education teacher said of the six foot, 244-pound player. "He works hard in the weight room and is a leader on the field. You are going to hear about him."

As far as how well Big Red will do this season, Kopecky said it's too early to tell; but he remains the ultimate optimist.

"I think we can upset some of the good teams," he said. "The ultimate goal is to go to Hosftra. That is pretty much our goal. My motto is work for the team, work for the dream."

Glen Cove hosts West Hempstead in its season opener on Saturday, September 11 at 7.00 p.m. The game will be dedicated to the Armed Forces, Kopecky said. It's a fundraising event, inspired by Chris Scherer—a Marine killed in Iraq.

You can view more information on Team Chris at www.cplchris.com.