It’s still early, but the feeling at Sachem East’s mini-camp this past week was upbeat and positive.
Nearly 140 kids from all levels of the program came out for the entire week and worked on fundamentals at the high school.
“We’re going to get better every single day, that’s our goal,” said new head coach Mark Wojciechowski, who took over for former coach Brian Harvey in January. “We can do that. Everyone can get better every day.”
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Wojciechowski said the group has bought into his principles early and they’ve shown improvement from the start of their summer training.
“It’s easy to buy in now because it’s all positive,” he said. “They’ve been getting in the weight room, coming out for speed and conditioning.”
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Coaching staff changes
The varsity staff at East will look completely different in 2011. Wojciechowski has brought in some recognizable figures. Sachem North lacrosse coach and dean Jay Mauro will join the staff, as well as North English chair Joe Zarzycki. Phil Torregrosa jumps up from the JV and James Mignone is back on the varsity staff. Perhaps the most unique addition is offensive coordinator Gary Marangi, who spent three seasons in the NFL as a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills in the 1970s.
The JV staff will have Chris Rickert calling the offense, Brent Lawrence on defense and Jimmy Dee as the head coach.
Alums come to camp
Just like there was at Sachem North last week, a handful of East alums were present to help with drills at mini-camp. Matt Rickert, Steve Sperry, Larry Bergin, Chris DiIorio, Anthony Massaro, Mark Donato and Justin Vartanian were all around. Many have coaching rolls with lower level programs at the school during the football season.
Key dates for 2011
Training camp officially begins August 18 at the high school. East will travel to Camp Kennybrook on August 21 for their real get-away camp. The Flaming Arrows host a four-way scrimmage at home on August 31 at 5 p.m., then host Riverhead for a scrimmage September 2 at 9 a.m. The regular season kicks off at home against Central Islip on September 9 at 7 p.m.
Recap of mini-camp
If you missed any of our coverage of Sachem East mini-camp, here’s links to our stories:
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