Where Are They Now? Joe Amplo

Sachem is different now then when Joe Amplo played lacrosse and football in the district. A community that is trying to fight for respect on the sports fields today, was once a powerhouse, "and we could compete in any game that we played in any sport," he said. "It was an arrogance, a confidence."

Amplo was nurtured from the vines of Fred Fusaro and Rick Mercurio – the always intense, in-your-face coaches that gave Sachem promise every year for decades in football and lacrosse.

He was a JV player in 1993 when Sachem won a New York State title and used that as hope that his varsity teams would be just as successful in the two years he played before graduating in 1995. The Flaming Arrows won Suffolk County and Long Island titles in 1995, but couldn't beat West Genesee, 4-3, in the state finals.

Beating Ward Melville in the county title game as a senior was the pinnacle for Amplo – the Arrows-Patriots rivalry was one of the best in the country at the time – and he recalls only beating Ward Melville (Gelinas Middle School) as an eighth grader, but not again until that miraculous game during the sunset of his days with the Black & Gold.

"Up until that point, they had our number," he said.

Though Mercurio had a powerful force on Amplo, who remembers hanging on his every word as a middle school student, it was Fusaro who he credits as the best coach he's ever had.

"He had the most influence on me in terms of developing my standards and coaching philosophies," said Amplo, who scored 20 goals and 15 assists at midfield during his senior year. "I put him on a pedestal."

On the football field, he was the team's defensive MVP in 1994 - the same year he earned All-County and All-League honors.

After Sachem, he traveled 45 minutes west to attend Hofstra and play lacrosse. He was a first team All-America East selection on defense in 1999 and registered 91 ground balls in 58 career games.

He is a lacrosse lifer, making a living as a coach at his alma mater, where is the associate head coach for Pride lacrosse today.

He was an assistant at Hofstra from 1999-2001, following his playing career, coached one year at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 and jumped back to Hofstra in 2002.

In 2001, he helped guide Sachem graduate Doug Shanahan to one of the best seasons of any lacrosse player in the country. Shanahan, who will have his Sachem jersey retired May 17 when the Arrows play Ward Melville, won the inaugural Tewaaraton Trophy (top college player), the Lt. Raymond Enners Award (player of the year) and the Lt. Donald McLaughlin Award as Midfielder of the Year.

Amplo has been active on the lecture circuit, speaking at several national and regional lacrosse conventions and clinics, including the US Lacrosse Convention, the Potomac Convention, the Philadelphia Coaches Association Convention, the Pacific Northwest Coaches Convention, the Southwest Coaches Convention, the Boston Coaches Clinic, Hudson Valley Lacrosse Night and numerous speaking engagements on Long Island.

Amplo, who lives in Babylon with his wife Jennifer and two daughters Sophia and Charlotte, was at Sachem North's big win over West Islip earlier this lacrosse season. The following day at Hofstra's practice he wore a Sachem shirt.

"So the West Islip guys knew where I'm from," he said.

It doesn't get any better than that.