Today at noon Brooklyn Tech’s football team opens a new season at Tech Field against Fort Hamilton. But one of the biggest challenges for head coach Kyle McKenna’s team is how far in the past they can put last season’s 7 – 3 campaign.
Not only will the Engineers look to replace Kyvaune Brammer, James Gales and Thomas Plonski, three of the best players in their history who graduated respectively to Fordham, Princeton and Villanova, but Tech’s recent success has caused them to move up in the City Conference, New York City’s most competitive high school football division, making the road to the 2013 City Championship playoffs that much harder.
With a relatively inexperienced team—only six of last year’s starters return from one of the most accomplished teams in recent school history—Tech’s challenges begin immediately with today’s matchup against the Tigers of Fort Hamilton.
The Tigers are bolstered by the additions of quarterback Adrian Maldonado and speedy running back Isaiah Washington, both of whom missed much of last season due to injury. The results so far have been the same as last year’s dismal 1 – 7 season, as last week Fort Hamilton was on the wrong end of a 35 – 7 decision to Poly Prep.
“Fort Hamilton has never had two bad years in a row that I’ve seen,” said McKenna, entering his fifth season as Tech’s head coach. After a 42-0 beating visiting Tech delivered in 2012, McKenna expects Fort Hamilton to come into Fort Greene looking for payback. “It’s not like we haven’t thought about that” say the coach, who prepares meticulously for all possibilities.
The 2013 Engineers are comprised of players with varying degrees of varsity experience taking on starting roles for the first time in their Tech careers. Leading the pack is junior quarterback Elijah Rueda. Beginning his first full season as a starter, Rueda was given ample opportunities to play last year, including throwing a touchdown in Tech’s 36-0 rout of John F. Kennedy High School in the opening round of last year’s City Championship playoffs.
Senior running back Tristan Brown, starting for the first time in his four years at Tech, also got significant touches for the Engineers in 2012 as a backup to all-city running back Gales and on kickoffs and punt returns.
But there’s no doubt that 2013 will be a learning experience for Tech and their coach.
“We are a little green at certain positions as far as varsity experience,” acknowledged McKenna, “but, we’ve got athletes that are going to be noticed right away when they go on the field on both sides of the ball.”
Unlike years past, passing will be the things for the Engineers, as Rueda has two big targets in 6-foot-3 senior Deon Mash and 6-foot-2 junior Alfred Gamby. According to McKenna, local fans can expect “more passing then they’ve seen in twenty years,” not only because of Rueda’s ability but also due to a change in offensive philosophy, a direct result of the talent drawn by Tech recent success.
“We’ve always been known as a strong team,” said McKenna. “Hopefully this year we’ll be known as a strong and a fast team, a team that you have to keep up with.”
Luckily, Tech has a man in the middle of the defense who has the talent and experience to be a difference maker. Last season senior linebacker Chawit Bunditwong led the Engineers in tackles, and McKenna recently cited Bunditwong as one of the city’s best at his position.
Given the strength of Tech’s schedule—made more difficult due to the Engineers’ string of three-straight PSAL playoff appearances—blending experienced and emerging talents is essential to capturing a playoff berth again this year. Tech opens the season with three straight home games against Fort Hamilton, Grand Street Campus and Sheepshead Bay, then takes to the road for the month of October.“I’ve never seen a public school schedule like the one that we have,” McKenna said about a schedule that has the Engineers traveling to four different boroughs in four weeks: the Bronx (DeWitt Clinton High School), Brooklyn (Thomas Jefferson), Queens (John Adams) and Staten Island (Port Richmond).
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The Engineers return home for a game against local rivals Boys and Girls then end their regular season against Erasmus Hall at Sid Luckman Field in Midwood. The Dutchmen, reigning PSAL champs and favored to win it all again, boast three all city stars: running back Kahlil Lewin, safety Darin Peart, and wide receiver Curtis Samuel, who’s already signed a commitment letter to play next fall at Ohio State.
In anticipation of the obstacles presented by the PSAL schedule-makers, McKenna set-up a pre-season game against regional power Woonsocket High School of Rhode Island to practice traveling. “We know that we’re going to have to go away for a month,” said McKenna, “so the first thing we’re going to do is take a three and a half hour road trip and then get back on the bus and come home.”
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“The more experience you have doing anything—whether it’s a road trip or plays on the field—the better off you’re going to be.”
It’s this level of preparation that has made McKenna a rising star in New York City coaching ranks, but hard work cannot fully replace the experience lost to graduation. “You’re going to see a lot of potential future stars getting their feet wet on the field,” said McKenna of the 2013 campaign. Acknowledging that it will take time for his team to learn how to be a consistent winner, he adds “it could be game one it could be game five or it could be a building process for next year.”Brooklyn Tech High School Football vs. Fort Hamilton H.S., Noon, Saturday, September 7. Brooklyn Tech Field, 510 Clermont Avenue between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue. For info contact brooklyntechfootball@gmail.com
