New Coach, Fresh Start For Kennedy Football

The Kennedy football season is about to start. And they want to start finishing...what they start. 

The Cougars blew two fourth quarter leads last season, and the end result was a mediocre 4-4 record, followed by a 41-6 drubbing by Wantagh in the first round of the playoffs.

This season brings a fresh start for the boys and their new head coach, Nick Martone.

"As far as stability with the head guy, it makes it difficult when a coach comes in and changes schemes or terminology, but the kids are pretty resilient," said Martone, adding that for his seniors, it's the third coaching change they've seen in four years.

Martone takes over after spending last season coaching the JV squad.  He said he brings a new outlook to Kennedy football.

"We introduced a lot of new concepts, an overall different look at the game itself, and what they should be able to get out of it as opposed to what they've been okay within the past," Martone said.

Martone said finishing .500 again is definitely not okay, and so far it seems the players are in agreement, if offseason workouts are any indication.

"In the past, the Kennedy weight room was a thought, but not really put into action as much as this summer," Martone said.  "We've had very good turnouts compared to where it's been...the kids will see the hard work that gets done inside, how it manifests itself out here [on the field]."

Martone said this squad is hard working, with just the right amount of confidence thrown in.

"Are they overly confident? No, I don't feel that," Martone said.  "Are they confident in themselves and what they can do, and in their teammates? Yeah, and that's important, you've got to have a little bit of swagger when it comes to football."

Martone knows his job is to mold that swagger off the field into wins on it, with 'mold' the operative word. The molding begins on offense, with senior quarterback Adrian Rose.

"Adrian is a strong thrower, so we're going to let him throw the ball more than we did last year," Martone said. "He knows what he needs to do to have success; he could throw for well over 1,000 yards in our offense."

Rose says he's working on reading defenses coverage's better, along with his footwork and mechanics.  His goal is to lead the Cougars deep into the playoffs, all the way to Hofstra, uncharted territory thus far for Kennedy.

"We just keep working hard, and make sure we have no regrets at the end of the season," Rose said.

One of Rose's targets is 6'2 wide receiver Will Colon.  Will Diana, along with Brett and Patrick Kutil round out the receiving corps.

The molding continues in the backfield, starting with senior running back Joey Karo (10 rushing TDs in '09). Martone said he wants Karo to improvise more, taking advantage of what the defense gives him, rather than have one set play in mind.

"We're letting him do what he can do, he has good vision, and makes good decisions," Martone said. 

The offensive line is led by senior guards Dan DiBiasi and Brandon Kaminsky.

On the defensive side of things, Martone will lean heavily on coordinator Jim Femminella, a holdover from the previous staff. 

"[Jim] does a tremendous job with game scheme and how to attack the potential weaknesses of an offense, and creating fits for an offensive coordinator and a quarterback," Martone said.

Like many teams, the Cougars have a number of two-way players.  Kaminsky plays at middle linebacker.  Diana joins him on the outside, and Karo doubles as a corner.  DiBiasi mans the defensive line.  When he's not at wideout, Colon is trying to knock other receivers around at safety.

"We have a group of kids that want to push this as far as it can go, they just give and want it that bad," Martone said of players who volunteer for two-way duty.

Martone also says Patrick Murphy and James DeCicco are a couple of players to look out for on the defensive front.

Kennedy hopes all the practicing and all the molding will shape a winner in 2010.  Conference II has undergone some changes with Division and MacArthur departing, and Westbury and Long Beach coming aboard.  Whomever the competition, the future appears bright .

"These coaches are definitely going to change the reputation of Kennedy football,"  Karo said.  "This is definitely the first year of a change."

Martone said that change starts in week one against Elmont.

"This is a team I honestly believe can push it farther than we've ever pushed it here before," he said.

From start to finish.