Morning kickoffs for Nassau County football
Are you ready for some football?
On Aug. 19, all 53 Nassau County public high school football programs can begin preparations for the upcoming season, scheduled to open Friday, Sept. 6 with six games leading up to the first full slate the following week.
Aside from eight-time defending Nassau Conference II champion Garden City moving to Conference III, perhaps the biggest news during the offseason was the decision to add an 11 a.m. kickoff slot to Conferences II and IV for the 2024 campaign, and potentially Conferences I and III next year, due to a shortage of officials.
“At this time we don’t have enough officiating crews to cover so many games at the same time,” said Section VIII football coordinator Matt McLees. “We’re at about 16-17 crews. Moving some games to 11 a.m. and others to 3 p.m. allows us to double up certain crews on Saturdays.”
One team largely affected by the earlier start time is Sewanhaka. Not only is head coach George Kasimatis’ squad debuting the school’s new nickname, the Ravens, half of its games will begin in the morning. Fortunately, Kasimatis noted, three of the four 11 a.m. kickoffs are at home. “We travel to Roosevelt in Week 2 and it’ll be interesting,” he said.
Garden City’s first taste of Conference III football is Sept. 6 at Bethpage. Seaford, which must fend off conference newcomers Wantagh and Plainedge, opens at home Sept. 13 against Island Trees.
Massapequa, which last season was awarded the Rutgers Cup, presented annually to the most outstanding team in Nassau, opens at Oceanside Sept. 6 in game originally scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 10.
Teams choosing to play a full game scrimmage can do so once 10 practices are completed, McLees said, making Aug. 30 the first potential date. Teams can hold joint practices as soon as Aug. 24 and are permitted to play 7 on 7 and also run 10 plays (11 on 11) in full gear. “It’s not a scrimmage by definition but teams can accomplish a lot with the joint practice,” he added.
Nine teams switch conferences
Along with Garden City, eight other teams have switched conferences for the upcoming season based on enrollment figures: Baldwin, Elmont, Manhasset, Herricks, Wantagh, Plainedge, Roosevelt and Glen Cove. Baldwin returns to Conference II where it spent the 2022 campaign and is seeded No. 10 this season. The Bruins, under new head coach Mike Robinson, open at home on their new turf field Sept. 14 against Sewanhaka. Elmont is the No. 3 seed in Conference III, whilst Manhasset is No. 7. Herricks is seeded eighth in Conference I. Longtime Conference III powers Wantagh and Plainedge are in Conference IV and will meet face to face Oct. 10 at Wantagh. Roosevelt, not long ago a member of IV, bounced to II and opens at New Hyde Park.
Thursday games Oct. 10
The sixth week of the season (fifth for many Conference III teams) will be played on Thursday, Oct. 10 due to Yom Kippur. Games will kick off as early as 2:15 p.m. (Elmont at Sewanhaka) and as late as 6 p.m.
Local coaching changes
Baldwin, East Meadow, Freeport, Mepham, Seaford all boast new sideline bosses.
Robinson is a Baldwin graduate who spent the past two seasons coaching the Bruins’ JV team after six years as a varsity assistant. Keith Lizzi takes over from Vin Mascia at East Meadow, the No. 6 seed in Conference I. Longtime Freeport assistant Jimmy Jones succeeds the legendary Russ Cellan at Freeport. The seventh-ranked Red Devils open at Massapequa. Tom Mazeika is the new head coach at Mepham, the No. 5 seed in Conference II, opens at home versus MacArthur. Seaford and new head coach Mike McHugh kick off defense of the Conference IV title at home against Island Trees.
