Long Island Football Recruiting

The first wave of college coaches have past through our Long Island High Schools, visiting the great student athletes here. Some of the students athletes have even taken official visits to colleges. As the recruiting season begins to kick into high gear, I've decided to make a list of the top recruits here on the Island.

1) John Elliott - OL - East Meadow Jets - 6'6" 290 - He is an absolute star in the making. He can bend, run, and has a mean streak. At 6'6" 290 he has very little body fat and still has room to grow. The biggest challenge he will have in college is getting use to the fact that he's not the biggest, strongest kid on the field. He should follow in the Long Island tradition of turning out great offensive lineman (D'Brickasaw Ferguson - Freeport, Shane Olivea-Lawrence).

Recruited by: Rutgers (Official visited last week), Boston College, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan

2) Edwin Gowins - LB/RB - Bellport Clippers - Had a outstanding season on both sides of the ball. Might be a better LB than RB in college due to his size, but he could excell at either depending on the situation. Has very good speed and has good quickness.

Recruited by: Central Florida, Duke, Virginia, Syracuse, Maryland

3) Inefanyi Momah -WR/LB - Elwood-John Glenn - 6'7" 220 - A little bigger and better verision of Denzal Preston. He had 47 receptions and 685 yards on offense. Inefanyi also proved productive on defense with 55 tackles and 4 sacks. He still has room to grow, could develop into a very good TE or DE.

Recruited by: Maryland, Boston College, Syracuse, Stony Brook, Hofstra

4) Denzal Preston - WR - Bellport Clippers - 6'4" 218 - Big, and tall is something you can't teach. Denzal also has good straight away speed. Not the greatest route runner, but that can be fixed at the collegiate level.

Recruited by: Duke, Maryland, Rutgers

5) Michael Mayo - RB - Roosevelt Roughriders -Michael had a great season for the Roughriders. He dominated consistently against inferior opponents, and he was able to set records along the way. He never played down to his competition. He has great speed and quickness. Size and level of play will be detractors to D-1A schools.

Recruited by: Hofstra, Stony Brook


This is the LIBLITZ official top five recruits here on Long Island. There are many others that are right below these 5. Anthony Polo of Wantagh is a very good LB who's probally headed for Hofstra. Andrew Tiller of Central Islip would probaly challenge John Elliott for the number one spot, but his coach is telling me he is headed for JC or prep school. Mike Marino is also a very good prospect and will make someone very happy.

We will be doing updates through out the winter keeping you posted on the recruiting scence here on Long Island.

Coaches Awards

It's been a couple of days now, so I decided to make some comments on the awards given out by the coaches on Monday. I must say I don't envy the task that the coaches had, and for the most part I think that they did an excellent job. Picking Edwin Gowins for the Hansen was a gimmie, as was the choices Elliott and Tiller for the Martone and Zellener awards. The choice of Chris Edmonds for Thorp Award wasn't the choice I would have made.

Now I don't want to say that Chris wasn't an excellent player, because he was (102 tackles, 1103 yards rushing, and 12 touchdowns). If LI BLITZ gave out an Nassau County Defensive player of the year he would have won it,but I would have chosen Michael Mayo from Roosevelt as the Thorp winner. I thought he was the best player in Nassau County this year. He rushed for 2232 yards and had 26 touchdowns. Both of those stats doubled Chris's. I know people will say that Michael played in Conference 4 and Chris played in Conference 1. Which I would agree on any other year would make a valid case, but Mayo's stats were just tremendous this season. Plus he had that signature moment (as Heisman voters are always looking for) with his 98 yard touchdown run in Nassau County Finals.

I also would have given East Meadow the Rutgers cup. They dominated teams all season long, winning by an average of 20 points. If Alex Rivas and Andrew Rubenau didn't get hurt they would have won the whole thing.

These are just my opinions

Gridiron Banquet

Well last night I had the pleasure of going to the Nassau Coaches Gridiron Banquet at the Crest Hollow Country club and I must say that the food was excellent. I have always wanted to know how the food was at the Gridiron Banquet. The reason for my keen interest is because this wasn't my first time at the Banquet. I have actually been at the banquet two other times, both when I was coaching at Hofstra University.

I was a poor grad assistant coach making no money, receiving no credits and working around the clock and I loving every minute of it. For two years I was set to the Crest Hollow Country Club to hand out programs and getting students to fill out questionnaires. All the while I could smell the food and I all I could think was how hungry I am. So this year I promised myself to enjoy all of the food offered and I did just that. From the fruit, to the salad, to the chicken , and finally the ice cream. I must say the it was well worth the wait.

As for the banquet itself it was very well run, each presenter did a excellent job. The only presenter I didn't like was Mike Quick, he kind of rained on Chris Edmonds parade when he said, "Chris Bright if I had a vote I would've have voted for you.". I also think Chris Bright is an excellent player and he will go on to a successful college career, but you can't say what Mike Quick said right after Chris Edmonds had just won the award.

I liked the video highlight, although it might have been a little bit to long. As for the winners of the awards I think for the most part they got them right. I'll talk about that tomorrow. For a full list of winners go tour web site www.LIBLITZ.com.

LI BLITZ Long island Post Season Awards

Long Island High Post Season Awards

Written by Joe Braico

November 27, 2006

As the season has come to the end I have decided to give out some awards. The rules were that I had to be at the game for it to be considered.

Game of the Year - Mount Sinai - 28 vs. Babylon - 27 - Long Island Championship Game - 11/18/06 - Click here for story

This was a toss up, the Freeport vs. East Meadow (click here for story)game a day earlier was outstanding as well. Both games went down to the wire. Each had great individual story lines (Chris Bright filling in for an injured Alex Rivas and James Whittenpen kicking the game winning field goal after missing to extra points and a field goal).In the end though the James Whittenpen storyline won me over. It was so magical to be there watching that game the crowd was electric. Also watching Whittenpen redeem himself and kick the winning field goal is what High School football is all about.
Honorable Mention - West Islip vs. Bellport - click here for story

Play of the Year - Mount Sinai's James Whittenpen game wining field goal in the Suffolk County Division 4 Championship

See above for the reason.

Honorable Mention - Plainedge's Cornerback John Dick deflecting the a potential game winning 2pt try by Wantagh's quarterback Pat Browne with 30 seconds left in the Plainedge's 14-13 victory in the 1st round of the playoffs.

Best Home Stadium - Bellport - Joe Cipp Field

The atmosphere was outstanding, people were pack all around the field. The announcer was great and they have their own rap. No other stadium can say they have their own rap.
Honorable Mention - Plainedge Stadium - Men wearing hard hats, inflatable football player in the stand.

Best Mascot - The Seaford Viking

Great costume, plus in the 1st half the mascot is 6 feet tall and then in the second half its 5'6"

Best Individual Performance in a Game - Steve Probst - Quarterback, Farmingdale High School

In Farmingdale's 1st round playoff game against Uniondale, the junior QB passed for 234 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also rushed for 63 yards. He was out of the game mid way through the 3rd quarter. He was only 6 for 12 on the night but 3 to 4 passes were dropped by his receivers.

Honorable Mention - Jonathan Spurill's performance in Bellport's victory over West Islip. Spurill had 83 yard receiving and 2 touchdowns, on defense he had 2 INTs.

***This was reprinted from LI BLITZ.com****