LI high school football: What to watch as 2025 season nears
Floyd running back Ja’Quan Thomas. Credit: George A Faella
The high school football season will commence with a midnight practice Sunday into Monday morning in Roosevelt.
Joe Vito will hold his first workout under the lights as he begins his 32nd season as Roosevelt’s head coach.
Vito, the first to hold the football version of Midnight Madness on Long Island on Aug. 13, 2006, has turned the first practice into a long-standing tradition for the Rough Riders.
“While everyone else is sleeping, we’re out there preparing for the season,” Vito said. “I’ve always been a proponent of making our team feel like family. We’ve been together all summer, and this is the culmination of the seven-on-seven games and the lineman challenge.
“Getting the players out at midnight for the first practice has always been fun and it’s great camaraderie that helps us kick off the season.”
Roosevelt head coach Joe Vito. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Vito, the third-longest-tenured coach in Nassau, has been to 10 Long Island Class IV championship games, winning four in 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2006.
“We’ve had our share of success. The start of a new season is very exciting.” said Vito, who travels to other parts of the country the week before practice opens and spent his time in Georgia the past few days.
“I saw everything from high school football to the NFL,” he said. “I yelled ‘Hofstra’ to Raheem Morris [the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach] and he turned around with a big smile and came over and gave me a bear hug. It’s been a great week. Excited to get back to my kids this weekend.”
What to look out for this football season:
ELITE FORM
Garden City is a must-watch and rides Long Island’s longest winning streak into 2025. The Trojans have won 54 consecutive games and are undefeated for the past five years.
The Garden City Trojans pose with their plaque and trophy after defeating Sayville in the Long Island Class III championship game on Nov. 30, 2024, at LaValle Stadium. Credit: George A Faella
The last time the Trojans lost came at the hands of Lindenhurst. The Bulldogs erased a 13-0 fourth-quarter deficit behind two touchdowns by Jaden Barber and won the Long Island Class II title game, 14-13, on Nov. 30, 2019.
When Garden City coaching legend Tom Flatley retired in 2014, assistant Dave Ettinger took over and the Trojans continued to win. Ettinger has New York State’s top winning percentage over 10 years at .973 with a career record of 109-3, including four straight Long Island crowns.
Can the Trojans continue their domination?
NEW FACES
Rob Hoss led the Golden Flashes to five LI Class III crowns. Credit: James Escher
The new season also debuts 14 head coaches. A very familiar face headlines the coaching carousel as Rob Hoss replaces the highly successful Reade Sands at Sayville. Sands stepped down after eight years, a 70-12 record, four Suffolk titles and a Long Island Class III crown in 2022.
Hoss returns after an eight-year hiatus. He coached from 2002-2016 and had a record of 130-29 and won eight Suffolk titles, five Long Island Class III championships in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2015.
The other new coaches in Suffolk are Greg Murphy (Patchogue-Medford), Don Nelson (Riverhead), Sean Christie (Central Islip), Phil Fortuno (Copiague), Cody Ciolino (Deer Park), T.J. Brocking (Glenn), Greg Lauri (Smithtown East), Joe Patrovich (West Babylon) and Rich Slattery (Wyandanch).
In Nassau, Brett Rubin (Glen Cove), Mike Lewis (Manhasset), Bill Madigan (North Shore) and Tiquan Garner (Long Island Lutheran) take over coaching duties. Freeport has not yet named a new coach.
Patrovich is the only coach in Long Island history to win county championships in Nassau and Suffolk. He won at Division in 1981 and 1982 and at Islip in 1991, 1992, 2002.
Can one of these coaches guide his team to a title?
SHAVER SWAN SONG
Plainedge head coach Rob Shaver during a Nassau Conference IV semifinal on Nov. 14, 2024, at Hofstra. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Plainedge coach Rob Shaver will roam the Red Devils' sideline for one more season and will reach the 200-win milestone with his first victory of the season. Shaver is starting his 30th season and has a 199-86-1 record. He led the Red Devils to six Nassau titles and two Long Island Class III championships in 2019 and 2021.
Shaver, a successful two-sport coach, was inducted into the New York State Athletic Hall of Fame in March, when he retired from wrestling.
His Red Devils are the No. 2 seed in Nassau Conference IV. They will play at top-seeded Seaford in the final week of the regular season on Halloween. It could be a preview of his final conference title game.
ALL-LONG ISLAND
There are seven other reasons to watch Long Island football: the returning Newsday first-team All-Long Island selections. It starts up front with senior linemen Trevon Cole-Jenkins (Half Hollow Hills East), Zach Olson (Garden City) and Dylan Bayer (East Islip). Senior running backs Josh Kama (Farmingdale), who had 1,712 yards and 29 TDs in 10 games, and Ja’Quan Thomas (Floyd), who had 2,594 yards and 37 TDs in 12 games.
Senior Kaden Reid of Longwood, the Cassese Award winner as Suffolk’s top defensive back, returns with eight interceptions. Junior Justin DePietro of Carey was Nassau’s top defensive player and won the Flatley Award.
With Andy Slawson
WHEN IT STARTS
The high school football season on Long Island opens Aug. 29-30 with an abbreviated schedule of four games. The first full weekend of games is Sept. 11-13. The Long Island Championships are scheduled for Nov. 28-29. Newsday's High School Preview section will publish Sept. 7.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
