December 9, 2005The Nation Interview: Head Coach Bryan Foxby Max
Mercy The Crusader football team finished the 2005 season with a 5-5 record. A 5-4 record in the FCIAC was good enough to put Trinity ninth in the final FCIAC standings (the FCIAC standings are comprised of one division of all 19 teams this year). In a special CrusaderNation.net interview, reporter Max Mercy asks second-year Crusader Football Head Coach Bryan Fox to recap the season and tell us about his expectations for next year: MM: Coach Fox, overall, how do you feel about your team's performance this season? Are you satisfied or disappointed? CF: I'm proud of the seniors. They brought this program a long way. They saw some gloomy days in the TCHS football program and I am glad they stuck it out to see the start of some good days. I feel we had a very successful season, but am disappointed in the win-loss record. Our record is the most visible measure of success; I don't believe it is the most important. As far as our win-loss record is concerned, going forward I hope that 5-5 is a disappointing season. MM: In 2004, you ended the season with two wins, giving your team some encouragement heading into 2005. In 2005, you ended the season with two losses. What kind of taste is left in your mouth heading into next season? CF: Great question. We started this season by breaking our two game winning streak in a big way. Hopefully we can open 2006 by breaking this current streak in similar fashion. Hopefully the off-season effort will be fueled a little by the final image of the season, which was another team celebrating on our field on Thanksgiving. I think workouts are usually better when you have a bad taste in your mouth. I think coming into this season, we needed an encouraging feeling after losing eight in a row to start 2004. I also think heading into next season we may have needed a kick in the shorts as a reminder that we aren't where we need to be just yet and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. MM: Describe the effect on your team and on your strategy after losing All-FCIAC receiver Gene DeVito to injury mid-season. CF: The effect on the team was first and foremost a feeling of grief for Gene. Knowing how hard he worked all off season, and how much he loved playing football, it was a terrible thing to happen to him, and we all felt bad for him that he had to miss his final four games. As far as how it affected our games, it certainly took away a very valuable offensive weapon. Essentially we lost our speed threat (on offense and on special teams) as well as our best receiving threat in one fell swoop. It basically took away our quick score ability. We were very deep this year at wide receiver and we had three seniors (Dave Macari, Rob Hawthorn, and Tim Claroni) who were more than capable of carrying the receiving load. The good news was that our offense was very run-oriented. The loss of Gene forced us to become more patient with our play calling and may have actually helped us get better at our wing-T basics. I thought the entire team (including Gene) and the coaching staff did a terrific job handling what was a very tough situation. Gene has had surgery and is rehabbing the knee and is currently being recruited by some college football programs and we wish him the best. MM: You expected big things from DeVito, but each year it seems like there is a player or two who matures and unexpectedly comes up big for a team. Who was that player for you this year? CF: Alain Joseph - no question was a huge surprise. Alain came into his senior season and we had no idea where to play him. We knew he was tough and in shape, but we weren't sure if there was a position where he was going to have a chance to see time. He ended up being named captain midway through the season and started all ten games on both sides of the ball. He would have to be in the running for MVP of the team. Also, AJ Nelson. I didn't know AJ was attending TCHS until he showed up in the beginning of the season. AJ also lost the later part of the season due to injury, but before he was hurt, he was developing into a tremendous running back and looks to be a very important part of the future of this team. MM: What position is most important to the success of your football team? How have the player(s) in that position developed for you in your first two seasons and what do you look for from him/them next season? CF: All positions are important. I think our team began to finally realize that as the season went on. If one person on the defense is out of position or loses their battle, it affects the player next to him and that affects the player next to him and throws the entire defense into trouble. The same is true if an offensive tackle doesn't get into his block well - the guard will have trouble pulling around him and the running back has nowhere to go. There really is no place for a star player in our system. We had a lot of great running backs this year. Because of that, they each only had eight or nine carries a game. In the system of offense and defense that we play, it is really built so that in order to succeed, we must succeed together as a team. Any teams quarterback is their most visible player. I am not sure if this is the most important person on the team, but a QB usually gets a lot of the attention and is a symbol of the team. Our QB is one of the best people I have been lucky enough to meet. He took his first varsity snap ever on opening day and that is tough. He developed all year and I think he will be one of the best in the league next season. He is a great leader and there is nobody who I would trust more with the ball in a pressure situation than Anas. I would have to say on the other side of the ball, we have a bunch of incoming seniors who have been great players for us over the past two years and I will expect very big things from these guys this season. Mario Pirolozzi, Santeggio Steele, Vin Cortese, and Ryan Durkin will all look to start for the third consecutive year on our defense. They have all developed tremendously and I think our win-loss record will be determined by how hard this group decides to work this off-season. MM: Talk about what this year's senior class meant to Crusader football. CF: This year's senior class was the first group of players that went through the Stamford Youth Middle School program and were almost pioneers in the new era of football in Stamford. I think this group was especially strong in their ability to lead by example. They are mostly quiet, tough kids. Most of them are very good students and all of them are great people. These seniors are walking advertisements for TCHS and for the football team. I am extremely proud that they are representing our program. MM: Name an underclassman whose name we'll be hearing in the headlines in the next couple of years. CF: We have a ton of underclassman...only one sophomore saw considerable playing time. The incoming seniors you already know about. John O'Leary and Carlos Ramero are two incoming juniors who will certainly be in the headlines a couple years from now. Nick Cortese, Matt Restivo, and Steven Scalero are some of the names to watch out for in the future. MM: You were an All-Stater for the 1993 TCHS State championship team. Why was that team so special and what needs to happen for the crusaders to return to their former glory? CF: I am very proud of what that team accomplished. I learned a few things through that experience. First and foremost is that you will never get a job or pay for a car with a high school state championship. What I mean is that there are far greater things in life and if winning a high school football game is the best thing that ever happens to you, well that is not something to be proud of. I also learned that two things can overcome any obstacle. They are both forms of work - hard work and team work. The reason I cannot be satisfied with a 5-5 record is because I know that with more of these two things, we could have been a lot better than 5-5. I don't like to live in the past and I don't like to compare what we did years ago to what we are trying to accomplish now. Trinity Catholic High School has a tremendous football tradition, and I am very aware of that tradition and proud of it, but I don't like to think that we are bringing the program back to where it once was. I think that sets limits on where the program can go. I like to think that this era of Trinity football is its own unique era that will establish the program "that is," not compare itself to the program that once was. MM: Thanks, Coach. Have a great off-season.
 Big senior defensive tackle Vladimir Joseph swims by an offensive lineman in a 28-20 home victory over Fairfield Ludlowe on October 29, 2005. (CrusaderNation.net / Dana Maul)
 Junior defensive tackle Santiago "Teggy" Steele wraps up a Darien
rusher as his
 Junior center Cory Johnson prepares to snap the ball to fellow classmate
 The Crusader offensive line pushes Bassick around in the mud. The
Crusaders
 Senior wideout Rob Hawthorn races downfield to block as junior fullback
Eric Stephens
 2005 All-FCIAC East Offense Row 1, Left to Right: Eric Wells, Bassick; Willie Epps, McMahon;
Pete Raymond,
 2005 All-FCIAC East Defense Row 1, Left to Right: Joe Luchesi, Danbury; Greg Sabo, Danbury; James
Taylor, Danbury;
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