December 27, 2008Stokes Named Coach at Trinity Catholicfrom The Stamford Advocate Pete Stokes has played, coached and lived Trinity Catholic football. Now, he gets a chance to lead it. Stokes, 41 and a 1985 graduate of Stamford Catholic, was named the school's football coach Monday by athletic director Tracy Nichols. He succeeds Bryan Fox, who stepped down at the end of the season for personal reasons. Stokes was a member of Fox's staff at Trinity, and has been an assistant at the school since 1997. "I always wanted to get back home to Newfield Avenue,'' Stokes said. "Its the only job I ever wanted." "We've always looked to fill our vacancies with people who are graduates and alumni who understood the school,'' Nichols said. "He played here, has been a member of the coaching staff and basically, we felt that he fit the bill." Stokes has a long affiliation with the school, dating back to his playing days under Joe Anzalone and Jack Slavinsky. He was the quarterback of the 1984 team, the last Crusader team to win the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship game. He also played on the 1983 team, Anzalone's last as coach, which lost to Ansonia in the Class S-II state championship. He went on to play quarterback and fullback at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire before getting into coaching. He served for one year under another school alum, Dave Dunn, at Masuk. He also coached at Norwalk under Lou Socci before returning to Trinity. Stokes also played hockey and baseball at Stamford Catholic under Mickey Lione. "Joe and Jack both recommended him highly, and there was such a groundswell of support from the alums and the current coaching staff that I probably would've been lynched if I had picked somebody else,'' Nichols said. "I can't tell you how many people recommended him for the job." Stokes will retain most of the members of Fox's staff. George Triantafyllos, Matt Salvatore, Joe Claps, Mike DeVito, Raul Font and Steve Bedosky will stay with Stokes. Matt Orsaia is the only other member of Fox's staff who will not return next season. Stokes said he will try to follow the same blueprint established by Fox, who went 7-4 this past season and went 24-27 in his five years and helped bring the program back to respectability. "Absolutely, we'll follow the same blueprint,'' Stokes said. "Any blueprint you take from Catholic is basically the same. We were blessed to have a Nick Cortese this year, and we'll stay with the Wing-T. We'd like to throw it a little more, but we'll do that when the time calls for it." Stokes, who works for the Stamford Parks Department, knows the task at Trinity is a difficult one. It is the smallest school in the FCIAC, which is one of the top leagues in the state, if not the best. "If we continue to make good people, if we get the quality kids, the Xs and Os will be easy,'' Stokes said. "If we work hard in the weight room, the Saturdays will play themselves out. There are a lot schools that have small enrollment, but I don't want to focus on that. If you put your time in and you go hard, you'll do well." Stokes will have to rebuild next season without Cortese, who rushed for 1,858 yards and scored 24 touchdowns. Quarterback Steve Scalero, who earned all-state honors as a defensive back, also graduates. The offense will likely be built around running backs Vince Carter and Mike Rivas, both of whom averaged over five yards per carry last year. What the school lacks in enrollment might be overcome by Stokes' passion for the game and the school. This is the job he's been training for ever since he left Trinity, and the fact that he'll be heading the program left him emotional when Nichols informed him of the choice. "It certainly is an emotional time,'' Stokes said. "People might not think it's the truth, but it really is. That little Catholic school up on the hill, to all the coaches that have worked there, to all the guys that have walked through that door, it's very emotional. I never would've thought of taking the job if it wasn't for my wife, Mary Ellen, who told me to go for it. The school is part of us. It's like moss, is grows on you. And that field of dirt and mud plays a special part." "Pete wears his love of the school on his sleeve for all to see,'' Nichols said. "He is a Crusader through and through. Thought it is cliche, Pete truly bleeds green and gold." Copyright © 2008, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
 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;
|
|
|
|
|
Trinity
Catholic High School Football |
Site design by spinn
creations |
