Posted on 11/24/2009
By GEORGE ALBANO
Hour Staff Writer
Guess who turned 30 years old this year?
The Sam Testa Memorial Trophy, the top prize in the annual Norwalk-Brien McMahon football game, was established in 1979, just a few months after Testa, the former Norwalk High head coach and McMahon assistant, passed away at the age of 38 from cancer.
The idea behind the trophy came from the Norwalk High School Boosters Club, which had only been in existence for two years at the time.
"We want to perpetuate the memory of Sam Testa. We feel he richly deserved the recognition," Jerry Santucci, the Booster Club president at the time, said in October of 1979 when the creation of the trophy was announced. "He was a fine man on and off the field who served athletes at both schools and helped mold boys into young men
"What we are doing is a small token of appreciation to Sam Testa."
After receiving the blessings of both school principals, the NHS Boosters Club presented their proposal to the Norwalk Board of Education, which gave the idea its stamp of approval.
On Oct. 27, 1979, Brien McMahon and Norwalk played in the inaugural "Sam Testa Memorial Game" at Andrews Field. Thus began a tradition that 30 years later has taken on a life of its own.
"Thirty years, unbelievable. It seems like yesterday," Fannie Marucci, Sam Testa's sister, said this week. "We really didn't think it would go this far when they started it, but our whole family is so happy it has. Isn't that great?"
The trophy is perpetual and the winning school gains possession of it for the following year. The same trophy the two teams will be playing for on Thursday is the one the two local schools vied for in 1979 when McMahon beat Norwalk 22-19.
"It was still all kind of new," recalled Kern Jordan, who scored the first touchdown in Testa Trophy history and added a second score for the Senators later in the game. "But I knew some of the history because when I was a little boy I used to hang out in the locker room when my brother Calvin played for Sam Testa at Norwalk. I was like the ball boy. So the game had added significance for me."
The Senators and Bears have battled for the Testa Trophy for each of the last 30 years, the last 15 seasons on Thanksgiving -- or sometimes a day or two later due to poor weather.
McMahon owns a 30-17-1 lead in the overall intra-city series that began in 1961, and the Senators have a 19-11 edge since the teams began playing for the Testa Trophy in 1979.
And while winning the game and the city bragging rights that go with it are the most important things to everyone involved with the game, the Sam Testa Trophy has always had added significance to some.
"That was always special," said former McMahon coach Jack Casagrande, a close friend and former coaching colleague of Testa. "We were always close and playing against Sam was also special."
Casagrande coached in the first eight games that honored Testa's memory and won six of them. He's watched most of the last 22 as well.
"Where has the time passed," he asked. "I'm just glad the tradition has continued and Sam's memory is still carried on every year."
The Testa Trophy also means a lot to current Norwalk High head coach Pete Tucci.
"Sam was a little older than me, but I knew him from the neighborhood we both grew up in," he said. "He was one of my idols. You know, the older, successful athlete.
"But what I liked most about Sam was usually older guys wanted nothing to do with an 8-year-old grammar school kid. But Sam would always talk with us. When I was little he was my first sports idol."
"Even when he was young, Sam was just the greatest," Mary Krause, another one of Testa's sisters, agreed.
It was a young Sam Testa who went on to become an assistant coach at Brien McMahon where he molded the Senators' defense into one of the best in the state. In fact, he and Casagrande, the line coach, were assistants at the same time under then head coach Leroy Vaughn.
In 1973, Testa took over as head football coach at Norwalk High, his alma mater. He would coach four seasons there, then serve as a defensive line coach at Fordham University in 1977 and '78 before losing his battle with cancer in June of the following year.
A few months later, the Testa Trophy was created and a few years after that the soccer field at NHS -- Testa played soccer in high school -- was named after him. When the school renovated its athletic complex and the new football field was going where the soccer field was, Testa Field, as we know it today, was born.
"That's the nice thing about the McMahon-Norwalk game every year," McMahon Athletic Director Joe Madaffari said. "They play for the Testa Trophy and the game is either played at a field named after Sam or a field named after his close friend Jack Casagrande."
Madaffari, who started at quarterback for Testa at Norwalk High in 1975 and remained close to his former coach after graduating, has made keeping Sam Testa's memory alive a personal crusade of his.
In fact, at football practice on Tuesday he spoke to the players about man the trophy they were trying to win was named after.
"The kids know what the trophy is," he said, "But what's missing is the man behind the trophy. Sam Testa is the trophy and I try to tell the players every year who he was and what he represented to both schools.
"Somebody always has to be around to tell the players that," he added. "That tradition and who Sam Testa is won't go away unless people allow it to go away. I don't think that will ever happen."
Tucci also makes it a point to let his players know who Sam Testa was.
"What we do, and I started this years ago, is have different people on our staff who knew Sam talk to the team on the nights leading up to the game," the NHS coach explained. "We had Frank Moffett (who coached with him at NHS) and Mike Santa Lucia (who coached with him at McMahon), and Sam Williams, another assistant who was captain of Sam's first team, and myself. One of us would speak about Sam on each of the four nights before the game.
"This year there are only two of us left. Frank will talk to them (Tuesday night) and I will speak the night before the game. The natural rivalry against McMahon is already there, but I think the players should know something about the man who the field they play on, the trophy they play for, and the game they play in is named after."
Madaffari also has his own tradition to honor his former coach. Every year, the day before the big game, he visits Testa as St. John's Cemetary and will bring flowers to his grave along with one of the specially made coins they order for the game.
Testa's family didn't even know he did it until just a few years ago.
"One year there was a Testa Trophy shirt draped on Sam's stone," Fannie Marucci said.
On Thursday, Marucci will be among the family members attending the game and presenting the Testa Trophy to the winning team, another annual tradition.
"I'll be there," Marucci said. "So will my son Michael and my granddaughter Allyson."
So will Sen. Bob Duff and his wife Tracey Krause Duff, Testa's niece.
"I'm usually there every year," Sen. Duff said. "It is a source of pride even if you marry into the family. We're all very proud to be associated with Sam Testa and the Testa Trophy."
"I'm so proud whenever I see it," Mary Krause said.
Even as it celebrates its 30th birthday, the Sam Testa Memorial Trophy never looked more beautiful.
Chris Kassimis waited three years for his chance to make an impact with the Norwalk High School football team.
But patience is a virtue, and Kassimis is definitely making the most of his opportunity this season.
Kassimis, a senior wide receiver in his first season as a varsity starter, has emerged as Norwalk’s top receiving threat. Although he was held without a catch in last week’s 17-14 win against Stamford, Kassimis leads the Bears in receptions with 11 for 177 yards. That includes a 36-yard touchdown catch in the season-opener against Greenwich.
Just like senior quarterback Andrew Krasnavage, Kassimis is definitely benefitting from Norwalk’s switch to the spread offense.
“That was probably the best day of my life when I heard we were doing that,” Kassimis said. “It’s been fun.”
Kassimis actually caught the first touchdown pass Krasnavage threw in high school when the two were freshmen. Three years later, the connection is still there.
“For some reason, ever since freshman year, me and him have always been on the same page,” Kassimis said. “He knows where I’m going to be at all times and I know him well. It’s always been like that.”
Krasnavage has three other talented receiving threats in sohomores Noel Thomas, Derick Edwards and Kenny Francois. But Krasnavage always seems to throw in the direction of Kassimis in clutch situations.
“I have confidence in all the guys,” Krasnavage said. “But I think since we’re both seniors and we’ve been playing together for four years, I do look for him in those situations.”
Kassimis isn’t very tall. He’s listed at a generous 5-foot-9 on the roster. By his own admisstion, Kassimis isn’t extremely fast. But he does have guts, and an uncanny ability to catch the ball in traffic, as he’s done more than a few times already this season.
“I know what I can do and I know what my body can do,” he said. “I trust my hands more than anything.”
What Wayne Chrebet was to the Jets, Kassimis is to the Bears.
“Chris runs really good patterns,” Krasnavage said. “I know whether it’s man-to-man or zone, he’s going to run a good pattern, and if I need him to be open, he’s going to get open.”
Kassimis is at his best on third down when Norwalk needs a conversion.
“I don’t get nervous in pressure situations,” said Kassimis, who also plays baseball and runs track. “Whatever sport I’m playing, it doesn’t matter. I love being under pressure and I love being clutch.”
Kassimis has also made an impact as a kick returner. His 24-yard return against Stamford led to the go-ahead score, which lifted the Bears to their first win of the season.
“I love football,” he said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to help my team win.”
Posted on 09/14/2009
NORWALK
By MATTHEW DORAN
Hour Staff Writer
Pete Tucci has always been a traditionalist when it comes to his philosophy on running an offense. In a perfect world, Tucci, entering his 13th season as head coach of the Norwalk High school football team, would grow massive offensive linemen, run the ball almost every down and throw only when it was absolutely imperative.
That old-school approach worked to perfection last season with a mammoth line led by 290-pound D.J. Morrell paving the way for standout running back Chris Hines, who racked up 1,480 yards rushing and 22 touchdowns as Norwalk went 7-3 overall and 6-2 in the FCIAC.
Tucci has always been more grind-it-out than air-it-out. However, sometimes drastic situations call for drastic measures.
After losing 10 starters from an offense that averaged 26 points per game last season, including the entire offensive line and Hines, the All-Area MVP, Tucci decided to make a change. And in his world of run first and pass later, boy is it a big one.
This season, the Bears will be switching to the spread offense, following the lead of so many other high school teams, not only in this corner of the state, but the country as a whole. The Bears, who open the season Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the road against perennial FCIAC powerhouse Greenwich, will operate in offensive sets that feature four or five receivers with senior quarterback Andrew Krasnavage working exclusively out of the shotgun.
Tucci has been tinkering with the idea for a few years now, using the spread as an experimental option on occasion at the behest of offensive coordinator Sean Ireland. It took a perfect confluence of events to make it a permanent switch.
With Krasnavage entering his third season as a starter, the Bears will have a capable signal-caller to deal with the drastic change in philosophy and the added terminology, all of which will be strapped to his wristband and called out on the field. Norwalk's offensive line will be noticeably smaller than last year, going from an average of 265 across the front to just 190 pounds. But what they lack in size, they make up for with speed and athleticism, making them better suited for the spread.
There's also the issue of experience, or lack of it. Yes, Norwalk will be young, forced to draw a big chunk of manpower from last season's talented freshman team, which went 8-1 overall. Tucci expects 15 sophomores to see substantial playing time, including Noel Thomas, Patrick Whelan and Kenny Francois, all of whom will start on both sides of the line.
Sometimes, timing is everything. And for Norwalk, this seems to be the perfect time to change.
"We're hoping it's the perfect storm," Tucci said. "We've been thinking about it for a while. I almost broke out in hives when we decided that was the way we were going to go because it's totally against my nature. But with Drew in his third year, and with the influx of young talent, and the type of talent we have . . . we don't have the type of monster kids we had last year. But even our linemen are going to be more athletic, and we felt this was the best way to get the most out of their talents."
Of course, Krasnavage loves the switch. Last season, he attempted just 106 passes, by far the lowest among the area's quarterbacks. If things go the way Norwalk hopes, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound senior captain will pass that mark in Week 3.
"It's different, but I definitely like it. What quarterback wouldn't?," said Krasnavage, who threw for 557 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions last season. "I definitely have a lot of different receivers I can throw to, and they can all make catches, so it should be good."
Last season, Norwalk's hopes rested on the legs of Hines, who carried the Bears to seven wins over their final eight games, including a five-game win streak to end the season. This time, it's all about the right arm of Krasnavage, and how well he performs.
That's also a big change for a quarterback who led his teams to winning records over the past two seasons without putting up huge numbers.
"As a quarterback, you're always looked at in the huddle and your performance is always scrutinized," he said. "This year I'll be in the spotlight a little more since I'm the senior quarterback and it's my third year. But I think I'll be fine with it, and I'll be able to rely on those other guys when I need to."
The experience of Krasnavage helped ease Tucci's concern about switching systems.
"I think we have good senior leadership," Tucci said. "Drew brings three years of experience with him, so I think it'll be good for the young kids to learn from him."
Sophomore Marc Lugo will be one of Norwalk's main running backs, but senior John Sornatale might be the most influential, serving a dual role as runner and receiver. There's a good mix of young and old on the outside with sophomores Thomas and Francois joining seniors Chris Kassimis and Cam Fuller at wide receiver.
The line will be comprised of senior Anthony Mace, who moves from running back to left tackle, junior Evan Opdahl or senior Rob Romano at left guard, sophomore Gil Araujo at center, senior Frank Vera at right guard and Whelan at right tackle.
Norwalk's defense, which proved to be one of the top units in the FCIAC last season behind the play of departed standouts Shawnelle Philo and Jeremy Dickens, should be strong once again.
Whelan, Mace and junior Danny Diaz will rotate at defensive end while Romano, Vera and senior Darren Goodwin alternate at defensive tackle. The linebackers in Norwalk's 3-4 scheme will be Fuller, senior Tony Gomez -- who will miss the first game with a back injury -- junior Anthony Ferraro and sophomore Dave Klein.
The secondary will be comprised of Francois, Thomas, Lugo and Bobby Stringfellow, all members of the sophomore class.
"We're very athletic and we swarm to the ball," Tucci said. "I've been very enthused during our scrimmages, even though we've been out-manned. Teams have not just run over us. We have tremendous team speed on defense. The problem is, we have four inexperienced guys in the secondary, and one mistake is six points. But no one has really hit us for big plays in the scrimmages and we've improved from the first scrimmage to the last. I'm hoping the defense can at least hold us in some of the tougher games."
The kicking and punting will be handled by sophomore Delshawn Wilson and Diaz, a combination that will hope to duplicate the production of Brian Jacoby, who hit five field goals and went 33-for-35 on extra points as a senior last season.
Norwalk's first four games -- at Greenwich and Staples and home against Trumbull and Stamford -- certainly doesn't favor a young team learning a new system.
"The young kids are talented and eager to learn, and I never complain about our schedule," Tucci said. "But the first few games are going to be tough for the young kids. If we can survive the first few weeks, I think we'll be much improved as the year goes along."
