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Football Practicing Hard for Solid Season

After consecutive 2-8 seasons, you would think the team mindset of the East Haven football team would be gloom and doom. Yet despite finishing last in the SCC Division II East at 0-3, fourth-year Head Coach Greg Volpe is ready to lead his guys onto the gridiron in 2012 with hopes of turning the tide for the better and producing more victories for the Yellowjackets’ program.

The team will be led by four captains in senior linemen Mark Spadacenta and Steve Perricone, along with senior wide receiver/defensive back Mike Panela and junior quarterback/linebacker Mike DeMarco. Volpe hopes that this quartet of strong leaders will bring guidance to not only the club, but will also help inspire the younger players to take the next step up.

“These four guys will hopefully bring some leadership to the team,” said Volpe, who will be assisted by Joe Zumbardi, Chris Sharma, John Inglese, Mark Curcio and Matt Fallon. “We hope to also bring some younger players into the fold, as well. One question mark this season is junior [linebacker/running back] Dom Dellacamera, who may be out for the season with a knee injury.”

Even with the uncertain status of Dellacamera and the prior two-win seasons, Volpe is confident and proud of his team in its dedication to the club during drills and sees tremendous fire in his squad on the practice field, which he hopes will translate to the games this season. Volpe is also expecting big things out of his younger players, including junior wide receiver/defensive back Frank Whitfield.

“Frank is one of the more athletic players we have here,” said Volpe, whose team opens with a home game against Lyman Hall at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 14. “One of the main strengths of this team is they are very hard-working; they have a lot of determination out there from what I have seen so far.”

In looking down the schedule and prognosticating big match-ups for the Yellowjackets, Volpe of course points to all of their divisional clashes, including 2011 champion North Haven (on the road Sept. 28), Sheehan (Oct. 26 at home) and Foran (Oct. 5 at home). He also is looking forward to key battles with out-of-division foes in Cross (Nov. 15 at home), Cheshire (Nov. 2 on the road), and taking a Sept. 21 trip to Fairfield Prep. In gathering his overall outlook to 2012 in the always competitive SCC, Volpe speaks volumes of the work of the players have done efore heading into those big SCC games.

“We have a very young team and the numbers [of players we have] are low,” Volpe said. “The bottom line is that the SCC outgrew us with more players on their squads; it is hard to compete at that level. That being said, the guys are trying their hardest and doing their best in practice.”