Blind Brook/Edgemont football team breaks ice by winning final fall game against Croton 32-8
November 13, 2024 at 10:50 p.m.
They saved the best for last. And the Blind Brook players made their final fall season football game a good one as part of the combined 1-8 Blind Brook/Edgemont team that beat Croton 32-8 at Edgemont on the Scarsdale/Edgemont border.
Trojan seniors Carmine Casino and Charlie Hammer scored touchdowns, Chris Persaud caught a two-point conversion and sophomore Daniel Glantz scored a receiving TD.
That win in the last game of the season made all that had gone before to make the merged football program happen worthwhile.
And a lot had gone on before. Not just because the defense racked up three sacks, two fumble recoveries, an interception and a safety.
Story behind merger
The Blind Brook athletic director, the coach, key returning players and a concerted community effort helped put it all in perspective.
"As the athletic director of Blind Brook School District, this past season has been one of the most rewarding yet challenging experiences of my career," Trojans Athletic Director Kimberly Saxton said after the Croton game. "The merger with Edgemont required not only a deep commitment to the logistics and coordination of both programs but also a personal investment in fostering collaboration, communication, and a shared sense of purpose among coaches, athletes, and families. Administratively, it took countless hours of planning, organizing, and problem-solving to ensure a smooth integration of resources and schedules. It required flexibility, patience, and a dedication to building strong relationships, ensuring that every student-athlete had the opportunity to thrive in an environment that values teamwork, integrity, and success. Ultimately, the success of the season reflected the collective effort, adaptability, and spirit of both communities coming together for the benefit of our students."
Sophomore running back Daniel Glantz put it this way: "Coming together with another school was a challenge, but it became our greatest strength. We faced a lot of challenges as a team, building trust, resilience, and a brotherhood we never expected which made it all worth it. Capping the season with a win was more than just a victory, it was proof of what we could achieve together. It was an unforgettable moment for the seniors and my teammates, and I look forward to the journey next year."
"The season didn’t turn out how we wanted it to be, but we made the best out of every moment and never gave up,” said Trojans stalwart Chris Persaud. “Coming together with two teams in a matter of two months and trying to build chemistry fast was hard, but we managed to do our best. Especially us Blind Brook players. We were very grateful for the opportunity to play football again after not having a season last year. Coming together with Edgemont was the best thing that possibly could’ve happened to us, and we are thankful for them allowing us to play with them. I told the guys leading up to the last game against Croton to leave everything on the field today and put everything on the line to win the football game and we did exactly that. Overall the season was tough but we fought and never gave up even when the odds were stacked against us."
"The success this season came from a group of boys that had never met until August and came together to play every single snap of every game," Trojan head coach Darren Perillo said. "This may not sound significant, but Blind Brook didn’t play football at all last year and Edgemont didn’t finish all four quarters of a few games. They showed heart and resilience when many kids their age would have quit."
But they didn't.
The complete story
Therein lies this story of what the win over Croton really means to Blind Brook.
Blind Brook dropped football last year because not enough would-be players came out for the team, and to try to do so would endanger the safety of the students involved. But Athletic Director Saxton wanted the 10 to 12 boys who came out for the first days of practice to have a chance to play the game they loved. So she sought a merger with a school of similar size and academic and athletic background. And thought she had one with Hastings-on-Hudson. But it turned out she was wrong.
The merger turndowns
Section 1 turned the merger down for bureaucratic reasons. But there was no quit in Saxton, and she continued to seek mergers with other schools for this year—Port Chester, Putnam Valley, Hastings and Edgemont among them. Port Chester turned them down after a survey showed the area's parents didn't want the merger. Putnam Valley was too far. But time was on Blind Brook's side this time, and Section 1 finally approved Edgemont.
"Telling the team that our merger was rejected twice last year was the hardest thing I have ever done in coaching," Perillo recalled. "I had a senior literally crying and I couldn’t help him. It was terrible, so this year was much better telling them we had an approved merger."
Blind Brook head football coach Darren PerilloIt was a win-win situation, a chance to be part of a similar small-sized program that wanted them, needed them and the 11 Blind Brook players who would fit into the Edgemont offense and defense. It would result in a solid roster of 25 players. It would be a chance to make new friends. And it would be a new beginning.
But it wouldn't be easy. Because football practice is every day from 4 to 6 p.m. at Edgemont with the Blind Brook players responsible for getting themselves to and from practice because the district does not provide busing for merged programs.
On the road again
That usually meant the parents had to carpool to get the players to the Edgemont campus, about a half hour away. That amounted to a commute to a different campus, a different school, a different world really, although the football yard markers and goal posts on the gridiron are the same. But playing as the merged Trojans would be different as Blind Brook head coach Perillo knew all too well. But he has seemingly been training all his life to be ready for situations like this.
Perillo, an ex-Archbishop Stepinac High School football and baseball player who graduated from that White Plains school in 1998, then went on to graduate from SUNY Oneonta, got his masters in English Lit from Lehman College and became a teacher and freshman football coach at Stepinac during the early steps on his career path. He is now in his 24th year of coaching football, the last 12 at Blind Brook. And he believes in motivation whether it be on the football field or in the classroom at his high school alma mater where he teaches English.
It was at Stepinac where he played for the legendary coach Mike O'Donnell who later gave him his first coaching job there in 2003. He was surrounded by established as well as future head high school coaches like Patsy Manganelli (now Bronxville head coach), Chris Halstead (now the Port Chester head coach), Joe Venice (Yonkers Force head coach), Jeff Michael (the merged Pearl River/Irvington head coach) and many more.
Blind Brook future hires
Manganelli and Halstead both were also Blind Brook head coaches back in the day. So a Stepinac coach becoming head Trojan coach seemed to be in the cards. Even though it took a little time to shuffle the deck. Perillo stayed on at Stepinac until his friend and fellow Section 1 coach Tom Itri was hired as the head coach at Blind Brook in 2013 and asked Perillo to join him.
"And I've been coaching at Blind Brook ever since," Perillo recalled. "I learned an incredible amount from all those guys. And became head coach in 2020."
It's been what he calls a rollercoaster ride ever since. "All good times, great kids and great community, but up and down as far as team size goes," he said.
And then, of course, there was the merger after Blind Brook dropped football last year.
"As far as the merger goes, the hardest part has been adapting to the new facilities. Coach Pape (the Edgemont Panthers head coach) and the Edgemont staff have made the transition seamless so far," Perillo said. "He needed players, and we needed players and a place to play. He had an offense, and we would install our defense. So we matched up perfectly. We adopted the 'Burn the Ships' mentality (meaning there's no going back so let's give it everything we've got). We have created team chemistry through mini-camps and clinics in the winter."
And that team chemistry continued to build throughout the fall season.
Leading Trojan players
The chemistry started for real with a season-opening loss to Irvington under the Friday night lights. And continued through seven more gut-wrenching losses throughout the fall season. It was an interesting experiment, but the kids were learning the chemistry the hard way so there were mistakes and Ls along the way. But those losses helped the Blind Brook players merge with Edgemont in game conditions for the first time. And the chemistry experiment finally succeeded against Croton because of the hard work put in by Trojans senior fullback/defensive lineman Carmine Casino and sophomore running back John Marino, who shaped up as the Blind Brook big guns. Roster depth came from Trojans Charlie Hammer, Chris Persaud, Elon Katz, Harrison Kuznetzow, Rocco Brunetti, Jayson Lowe, Mathew Taveras, Evan Lombardo and Daniel Glantz. And it finally all clicked with the happy fall season ending win against Croton.
Perillo was happy that his kids saw all their hard work rewarded with that elusive W.
Perillo, ex-Yonkers boy made good, married to childhood sweetheart Dana, father of five kids aged from 3 to 13, coach of five tee-ball teams as well as Trojans head football coach, would be looking for his next coaching favorite moment.
Fave coaching moment
"My favorite moment coaching isn't one specific thing," he told Westmore News before the season began. "And winning and losing mean absolutely nothing to me. I have won some big games and lost lots and lots of games. Those moments don't matter in the end. I love when a player does something he/she never thought they could do, and the look they give you after is the best moment coaching. That is what all coaches, if they are there for the right reasons, will remember...I am just glad my kids are getting an opportunity to play the game, make their own memories and new friends."
Hopefully there will be a lot more Ws next year and in the years to come for the combined Edgemont-Blind Brook team. And Saxton won't have to worry about any more mergers. And Perillo can look forward to building a winning merged Trojans/Panthers team around up-and-coming Trojan players like Danny Glantz and veteran players like Chris Persaud, Carmine Casino and Charlie Hammer who gave it their all as did the community members involved in making sure the kids got a chance to play the game they love.
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