After turning in one of its best regular seasons in years last spring, the Harrison football team comes into the fall campaign with some lofty expectations—and some equally big shoes to fill. But as the Huskies prepare for the year with an eye on opening day, head coach Jay Ciraco is confident that his group has the heart and determination to keep Harrison on a winning path.

Last year—with an abbreviated six-week schedule that was held from March to April—Harrison fared well, posting a 4-2 record with its only losses coming to Class A powers John Jay and Rye. The mark was Harrison’s best since the team went 6-3 in 2017, and Ciraco—now going into his third year at the helm of the program—believes that last season’s success, mixed with the short turnaround time, have helped the Huskies get off to a quick start in the early days of the preseason. 

“We pretty much have everything installed already,” he said. “These kids did a really nice job understanding everything in the spring and they’re just carrying that over to now.”

But while Harrison might be off to an auspicious start in terms of learning the playbook, Ciraco acknowledged that the team was hit hard by graduation and must find a way to overcome the loss of some of its biggest stars, namely running back Casey Judelson and quarterback Troy Straus. 

Senior running back AJ Troilo—who has established himself as a versatile two-way weapon for the Huskies over the past few years—could step into the featured back slot this fall, but Ciraco believes that Harrison’s success will be predicated primarily on toughness and depth. 

“We may have had a lot of guys graduate who were high-level, high-profile skill position players, but we are going to come out and we’re going to play hard-nosed football,” said Ciraco. “We’re gonna tackle and hit hard. And we have kids who are willing to sacrifice their bodies and throw their bodies around.”

Ciraco is also confident in the play Harrison will get up front, as seniors Johnny Karapides and Thomas Ventriglio will team up with junior Peter Rinello to give the Huskies an effective line.

“We have three veterans on the line and they all got playing experience last year, they know what it takes to win and they know what’s expected of them,” said Ciraco. “We are relying on them to step up and lead the underclassmen, some of the guys who might not have gotten as much playing time next year.”

The Huskies will open up on Sept. 10 when they host a Tappan Zee team that went 3-2 last season. Prior to that, Harrison will scrimmage against two top teams in 2019 Class AA state champion New Rochelle and Somers. In the next few weeks, Ciraco hopes to see improvement in ball security, but believes that his team has the right mindset and a willingness to get better.

“We’re going to need to protect the football … we feel a lot of teams struggle to stop us but sometimes we’ll end up stopping ourselves,” he said. “But the kids work hard, they love each other and there’s a lot of camaraderie. They play for each other and the energy’s been great.”

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