Gio Frisenda has been a big part of the Marlboro football team’s success over the last three seasons.

In his three seasons at Marlboro, the Iron Dukes won Section 9 Class B championships in his sophomore and junior seasons and reached the title game during his senior year before the season was ended by Port Jervis.
In a few months, he will take that winning pedigree to SUNY Brockport, where he will join the Golden Eagles’ football team.

“I visited a lot of places and a lot of schools and Brockport was the place that felt like home the most,” Frisenda said.

The Golden Knights, who are coached by Jason Mangone won the 2019 Empire 8 football championship, their third straight and third straight year in which Mangone’s staff has been named the conference’s Staff of the Year.

Since finishing 6th in the conference in 2014 and 2015, the Golden Eagles finished tied for second in the conference in 2016 before beginning their run of three straight conference titles.
The reached the NCAA Division III semifinals in 2017 before suffering second-round defeats in 2018 and 2019.

“Winning is one of the most important things that influenced my decision,” Frisenda said. “I didn’t want to go into a program that was OK with losing. I wanted to succeed where I was going.”

Frisenda played both sides of the football for the Iron Dukes, but his offensive career ended with high school graduation. When he gets to Brockport, he expects to play mostly safety and outside linebacker.

“I see myself as the best fit on defense,” Frisenda said. “I played there the longest and I feel that’s the place I can most easily jump in and succeed.”

Frisenda’s senior year was plagued by injuries as he had a hamstring issue during the offseason and tweaked it during the first game of the season. He helped Armani Banton and Troy McEwen transition into playing strong safety.

And then when Frisenda returned from his injury, he took over at outside linebacker for the rest of the season when Austin Laird got hurt.

“Gio’s an ultimate team player,” Marlboro football coach Brian Beck said. “He wanted to make sure we were successful in his senior year. He was used to Marlboro football’s tradition of excellence. He wanted to get in there and didn’t want injury to stand in his way. He did a great job showing people the right way to play.”
Beyond football, he also ran track during his junior year. That was his first year running and he enjoyed it. He was looking forward to running again in his senior year, but the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the season being canceled.

“We had a really good team last year and I was looking forward to coming back and it didn’t happen,” Frisenda said.

The closure of the school also meant he didn’t have access to the school’s weight room, or any local gym to prepare for the upcoming season. But the gym closure doesn’t affect him because he has all the necessary equipment at home.

“I have a weight rack at my house so I can do a lot of weightlifting at home,” Frisenda said. “I have also been doing running and drills, so I haven’t been too affected by it.”

Of course, when he gets to Brockport, it won’t be all about football. He plans to major in finance as he’s always wanted to run his own business.

He also won’t be going to school alone as he will be joined on the Golden Eagles with tackle and defensive end Anthony DiMeglio.

“It’s going to be great,” Frisenda said. “We’re rooming together and it’s going to be nice having someone else to have that experience with.”

His former football coach expects that he will have no trouble adjusting to playing collegiate football.

“He’s a football player,” Beck said. “He’s one of those dudes who can go and play the game. He loves to compete and he’s not afraid of contact. You get there and you’re not the biggest dude. You have to make your name and he’s willing to go in there and make his mark.”