Marlboro athletes honored at high school

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 5/20/20

Each graduate of the Marlboro Class of 2020 has had signs placed on their lawns at home as a way of honoring their achievements and to let them know they have not been forgotten during the …

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Marlboro athletes honored at high school

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Each graduate of the Marlboro Class of 2020 has had signs placed on their lawns at home as a way of honoring their achievements and to let them know they have not been forgotten during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tom Corcoran initiated the sign program but last week he took this a step further by affixing additional signs on the fences at the High School to honor the graduating seniors who were members of the Marlboro football and baseball teams. The football season went off without a hitch, ending with 8 wins and 3 loses, but the baseball season was canceled just as it was about to get underway.

For nearly 25 years Corcoran has coached both the high school football and baseball teams. He said the spring baseball season was called off, “on the last day of the first week of baseball practice, on cut day March 15, they canceled everything.”

Corcoran said for him the cancellation was a little bittersweet, “because I always look forward to working with the kids and staying active in the community.” He said this was heartbreaking for the seniors.

“They won’t have that shot; the senior season will never happen. They will never get that back. That’s the tough part,” he said. “It’s a what if; what if we were state champions again like in 2016? As a coach I believe they could have done it. But in your heart you look for that opportunity to compete and that was taken away from them. That’s the unfortunate part.”

Corcoran said typically at the end of the season they have a small get together of the graduating seniors. Though the signs he placed on the fences can never replace the canceled season, it is just a small way to acknowledge them before they leave their high school years behind.

“It was a continuation of a tradition of doing something for the seniors,” he said.

Corcoran made 180 signs for all the seniors, another 14 for the baseball players and 18 for the football players, “and I’m going to do another couple more for seniors who were on the softball team, who I had coached in the youth league.”

Corcoran said he is motivated to do this not for himself but for the Class of 2020.

“The community has given me a lot since I played here [class of 1984], coached here, and believe it or not, as the years went on, even up till last year, there was an umpire behind the plate that umpired when I was a player and has been an umpire ever since. As old as I am they were out there,” he laughed.

Fred Callo said having his name up on the fence, “is really cool, which is really, really nice. It shows that everyone is really caring about the whole situation of what we’re going through. It’s really rough losing your senior [spring] season and all the potential of what could have happened, how good or bad we could have done.”

Ryan Keahon said Corcoran’s signs are “awesome. He brought signs to our houses, which is also awesome. It goes to show how much of a good guy he is. To not have a season is unfortunate but you can only do so much.”

Matt Corcoran said, “It s really awesome to see all the signs out here, especially because I played for my uncle, and it’s awesome to see everything come together. Even though it’s hard times, it’s cool to see that he did something for all of us and that he cared.”

Last fall Fred Callo was on the football team in the positions of kicker and tight end.

“It’s nice that they did all of this for us and an honor for the guys who played,” he said.

Rudy Guerriero said having the signs with their names posted beside the school field “is truly an honor. I’m very happy that we got to play with our friends one last time and complete the season.”

Jared Cocozza said the sign display, “is astounding to me.” He was on the track team and was able to run in the winter season but the spring season was canceled.

“It ended abruptly but everything happens for a reason,” he said.
The graduating seniors on the football team were: Armani Banton, Matt Brown, Freddie Callo, Caden Cabrera, Caden Ceriello, Jared Cocozza, Christian Diorio, Anthony DiMeglio, C.J. Faircloth, Gio Frisenda, Rudy Guerriero, Amarian Hughes, Austin Laird, Troy McEwen, Dylan Teneych and David Yannitty.

The seniors on the baseball team were: Drew Belcastro, Freddie Callo, Matt Corcoran, Kevin Correa, Anthony DiMeglio, Christian Diorio, C.J. Faircloth, Ryan Keahon, Austin Laird, Tommy Piqueras, Justin Schwarzbeck, Rudy Vitagliano and David Yannitty.