Smithtown East football to hold first practice at 12:01 a.m. Monday
Practices for high school football officially begin Monday, and at least one team isn’t waiting for sunrise to get started.
Smithtown East will kick things off at 12:01 a.m. Monday, at The Sports Arena in Nesconset.
“I met with my assistant coaches, and we were chatting about Texas football,” Smithtown East coach Dave Bernardo said. “And I said, ‘let’s bring a piece of Texas football to Long Island’. Let’s do it big like Texas. Let’s schedule our first practice, the first minute we’re officially allowed to start. Let’s make it a Smithtown tradition and inject some energy and genuine excitement to the new season.”
Bernardo, in his second year as head coach, started this in 2023.
“There’s a new sun rising in Smithtown, but it happens at midnight,” Bernardo said. “We are rebuilding a program and it’s like pushing a boulder uphill. We want to create a positive energy.”
Bernardo said the idea went over incredibly well with his staff and players.
“We had music blasting as the players entered the indoor field last year,” he said. “We had a videographer chronicling the event. We set up an alley of coaches and parents for the players to run through. The players truly felt they were doing something special.”
With the East side of the Smithtown District devoid of lights on the football field, Bernardo chose to utilize the indoor facility for his first workout.
“It’s more communal and the best start to the season,” junior wide receiver James Huxtable said. “It brings everyone together as one full unit and it’s awesome. I’ve played flag football and basketball at the Sports Arena since I’m seven years old so there’s a nostalgic piece of this also because it’s really where it all started for a lot of guys.”
Smithtown East finished 3-5 in 2023, one game better than 2022. The Bulls open the Suffolk Division II season at Centereach, Sept. 13.
“Coach Bernardo is always thinking about football and how to bring the team together and make us better,” junior quarterback Antonio Marrone said. “This is so cool.”
Bernardo believes the school will have lights for next season’s first practice.
“We hope to have the stars under the stars right here on our home turf,” he said.
“We’ve been trying to get lights on our field for years and if that happens for my senior year, next year – it’ll be great,” Huxtable said. “Midnight Madness and playing under the Friday night lights.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
