In his 20th year of coaching the Floral Park Knights, Coach Mike Spina is excited about the potential for this year’s team. After winning the New York Jets High School Coach of the Week Award early last year, Coach Spina believed the team had a chance to win the Conference III title. The team defeated Lynbrook 21-17 in the first round, but fell short with a semi-final defeat at the hands of Plainedge at Hofstra.

In 2014, the Knights are the pre-season 6th seed in Conference III. During the season, the captains will be selected weekly and determined by the performance and work ethic of each player. In the season opening game against Great Neck North, the captains were Robert Sjoberg, Brian Barry and Joshua Sanders. One of the strengths for this year’s team is the offensive line, anchored by four seniors – Isaiah Corbett, Frankie Finocchio, Anthony Jimenez and Eric Bardales. Each player possesses the determination and athleticism necessary to help the Knights compete against the best teams in the conference.

“It’s a new year, and a new team,” said Coach Spina. “Our goal is to get back to the turf, back to where our season ended. We want to get back to Hofstra.”

The Knights began the season with a convincing victory over Great Neck North, 42-7.

“We knew what we had to do, we wanted to run the ball a lot,” said Spina. “We knew our offensive line would run them down as well. We wanted to overmatch them.”

Key plays were made by running back Joshua Sanders, who had 12 carries for 141 yards and five touchdowns. Quarterback Josh Corbett had 53 passing yards and one touchdown while wide receiver Brian Barry contributed with two receptions for 54 yards and a touchdown. The defense forced four fumbles as well. The Knights entered their week two matchup with Division hoping to go 2-0 to start the season.