BY THE NUMBERS FOR ‘BURGH
Lansingburgh Football comes into 2018 confident despite numbers issues
TROY » Last season, Lansingburgh Football touted a roster of just 19 players and ended the season with a 2- 6 record.
With a core of returners leading the way and a lot of underclassmen getting the chance to eat some serious varsity minutes, Lansingburgh Head Coach Jeff Pasinella is excited for what is coming.
“We’re excited about what the future holds the next three years,” said Pasinella. “We’re expecting a lot out of Anthony Thompson and Alonzo Barrett. Lonzo is moving from wide receiver to running back and he’s a junior this year and we expect some big numbers out of him too.”
Thompson is tasked with taking over under center for his older brother Eric Thompson, who graduated after last season.
“I don’t like to showboat too much. I think I’m a decent player,” said Thompson.” I don’t like to talk. I like to show my game.”
Eric Thompson was the Lansingburgh offense last season. He was even considered one of the best overall players in
player,” said Thompson.” I don’t like to talk. I like to show my game.”
Eric Thompson was the Lansingburgh offense last season. He was even considered one of the best overall players in Section Two according to a quote from Averill Park’s Zach Gobel in an article the Troy Record ran on the starting quarterback.
“You can’t really replace Eric, but Anthony is doing a great job and I think this year we have more weapons than we did last year,” said Alonzo Barrett. “This year we are more skilled and more physically fit and we care more, in my opinion, but losing Eric is going to hurt. We can make that spot up.”
No matter how many weapons the junior running back says Lansingburgh has this year, the
glaring issue is still the overall number of players.
“We’re battling the numbers bug like I amsure a lot of the teams in the section are right now,” said Pasinella. “We have about 3040 between JV and Varsity. So we’re obviously hoping to get some more kids to come out.”
The number of players will matter less and less the harder the Lansingburgh football team works.
“We’re asking our kids to get better in practice everyday. They’re working hard,” said Pasinella. “We’ve got a good mixture of ninth graders up to 12th graders that are getting reps”
The youth movement is very exciting for Lansingburgh. With more young players getting reps in practice and overall playing time at the varsity level early on, it makes for more returners in the future.
“With how many returners we have next year i think we should be a good team in the B’s. I hope. That’s the
goal,” said Barrett onthe potential of the future.
So, what is the issue for Lansingburgh and getting kids to come out and play football? It is a Class B school in Section Two, meaning it isn’t a small school by any means. Logically, bigger school should equal bigger football team, right?
Coach Pasinella has his theories.
“My personal opinion on it is that it’s a different generation of kids,” said Pasinella. “I don’t think a lot of them want to make the year commitment. We go from thanksgiving week in the offseason right through until the last week before we start practicing.”
Pasinella thinks athletes are very much driven to playing one sport over the course of all seasons, which hurts the number of athletes drawn to football.
“I also think there are a lot of kids specializing in one sport right now, playing basketball all year
round, baseball all year round, or lacrosse. I think it is a combination of things,” said Pasinella.
And of course, Pasinella acknowledges the biggest talking point when it comes to football.
“I think concussions — with parents — concussions is a touchy subject, but I think the game is the safest it’s been right now with all the training and all the equipment and the way the equipment is getting better.”
So yes, the numbers are a factor for a small team like Lansingburgh. They only need eleven on the field at a time, and from what it sounds like, Coach Pasinella will have a passionate eleven out there whichever way he splits it.
“We’re working hard. In the offseason we were here everyday, just working,” said Barrett. “We work a lot harder than we did last year in my opinion. We’re more like a team this year. We’re all like brothers.”