First woman to win high school football game in CT navigates co-op challenges
A Friday night that started with Jenn Stango Garzone wondering if she was going to be able to field a football team ended with Connecticut sports history and a drenched head coach.
“Luigi Velardi, he’s a legend,” Stango Garzone said. “He said he had to get me my first water-Gatorade bath. He was on a mission for it.”
After quarterback Ben Conti had scored on a 21yard touchdown run with 20 seconds left to seal Northwest United co-op’s 26-14 victory over Platt Tech, after those final 20 seconds had elapsed, sure enough, Stango Garzone was wearing the contents of the familiar orange cooler. Velardi, her assistant, walked over and tapped Stango Garzone on the shoulder. The former head coach at Watertown, who was set to take over the Sacred Heart-Kaynor TechNonnewaug co-op before Sacred Heart closed, is a bear of a man.
Stango Garzone is 5foot-1. So she jumped. Velardi lifted her a couple feet off the ground for an embrace that looked like Yogi Berra leaping into Don Larsen’s arms after the 1956 World Series perfect game.
And why not? Stango Garzone became the first woman coach to win a game in state high school history.
“I know how important it is in the big scheme of things for young ladies who love the game of football, who are looking to play, or get into coaching and athletic administration,” she said. “I know in the grand scheme of things
a wall has been knocked down.
“But like I’ve said, I love just being a coach. All the credit goes to the kids and I’ve been blessed with an amazing, experienced staff. I joke around with my athletes that I hope one day I’m hobbling around on a cane watching football or another sport from the stands and they’ve taken over the reins. Keeping it going, male or female. The more commonplace things become the more consistent the opportunities will be.”
There is an undeniable athletic pragmatism and sense of humor with Stango Garzone. After all, she played soccer, basketball and softball at Sacred Heart and at Post. For 11 years, she played semi-pro football at every position except kicker. Although she turned 38 on Friday, Stango Garzone isn’t officially retired as a player.
“I got married, got pregnant,” she said. “When I was ready to return the women’s season was canceled. It was back on last year, but Boston was the closest team. No way I could drive two hours up and back twice a week with a toddler. I would love to have another season or two if the body permits and the location was ideal.”
She continues to coach girls basketball and softball at Wolcott Tech. That’s where she teaches social studies and special education and had been a football assistant for seven years before the program morphed into a co-op with Housatonic Regional and Wamogo. When she became the first woman to be named a football coach in Connecticut with MCW United, I asked her for a big difference between coaching boys and girls.
Girls keep their mouthguard clean and in its case, she answered, while boys will drop it on the bus floor, find it a week later and stick it right back in their mouth.
“I can’t explain it,” she said. “I’ve seen it.”
When she started coaching football, opposing teams would occasionally send over a player. They thought she was the trainer. Stango Garzone would say, “Sorry, I’m not certified to tape ankles.”
So here she was 20 minutes before a 7 o’clock kickoff at Foran High in Milford one player short of a team. Her 10 players from Wolcott Tech had arrived in the familiar blue bus of state tech schools. The yellow bus with 17 Nonnewaug and four Wamogo players was nowhere to be found. Finally, finally, it arrived.
“They came off the bus single file looking like complete annihilation of anyone in their path,” said Stango Garzone. “But first they had to run to the bathroom.
“We had one kid who never played in a varsity game before and I told them now you know how to fight through adversity.”
Yes, Stango Garzone is a woman football coach.
She’s also a coach of a co-op team. Her first one went 0-10, but then again it was on a 0-40 run when it disbanded. She preaches integrity and character.
“Co-op is probably the most difficult coaching position, just because you’re not dealing with just one school,” Stango Garzone said. “You are dealing with multiple schools and that means you also are dealing with different boards of education, different departments of health. You have to deal with different school schedules, rules and regulations. It is taxing.”
When there was extreme heat a few weeks ago, for instance, one school district called off all afternoon activities. Nonnewaug, the program’s host school, has an air-conditioned weight room and could have used its gym for practice, but the other district was bound by its blanket decision. No exceptions.
“In pandemic time, it’s even more trying,” Stango Garzone said. “Now you have to worry about what each district’s protocols are.”
Only tech school students can ride the blue buses, Stango Garzone said, until otherwise approved by the district central office. She’s working on it. Coordinating transportation and drivers has been difficult. There are days when she has asked colleagues to drop off kids at Nonnewaug, so at least they have a ride to practice. One joint practice was shut down because a school was quarantined and another wasn’t allowed outside for three days because of the heat.
“I was worried I was going to go into the game season with no reps for these kids,” Stango Garzone said. “We lucked out. We still got our scrimmage with Woodland and picked up a joint practice with Watertown.”
Small wonder she called the four preseason weeks before the opening kickoff the most chaotic of her career.
“One of the most rewarding parts of a co-op is watching kids from several towns coming together,” Stango Garzone said. “Coaching in the technical high school system (which draws from various towns), I’ve seen that already. The fact that this happened in such a short amount a time, it’s one of those things that can unify a region of a state.”
Nonnewaug had their school renovated and field redone, so the team has a weight room and turf field with lights. With Housatonic Regional as host of MCW, there were no lights. All home games had to be on Saturday.
“One day a week may not seem like a lot,” Stango Garzone said, “but it adds up to almost two weeks of travel time and wear and tear you save. I loved being at Housy. (AD) Anne Macneil is phenomenal. It just got to a point where the Board of Ed, the numbers had dwindled so low, they could not meet the budget to continue to host. I think they were under five kids at that point.”
Housatonic joined GilbertNorthwestern co-op to form a new club. Granted it’s the rural northwest, but those three schools cover 12 towns. Teammates can live an hour from each other.
“Housy was a state powerhouse for a time in football,” Stango Garzone said. “Now they’re in a co-op with their archnemesis (they used to play every Thanksgiving). There was a time Gilbert and Housy were never supposed to be spoken in the same sentence.”
There was no passing league for any of the tech schools last year. Although they were coming out of a junior varsity program the Nonnewaug players, led by Conti and running back Jason Mauro, got some work done with Sacred Heart and Kaynor. Stango Garzone said it definitely shows.
Yes coaching co-ops are challenging and crazy, no matter the gender. Although it is safe to say none of the others have given birth.
Genevieve is 21⁄2 now. She is cuter than cute.
“Cute and feisty,” mom said. “She has become very vocal and very independent and definitely testing the waters of insubordination. That’s OK. I know it goes by fast. I’m trying to enjoy every second I can.”
With a 7 p.m. kickoff, the travel and a 7:30-8 p.m. bedtime, Genevieve couldn’t make the game Friday. With a home game against Cheney Tech and a 6 p.m. start, she may be there for Game 2. Her husband Francesco, math teacher and musician who sometimes sings the national anthem at Jenn’s games, won’t be.
After the historic win, several coaches, teachers and former players reached out to congratulate her. Among them was Jamie Coty, who Stango Garzone assisted at Wolcott Tech and is now the defensive coordinator at Cheney.
“We talked last Friday and Saturday and said he can’t talk until after the game — all business until then,” Stango Garzone said. “Get this. My husband’s going to see the Foo Fighters in Bridgeport Friday. Jamie’s wife is also going to Foo Fighters. Big game between us and they chose Dave Grohl.”