By David Fierro
Like last year, the Greenwich High School football team will open its season in September against a team it ended its season against the previous year.
The Cardinals began their 2023 season with a game against non-conference opponent Fairfield Prep, the team they defeated in the championship game of the CIAC Class LL Tournament in 2022. Soon, Greenwich will kick off its 2024 season against West Haven, the squad it was eliminated by in the semifinal round of the CIAC Class LL playoffs last fall. Greenwich visits West Haven on Sept. 13 for a 6 p.m. matchup the teams have looked forward to for quite a while.
“It’s a tough place to play, but there’s no better motivator than going up against a team that knocked you out of the playoff run last year,” said Greenwich head coach Anthony Morello, who is starting his sixth season at the helm. “It’s a lot easier motivating a football team after a season-ending loss than it is after a season-ending win.”
The 2023 season saw the Cardinals register a record of 10-2. Greenwich began the season with nine consecutive victories before losing to FCIAC rival Staples on Thanksgiving, 24-13. In the quarterfinal-round of the Class LL Tournament, Greenwich topped Stamford, 47-21, setting up a semifinal-round showdown versus West Haven at Cardinal Stadium. The game was tied at 6-6 at halftime, but West Haven rallied for a 26-13 victory to advance to the Class LL final.
“There are a lot of things we wish we had of done differently in that playoff game,” Morello noted. “We felt we had just as much an opportunity to win that football game as West Haven did and West Haven made the plays when it counted. It’s been a great motivator for us.”
Indeed, the Cardinals aren’t exactly easing into the new season. After visiting a formidable West Haven team on the road on Sept. 13, the Cardinals travel to Stamford on Sept. 21. As they exhibited last fall, the Black Knights are a team on the rise, one to certainly be reckoned with. In Week 3, GHS plays unfamiliar foe Bishop Hendricken High School, a perennial powerhouse/championship program from Rhode Island.
“It’s a tough game right off the bat,” Greenwich junior linebacker/running back Jack Kelly said. “It’s a revenge game for us. That loss last year to West Haven in the semifinal has been fueling us all offseason and we are all really excited to play that game. They’re a fast team, we’re just going to have to match that speed and play aggressive and play as a team.”
“It’s going to be a really tough opponent, they’re a good, solid team,” Cardinals senior quarterback Michael D’Angelo said of facing West Haven. “But I trust my guys, we’re ready to go on all cylinders. Everyone is firing out. We have a lot of young guys and we’re ready to see what we can do.”
D’Angelo and fellow senior Nick Wells are competing for the role as the Cardinals’ starting quarterback, a position Rocco Grillo impressively performed at during his senior season in 2023. Grillo is continuing his football career at Fordham University.
“I could see both of these quarterbacks contributing on a week-by-week basis based on the situation of the game,” Morello said. “MJ (D’Angelo) has done a great job of running our base with a methodical approach, so utilizing him and his physicality is something we’re really excited about. Nick has demonstrated an ability to drive the team down the field in a short amount of time. Our two-minute drill he is excelling in. They both have a different set of skills and I’d be a fool to not use them both whenever needed to win a football game.”
The season is starting a bit late for the Connecticut-based high school football teams. In most of the previous years, the season opened a week earlier.
“We are all happy to be back, we just got back from our sleepaway camp,” D’Angelo said. “We’re all fired up, amped up and Week 1 couldn’t come sooner. Everyone is firing out. We have a lot of young guys and we’re ready to see what we can do.”
Said senior wide receiver Blake Martin of the later start: “We’ll be ready when the time comes. I think it’s fine, an extra week means extra practice. It’s always better to be prepared than not be prepared.”
Jack Carroll, Michael D’Angelo, Max Marek and Peter Vomvolakis are Greenwich’s senior captains. Vomvolakis recently committed to attend the United States Naval Academy in Anapolis, Maryland, where he will play Division I football. Vomvolakis will be looked upon to lead the Cards’ offensive line at center, a position he flourished at in 2023.
A two-time New Haven Register First Team All-State player and two-time All-FCIAC First Team selection, Vomvolakis (6-foot-2, 290 pounds) has been a member of the Cardinals’ varsity football team since his freshman year and immediately made an impact, earning a starting role on the offensive line as a ninth-grader. He shifted to center a season ago.
“It was a little tough in the beginning, having to make a lot more calls, having to be responsible at the offensive line,” Vomvolakis said of his transition to playing center. “But once the offseason and August went through it really became natural to make the right calls. “It’s a really stressful position having to make all the calls, but it’s a great position, being the captain of the offensive line, being the captain up front,” he continued. “It’s a really nice thing.”
Vomvolakis and junior right tackle Richie McMurray are among some of the athletes that should power the Cards’ offensive line.
“The line is really good,” the 6-3, 270-pound McMurray said. “The biggest thing for us is we have the ability to identify problems quickly and move through it.”
“I feel great about our offensive line and when you feel great about your offensive line, typically your running game is successful as well,” Morello said.
George Vomvolakis and Ian Kim sparked the squad’s running game a year ago during their senior seasons. Hector Lopez, a junior and Kelly will be counted on to help lead Greenwich’s running attack this fall.
“I feel like it’s a big role I’m playing on offense this year,” Lopez said. “Replacing George Vomvolakis, there are some big shoes I have to fill. Overall, we’re looking great on offense. I’m looking forward to the season.”
Lopez brings speed to the backfield like George Vomvolakis did throughout his highly productive Cardinals career.
“He’s very shifty and has a low center of gravity,” Morello said of Lopez. “He can find a crease and can turn a 3-yard gain into a 60-yard gain in the blink of an eye. We also have Jack Kelly – he is more of a bruiser. He is going to do really good for us.”
“We’re definitely going to be a great running team, our O-line is looking great this season,” Lopez noted. “Peter Vomvolakis is looking to lead our line and is looking good. Our running game is going to be up there.”
Wide receiver is certainly a position of depth for the Cardinals with Martin returning, along with senior Matthew O’Donnell, senior George Minchin, Guy Germain (senior) and Michael Minyo (senior). Hudson Squires (junior), Bobby Stanley (sophomore), Dan Black and Andy Stedem are among some the first-season varsity athletes that hope to make their mark at the wide receiver position.
“Practice has been great, we’ve been working our hardest trying to get better every day,” Martin said. “The offense is really coming together and so is the defense. We’ve been trying to give each other good looks, so that we’re ready when it comes to game day.”
Throughout the preseason, the quarterbacks and receivers have clicked.
“It’s gotten better every day both quarterbacks are competing and gaining chemistry each day,” Martin noted. “I think we’re growing more and more every practice.”
Junior Michael Golden (6-6, 225), Jack McElwain, a junior and Stedman are among some of the athletes at tight end.
“We are going to be featuring a lot of tight ends this year,” Morello pointed out. “We big tight ends that can block, run and catch. Between our tight ends and our receivers, we have more than enough weapons for our quarterbacks to target.”
Golden could be one of Greenwich’s main targets at the tight end spot.
“I’m looking forward to a great season and helping out the team,” Golden said. “The team is looking very promising, we’re a little young, but we’ll figure it out. I feel good about our offense, our running game is going to be a strong point of the team for sure. Our offensive line looks very good and our receivers look really good.”
Greenwich scored 389 points in 12 games last season, averaging 32 points per matchup. Of course, the offensive unit is aiming to be extremely productive once this season.
“We have a lot of potential,” Martin said of the offense. “We have a lot of guys that are going to step up this year – a lot of juniors and seniors.”
“Our offense is going to be a big key to our team,” Lopez said. “We have some great receivers and our offense is looking so good. We’ve been putting in a lot of work during the offseason.”
Vomvolakis, McMurray and senior Kyle Ebanks are among some of the athletes that will be relied upon to anchor the defensive line.
“On the D-Line, we are really aggressive that’s our biggest strength,” McMurray said.
Greenwich graduated an outstanding group of linebackers last season in John Insinga, Sebastian Parra and Jayden Scott. Santi Parra, Sebastian’s brother, a junior, begins his first year as a varsity starter at linebacker and is joined by sophomore Justin Carroll, Jack’s brother and Kelly.
“We’re a young group, we are losing some big starters, those three (Insinga, Parra, Scott), but we have been working a lot and I think it will be good,” Kelly said. “We just want to be physical, aggressive and play hard.”
The secondary is a definite strength for the Cardinals.
“We think the secondary has more talent than any secondary that we’ve had, so we expect really good things from our secondary,” Morello said. “They’re one of the more experienced groups that we’ve had out here.”
Jack Carroll, a safety, senior Noah Steele, a senior cornerback, who has committed to play football at Carnegie Mellon and Germain are among some of the athletes that should anchor the secondary.
“I’m feeling really good, because we have four DBs that got a lot of playing time last year,” Jack Carroll said. “So, we all got experience. I would say that’s a strong point of the defense. Our linebackers, they’re young, but they all have talent. They are getting better every day.”
The 2023 season saw the Cardinals yield just 162 points in 12 games (13.9 points per game).
“We are working on physicality every day in practice,” Jack Carroll said. “The name of the game for Greenwich is physicality and we want to keep it that way this year. We’ve got to have a team bond, that’s what wins games in the fourth quarter. Just getting the little things right is going to help us go far this season.”
Said Kelly: “I think we have a really strong unit this year, I think we are going to be strong against the run, strong against the pass. Our coaches have some great schemes for us and I think it will be a good year.”
Morello has liked what he’s seen from the defense during the preseason.
“We’ve been good against the run in past years, so if we can lock down the pass as well, I think our defense is going to be a major strength of this football team,” he said.
On special teams, senior Jack Jedlicka has garnered attention from colleges with his standout skills as a longsnapper.
“Whenever you are punting or kicking, it is a pivotal moment in the game,” Morello said. “For me not to worry, because Jack is snapping the ball is a blessing.”
Greenwich’s home games included Bishop Hendricken (Sept. 28), Danbury (Oct. 5), Wilton (Oct. 18), St. Joseph (Nov. 1) and Westhill (Nov. 16).
Road games include West Haven (Sept. 13), Stamford (Sept. 21), Trumbull (Oct. 25), Ridgefield (Nov. 8) and Staples (Nov. 28).
“We want to go all the way, that’s what we’re aiming for – another state championship, which we had two years ago,” McMurray said. “I think this team definitely has the capabilities to get it done.”
Morello has been impressed with the captains and the entire senior group.
“The captains, the seniors have done a great job of leading by example,” he said. “This team wants to be great and that’s always a fun group to coach. They know they have things to work on, they know they are not where they want to be at this point, so they are willing to put the time in off the field.”
“When they are out here they are listening, the team is actively trying to improve every minute of practice and those are teams you love to coach,” Morello continued. “There is really good energy out here, a really good vibe going into the season. As long as we are improving as the season goes on, the sky’s the limit for this group. If you ask any player, they will say we want to win the state championship. That is the goal of the team.”
