NYC Edition NYC_FALL_I_2013 | Page 20

THE ENGINEERS SEEK CITY CHAMPIONSHIP Story by Ryan McNamee // Photos by Anthony Hughes BROOKLYN TECH HIGH SCHOOL T he Brooklyn Tech High School football team is coming off of a city quarterfinals finish and the Engineers are looking to improve upon that win with a city championship. As always, they have to go through a gauntlet of a schedule, as they need to face off against big rivals in Fort Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson Campus, and Boys and Girls High School. The Engineers are going to have to be sharp throughout the season to compete, and are going to be relying on a slew of new starters on both sides of the ball. This hasn’t detoured Coach McKenna’s confidence in his team as he states, “We made quarterfinals last year and (I) hope the experience will help us in close games. We expect to be competitive.” Brooklyn Tech returns five starters all-together; three on defense and two on offense. This loss of players to graduation is unfortunately the nature of high school football, but nonetheless, leaves the Engineers with a lot of holes to fill 20 on the roster. With six of the graduates from last year moving on to play college football, and three moving onto division one programs, the Engineers lose a lot of athleticism as well. Some of these notable departures are DB James Gale, who is now playing for Princeton, TE/DE Thomas Plonski, who is now playing for the Wildcats at Villanova, and WR Kyvaune Brammer, who is now up in the Bronx playing at Fordham. The Engineers are going to be relying on key players this season, such as: junior quarterback Elijah Rueda, senior WR/DE Deon Mash and senior LB/OL Chawit Bunditwong. Their play will be crucial towards the success of Brooklyn Tech this season. The Engineers will have inexperience at some positions with the entrance of 17 new starters, combined with both sides of the ball. The team will need the senior leadership of captains Chawit Bunditwong, PJ Landers (OL/DL), and Tristan Brown(RB/SS). According to Coach McKenna, these players were chosen as captains “due WWW.ULTIMATEATHLETEMAGAZINE.COM 21