Announcement
Hamilton, Cardamone among other fall coaches
7:21 PM, Jul. 1, 2011 | Written by Andrew Legare
ELMIRA -- Three men who coached their teams to championships last fall have been selected as head coaches of the newly combined varsity teams in the Elmira City School District.
Among the trio is Mike Kessler, who will coach the Elmira football team after guiding Elmira Free Academy to the Section 4 Division II championship last season.
Derek Hamilton was hired as boys soccer coach after he directed EFA to the Section 4 Class A title last fall.
Ben Cardamone will coach the boys and girls cross country teams. Under Cardamone, Southside won the Southern Tier Athletic Conference West Division title in girls cross country last fall.
Three other coaches who were previously head coaches at Southside have been hired to coach combined teams: girls soccer coach Zach Sarno, girls volleyball coach Ian Harkins and cheerleading coach Mary Kay Bruner.
The hirings were approved last week by the district's Board of Education and announced Friday. The coach of the newly merged girls tennis team has not been determined yet. Coaches for the winter and spring seasons will be announced at a later date.
All of the sports teams at Southside and EFA are merging because of budget cuts. The teams' nickname will be Express and the primary color for uniforms will be red, with white and black accents.
Kessler had been head football coach at Academy for the past five seasons, with last year's team advancing to a sectional final for the first time since 2002. The Blue Devils' 6-4 record in 2010 pushed Kessler's overall record at EFA to 18-28.
Kessler could not be reached for comment Friday.
For the second straight year, Mike Johnston Jr. had his position as a head football coach eliminated because of budget cuts. He was the longtime coach at Corning West when the sports programs in the Corning-Painted Post School District were merged before the 2009-10 school year.
After serving as offensive coordinator at EFA last year, Johnston was hired as head coach at Southside in the spring, before Elmira's programs were combined. He replaced Brian Moore, who resigned after five seasons.
Hamilton helped turn around EFA's boys soccer program when he took over as varsity coach in 2005, following four seasons as junior varsity coach. He coached Academy to sectional titles in 2006 and 2010, and guided the team to its first overall STAC championship in 2008.
He takes over as coach of the combined team with mixed emotions.
"I was a little sad to see the Academy program that we worked so hard to build be no longer, but at the same time I'm excited to work with both schools," Hamilton said. "It really brings a unified sense of soccer to the area instead of me worrying about one side of the river. I can kind of see talent from both sides and help development there."
Sarno was a teammate of Hamilton's at EFA and an assistant coach there when the Blue Devils claimed their 2006 boys sectional championship. He quickly led the resurgence of Southside's long-struggling girls soccer team after taking over as coach in 2007, guiding the team to a sectional final in 2008 and a top seed for sectionals in 2009.
Cardamone's girls cross country teams at Southside won seven sectional titles after he took over as coach in 1999, with the boys teams claiming two championships. He has also coached Elmira's combined indoor team and Southside's girls outdoor team to several league and sectional titles.
Last year, the Southside girls won the STAC West Division title in cross country and the EFA girls claimed the Section 4 Class B championship.
Despite the history of success and the returning talent, Cardamone said the runners on the combined team will have to step things up another level. The combined team will be competing at the state level against the likes of national powers Fayetteville-Manlius and Saratoga Springs in Class A, the highest classification among the four classes in New York state (down from the five classes of previous years). However, Cardamone said that in meeting with the athletes, they appear up to the challenge.
"From what I've seen so far, I'd have to say probably 95 percent of the kids we have are pretty pumped up about this combination," Cardamone said. "Some of them got a chance to work together during indoor and actually saw what the benefit is.
"The Academy girls were one of the big teams on the rise here if you look at last year and the new blood they had. And our girls have been right there. You take those two teams and both are pretty much proven winners going into the season."
Cardamone said the combined boys team will benefit from the merger in terms of depth, something that had been a shortcoming for both squads in recent seasons.
ELMIRA -- Three men who coached their teams to championships last fall have been selected as head coaches of the newly combined varsity teams in the Elmira City School District.
Among the trio is Mike Kessler, who will coach the Elmira football team after guiding Elmira Free Academy to the Section 4 Division II championship last season.
Derek Hamilton was hired as boys soccer coach after he directed EFA to the Section 4 Class A title last fall.
Ben Cardamone will coach the boys and girls cross country teams. Under Cardamone, Southside won the Southern Tier Athletic Conference West Division title in girls cross country last fall.
Three other coaches who were previously head coaches at Southside have been hired to coach combined teams: girls soccer coach Zach Sarno, girls volleyball coach Ian Harkins and cheerleading coach Mary Kay Bruner.
The hirings were approved last week by the district's Board of Education and announced Friday. The coach of the newly merged girls tennis team has not been determined yet. Coaches for the winter and spring seasons will be announced at a later date.
All of the sports teams at Southside and EFA are merging because of budget cuts. The teams' nickname will be Express and the primary color for uniforms will be red, with white and black accents.
Kessler had been head football coach at Academy for the past five seasons, with last year's team advancing to a sectional final for the first time since 2002. The Blue Devils' 6-4 record in 2010 pushed Kessler's overall record at EFA to 18-28.
Kessler could not be reached for comment Friday.
For the second straight year, Mike Johnston Jr. had his position as a head football coach eliminated because of budget cuts. He was the longtime coach at Corning West when the sports programs in the Corning-Painted Post School District were merged before the 2009-10 school year.
After serving as offensive coordinator at EFA last year, Johnston was hired as head coach at Southside in the spring, before Elmira's programs were combined. He replaced Brian Moore, who resigned after five seasons.
Hamilton helped turn around EFA's boys soccer program when he took over as varsity coach in 2005, following four seasons as junior varsity coach. He coached Academy to sectional titles in 2006 and 2010, and guided the team to its first overall STAC championship in 2008.
He takes over as coach of the combined team with mixed emotions.
"I was a little sad to see the Academy program that we worked so hard to build be no longer, but at the same time I'm excited to work with both schools," Hamilton said. "It really brings a unified sense of soccer to the area instead of me worrying about one side of the river. I can kind of see talent from both sides and help development there."
Sarno was a teammate of Hamilton's at EFA and an assistant coach there when the Blue Devils claimed their 2006 boys sectional championship. He quickly led the resurgence of Southside's long-struggling girls soccer team after taking over as coach in 2007, guiding the team to a sectional final in 2008 and a top seed for sectionals in 2009.
Cardamone's girls cross country teams at Southside won seven sectional titles after he took over as coach in 1999, with the boys teams claiming two championships. He has also coached Elmira's combined indoor team and Southside's girls outdoor team to several league and sectional titles.
Last year, the Southside girls won the STAC West Division title in cross country and the EFA girls claimed the Section 4 Class B championship.
Despite the history of success and the returning talent, Cardamone said the runners on the combined team will have to step things up another level. The combined team will be competing at the state level against the likes of national powers Fayetteville-Manlius and Saratoga Springs in Class A, the highest classification among the four classes in New York state (down from the five classes of previous years). However, Cardamone said that in meeting with the athletes, they appear up to the challenge.
"From what I've seen so far, I'd have to say probably 95 percent of the kids we have are pretty pumped up about this combination," Cardamone said. "Some of them got a chance to work together during indoor and actually saw what the benefit is.
"The Academy girls were one of the big teams on the rise here if you look at last year and the new blood they had. And our girls have been right there. You take those two teams and both are pretty much proven winners going into the season."
Cardamone said the combined boys team will benefit from the merger in terms of depth, something that had been a shortcoming for both squads in recent seasons.
