JOE KREZ TIM YAC & THE MAN THEY CALL MEATBALL,RAY RAY THE NICK,JENNA KEVIN WES,JIMMY, BROCK,JUSTIN,TOM YAC,ROBBIES,KELSIE,KAREN, JOE NAMATH,BRADY QUINN, JEFF SAMARDZIJA, ROGER,
Cool Stuff at BlingJam.com
Kresback savors O'Neill's tradition By Ken McMillan Times Herald-Record August 29, 2006 Highland Falls — Nick Kresback has been going to James I. O'Neill football games since he was 5 years old. Sometimes Kresback would get bored with the action and join his friends on the nearby practice field, playing touch football or merely throwing the pigskin around. Most times Kresback watched attentively from the packed stands, analyzing game situations. Kresback knew then what he knows now — that he was destined to become an O'Neill football player. "It's a dream come true,'' said Kresback, a third-year veteran and a senior co-captain. "I knew I would be playing but I didn't just want to play ... I wanted to be the head guy, the captain of the team, the guy that everyone looked upon when things were getting down. Whenever we were down by one and we needed a stop at the goal line, the guys would look at me, 'What is Kresback doing? Look ... he's not tired. Why am I tired? He's not quitting, why should I quit?'" "I've been practicing my whole life for this,'' Kresback said. Kresback joined the team one year after O'Neill won its last Section 9 championship and the Raiders finished 5-4. A year later, O'Neill finished 7-2, a pair of close losses to Red Hook and John S. Burke Catholic denying the Raiders a postseason berth. "You tell some people you went 7-2 and they go, 'Wow.' But for us there was this dark cloud on the season because we knew we could have done better,'' Kresback said. "This year we're playing with a chip on our shoulder that 7-2 or 8-1 is not good enough. We want to be the best and beyond that.'' Kresback believes this O'Neill team has championship makings and could reserve a special place in the hearts of fans who have long supported the Raider football teams. Tradition is important for this tiny community on the doorstep of West Point. Kresback often speaks to locals who graduated from O'Neill, and one of his neighbors has shown him film of Raider football that's more than 30 years old. The game is so much slower than today, Kresback said, and the players are so much bigger today. There were no spread-out passing offenses back then. Rather, it was mostly power-I and wing-T formations designed to run the football down an opponent's throat, an ideal Kresback takes to heart as a down lineman. "I think I would have been eaten alive back then,'' said Kresback, who is hardly small at 6-foot-1, 210 pounds. "Survival of the fittest is probably what it was like back then.'' One thing that remains constant is the "O'Neill way'' of football: teamwork, pride and discipline. "It's not just about putting on the O'Neill jersey and going out and playing,'' Kresback said. "You want to be remembered. You want to win a championship and people might remember you.'' It's a tradition that Kresback intends to honor when he becomes a parent someday. "I wouldn't miss a game,'' Kresback said. "Tommy Lasorda bleeds Dodger Blue. I bleed O'Neill maroon.'' James I. O'Neill Coach: Tim Hendershot 2005 record: 7-2 (6-2 Class B) Key players: Sr. MLB/OG Reed Ragsdale; Sr. OG/DE Nick Kresback; Sr. RB Jared Sabel; Sr. Wing/CB Mark Johnson; Sr. NT Ray McCourey; Sr. SE/CB Marc Anthony Johnson; Sr. TE/LB Cameron Williams