The Firebirds are rising from the ashes.
Final season was a brutal 1-9 marketing campaign for Kellenberg Memorial, however they have already got flipped the script with a mighty opening-week victory over rival Chaminade, 21-10.
“That’s most likely among the best wins that I’ve had as head coach,” Firebirds coach Eric Meisse instructed The Put up.
“The birds are again!” declared senior linebacker Joseph Mullin.
The sturdy begin for Kellenberg, a Catholic college in Uniondale, is doubly candy in that the AA squad beat a bigger AAA program — and it was the staff’s first win over the Flyers since 2021.
“We didn’t need [a lost season] to occur once more. We knew that wasn’t going to occur once more,” mentioned Sacred Coronary heart-bound senior offensive lineman Christopher Biondi. “I believe we proved ourselves — positively extra of the place that got here from.”
Fired up
The buy-in has been at a wholly new degree from gamers, coaches — and the varsity neighborhood as an entire.
Alumni who performed helped finance a state-of-the-art power and conditioning heart on campus for the staff a 12 months in the past — and that helped Biondi tack on an additional 30 kilos of muscle.
“All of us educated so laborious — and we held one another accountable for it, too,” added lineman Christian Jean-Francois, who will play with Biondi for the Pioneers subsequent season.
Workforce lifts boosted camaraderie and the tradition of Firebirds soccer throughout the offseason — whether or not it was by pumping iron or watching Biondi slam down a couple of dozen wings at Croxley’s Ale Home in Rockville Centre throughout March Insanity video games.
“We have been quiet final 12 months,” Mullin mentioned. “We weren’t as juiced up as we have been this 12 months.”
“All of us have the identical objective in thoughts, and that’s successful a championship in November,” Jean-Francois added.
Though 2025 was a tough time to be on varsity, Kellenberg’s JV squad took dwelling a championship over Staten Island’s St. Joseph by-the-Sea.
Lots of these juniors have moved up, already leaving their mark as they step into beginning roles.
“It’s a really proficient group this 12 months, and us seniors are pushing them; they’re pushing us,” Jean-Francois mentioned. “Each follow — it’s a dogfight.”
Maintaining the religion
Being written off as a smaller college after a down 12 months is one thing the gamers have grappled with, in response to Mullin.
“Folks assume we’re the underdogs as a result of we’re in AA,” he mentioned. “That doesn’t faze us in any respect.”
Regardless of the awful 2025 file, Kellenberg’s varsity fought tooth and nail in opposition to the AA title-winning Xavier within the opening spherical of final 12 months’s playoffs. The Firebirds fell 14-7 on a contested and dropped go in the long run zone as time expired.
Working again Brendan Barkley can’t look ahead to a rematch with the Manhattan college Oct. 24 together with his new and improved staff.
“It was a tricky feeling,” mentioned the junior who was on varsity as a sophomore. “We wish to get again on the market this 12 months and get a win.”
The excessive aspirations and early success nonetheless haven’t gone to their heads.
The staff is treating the Chaminade win with short-term “goldfish reminiscence,” shifting proper on to their subsequent recreation: an out-of-conference matchup in opposition to New Rochelle.
“Everybody’s very excited, however there’s numerous work to do right here,” Meisse mentioned.
“We nonetheless have 12 extra weeks collectively. One week’s not going to outline the season. It’s nice, however it’s one thing to construct off of.”
Kellenberg’s schedule tilts towards AA faculties for the rest of the autumn, however Jean-Francois is hungry to attempt for one more AAA victory — specifically in opposition to The Bronx’s Cardinal Hayes on Sept. 19.
“We’re not simply speaking the speak; we’re strolling the stroll,” he mentioned. “And present the entire island, the entire state of New York, what we may do.”
