Edison wide receivers coach Brian Calantoni (in black pants) on the sideline at football practice on November 2, 2022. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
We’re only back at Edison football practice because Coach Cold told us we had to be.
Well, that’s not really true. We wanted to talk to Selbin Sabio, the senior kicker who has figured prominently in both the Eagles’ playoff wins this season, specifically on critical field goals, and two desperate on-side kicks in last week’s wild comeback at North Brunswick to propel the Eagles to the Central Jersey Group 5 title game.
But Edison is 2-2 all-time in state sectional finals. Wide receivers coach Brian Calantoni wasn’t around for the first one in 1976, but he was for the second and most recent one, in 1991, when the team won the Central Jersey Group 4 title over Middletown South on the very same field where we’re sitting on Tuesday afternoon.
We’re on the same bench, on the same side of the field as last week. Sitting on the same side of each other. It’s not the same day of the week, but it will have to do.
Coach Cal has his lucky socks. And then there’s the TANG. Yes, they still make that stuff, and it’s a team tradition.
He’s probably keeping its maker in business. After all, who else is still buying it by the ton?
Cal wishes he had some eligibility left. But Edison won’t need it. Not with gutsy senior quarterback Matt Yascko at the helm.
Friday night, Edison seeks its third state title in as many tries when the 6th-seeded Eagles (8-3) visit top-seed Lenape (6-4) for the Central Jersey Group 5 title. Kickoff is at 6 pm. You can hear the game on Central Jersey Sports Radio with pregame set for approximately 5:40 pm. Click here to listen.
Click below to hear Central Jersey’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Edison wide receivers coach Brian Calantoni about superstitions and his team’s playoff run – because he made us do it:
Sorry about that I must have misunderstood!