The high school fall athletic seasons are underway. Mineola Head Football Coach Dan Guido provided us with his feelings on the new season.

Coach Guido is coming off a 1 and 7 season and expects a winning season this year in a rebuilding stage to springboard the Mustangs into a playoff run next year. Guido is assisted by Helms Bohringer and Chris Friedel. Mark Miller is the junior varsity head coach. He's assisted by Bob Redmond.

Guido points to the following returning players:

Mike Antoniou, OL/DL, Jr., 6-1, 250, who started as a sophomore.Mike Gregorius, OL/DL, Sr., 6-1, 210, good speed for a big man.

Peter Wain, RB/LB, Sr., 5-8, 150, tough and aggressive.

Matt Grilo, OL, Jr., 5-10, 250, started on offense as a sophomore.

Rich Medlock, QB, Jr., 6-2, 185, strong arm & athletic, started last three games of 2000 season.

Adam Zoffranieri, OL/DL, Sr., 5-10, 240, strong with good speed.

Edgar Dominguez, RB/LB, Sr., 5-7, 160, two-way starter last year

John Canavan, WR/DB, Sr., 5-11, 165 good hands and athletic.

Trumain Thurmond, RB/SAF, Sr., 5-7, 135, good speed.

Coach Guido named a dozen juniors as players to watch this season. They are: Adam Minsky, DE/RB; Dan Guido, REC/DB; George Harrison, REC/DB; Anthony Carlo, OL/DL; Ricardo Cunha, OL/DL; Mike Gonzalez, OL/DL; Chris Egner, REC/DB; Matt Jetter, DE/OL; Steve Ricciardi, LB/RB; Dan Mehra, OL/DE; John Periera, REC/DB; and Matt Bispo, kicker, REC. The coach also added the names of a pair of sophomores as hot newcomers. They are Jimmy Holubowich, a 5-11, 180 pound linebacker and running back plus Dan Medlock, at 5-11 and 175 pounds. He's a running back and strong safety. Holubowich is characterized as a strong, very tough and aggressive player while Medlock is very athletic with good field sense.

In looking ahead to the season, Coach Guido pointed to Plainedge and Carey as the highest seeded teams they'll play. But, he said, with so many underclassmen on his team, no opponent can be called tougher than another.

The Mustangs opened the season with a 20 to 14 loss at Great Neck North. Mineola took a 7-0 lead into halftime on a touchdown pass from Rich Medlock to his brother, Dan. But Great Neck North tied the game early in the second half. Mineola came right back as Medlock threw his second TD pass of the day, a 61-yard bomb to Trumain Thurmond. North tied the game with about eight minutes remaining and then scored the winning TD on a long pass with about a minute-and-a-half left in the game. Coach Guido said his guys played tough, but inexperience proved to be a factor. The depth of an already small squad was diminished even further with Jim Holubowich and Mike Gregorius out of the line-up. A warm, humid day made the going even tougher for a squad short on numbers. But, Guido said that as the Mustangs gain experience, and if they can stay healthy, every team will find Mineola to be a tough opponent. Peter Wain led Mineola's defense with 11 tackles.

Mineola Middle School head football coach Glenn Cocoman welcomed another big turnout for his program this fall. Between 45 and 50 seventh and eighth graders make up the squad. Cocoman is assisted by Steve Mitchel and part-time assistant John Erling.

Eighth graders who Cocoman included among the key players returning from last year's team are: Anthony Orsano, strong-arm QB, good runner, natural leader; Tiago Rodrigues, undersized, but tough, exceptionally quick; John Cloghessy, steady tight end with good hands; James Logan, tough, good defensive player; Anthony Plomitano, fast, excellent hands, natural athlete; Nelson Lopes, quick, natural athlete, moved to RB this year; Steven Ferriera, quick running back; Anthony Tretola, big, physical, leader of the line; Michael Black, big, physical natural ability, could become star; Leo Morales, big, strong, very good on defensive side of ball.

In addition to the aforementioned players, Coach Cocoman also listed eighth grader Joe Rubino, plus seventh graders Kurt Ketzer, Tom Badinger, Jon Hock and Marc Dadich as hot newcomers.

While middle school football is a learning experience for most of the boys, the players are still competitive. Coach Cocoman said, "We don't play as tough a schedule as in years past. But, our success will depend a lot on the development of the seventh graders. Our A-Team has a big, strong line with an excellent quarterback and some good running backs. Whether our seventh grade unit can play or not will determine our success. The A-Team's inability to stop the run outside of the tackles was a problem last year. Hopefully our veterans will lead the younger, inexperienced players." The coach looked at his schedule and said, "Locust Valley and Carle Place traditionally are tough games for us. They consistentl field solid teams. But we look forward to the challenge."

The Mineola High School varsity soccer teams are going to have to deal with losing a large number of players to graduation.

Boys varsity Coach Paul Pereira enters his fifth season and does so having lost eight starters from last season, who accounted for 43 of the team's 44 goals. So, without question, this is a rebuilding year. Pereira's team will include four starting sophomores and four starting juniors. But the unit will be anchored by a strong defense led by junior goaltender Greg Weiss. The coach hopes to keep the opposition in the very tough B-III conference scoring low numbers and get goals from any one of the several midfielders and forwards.

In addition to Weiss, Coach Pereira lists five others as key returning players. They are:

Jeff Carlos, Sr., Capt., MF, a three year varsity player who missed all of last season with a knee injury. He's the most talented player overall and possesses a great shot.

Joe Cerullo, Sr., Capt., Def., tough to beat on defense. He hustles and gives 100 percent all of the time.

James Escaleira, Sr., MF & F, quick feet, good touch, talented dribbler and third year on varsity.

George Barros, Jr., def., will play every minute of every game at sweeper, very solid defensively, good with both feet and second year varsity player.

Gabe Moreira, Jr., MF and F, solid all-around player who knows the game well and a second year varsity player.

Coach Pereira also listed sophomores Fabio DeOliveira, Jason Moston, Vito Errico and Matt Shanahan as hot newcomers.

Mineola boys JV Coach Al Cavalluzzo opens his fourth season with some fine returning players. The coach points to eight sophomores as the starting point for this year's team. They are: Jimmy Francis - good speed; Chris Gonalves - good left foot; Mike Kondraciuk - solid defense, good speed; Peter Marson - excellent ball control; Helder Mendes - captain, excellent ball control; Ben Molina - solid defense; Chris Sallie - good speed and right foot; Ramon Valente - excellent ball control.

Coach Cavalluzzo also named Mendes, Marson, Valente and sophomore goaltender Kevin Franciotti as his players to watch while he named striker Roberto Ramalhaete as his hot newcomer. The coach intends on having a successful season and improving on last year's 8 and 4 record. He says Glen Cove and Oyster Bay will be the Mustangs' toughest opponents.

Mineola girls varsity Coach Christine Wiedman also lost a number of key players to graduation, but is not without some returning experience. Wiedman's returning players are:

Danielle Adams, Sr., All-Conf., Co-Capt., great leadership and skills.

Lauren Anderson, Sr., Co-Capt., defensive master, who rarely gets beat and always works hard.

Maureen Cloghessy, Sr., co-capt., an outstanding outside midfielder, has a tremendous cross.

Denise Fitzpatrick, Jr., my utility player, she can and will play anyway I ask her.

Melissa Hock Jr., incredible finesse player, has nose for goal.

Angelina Martinez, Jr., tough cent midfielder, never gives up.

Nicole McAllister, Sr., great def., not afraid to make tackle.

Vikki Montalbano, Sr., my go-getter, no matter what position she plays, she has to be involved in the play.

Filomena Palumbo, my other cent midfielder, my play maker, reads the field very well.

Janine Posillico, Sr., utility player, always gives 110 percent.

Nikole Tsbasis, Jr., another goal scorer with exceptional speed.

In addition to those 11 returners, another half-dozen girls coming up from Frank Massaro's JV team that will be part of the varsity. They are:

Joanna Canning, outside midfielder with amazing drive and cross; Alison Carnabucci, utility player, who will go anywhere; Theresa Dolan, outside midfielder, great deal of talent; Maryanne Georgeou, extremely fast forward-midfielder; Patty Munson, sweeper, in charge of running def. and midfield; Allyson Murphy, goalkeeper, phenomenal athlete, outstanding keeper, competitor by nature and hates to lose.

Coach Wiedman's goals for the season include being well over 500 and making it to at least the first round of the playoffs.

Mineola opened its season with a 2-0 loss at Friends Academy.

Coach Wiedman said, "We played hard, had several scoring chances and just didn't finish any of them. Friends capitalized on some defensive errors. As a whole, my girls played very well and did not give up. I was very proud of their efforts."