Marvin Centeno fought through a sprained MCL all season, missing a few games and wearing a knee brace in practice and the games he did play in.
It was all for this moment.
The Fort Hamilton junior quarterback’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Reddish with 3:16 left in the third quarter and his 2-point conversion toss to Dylan Campili were the only Tigers scores in an 8-6 win over Lincoln in the PSAL City Championship game Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
“He did the job,” Fort Hamilton coach Danny Perez said. “That touchdown pass to Reddish, it sure looked like it stayed up in the air forever. Brandon just kept running by the defender. Brandon came down with it and it was an unbelievable play.”
Centeno rolled to his right and pump faked a defender before finding Campili for what was the go-ahead 2-point conversion.
The MCL was an issue all season. He missed the first two games of the season and then the regular-season finale against John F. Kennedy. Even the games he played in, he was not at full strength, wearing a bulky brace. Centeno joked that it was too cold to feel any pain Tuesday night.
“Before every game I was nervous about my knee,” he said. “I was like I can’t do it. Coach said, ‘If you can’t do it, let me know.’”
He did it for his teammates in the championship game. To show his appreciation for his offensive line, Centeno had the words “O-Line” and the linemen’s numbers – those of Kevon Foster, Ivan Foy, Mensur Ibric, Najee Daniels and Kimani Robinson – carved into his hair especially for Yankee Stadium.
“They mean a lot,” Centeno said. “I haven’t been sacked all season. They’re a special part of me.”
New coach, same story: The day didn’t start off great for Perez. His name in the PSAL program was written as “Daniel Diaz” and that’s how it was announced to the thousands in attendance at Yankee Stadium.
Perez was not his mentor, Vinny Laino, who led Fort Hamilton to two city championships in 2005 and 2006 and was known throughout the area as one of the best coaches around. But he did do an excellent job in his first season. When he was speaking to the media after the city championship victory, one of his players passing by shouted that he was “the best coach in America.”
“They’re both disciplinary guys,” senior James Howell said of Perez and Laino. “It was easy to get adjusted to Coach Perez. It’s basically the same thing. We all knew he was. We all respected him.”
Perez doesn’t like to speak much about himself. He was happier that this group of seniors got the title before they graduated.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said. “I just feel so glad for the kids.”