Tonight’s PSAL City Championship division football final at Yankee Stadium is a contrast in adversity.
Danny Landberg, the coach of No. 1 Erasmus Hall, last year’s runner-up, saw his home ruined by Hurricane Sandy and has used football as a mechanism to forget all he lost in the horrific storm.
Tottenville, the second seed, has managed to get back to the championship game for the first time in four years despite the absence of its two stars — Syracuse-bound running back Augustus Edwards and highly recruited wide receiver Malique Belfort — who were put on the inactive list for the playoffs.
“Our team is not based on one player,” senior quarterback Brandon Barnes said. “We still felt confident.”
The Pirates have replaced the explosiveness of Edwards and Belfort with trickery, relying on a dominant defense and getting production from lesser-known seniors such as Barnes, running back Andre Darnt and wide receiver Kevin Coughlin.
The defense, led by safety James Munson and defensive tackle Richie Lam, emerged during the postseason as possibly the best unit in the entire city.
Erasmus hasn’t faced absences like Tottenville with its players. Its coach, however, saw most of his Belle Harbor home ruined by Sandy. The day the hurricane hit, Landberg was at home with his family and feared for his life as water flooded the peninsula.
“We thought we were going to die,” he said.
Yet, the first day the undefeated team was allowed by the league to begin practicing, Landberg was there. And he hasn’t missed a moment.
“I feel blessed to be here right now,” the intense coach said.
Landberg has built E-Hall into a perennial contender, leading the Dutchmen to at least the semifinals each of the last four years. A win tonight would be the school’s first championship.
“We work really hard and it would be just a special feeling,” Landberg said.