For most teams, compiling a 7-2 record and reaching the PSAL City Championship division quarterfinals would be termed a success. At Fort Hamilton, after consecutive undefeated regular seasons and a city title, it’s a disappointment.
“We are really motivated,” senior defensive back/wide receiver Travon Reid Segure said of Fort Hamilton’s earliest playoff exit in five years. “We keep that in the back of our minds.”
Injuries, of course, undermined the Tigers goal to repeat, Segure (torn ACL) and quarterback Marvin Centeno (broken collarbone) missing the end of the regular season and entire playoffs. Centeno graduated, but the electric Segure, who is being recruited by Syracuse, Temple, UMass and Buffalo, is fully healed and ready to make an impact on both sides of the ball.
“He’s a phenomenal football player and we’re getting him back 100 percent,” third-year Fort Hamilton coach Danny Perez said of the 5-foot-11 Segure, who scored four touchdowns, added two interceptions and 28 tackles in limited duty last fall. “When he’s out there, he takes us to another level.”
He will be asked to contribute heavily for inexperienced Fort Hamilton, which is counting on a bevy of juniors. Quarterback Adrian Maldonado is perhaps the most important one, the junior varsity call-up being asked to run the Tigers’ spread attack. Perez lauded the multi-dimensional Maldonado’s work ethic and understanding of the offense.
“He works very hard every day in practice,” Segure said. “On and off the field, he’s a leader.”
He will have a bevy of weapons, from punishing junior running back Isaiah Washington to receivers Segure, junior varsity call-up Edwin Lee and junior Lynell Robinson. A 6-foot-3 prospect who played varsity as a sophomore last year, Robinson has big-play potential.
“He runs very good routes, has good hands,” Perez said. “I think he’ll be a key playmaker.”
With that said, Perez fingered the defense as the key to Fort Hamilton’s season. The secondary is loaded with playmakers such as Segure, Lee and Robinson. Rangy senior Khalif Tulloch, who had 46 tackles a year ago, will move over from outside linebacker to inside while senior Armani Garrick and Matthew Lloyd will anchor both lines. The 6-foot-5, 285-pound Garrick, in particular, has shown the ability to stand out and is being recruited by Stony Brook and Buffalo among others.
The group was solid last year, standing tall as the offense struggled late in the year, and with a new quarterback the defense will need to be at the top its game early on, especially with Staten Island powers Totttenville and Curtis on the schedule from the get-go.
“That’s the way we’re gonna go, that’s going to be the strength of our team,” Perez said. “If our defense steps up, we’ll go a long way.”