Brooklyn Tech football's defensive dominance spearheads wins over DeWitt Clinton in PSAL
Brooklyn Tech’s Cole Friesz-Fraley eluding the defense of DeWitt Clinton while running for a touchdown during the secnd quarter during a PSAL high school football game at Brooklyn Tech Football Field in Brooklyn on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026 Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Wyatt Mulvena wanted to deliver a message to his team. He needed to, really.
It was midway through the first quarter of the DeWitt Clinton-Brooklyn Tech PSAL Conference 4A football opener at Charles B. Wang Athletic Field in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Saturday and exactly 14 yards directly behind Mulvena lay teammate Alexander Lim on his back in agony on the middle of the blue and white and yellow circular midfield logo with a broken leg.
Standing in front of the home sideline, Mulvena gathered his teammates together and barked a mandate while coaches and medical personnel tended to the offensive and defensive lineman.
“This game is for Alex,” Mulvena said after Brooklyn Tech's 20- 0 win. “We got to win for Alex.”
The senior’s demand was delivered. And heeded.
None which surprised Brooklyn Tech coach Brian Pugh.
“He really took on that leadership role in the offseason,” Pugh said. “And we spoke to him about [the] captainship. As far as captains go, he was the most obvious choice out of our three captains. We knew we wanted him as a captain [because he is] a guy on both sides of the ball.”
Brooklyn Tech’s Two Boston-Freed catching a touchdown pass past the defense of DeWitt Clinton’s Emanuel Boadi during a PSAL high school football game at Brooklyn Tech Football Field in Brooklyn on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. Credit: J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Mulvena, who plays both tight end and middle linebacker, spearheaded a dominant defensive effort for the Engineers in their season-opening win.
Brooklyn Tech held DeWitt Clinton to 48 yards of total offense, and forced five turnover on downs. Mulvena shared a sack of DeWitt Clinton quarterback Laron Washington with Azlan Chow, and roamed sideline to sideline chasing down running backs.
Part of the problem for the Bronx school, coach John Applebee explained after DeWitt Clinton dropped to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the PSAL, is that they are shorthanded.
“We’re low on numbers right now. We’re probably only playing 24, 25 players so as time goes on it’s wearing on them,” Applebee said.
“Their linebackers, we didn’t get guys on them all game," he added. "We talked about it during the game. Just didn’t fix it and kept on harping. Still didn’t fix it. Credit to [Mulvena and fullback and linebacker Laszlo McKenna].”
Brooklyn Tech's defensive performance masked an up-and-down day for its offensive unit. Brooklyn Tech did score three touchdowns in the win, but Applebee pointed out two of its three scores were due to long catch-and-runs. The second touchdown occurred on the Brooklyn Tech's first possession of the second half, a seven-play drive which ended with Cole Scanlon’s tush push score on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
Scanlon connected with wide receiver Keiran Sankbell on a 64-yard touchdown to open the second quarter that gave Brooklyn Tech a 7-0 lead. Scanlon’s second touchdown pass of the day was a 75-yard strike to wide receiver Caleb Fisher on the first play of the fourth quarter, which expanded the lead to 20-0.
“They played really well in the first half. It was just one big play that got them,” Applebee said of his defense. “And another big play in the second half that got them. Those are two scores. We gave them a short field on the onside kick [to start the second half] and that kind of put us behind it. That was their only drive of the game. Everything else was a big pass. One big pass.”
