Jericho football forced to forfeit rest of season due to lack of healthy players
The Jericho High School football team is forfeiting the rest of its varsity games because it does not have enough healthy players to field a team, according to Pat Pizzarelli, the executive director of Nassau County scholastic sports.
Jericho is the fourth school to drop football this season, joining Port Jefferson, Amityville, and Holy Trinity.
“The school’s director of athletics, Brett Kornblum, contacted our office and said they can no longer field a team,” Pizzarelli said. “He said too many players were injured. It’s just awful because now they don’t have football in the entire district.”
The Jayhawks started the season with 32 players but had to forfeit the season opener against New Hyde Park because not enough players met the state-required minimum of 10 practices.
Jericho played the next two games, losing both, and was unable to suit up the minimum of 16 players for its game scheduled for this Saturday. Jericho does not have a junior varsity or middle school team.
The Jayhawks had five games remaining and were scheduled to play at Calhoun (1-2) at 3 p.m. on Saturday. It was supposed to be the Colts’ homecoming game.
“It’s just always disappointing to lose a game, regardless [of] if it were homecoming or not,” said Calhoun football coach Nick Rawls. “The kids were bummed out. We looked for another opponent but it’s short notice and no one was available.”
Rawls said the tentative plan is to move homecoming to Oct. 24, but the date is not official yet.
Jericho superintendent Robert Kravitz said he is hopeful the school will have football next season.
“We’ve had a few injuries, and we have a lot of younger players,” Kravitz said. “We hope we can play football in the future. The sport generates school spirit, and I hope to do something next year. We have enough younger players and we want to create a program for them and build that pipeline for the district’s future.
“It’s gone for now but not gone forever.”
Jericho coach Brendan Lahti did not return calls for comment.
The Jayhawks were 4-5 in 2025.
It was a devastating blow for senior twins and team captains Brody and Jake Morgan. Brody Morgan is the starting quarterback and Jake is the team’s top receiver.
Jake Morgan had 194 receiving yards and two touchdown catches. He caught 14 passes for 153 yards against Roosevelt on Sept. 18.
Brody Morgan had rushed for over 100 yards in two games. He threw two touchdown passes, both to his brother.
“I’ve been in the program for the past six years and I’ll miss football,” Brody Morgan said. “I had some of the best times of my life playing here. And we just missed making the playoffs last year.”
Jake Morgan said the loss hits a little harder because the brothers are losing the opportunity to play together.
“I’ll miss playing with my brother,” Jake Morgan said. “I was on pace for such a good season and it’s just brutal to have it end. It’s not the way you want to remember your senior season.”
Newsday’s Jared Valluzzi contributed to this report.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
