Port Jefferson football players can join Rocky Point team after winning appeal
Members of the Rocky Point football team during Suffolk Media Day on Aug. 21, 2026 in Hauppauge. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Port Jefferson football players have been granted a new lease on their careers.
The New York State Commissioner of Education’s office has granted an appeal that will allow Port Jefferson’s varsity football team to combine with Rocky Point High School without any repercussions, per Tom Combs, the executive director of Section XI, which is the governing body for interscholastic sports in Suffolk County.
Per Section XI bylaws, schools who merge their football teams after the Jan. 15 deadline are ineligible for the postseason of the upcoming season. After Port Jefferson folded its varsity team on Sept. 1 for not having enough players to compete, it tried to combine with Rocky Point, but Section XI denied it, and also warned the schools that a merge would disqualify them from the playoffs. Port Jefferson filed an appeal with the Commissioner of Education’s office, and after review, their appeal was granted in full, and their postseason eligibility has been preserved, according to Combs.
“They are going to give them a stay, meaning they can play the season, and then they’ll rule on it after the season, whether our rule is justified or not,” Combs told Newsday on Friday night. “We don’t make any rules; the membership — our 62 school districts — make the rules. Our job is to make sure the members are following those rules. I don’t have the authority to override our policy for Port Jefferson. I want to see kids playing.
“The stay gives the Port Jeff kids the ability to play for Rocky Point, and the team is eligible for the playoffs, should they make it,” he continued.
At the moment, four of Port Jefferson’s players are confirmed to be joining Rocky Point’s varsity team: juniors Sam Fabian and Kemp Jarrett, alongside seniors Maklyn Mejia and Henry Collins. Senior Luca Caltagirone is a potential fifth addition to the roster.
Caltagirone confirmed he will attend practice Saturday morning at Rocky Point High School and make his decision from there. He and his fellow classmates were previously ineligible to play at all, even on the junior varsity level.
Just having the option to play the sport again means a lot to Caltagirone.
“All we want to do is work,” he said. “That’s not a football thing, that’s more of a Port Jeff thing. Knowing that I get to go to football practice tomorrow means the world to me, because that’s another workout I’m getting. It’s another way that I’m getting better. That choice to go to practice is up to me, and that was taken away from me, but it was given back to me, and I’m so grateful for that. The chance to get better as a person and as an athlete at another school is awesome, and it’s something that everyone should have.”
After previously thinking his football career was behind him, Caltagirone is ecstatic to try it out again in the morning.
“I’m restless,” he said. “I’m not going to get much sleep tonight. That opportunity that Rocky Point is giving us is huge, because it’s an exposure to football, and an exposure to a new division. For the guys that we have, I think that’s the best part of it.”
Port Jefferson's JV team, which consists of its freshmen, sophomores and juniors, had been practicing at Rocky Point High School. By maintaining the practice schedule, the JV players who join Rocky Point's varsity team will already be eligible to play in the team's next game at Eastport-South Manor on Sept. 19.
Fabian is one of those players who will be eligible.
"I'm so incredibly grateful," Fabian said. "Rocky Point has been amazing, sticking with us through all these appeals. The coaching staff has been so inviting, and the kids have really brought us into their culture, and it really is just incredible ... Football, in my opinion, is the greatest sport out there, and part of the experience with it is moving up to the varsity level, getting some film and trying to move on to play in college. So, sitting here and not being able to experience our varsity seasons was not only hurtful to us now, but also to our potential future."
Port Jefferson athletic director Mark Passamonte and football coach CJ Perrino, as well as Rocky Point athletic director Jon Ruffa and football coach Anthony DiLorenzo, did not respond to multiple phone calls from Newsday.
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
