Tony Panio might not have known quite what he was getting into when he first started combing through the Eastchester football program’s film archives last spring, but the result has been a fortuitous one, both for the Eagles’ assistant football coach and the Eastchester community at large.
Over the past four months, Panio’s deep dive into the history of the program has given rise to weekly “vault watch parties,” in which Eagles’ players—past and present—relived some of the program’s most significant games via YouTube streams, complete with game film and analysis from the Eagles’ assistant coach and some of the alumni who lived through the team’s watershed moments.
To date, Eastchester’s weekly watch parties have spotlighted a dozen games from the 1983 through 2015 seasons, but Panio admits that his initial trip into the school’s film archives had a much narrower focus. Prior to the team’s April 10 meeting against a vaunted Rye this year, Panio hoped to inspire his players by digging up the team’s 2009 upset win over the Garnets—a game in which Eastchester ended Rye’s 59-game winning streak.
“That was such a great game, a huge celebration afterwards, and I don’t think the current kids really knew anything about this game,” Panio said. “So that gave me the idea that we had some really great games out there that we wanted the players to see.”
Beginning on May 6, Panio decided to upload one classic game per week—starting with the team’s wild 2007 victory over Harrison—that helped illuminate some of the potentially forgotten moments in the program’s history.
“The thought process is ‘how do we get to that next level,’ and we wanted to show what some of these past teams have done, break down why they’ve been successful,” said Panio. “This generation loves YouTube and social media so this seemed like a great way to do that.”
In watching some of these historical games, Eastchester’s current crop of athletes has also gotten the chance to see members of its coaching staff—including both Panio and head coach Fred DiCarlo—suit up for the Eagles.
“A couple of the guys were criticizing Coach Fred for some of his passes [in the 1984 conference championship game against Brewster],” said Panio. “But then [DiCarlo] leads the team on a 90-yard drive for the win and it’s important for them to see that, too.”
Panio noted that it’s not only the Eagles’ current players who have benefitted from the weekly vault sessions, however. In highlighting some of the games from the 1980s and 90s, Panio said that he’s seen alumni begin reforge friendships as they relive their glory days in the YouTube clips.
“Some of these older groups, they may not have really spoken in 20 to 25 years, but they started exchanging numbers, making plans to meet up,” he said. “To see that, and to see the passion, has been an awesome thing.”
On July 22, Panio announced that the vault would be taking a hiatus as the team begins to prepare for the upcoming season, but noted that he expects to bring it back at some point over the winter with a new slate of games and alumni interviews.
“Ultimately, we want everyone to feel like this is ‘their’ program and we want to show the guys that this goes well beyond football,” said Panio. “I’ve just had so much fun doing this, it’s never felt like work.”
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