Hunter Belzo will miss playing football under the lights at Middletown High School, but the college-bound athlete is set to start the next chapter of his gridiron career. “I’ll miss Friday nights. I’ll miss my friends and family coming out,” a nostalgic Belzo said, “Everyone is hyping you up when you come to school on Friday during game day. I’ll miss that the most and I’ll miss having people, who have known me my whole life, coming out to watch me play.” His supporters will also miss watching Belzo run wild on Friday nights, but they can anticipate more of the same on Saturday afternoons, because the Middletown graduate is off to play collegiately for Springfield College. The two-way football star opted to continue playing in Massachusetts, within driving distance of his family and friends, but it almost didn’t happen. “I wasn’t going to Springfield originally. I was going to Bluefield College in Virginia,” recalled Belzo, “Then Springfield called me to come up for a visit. I was just going to go for the visit, but when I went I fell in love with the school. The coaching staff was good and I just felt at home as soon as I got to Springfield.” At Springfield, he’ll be playing under first-year head coach Mike Cerasuolo, who is very familiar with the program, having spent the past 15 seasons as the team’s offensive coordinator. The team has won five rushing titles under Cerasuolo’s tutelage, which bodes well for Belzo, who will be joining the Prides’ offensive backfield. He’ll focus on one side of the ball at Springfield, but Belzo excelled in both the offensive and defensive backfields at Middletown for the past three seasons. As a defensive back, he loved delivering punishing hits and forcing turnovers, emulating his game after one of his favorite players. “I like to get the big hit. You get the ‘oohs and ahhs’ from everyone in the bleachers,” said Belzo, who led Middletown in tackles this past fall, “I always try and strip the ball out. I got that from watching Tyrann Mathieu when he was at LSU. He’s a smaller guy like me. I like to watch him on film and take some stuff from him.” Belzo got his tenacious defensive mentality from The Honey Badger, but he wore #22 at Middletown and patterned his ground game after another SEC (Southeastern Conference) legend, Mark Ingram. “The {Springfield} coaches decided to put me at running back. People can’t really tell that I’m quick or fast. They underestimate my speed,” added Belzo, “Speed was the one thing I focused on going into my senior year, because during my junior year I got caught from behind a couple of times. I spent all offseason working on breakaway speed and I didn’t get caught senior year, so it worked out good.” The natural sprinter helped enhanced his speed by running track at Middletown High, competing in the 100 meter and 4x100 relay during his junior year. He didn’t run his senior season, choosing to focus all of his attention on his future in football and to avoid injury. On the field, he’ll have a few familiar faces joining him at Springfield, including Wethersfield’s all-state linebacker Richard Williams, who was selected as the defensive MVP of the Super 100 All-Star game this past Saturday. The two were fierce rivals during high school, but now join forces at the college level. “We’ve been competing and going at it for three years,” a smiling Belzo said, “Now we’re talking, so we’re pretty good friends now.” The transition to Springfield could be challenging for Belzo, who was born and raised in Middletown, but he said that he finds comfort on the football field and through family. His father, Mike Belzo, introduced his son to the game and has supported his journey every step of the way. “My dad got me into playing football when I was young,” Belzo recalled, “We came to a youth football practice before I could play and he ask me if I thought I could do this. I said yes, so the next year he signed me up.” He was only six years old at the time and a few years later he was stepping onto the field as a high school player. He created a lot of memories in the Blue Dragons’ blue and white, but it was his first season playing at a varsity level which created the most lasting of memories. “Our sophomore year we went to New London and we lost by three. We came back here and played them in the first round of the playoffs and we rolled them,” Belzo recalled about the team’s 49-14 victory in the 2013 Class L playoffs, “That was one of the most memorable games. All the guys still talk about that now.” This past season, the team finished 8-2 in the regular season, earning their fourth straight trip to the postseason. The season ended in defeat, but Belzo’s final season was memorable for another reason, because he got to play on the same field as his younger brother, Stone. “It was good, even though I’m tough on him. In the games I’m always yelling at him and he gets frustrated, but I know what he’s capable of doing. I expect the most out of him as anybody on the team,” Hunter said about playing with his younger sibling, “We got to hit some people together, so it was pretty fun.” “He definitely pushed me to be a better player. He’s pushed me to be more aggressive on the field and that’s what I like most about his game. I like his aggressiveness, so I take after that. I try and copy that part of his game,” Stone said about his older brother’s mindset, “Plus Hunter taught me some techniques on defense that I never knew before.” The Belzo brothers both played under Sal Morello, who has compiled an impressive 48-18 record since taking over as the team’s head coach in 2010. Morello helped resurrect the football program, which was coming off a 1-9 campaign in 2009. “He’s tough, but he’s a really good coach,” Belzo said about Morello, “Sometimes you’re going to hate him, but you know he’s doing it for the right reason. He made me a better player by pushing me to my limits. There are times in the summer that he would push me and I would feel like I was going to pass out in practice, but it paid off in the games. He told me he was going to make practice harder than the games, so come game time it was easy.” Morello’s intense practices have helped prepared Belzo for the next level. For his part, Belzo is working with a couple of trainers to improve his speed and power for the competition he’ll face this fall. “I’m trying to put on size so I can take the hits at the college level. It’ll be different, but I like how I feel when I’m on the field. That’s where I feel most comfortable. I also like hitting people,” Belzo said with a grin, “It’s going to be fun.” Questions or comments? Email [email protected] or follow on Twitter @RareReminderJH
0 Comments
Graduating senior Blake Mamaclay won the George Brinley Award, an annual honor given to the most outstanding senior male athlete at Newington High School. “The coaches vote on it and I think one of my coaches recommended me for it, so I feel honored,” Mamaclay said about receiving the prestigious award, “It goes to someone that exemplifies all there good qualities, like sportsmanship, courage, and perseverance.” Throughout his four years at Newington, Mamaclay displayed all of those traits on the soccer field during the fall and volleyball court in the spring. He was fortunate to have the same pair of head coaches for his entire tenure and that stability allowed him to flourish in both sports. “Both my coaches had big influences on me. Coach [Jeff] Brunetti is a really levelheaded guy. After games we’d talk about what we would need to improve on in practice. He really looked after me as a freshman,” said Mamaclay, “Coach [Curt] Burns basically set me on a path to success. At the summer strength and conditioning he worked with me and he made me the setter.” Soccer has always a part of his life, but before high school Mamaclay wasn’t too familiar with the sport that would ultimately make him a champion. “I started playing volleyball as a freshman,” added Mamaclay, “My friend Tyler Callahan influenced me to start playing. I was actually thinking about doing track at first, but he’s the one that said---if you want to win a state championship, come out and play volleyball. And who wouldn’t want to do that?” The decision to play volleyball paid off, as Mamaclay and his teammates won 82% of their games and were crowed state championships in 2014 and 2015. “I’d have to say the best moment was winning back-to-back state championships. Winning one is tough enough, but coming into the second year we were kind of marked off because we just lost three all-state players. Our setter was gone and I was stepping in,” he recalled, “We really worked hard for that and we definitely earned it.” In his two years as the team’s starting setter, Mamaclay racked up 1645 assists, averaging over nine dimes per set. He credits his success to Burns, along with the other coaches and mentors that helped him hone his craft. One of those mentors was the team’s equipment manager, Heldor Guedes. Guedes was not only in charge of equipment, but he’s also championed the team through his enthusiasm and knowledge of the game. “He’s helped me out a lot since my freshman year,” Mamaclay said of Guedes, “He’s been one of my biggest supporters and I really couldn’t thank him enough.” On the court, he played with some of the state’s best players and formed some of his closest friendship. Last year he teamed with Dante Phillip and the duo became a lethal one-two punch. “He was my go-to guy during the volleyball season. We really bonded this year, on and off the court. He was definitely a great teammate,” said Mamaclay, “I really didn’t know him that well before my junior year and I really didn’t get a chance to talk to him a lot until this year, but we became pretty good friends and we had really good core chemistry.” Mamaclay and Phillip are two of a handful of talented seniors that will be departing, but the graduating setter believes the program will continue to be strong. “I think the guys here are going to do a great job. All of them are so committed and so hardworking. I could definitely see another state championship within the next two years from these guys.” The volleyball court is where he enjoyed the most success, but the soccer field was his first love. “I’ve basically been playing my entire life. My dad was a big soccer guy and he coached me all the way until eighth grade and he’s helped out with summer league, so he’s been a big influence,” he said about his father, Geoff Mamaclay, “He was always the one pushing me. When I wanted to give up, he would tell me to keep pushing through and to give it another week. I think that really helped me out, because it motivated me to do better.” All the help and hard work has paid off. Mamaclay not only blossomed into an accomplished athlete, but he also graduated with honors. Now he prepares for life after high school, but the idea of not returning to the halls of NHS in the fall hasn’t sunk in just yet. “I still feel like I’m in high school. I wake up every day thinking I have to work on my summer packet or something, but there‘s no more summer packet to work on,” he joked, “I’ll miss the sports, because that was something I looked forward to and I‘ll miss seeing my friends every day. It just really hasn’t hit me yet, I don’t think it will hit me until I actually move into college.” The charismatic and outgoing graduate will undoubtedly make new lifelong friends at his next academic stop, which is over the river and through the woods. “I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of new people and living on campus,” said the soon-to-be Eastern Connecticut State University student, “I like the environment up there. My sister [Hanna] actually went there. She just graduated this year, so I’ve kind of been around it for four years.” He received an academic scholarship and he hopes to help start a club or intermural volleyball team at Eastern. He’d like to continue to compete athletically while he works on his degree in Behavioral Analysis. His ultimate goal is to obtain a Master’s Degree in psychology. The Newington native, who currently works at Footprints on the Berlin Turnpike, will soon be trekking east, but he’ll always have the memories of four great years Newington High School. It’s only fitting that the bottom of the award he received described Mamaclay as an “inspiration to his teammates and the student body.” That’s something Mamaclay is proud of. “You always hear people say to put the team first and I really think that’s what it means to be a good teammate. You may not be having a great game, but if you’re putting in the hard work to do something else to inspire your teammates, like let them know that they did a good job, that really goes a long way.” Questions or comments? Email [email protected] or follow on Twitter @RareReminderJH |
AuthorSports Editor for the Rare Reminder, Glastonbury Citizen, and Rivereast News Bulletin Archives
April 2024
Categories |