This year, sophomore Jeffrey Perez joined Stuyvesant High School’s football team and created a new pathway for our students to engage in more sports.
Stuyvesant High School has 42 sports teams, including junior varsity and varsity football, compared to Pace’s eight teams. Both teams are part of Division 3A of the Public School Athletic League.
This year, Stuyvesant’s junior varsity team had a five-wins-to-one-loss season. They tied for second across Division 3A with A. Philip Randolph Campus High School. The varsity team, which tied for second with John Jay Campus, qualified for playoffs with a six-wins-to-two losses during the regular season.
The team practiced every day with one day for film review and games on Saturdays. Perez described the practices as “hard and tiring with conditioning” but acknowledges that it is to help the players “get better.”
Perez heard about Stuyvesant’s football team from middle school friends, who saw his potential and invited him to try out. Perez made it through tryouts, making an impression on one of the assistant coaches, and onto the junior varsity team as safety and wide receiver.
Mr. Patrick McGovern, Stuyvesant’s junior varsity head coach, described Perez as “a great player. He works hard, responds well to adversity, and competes hard on each and every play.”
“As a teammate, Jeff is always positive and picking up his teammates,” Mr. McGovern said. “He took on a leadership role for the team this year, often leading by example through his consistent effort.”
At the end of the junior varsity season, the coaches invited Perez to practice with the varsity team during their playoff season.
When asked about his advancement to the varsity team, Perez said, “I am excited for the challenge because I know God did it for a reason, so I believe that he gave me this opportunity for a reason. My expectations are to kill in the playoffs and help out as much as possible no matter what.”
Because of Perez’s initiative, other Pace students can join Stuyvesant’s sports. Mr. McGovern explained that Pace High School and Stuyvesant High School are now matched for all access. He said Pace students “just need a physical and the normal all-access paperwork.”
“Stuyvesant Football is growing to include student athletes from all over lower Manhattan, and we love having a diverse group of players from different schools. We would love to have more students from Pace come play,” Mr. McGovern said.
