The Hawthorne football coach, John Passero, has led our football team to the semi-final round of the playoff games, with an 8-1 record. Not only is Passero a football coach, but he also teaches mathematics at Lincoln Middle School and coaches baseball. In order to get more insight about the upcoming game on 11/21, I asked Passero a few questions:

Clarion Reporter: How long have you been coaching football at Hawthorne High School?

Passero: “I started coaching at HHS in 1996 as an assistant coach.  I became the head coach in 2001.”

-Passero is the longest tenured head football coach in the history of Hawthorne High School.

Clarion Reporter: What has your experience been with the Class of 2016 seniors?

Passero: “This senior class is one of the hardest working senior groups I have ever had.  They have a great work ethic and lead by example.  It isn’t by accident that we are 8-1, this group has been working hard since December of last year, and that hard work has been paying off.”

Clarion Reporter: What is your strategy going into the Hawthorne vs Glen Rock semi-finals?

Passero: “We have improved a great deal since we last played Glen Rock in week 2.  We learned a lot from watching that film, and we feel we have a great plan in place for this game.  We have to play a near perfect game to beat them this time.”

Clarion Reporter: How are you preparing your players?

Passero: “We have had a great week of practice so far, and now towards the end of the week, we are just fine tuning our game plan on both sides of the ball.  We watch a lot of film on Glen Rock during the week to show the team what Glen Rock has been doing against other teams and that is very helpful.”

The football team will be playing Glen Rock on Saturday at 2:15 in the Group 2 North 1 semi-final game. Good luck boys, and go bears!