New football team giving charter school athletes a chance to play

As the high school football season gets underway this coming Friday, one Western New York team is celebrating the beginning. A new program is giving some athletes the chance to play a sport they love.

"It brought back a lot of memories," said junior Jalil Harvey. "It's very fun to learn this game."

Health Sciences and Maritime Academy have joined forces to create the latest football team in the Buffalo area.

"We jumped in the deep end right away but it's working out pretty well," said head coach Charlie Comerford.

The two charter schools will have around 50 Varsity and JV players taking part in the school's inaugural season. Comerford and his assistant Tyree Parker are using their past experience at Bishop Timon to lead the charge on a new field.

"Everybody wants to go to the NFL and to college on scholarship but it builds more than that," said Parker. "It builds a family atmosphere and it builds a brotherhood that I think all kids need."

The team's mascot is the Falcon and they'll play all of their games on the road. There will be some challenges but also things to look forward to.

"We're very proud and we have a lot of freshman who will start on our Varsity," said Comerford. "So I think the future is bright and it'll only get bigger and better."

Fr players like Jalil Harvey, this is the chance they've been waiting for.

"I didn't want to play basketball but that was the only choice I had to stay in shape," he said. "Now that we have football, that's my focus. I want to play football."

Maritime/Health Sciences will kick off their first season on Saturday, September 1st against Canisius.

Have a news tip, question or comment?