Kellenberg football is fired up and buying into big 2026 turnaround: The birds are back

The Firebirds are rising from the ashes. Last season was a brutal 1-9 campaign for Kellenberg Memorial, but they already have flipped the script with a mighty opening-week victory over rival Chaminade, 21-10. “That’s probably one of the best wins that I’ve had as head coach,” Firebirds coach Eric Meisse told The Post. “The birds are back!” declared senior linebacker Joseph Mullin. The strong start for Kellenberg, a Catholic school in Uniondale, is doubly sweet in that the AA squad beat a larger AAA program — and it was the team’s first win over the Flyers since 2021. “We didn’t want [a lost season] to happen again.We knew that wasn’t going to happen again,” said Sacred Heart-bound senior offensive lineman Christopher Biondi.

“I think we proved ourselves — definitely more of where that came from.” The buy-in has been at an entirely new level from players, coaches — and the school community as a whole. Alumni who played helped finance a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning center on campus for the team a year ago — and that helped Biondi tack on an extra 30 pounds of muscle. “We all trained so hard — and we held each other accountable for it, too,” added lineman Christian Jean-Francois, who will play with Biondi for the Pioneers next season. Team lifts boosted camaraderie and the culture of Firebirds football during the offseason — whether it was by pumping iron or watching Biondi slam down a few dozen wings at Croxley’s Ale House in Rockville Centre during March Madness games. “We were quiet last year,” Mullin said.“We weren’t as juiced up as we were this year.” “We all have the same goal in mind, and that’s winning a championship in November,” Jean-Francois added. Although 2025 was a rough time to be on varsity, Kellenberg’s JV squad took home a championship over Staten Island’s St.

Joseph by-the-Sea. Many of those juniors have moved up, already leaving their mark as they step into ...