Football: Senior lineman Joe Curinga made the most of his second chance at Holy Spirit

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher High school seniors who play football aren’t supposed to cry. But when Holy Spirit nose guard Joe Curinga took off his helmet and shoulder pads on Thanksgiving, he couldn’t help shedding some tears. And it wasn’t because the Spartans had lost 32-10 to Atlantic City to finish up a 4-6 season. Sure, a couple of those tears were dedicated to the pain of losing to a rival school in front of the biggest crowd all season. But most of them rolled off his cheek because he was sitting there with shoulder pads on, and not wearing a sweatshirt sitting in the stands. Curinga, who had a lot of success with the Brigantine Rams youth football program, played as a freshman at Holy Spirit, but then gave the sport up for the next two years. He thought he was too small to make any kind of impact with one of the most storied football programs in South Jersey. He had lost confidence in himself. He didn’t think he could compete at the varsity level as a defensive lineman, standing about 5-foot-6 and weighing less than 180 pounds. A quiet kid by nature, Curinga retreated to the weight room, and running the shoreline in Brigantine. He never lost his love for the game, and when winter workouts began last year he decided to give it one more shot. So he went up to new head coach A.J. Russo and introduced himself and said he wanted the opportunity to rejoin the team. “For two years he kind of just worked out on his own, running on the beach at night in Brigantine, just trying to get bigger, stronger and faster. When we took over as a coaching staff, he came up to us when we started offseason workouts and introduced himself. He said he had played freshman football, loved the game and wanted to give it another shot. I had no idea who he was. He said he played some fullback in youth football for the Brigantine Rams and had played some defensive line,” Russo said. “Back in the offseason we weren’t really looking at positions, we were just trying to get our kids in the weight room and get them stronger. Joe turned out to be a gym rat. He was a workaholic in the weight room. He’s strong as an ox and he was throwing up weight comparable to some of our biggest kids. We kind of took a liking to him. He’s a hard-nosed kid and we decided once we got on the field we were going to find a spot for him. Joe Curinga was an undersized defensive lineman at Holy Spirit, but his intensity and work ethic were an inspiration for a tenacious unit. (Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan) “When you look at him, he doesn’t pass the eye test as a defensive lineman, especially as a nose guard. But when we got on the field, he was just as strong as a lot of the centers in the league, but he was a lot faster. He was getting off the ball quick and was very hard to block. He disrupted a lot of teams’ offenses this year.” “Holy Spirit football is something I was brought up with. I was so excited in eighth grade to play. I tried to lose a little weight my freshman year to be one of the skill kids, but that didn’t really work out. But after freshman year, I decided to stop playing football. I had lost confidence in myself. Sophomore and junior years I was just lifting, but then when senior weightlifting came along last winter, I thought I would give it one more shot,” Curinga said. “My attitude this year was just to leave it all on the field. I committed to this team as a freshman, and I wanted to get back to giving my all to this team. I wanted to finish some unfinished business.” Curinga wasn’t a Cape-Atlantic League all-star this year. He didn’t make first team, second team or honorable mention in the Press of Atlantic City postseason honors. And he will leave Holy Spirit with just one varsity letter in football. But to say he didn’t have an impact for the Spartans couldn’t be further from the truth. Russo says he wants tough, hard-nosed players who are willing to put the success of the program above individual accolades, and all he has to do is point to Curinga as an example of what the coaching staff is looking for. A kid who doesn’t care about stats; a kid who carries a high grade-point average; and a kid who wants to make a difference after he graduates from high school. Curinga said a goal of his is to make it into the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. “The best part about it was as the season went on we got to know more about him. He has a 3.7 GPA, so he’s a kid who works hard in the classroom. His goal is to be in the United States Coast Guard. When you have a kid like that who wants to help people and has military aspirations, to see him have success has been very rewarding for Joe and our entire coaching staff,” Russo said. “He would run through a wall for you, and do it twice.” “I just love competing with the guys and making each other better. That was the most rewarding thing. It wasn’t if I got a sack or a big tackle. Those things don’t count. What counts is winning and just being with my brothers,” Curinga said. “Even though I quit and wasn’t there for those two years, they accepted me back. I was relieved. People make mistakes all the time, and I’m just glad this team decided to let me back and not criticize me, and just let me work hard with them. That was a big weight off my shoulders.” Russo said what Curinga did show was a ton of leadership. It’s not easy for a high school junior to come up to the head football coach and say, “yes, I made a mistake by quitting this football program. I want the opportunity to prove I can be a valuable member of this team.” As a high school athlete, you don’t know how a coach is going to react. He may say that by not participating for the last two seasons you don’t deserve a chance to wear the navy and gold. But Russo said he took a chance that Curinga’s heart was in the right place and that he could count on his commitment. “To have leaders like that means a lot. The younger kids would look up to Joe in the weight room. They would be like, ‘who is this little guy throwing up all this weight?’ It gave them some incentive to work hard and do the same thing. That’s very important. You always have to have leaders, whether they are vocal or not. Joe’s not a vocal guy, but he let his actions speak for themselves. Other players saw what he was doing, and it became a positive reaction on the team,” Russo said. “It’s an honor to coach kids like Joe. He’s a humble kid. He put his nose to the grindstone and kept working hard. As a coaching staff, we always want our kids to be good kids off the field, in school, and play hard on the field. It’s rewarding to see a kid like Joe be successful and be part of starting a new culture at Holy Spirit.” And Russo said that Curinga had the right attitude all year long. He was always willing to help out younger teammates, and would even take the time to work with a player who was gunning for his starting spot on the defensive line. “In practices, all of our kids are working hard and fighting for spots. Regardless of what it was, Joe was unselfish. He always helped the younger kids get better, and even some of the kids he was competing against for a starting position,” Russo said. “That’s one of the things I will remember about him. He had to struggle to get to where he was, but he always had the time and energy to help other kids who were competing for the same position. He tried to make everyone around him better. I’d love to have 11 Joe Curingas.” By overcoming his lack of confidence and taking advantage of his second chance at a high school football career, Curinga said he learned a lot about himself. “When the odds are against you, you just have to work harder. I’m just glad I got to come back this year,” Curinga said. “I learned that small people can do big things. If you gain confidence, the sky is the limit. As long as you put in the wor
k and have that work ethic to get up and do it every morning, you can run with the big dogs.” It’s been a long and difficult road for Curinga to become the person he is today. He had to face his fears, atone for his mistakes. He had to prove he was worthy of being granted a second chance. And maybe that’s why he became so emotional after his final high school game. He knew what it took to get to that point, and he knew he had to have the right people take a chance on him. “He was emotional,” Russo said. “He had worked really hard to be able to play his senior year, and that last game against Atlantic City, he gave it all he had and it was very emotional for him and all the other seniors. Football is an emotional sport and kids handle it in different ways. I’m sure Joe had some trepidation about taking off the shoulder pads for the last time, but I know he has a bright future ahead of him and I know he’s looking forward to that.” “I cried like a baby, and I don’t cry very often, but that was one of those moments. Those guys were like my brothers and it’s upsetting knowing that your time is over. But I know the younger guys are going to get back to work and restore Holy Spirit back to a winning team,” Curinga said. “We didn’t get to the championship or win the Thanksgiving game, but I think we set the bar. This team has a very competitive attitude. Some kids on the team who are a little bit undersized, if they take a look at what I did, maybe that will drive them to get a starting spot. “I would give anything to go back out there and be with the guys. I thought it wasn’t important, but you realize these are the best years of your life and you have to appreciate them.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan:  sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]