Middle School Student Plays Big Role on Bridgemen Football Team

When the Fort Lee Bridgemen Football team was in dire need of someone to take control of their audio visual department and get highlights together, their saving grace came in the form of 13-year-old Fort Lee Middle School student Anthony Medaglia.

Medaglia, nephew of Fort Lee head coach Bill Straub, is in eighth grade and already knows what he wants to do with his life, and he has certainly gotten off to a great start.

After games, Medaglia puts together highlights for the Bridgemen coaching staff on a computer. The job is not an easy one and can be quite time consuming.

“If each team holds a long possession than it goes pretty quickly, but if it's interception after fumble, it can go pretty long,” said Medaglia.

What's perhaps most remarkable is that Medaglia learned how to edit and put together game footage all by himself, which may explain how he already knows that he wants to go to college for audio and visual work.

On top of spending hours putting the footage together, Medaglia is at every practice and every game, serving as a water boy and a ball boy, all while maintaining an A or B average in school. All of his hard work has made him a part of the team to the extent that he walked out with a cheerleader at this year’s pep rally.

"It made me feel like I meant something to the team," Medaglia said. "It made me feel good."

Medaglia's hard work and dedication hasn't gone unnoticed by players on the football team or the team's coaching staff.

“I can speak for everybody on the team easily when I say we love Anthony," said senior running back Frankie Goris. "He helps us out more than anybody on the team can imagine. Every game, every practice, whenever we need Anthony, he is always there. He doesn’t make any mistakes, he does his job perfectly.”

Assistant coach Dan Cirone, who knew that the team really needed somebody to step in and get all of the footage together, said he wouldn't want it to be anyone other than Anthony Medaglia.

“Anthony stepped into that role bigger than anyone has thought because he does things so easily with the computer, and we have our footage the second we need it," Cirone said. "He’s on the coaching staff; he’s part of the team 100 percent.”

Anthony Medaglia’s work is invaluable to the Bridgemen, and at such a young age, the possibilities are endless.