Football: Fox Lane Grad Looks Ahead to Pace U

"Pace University is getting a player who will work hard and produce."

That's what Steve Quinn, Fox Lane's football coach said about Frank Lattanzi's ascendance from his high school team to the Pace University football team. 

He should know—he was Lattanzi's guidance counselor throughout middle school and assistant football coach for the last three years.

For his part, Lattanzi said a big reason why he chose to attend Pace was its business school.

The 6-foot, 215-pound Lattanzi, from Bedford Hills, played center and defensive end his senior year for the Foxes but will focus on playing linebacker for the Setters.

“I just like the atmosphere of the school and the attitude the coaches had,” Lattanzi said. “They are trying to rebuild the football program. They just recruited 52 new athletes with me being one of them. It’s looking pretty good for that.”

Lattanzi said the position switch works for him.

“I’m sure I wasn’t really big enough for the line at the college level,” Lattanzi said. “I was really physical in high school so I played line but I was probably meant to be a linebacker.”

Besides switching positions on the defensive side of the ball, another adjustment Lattanzi will have to make is getting used to not playing offense anymore. 

“I have always been more suited towards defense, I have always preferred it,” Lattanzi said. “I am going to miss not playing offense but I am definitely looking forward to playing linebacker.”

While Lattanzi is looking forward to becoming a Setter this fall, he admits he will miss playing at Fox Lane. He played two years on the varsity for the Foxes and enjoyed his time playing football for his alma mater.

“I loved the people at Fox Lane and the team we had there,” Lattanzi said. “We had a good bunch of kids.”

Lattanzi also played for a good head coach in Bill Broggy, who from the position to devote more time to his family and teaching position at Fox Lane. Lattanzi got to know Broggy really well over the last two seasons.

“He’s a good guy,” Lattanzi said. “He’s one of the smartest coaches I ever could’ve played for, really. He was a lineman coach so we were really close the last two years. It was just a privilege to play for him.”

Lattanzi said Broggy helped him a lot with making him the player that he is.

“Every step I take, every snap of the ball, I was always striving to get better, always trying my hardest.”

For Lattanzi, his best memories came during his junior year when he played left guard, defensive tackle and special teams. That season the Foxes won at Poughkeepsie 34-28 and against visiting Nyack 34-33 in consecutive weeks.

“Those were just two of the best games we really ever played,” Lattanzi said. “Nyack, when they were coming of their state final four run and Poughkeepsie, who was supposedly supposed to play in the states that year. It felt pretty good.”

What also feels good for Lattanzi is having the opportunity to play at Pace.

“I want to get a great education at Pace obviously but I am looking forward to try and start, and just getting better,” Lattanzi said. “Just like high school, try to get better each and every play.”