Here is a quick summary of the first 10 years of Miller Place Football and how it came into existence.

1970/1971 - Miller Place breaks from the Port Jefferson School System due to political oppression and demographic change.  The school district does not open the high school until the 1972-1973 school year.  Before then the Roadrunners (the school's original nickname before patent infractions were threatened) were housed and practiced as a junior high school program down at the old North Country Road School. Social Studies Teacher Roy Reese brought the program through its difficult growing pains from the onset.  Reese was charged with the nearly impossible task of teaching organized football to a group of eager young men who had never been exposed to any level of organized football.

1972 - Miller Place now has students through the 10th grade.  The high school is now opened on the south side of 25A housing grades 7-10. The move to JV football was logical but not easy.  Led by James Clancy, Frank Faivre, Jamie Ryan, Andrew Malecki, and some very hard nosed  blue collar players, the program was operated in a first class manner from the get-go.  Clancy, it should be noted, is THE ONLY player in Miller Place history to have been involved in the program from day 1 until the present (now as a coach).  Clancy not only has been involved as a player, but as a coach and as a teacher.  Jim Clancy was also the first player in Miller Place history to play college football (which he did at now defunct Tarkio College in Missouri).

1973 - By now the school is playing 2 levels of football (Junior High School and JV).  Mr. Reese makes the decision to continue to play JV football with Juniors on the team preparing the team for the big move to Varsity football in 1974. It is certainly the correct move.  The new high school is really a Jr.-Sr. high school filled with kids from the end of the Baby Boom era. Believe it or not, the baseball, basketball and track programs are in their second seasons of competing on the varsity level in sports where safety is certainly not the concern it is in football. 

1974 - Miller Place opens its Varsity Football History with a Saturday night game at Mercy High School. The team loses to Mercy that night but the program is now in full swing with 3 levels of football now being played in the community.  Just as importantly, there is a full youth program in swing both on the Pop Warner level and in the newly formed Jim Thorpe League (founded by Native American Raymond Early) feeding the now known Panthers with more football educated competitors. The Varsity Team finishes the season 2-7. The hard work and the hard questions of whether a new program could be established in a first class manner have been answered with a resounding yes by Coach Reese, the players, and the community.

1975 - The team again goes 2-7 led by linebacker Jamie Ryan who many would argue is still as good a player as any that the school has had. At 6-2/210 pounds Ryan is an athletic ILB who moves onto Washington and Lee University where he starts as a freshman before transferring to Texas Tech.

1976 - Another 2-7 season is highlighted by a very competitive team led by Mike Fortunous (again spelling), John Hellberg, Bill Beagen, Kevin Conveny, Mike Maricante, and of course, Jim Margraff.  The team is competitive on a weekly basis like it has never been before but simply struggles to get over the hump.  Margraff, only a junior, will go onto to become the QB at Johns Hopkins University where he still holds virtually every passing record.  Margraff is now the head coach at JHU where he has become the coach with the most wins in that university's history.

1977 - A 2-7 season is highlighted with another very competitive Varsity season. Chuck Petty (now a CPA in Syracuse) and Margraff captain the team.  Petty leads the team to a come from behind victory over Hampton Bays on Homecoming in a game that was played in a hurricane.  Petty intercepts a triple option pitch from his defensive end position and sprints for a touchdown down at the south end of the field.  Bob Rapp leads a solid offensive line.  Jim Desmond has an outstanding season as a defensive back. Junior Craig Stanton (now a teacher in the Northport school system) establishes himself as the best player in the program.

1978 - The team only plays 8 games this year as the opener vs. Wyandanch is canceled due to budget problems in Wyandanch.  In its 2-6 season, the Panthers drop games by scores of 6-3, 14-12, 19-14, and 12-6.  The other 2 defeats are to teams whose lose total that year is 1.  Stanton is the dominating player on this team and arguably the best player in the league. Tom Hohf leads an outstanding secondary that gives up only 1 TD pass all year on a defense that yields only 10 points per game. Mike Desmond QB's the team along with Rick Donnelly (only a junior on this team). The team is junior dominated and will go on to be outstanding in 1979,  This marks Roy Reese's last year as the head coach of the program.  Very capable former assistant Sal Passamano takes the reins of the program.

1979 - Science Teacher Sal Passamano, an assistant on the staff of Roy Reese takes over for the now administration bound first head coach and immediately experiences success with an outstanding group of seniors.  This team would finish 6-2 including a 37-14 thumping of Port Jefferson, the first such win over the Royals in the school's brief football history. This team would include Rick Donnelly who goes on to All-America status as a punter at the University of Wyoming before a 10 year career in the NFL highlighted by one season as the All-Pro punter in the league where they get paid to play.  In addition to Donnelly, Ed Kranz was a dominating defensive end. I may be wrong but Ed would move onto Harvard University. Kevin McKeweon (excuse the spelling) would become an outstanding linebacker at Johns Hopkins University. Tom Meola would excel as a defensive back. Mitch Wolman, now the President of the Mt. Sinai Teachers Union, would conclude a stellar 3 year career at center.  Roy Scott is an outstanding running back who will go on to the US Merchant Marine Academy. It would be very interesting to see how Mr. Passamano rates this team in Miller Place history.