BROOKLYN, N.Y, — Even when it was over; after his Curtis Warriors had seen their reign as PSAL 4A city champions come to an end Sunday at Sid Luckman Field in Brooklyn as Erasmus Hall beat the Warriors, 44-27, to avenge an overtime loss in last year’s title game, it was hard for Curtis head coach Pete Gambardella not to smile through the disappointment.

“I asked the kids to play 48 minutes and we’d see where we’re at,” he said. “They did exactly what I asked. I couldn’t ask for anything more from them. I’m not upset. I’m ecstatic that they played as hard as they did. Everybody stepped up today.”

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PSAL 4A Semi-Final Game; Erasmus vs Curtis, at Sid Luckman Field, on Sun. Nov. 23, 2025. EHall advances

While the Warriors closed the books on a 7-3 PSAL season (9-3 overall), Erasmus advanced to next ’s Sunday’s championship game to face Tottenville at Eagle Academy II in Brooklyn.

From the outset, Curtis was in catch-up mode. Amier Morrow (two TD) took the opening kickoff and returned it 80 yards to the Curtis 1-yard line before Jaire Lewis scored to give the Dutchmen a 7-0 lead.

Enter Vincent Canzoneri, who would give Erasmus fits all day. The senior signal-caller turned in a performance for the ages, completing 26 of 38 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns; rallying the Warriors each time the Dutchmen took a lead in the first half.

Canzoneri completed his first six passes, leading Curtis to the Erasmus 1-yard-line before a penalty turned the Warriors away. However, he would not be denied a second time. After Chuckie Simmons recovered an Erasmus fumble, Canzoneri began to, once again, slice and dice the Dutchmen defenders, taking just six plays to put the Warriors on the board with a perfectly-thrown pass to Jayden Melendez (6 catches, 79 yards) to tie the score at 7.

On the strength of Canzoneri’s accurate arm, the Warriors would rally twice more after Erasmus scores in the first half on TD throws to Toriano Lewis (nine catches, 95 yards) and Akai Lewis (seven catches, 123 yards), the latter on the last play of the half.

“He’s dynamic,” said Gambardella of his quarterback. “He’s just a football player. Things happen and he’s going to make mistakes but I’ll go to battle with him any time.”

Despite the fact that a number of questionable calls on scoring plays went the way of the home team, the resilient Warriors went punch for punch with Erasmus throughout the first half.

“We tell the kids all the time that they can only control what they can control,” said Gambardella with regard to the officiating. “The refs may make judgment calls that go against us but we have to move on because they’re not going to change. We have to focus on the next play.”

A tough bounce on the second-half kickoff pinned Curtis on its own 9, where things started to unravel for the Warriors. Canzoneri was called for intentional grounding in the end zone; resulting in a safety that stretched the Dutchmen lead to 23-20. Then, after the ensuing free kick, Erasmus scored on two plays for a 30-20 advantage. On the next possession, Canzoneri led Curtis to the Erasmus 10 before the Dutchmen’s Ahkiem Brown stepped in front of a pass to Michael Vanmanen and raced 95 yards to paydirt for a 37-20 lead that, essentially, put the game away. Quadare Gomez would post the Warriors’ final score on a 3-yard-plunge in the fourth quarter.

After the game, Gambardella took a minute to reflect on the contributions to the program made by his senior class.

“This is a great group of seniors,” he said. “Some have been with us for four years, some just came on this year but they’re a great group. Anything I asked them to do, they did. That’s all a coach can hope for.”

One of those seniors is the coach’s son, A.J. Gambardella choked up when asked what it was like to coach his son before saying, simply, “It was priceless.”

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