Superintendent’s Spotlight: William “Joey” Krasniewicz
Warwick Valley senior William “Joey” Krasniewicz has been playing football and baseball since he was five years old, and athletics runs in the Krasniewicz family. For the New York State recognized Scholar-Athlete, it is not all about sports; his academic achievements shine as brightly as his athletic achievements.
“Dad got us into sports,” said Joey. “He played for Warwick years ago, and it’s just kind of what we’ve done since we were young.”
Besides his father, Joseph, Joey said both of his sisters, Maggie (2017) and Georgia (2019), were Wildcats. In middle school, Joey played both modified football and baseball, moving on to junior varsity and, eventually, varsity. He has led both the varsity Wildcats football and baseball teams as captain.
“They pulled me up to varsity [football] in my sophomore year and baseball in my junior year,” he said.
His 2022 football season was one for the record books. As Wildcats quarterback, he completed 117 of 233 passes for 2,099 yards and 21 touchdowns, making him the Section IX single-season record holder for passing yards and single-game passing yards. He was also named a Section IX All-Section quarterback.
He accomplished all of that while maintaining a remarkable 103.5 grade point average, earning him both NYSPHSAA Scholar-Athlete status (in football and baseball), and being named Class A State Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the NYSHSFCA. Joey is currently on an unbroken streak of 10-plus marking periods of Summa Cum Laude honor roll status, and is a member of the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta, a nationwide mathematics honor society.
In March, Joey signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Buffalo and play football for the Division I Buffalo Bulls. He is received the Pride of NY Scholarship, and was accepted into Buffalo’s Honors College for the fall, where he will double major in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.
“He was pursued by every high academic, small school with a football program across the northeast,” said a proud Gregory Sirico, Warwick’s Director of Athletics. “Joey possesses all the qualities of a young man on track to accomplish great things. He continues to work at improving himself in the weight room, is a top-rated student academically, a tremendous leader and, most importantly, a great teammate. “
That is a sentiment echoed by varsity coach Eric Rosa, who said, “Joey is the ultimate team player and competitor. He will do whatever the team needs him to do, and do it at a high level. He is a great teammate, competitor, athlete, and person.”
As team captain, Joey has enjoyed his leadership role, especially helping shape younger players. He enjoys seeing them make new friendships and come together throughout the season.
“You’d rather have a team that likes each other than one that doesn’t,” he said with a smile. “That makes it onto the field and [into] how everyone plays together. It’s best to encourage the freshmen and sophomores; good to build them up, help them learn from mistakes rather than feeling like they’ve done something wrong.”
He carries that supportive philosophy over into the peer tutoring he does as part of Mu Theta Alpha. There is no offseason for a hard worker like Joey, who spends afternoons during the winter – his “offseason” – tutoring students in math, and imparting the secrets of his own successes.
“You’ve got to use your time well,” he said. “You’re practicing until five or six every night, and then you’ve got to go home, manage your time and get your school stuff done, while still living a life at the same time.”
Joey likes to pass along the lessons he has learned from his coaches and teachers, particularly about three key things: confidence, patience and problem solving.
“Believe in yourself, because whether you think ‘you can’ or you think ‘you can’t’ do something, both can be true,” he said. “And have patience with people, with everything. It’s so important. “Give it time. Let things come together. If you just keep persevering, things will eventually work.”
Regarding problem solving, Joey added, “You’re going to be thrown a lot of stuff that you didn’t study or prepare for in life. Sports are all about problem solving. You come in with the bases loaded, or it’s third and ten and you need that first down. If you have the ability to problem solve, you can get out of it. And that transitions into the classroom. If you’re doing an assignment and can’t figure it out, you look at it from different angles and find another way.”
This spring, Joey has kept up his go for it approach and the results have been the same. He is excelling in his schedule of AP and honors courses, and most recently pitched a perfect game against Port Jervis, including seven strikeouts.
“Joey’s athletic and academic successes are a result of his hard work he does when no one is watching,” said Coach Sirico.
As for the rest of his senior year, Joey said he is looking forward to seeing how the baseball season shapes up, and after that, heading off to college.
“I’m hopeful we could win a section title this year and maybe make a state playoff run,” he said. “And I’m pretty excited for a new team next year, too; meeting new people in a new environment.”
Does he have any words of advice for those teammates and tutoring students coming up behind him? Be mindful that a lot of the joy is in the work.
“Even if you’re hating practice, or class, in the moment, just take a step back and think, ‘there’s going to be a time when I’m missing this,’” he said. “There will be times when you think back and wish you were just practicing right now.”
