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Darren Estrada earned a full scholarship to the Pomfret School in Connecticut, through his accomplishments on the field for the Queens Falcons football team, and in the classroom.Private boarding?schools are snatching budding football talent off Queens' gridirons, handing out $50,000-a-year educations to hard-luck kids eager for a chance.
Darren Estrada, a lightning-quick running back for the Queens Falcons youth football team, found out last week that he has been accepted to the Pomfret School, a Connecticut boarding school attended by the children of Greenwich money mavens.
For six months last year, as his mother struggled to pay the bills, Darren bounced between cousins' homes while his mom spent nights in her 2006 Nissan Altima.
Come August, Darren, 15, will have a new roommate and a new address.
"It's like Beverly Hills in the spring," Darren said, smiling at the thought of the leafy campus near Hartford where he'll spend the next four years.
The Queens teen's path from homelessness to Connecticut boarding school was paved by the Falcons, who saw an opportunity for their players in affluent, mostly white private schools looking to diversify their student bodies.
"[Private school coaches] all want to win," said Tim Cavanaugh, a former college football player who runs the Maspeth-based Falcons. "They're not going to tell you that. We've got kids who can help them win. Football is just a vehicle that we use to get these kids an education."
Over the past five years alone, 25 Falcons players have headed off to elite private schools like Choate, Taft, Milton Academy, Hyde School and Portsmouth Abbey.
Eight Falcons players were accepted in just the last few weeks.
Their tuition will be picked up by the schools - a tab approaching $5 million in scholarship money for former Falcons in the last five years.
Character & determination earn spot
Cavanaugh said some 100 Falcons have been placed in private schools since 1996.
"We want kids from all backgrounds," said Rebecca Brooks, the associate director of admissions at Pomfret. "We want kids from affluent backgrounds getting to know kids who've come from very little."
Former Falcons have excelled at Pomfret, holding leadership positions on the school's disciplinary committee, Brooks said. "They've been some of our top leaders," Brooks said.
Pomfret grads who came through the Falcons have gone to top colleges like Bates and Middlebury, Brooks said.
Nohora Estrada and her son are back in a Queens apartment now while she works as a home-improvement contractor.
She broke down and cried when she got the call from Brooks last week, telling her Darren had been accepted with his full tuition - $48,750 a year - paid.
She decided to tell him when she picked him up from school in the same car where she slept some nights.
"Are you telling me the truth?" he asked. "Are you sure?"
And then he ran out onto Atlantic Ave. and started jumping for joy as a steady rain fell. "Yes, yes, yes!" he screamed.
"I've known since Darren was little that he had something special," said Estrada, 33, who emigrated from Colombia in 1992.
Last year, playing for the Falcons' 14-year-old squad, Darren rushed for 2,000 yards in 10 games, earning league MVP honors.
Brooks is well aware of Darren's football talent but says his character and perseverance are what opened Pomfret's doors to him.
After being waitlisted last year, he raised his average from a C-minus to a B-plus.
"We know his mom is thrilled, and we're excited to have him," Brooks said. "But he's earned it. This is not a favor."
tzambito@nydailynews.com
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