Gang Green keeps finding new ways to let their fans down.
The New York Jets canceled a Long Island super fan’s dream chance to kick a field goal at halftime of this Sunday’s game and win $100,000 — all over a technicality deep in their rule book.
Heartbroken season ticketholder Ashley Castanio-Gervasi — who attends games in honor of her late, Jets fan dad — was told Monday by the 3-12 NFL organization that she couldn’t participate in the final round of the “Kick for Cash” competition because she is a high school soccer coach.
Castanio-Gervasi said the decision came as a shock, since the team had reached out to her asking that she join the contest after seeing her kick during a tailgate event in September — and they never mentioned any rules banning coaches, even though she had told them she had been a Division I college soccer player.
“This is life-changing money for me,” Castanio-Gervasi fumed to The Post. “I was confident I could have made it.
“This was the first time I was hearing of any of these [coaching] questions.”
The 33-year-old former Stony Brook University goalkeeper — who played from 2010 to 2014 — said she was spotted by the team kicking in the fan zone outside MetLife Stadium before a September game, and asked by Jets reps to try to qualify for the contest in October. They never asked her if she was a coach, she said.
She later qualified to kick for the big bucks during this week’s Jets vs. Patriots game at MetLife Stadium by nailing a 20-yard field goal in the fan zone outside the October contest.
Since then, she has been easily drilling from 25 yards during warmups in front of the Long Beach High School’s girls soccer team, which she coaches.
She felt ready to kick. But then the Jets pulled the ball away from her like Charlie Brown in a “Peanuts” cartoon, when they suddenly said that she was actually not eligible to kick in the final contest for the six-figure prize.
Castanio-Gervasi, who is a math teacher, said that she received a call last week from Jets staff to review rules and go over details for the game. The coach was supposed to sign an affidavit like the three other finalists, she said.
That’s when they told her that the rules prohibited recent players and coaches from Olympic, college, and high school soccer, rugby, and football teams.
When contacted by The Post the team stood by the decision.
“In accordance with competition rules and regulations, one individual who successfully made the qualifying kick will not be able to advance to the final stage of the challenge,” the team said in a statement to The Post.
“We understand the disappointment associated with this and have made an effort to provide an alternative benefit to show our appreciation,” the Jets statement added.
But to the would-be participant and long-suffering Jets fan, this could be the worst botched field goal from the organization in years.
The Jets had recruited Castanio-Gervasi after seeing her land a just-for-fun kick at a September Jets vs. Bills tailgate outside the stadium.
“These two workers for the New York Jets kind of chased me down and invited me back to get into this competition,” she recalled. “The one question I was asked was if I played college soccer, and how long ago.”
They had her return for the qualifying kick a month later, outside the stadium again, during the Jets vs. Panthers game. The former Division 1 athlete impressively reached the finals after nailing a field goal in front of a camera crew, becoming the only woman to reach the final round.
The Jets had even promoted Castanio-Gervasi’s participation and asked permission to reach out to local media, with her local paper, the Long Island Herald, picking up the story earlier this month.
The Dec.12 article identified her as the Long Beach Mariners varsity coach in its second paragraph.
Kicked while she’s down
It’s the latest Jets disappointment for Castanio-Gervasi, who has been fiercely loyal since childhood.
As a child, she said she even got to catch passes from former quarterbacks Vinny Testaverde and Chad Pennington at Jets training camp at Hofstra University.
Her dad, Frank, raised Castanio-Gervasi to succeed him as a new family football fanatic until he passed from esophageal cancer in 2011.
“My dad and my grandpa had season tickets since Shea Stadium,” she said, adding that her family has spent a conservative lifetime estimate of $1 million on the Jets.
“So growing up, obviously, in our household, our family, it was what we did on Sundays…He bleeds green, and that’s why we do.”
When she made the October kick, Castanio-Gervasi was surrounded by around 75 loved ones.
They came as part of an annual group game for the Esophageal Cancer Education Foundation and have raised a lifetime $50,000 in Frank’s loving memory, she said.
Frank would have been “freaking out” to hear his daughter had the chance to go on the field, she said prior to getting the awful news.
“He was always so proud of us in all areas of our lives, but especially sports,” she said. “He was super proud of me playing soccer…unfortunately, he didn’t get to see a lot of my success.”
Since losing her devout Jets fan father, Castanio-Gervasi and her three sisters, Lauren, Courtney, and Jaclyn, had taken turns bringing their mom, Lorraine, to games in Frank’s place.
This season, Castanio-Gervasi and her husband, Matthew, furthered the legacy and secured season tickets two rows behind her family’s other seats in the 200 level for nearly $3,000.
“Win or lose with the Jets, it’s a really big thing,” said Castanio-Gervasi, who travels to away games as well. “It brings my family together.”
At least 15 family and friends bought tickets to see Castanio-Gervasi kick this Sunday, she said. The Jets have offered to cover the costs to make amends.
But Castanio-Gervasi, who renewed her season tickets a few weeks prior, said her kin sold the tickets as a sign of solidarity — including her mom, who seldom misses a game.
Castanio-Gervasi was initially offered a consolation custom jersey and a $100 Visa gift card, but she will also be absent in protest — the first home game in a decade she’s skipped.
If Frank were still alive, he would “absolutely” ditch his season tickets over the incident, she said.
Had Castanio-Gervasi successfully made the kick, she said — before getting cut — that the money would have gone toward buying her first house and the Esophageal Cancer Education Foundation.
The Jets said the franchise would donate to the medical cause.
“The whole thing is extremely upsetting,” said Castanio-Gervasi. “Me and my whole family are let down.”
