In retirement, Eagles great Fletcher Cox tackles an Italian hoagie contest, crowning Lorenzo’s Philly’s best

Vincent Caramanna hoisted the trophy above his head like Rocky Balboa raising the championship belt in Rocky II.

“Let’s go,” he shouted to the crowd. “I told you all we were doing it again.”

Caramanna, manager at Lorenzo’s Pizza, had just won a fight of a different kind, though one that was also uniquely and undeniably Philly.

Atop the trophy was a gold likeness of an Italian hoagie.

Lorenzo’s had just been crowned the best hoagie in the city, a year after the South Philly shop took home the prize for top cheesesteak in the South 9th Street Italian Market Festival’s inaugural taste-test contest.

The judges: recently retired Eagles legend Fletcher Cox and three local media personalities.

On a Washington Avenue stage, amid the hubbub of the annual festival, the panel convened Sunday morning to conduct a blind taste test of hoagies from seven local spots that had been nominated online.

What does a four-time All-Pro defensive tackle and Super Bowl champion look for in a hoagie?

“I can’t give my strategy away in how I’m judging these hoagies today,” Cox said. But “what I’m looking forward to is taste, [and] how it’s presented.”

Between bites, Cox conferred with his fellow panelists — 96.5′s Michael Bennett, Sports Illustrated’s Ed Kracz, and Visit Philadelphia’s Binh Nguyen — and the event’s host, Fox 29 meteorologist Drew Anderson. The crew opined on everything from roll quality to sandwich texture to spiciness.

Lorenzo’s beat out Campo’s, Carmen’s, Cosmi’s, Martha, Paesano’s, and Woodrow’s for the top spot. Campo’s, second place, and Cosmi’s, third place, took home silver and bronze hoagies, respectively.

The key for Lorenzo’s, according to Caramanna: keeping it simple.

While the Ninth and Christian Streets spot added sesame seeds to their rolls about a month ago, he said they otherwise don’t “do anything crazy.”

“Just a classic Italian hoagie,” he said, with capicola, ham, salami, provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, oregano, salt and pepper.

The team didn’t deviate from their standard recipe on Sunday.

“I knew what the judges wanted,” Caramanna said with a laugh. “I knew what Fletcher wanted. I saw him when he bit into mine.”

Along with bragging rights, Lorenzo’s also gets a $5,000 donation made in its name to a charity of its choosing, paid for by the contest’s sponsor, Deer Park. Lorenzo’s selected the Eagles Autism Foundation.

The few dozen festivalgoers who gathered for the competition also got a chance to ask Cox questions, among them “Who’s your favorite quarterback to tackle?” (a tough call between Tony Romo, Eli Manning, and Dak Prescott) and “Do you know Taylor Swift?” (He does not).

And Cox said he’ll be “trying not to think about” how the Eagles this week are starting organized team activities, commonly known as OTAs, something that has been a part of his routine for the past 12 seasons.

For fans of hoagies and Philly sports, the contest was especially cool.

Liam Kirk, 9, of South Philadelphia, wore a green DeSean Jackson jersey and held a handwritten sign that read “Cosmi’s,” in support of his favorite place to get a turkey hoagie with his mom, Natasha Barnett.

Kirk described the confluence of two of his favorite things with one word: “Amazing.”