Latest / NorthJerseySports.com / The Football Show! Season 13, Ep. 2
Transcript
- 0:08Back on the Football show, North Jersey, sports.com's original
- 0:13multimedia series talking all things football across North
- 0:17Jersey. This is Season 13 episode 2 and
- 0:22the gang is almost all back together.
- 0:26I am Corey Doviak being joined by my illustrious panel.
- 0:30Well, nearly joined in full, one from remote and one from in
- 0:35close, starting with the venerable 1 Jimmy Avatable,
- 0:39who's on Terra Firma in Bergen County.
- 0:42That's up their court. 2 down, 12 to go.
- 0:46Had some interesting games this weekend all the way around.
- 0:51Non public, small pub, public, big public.
- 0:55So pretty interesting weekend. No doubt about it.
- 0:58And Speaking of interesting, it's the world's most
- 1:01interesting man joining us from far away, the farthest reaches
- 1:06of the continental United States of America.
- 1:09He is the head Husky. He is the cardinal of the Pope
- 1:12of the Westwood. He is a bulldog.
- 1:14He is so many things. He is Brian Carr and he is in a
- 1:18good cell area. Brian, I mean, where are you?
- 1:21Yes, Corey, I'm back where we started.
- 1:24We had our first show. I'm back at my son's house in
- 1:26Auburn, WA and had a great week. Last week I traveled up to
- 1:32Alaska and hit three different cities there.
- 1:34Unbelievable. Corey, one day you want to go
- 1:36there, you just got to see it. The food on the ship is great,
- 1:39the scenery spectacular everywhere you go, mountains,
- 1:43snow, glaciers. But yeah, good trip.
- 1:46But I did follow some football, Corey, I did check out my
- 1:48Huskies on Thursday night. I saw the end of their game and
- 1:51I saw some highlights. So I've been watching what's
- 1:54going on back east as I am out here in the West Coast of the
- 1:58US. It's crazy.
- 1:59All right, so we didn't do a show last week because Brian
- 2:02obviously has been travelling. He just told you where he is and
- 2:06tough to do the North Jersey sports.com football show from a
- 2:10glacier in Ketchikan, Alaska. So we sat last week out and
- 2:15going forward after this week, we're going to start bringing in
- 2:17guests and getting back to the business of bringing in coaches
- 2:21and talking to players. And Bryant Carr will be back on
- 2:24the scene and on location and all those type of things are
- 2:27coming. But it's just the three of us
- 2:29this week to catch up because we took a week away.
- 2:32And it's amazing how fast it goes.
- 2:35Like we start, you know, episode 1 and it's we talk about, oh,
- 2:38this team might be good. This team shows some promise.
- 2:41Team might take a step back. And now it's like we're three
- 2:43weeks into the season and it's already coming into focus about
- 2:46what teams are contenders. And you know, a lot of usual
- 2:50suspects at the top of the list here.
- 2:53You know, when you start, when we're talking public schools,
- 2:55you talk about like Northern Highlands with a 2113 win over
- 2:58Wayne Valley in a competitive matchup, Old Japan beating
- 3:03Riverdale, Wayne Hills beating W Essex.
- 3:07You know, Jimmy, it's it's a lot of the same suspects of, you
- 3:11know, the top of the line of, you know, public school football
- 3:14in Burton County. But it's not necessarily the way
- 3:17we had envisioned this going. You know, we talked a little bit
- 3:19before in the preseason about some teams might be taking steps
- 3:22back, but winning tradition seems to be a big point of
- 3:28emphasis so far early in the season.
- 3:31Yeah. You know, we've mentioned for
- 3:32years, you know, Brian's mentioned the word not a team, a
- 3:35program. And that rings true with
- 3:38certain, certain schools. You know, one of the most
- 3:42interesting things to me has been look at Westwood.
- 3:45Yeah, they come out and and again, not, not a knock on
- 3:49Westwood, They've lost, they've lost some very, very talented
- 3:52football players the last two and years.
- 3:55And obviously you win the state championship 2 years, made a a
- 3:58deep run in the playoffs last year, lost a very tough game,
- 4:01the Shabazz. And you figure, all right, you
- 4:03know, this might be the year not, you know, not a very big
- 4:07senior class, not a lot of experienced players back except
- 4:11for Stevie Klein and and a couple other ones.
- 4:13And listen, they go out there and they, and they play toe to
- 4:18toe with Pascack Valley. It's A-77 game going into the
- 4:22fourth quarter and they, and they score 2 touchdowns and, and
- 4:25they come out with a, you know, 21 to seven win.
- 4:29And that, you know, that's just a, that's just a, an example of
- 4:33a really, really good coaching staff that's been there.
- 4:37And two, one O can you bet against Westwood?
- 4:42Not, not at all. I mean, really impressive to see
- 4:46the way they were, you know, Pascack Valley, some injuries,
- 4:49some, you know, let's start at the top of the change in the
- 4:52coaching staff too. I mean, got to give time to
- 4:54adjust, to recalibrate. And, you know, it's a whole new
- 4:56system. And the crazy thing about, you
- 4:59know, it's only it's so early in the season that there can't be
- 5:03any panic buttons pressed. But, you know, Pascack Valley,
- 5:06based on their success over the last couple years and their
- 5:08standing and stuff, they they get they're they're going to
- 5:11play a tough schedule, right. So, you know, one loss to a
- 5:15program of Westwood's caliber certainly does not eliminate
- 5:20them from anything, nor does it, you know, really put a dent in
- 5:25what they're trying to do. But, you know, you do have to
- 5:29rebound and win your next game because, you know, for Pascack
- 5:33Valley, I'm just pulling up their schedule here.
- 5:36You know, it's Teaneck and then it's Highlands and then, you
- 5:40know, at the end. And they still have all depend
- 5:42on the schedule, too. So you know, it, it's it's not
- 5:46too late, but it's not too early either.
- 5:50Yeah, Corey Westwood, you know, as Jimmy said, Jimmy mentioned
- 5:54that, you know, a lot of younger kids stepping in and, you know,
- 5:57they had to find a quarterback and I, I think they found their
- 6:00guy. He's very fast.
- 6:02He scored a big touchdown. He made a big play.
- 6:05They were down, I think 7 nothing.
- 6:07And they they needed to score and they had a penalty on one
- 6:10score gets called back, then they after the penalty, they
- 6:13still throw a touchdown and score.
- 6:15So, you know, Westwood is battle tested.
- 6:18Stevie Klein, a senior, he was there for the championship when
- 6:22they won the state championship. Stevie knows how to win.
- 6:25And I think the guys are rattling around at the upper
- 6:28class in a little bit. You know, you got Charles Sarlo
- 6:32in there playing some linebacker.
- 6:35You know, as Jimmy said, too, it's a program.
- 6:38The other one too, who stands out.
- 6:39A couple other games that stood out to me.
- 6:42Butler. Butler had their opening game of
- 6:44the season against Beckton, a good Beckton team, and I watched
- 6:48it on. It was, I think it was big
- 6:50state, big state sports. Oh no, I'm sorry, it was nj.com.
- 6:54It was Dan Long doing a great job up there doing the game on
- 6:57the blue turf. But early in the game, David
- 6:59Smith, their senior quarterback, they are the defending NJIC
- 7:03champs last year and did very well in the playoffs.
- 7:07But they started out kind of bad.
- 7:09You know, we had two interceptions early, but they
- 7:11didn't give up any points. And then they were able to rally
- 7:13in the second-half and David Smith comes in and throws a few
- 7:17passes and runs for a score. So you know, like Jimmy said
- 7:20before, these are teams that have been solved for the last
- 7:23few years and looks like these guys were off to a good start
- 7:26now. So that's a nice.
- 7:29The other one I noticed I'm watching one of my favorite
- 7:31teams, the Rutherford Bulldogs. We talked about them being the
- 7:35young puppies. Coach Dunn calls them the young
- 7:37puppies. They are, they have now we'll
- 7:40talk about 3 sophomores. The first game you had Quinn
- 7:43Weber throwing a touchdown, catching the touchdown, and you
- 7:48also had Johnny, Julia, Chris, Julia's younger brother,
- 7:51sophomore John's making tackles. John, he's running the ball,
- 7:54leading the team running. And the other guy that I saw
- 7:58when he was in 8th grade with those two was now Will Will
- 8:03Holman, Will the hill, Will the thrill Hill Holman.
- 8:07I saw him as a 8th grader. He was like a gazelle and they
- 8:11were waiting. The coaches.
- 8:12He was out last year as a freshman, got hurt and he came
- 8:15back. He was able, he got a touchdown,
- 8:17his first scorer as a varsity player and he, I think he had 4
- 8:20catches for about 80 yards. So young kids, program success,
- 8:26you know, Pascas, you name everybody knows the name Pascas
- 8:29from Rutherford. Well there's Dimitri Pascas.
- 8:31He also had a touchdown. So a lot of kids playing, just a
- 8:35few that caught my eye and Jimmy got a good one to Westwood.
- 8:38I think that was a good game for Westwood to win as well.
- 8:41Yeah. Well, let's talk about we were
- 8:43going to, you know, you brought us into the NJIC, so let's go
- 8:46there. I'm looking at, yeah, I mean,
- 8:48looking at the scores from across the NJI, I see last week,
- 8:52you know, you mentioned Butler as the defending champ.
- 8:55There were some, there's some competitive games this past
- 8:58weekend, but you also have some, you know, it's, it's not the
- 9:04same old NJIC where they were able to have 417 divisions
- 9:10playing each other, you know, playing off 4 four spots in the
- 9:13NJIC tournament. It's kind of changed a little
- 9:16bit because, you know, there are less teams there.
- 9:20Some combinations, you know, Cresskill and Emerson are now
- 9:22together and some other ones too.
- 9:25So Jimmy, it, it changed. Like I feel like in the NJIC
- 9:28there's a, an obvious top and an obvious bottom.
- 9:31I I don't know if there's a middle in the NJIC.
- 9:34Am I reading it wrong? No, I think you're right.
- 9:37Core another team that is is shown some really nice things
- 9:41the first two weeks is Woodridge.
- 9:43You know, they turn a bunch of skill kids.
- 9:46Coach Carbone takes over for the departed Joey Catrona and all
- 9:51they've done is, you know, manhandled Lodi in Elmwood Park.
- 9:56I mean, I know maybe that the competition the first two weeks
- 9:59were not real good, but they I mean, there's certainly looked
- 10:03as well as they can look. I think big important game
- 10:06coming up for both teams this Friday at Woodridge, they'll be
- 10:10hosting Saint Mary's. Saint Mary's are no one to start
- 10:14a tough loss to Verona. And then this past week, the
- 10:17game that I was at with Pat Rice on Saturday, Hasbro kites going
- 10:22into Saint Mary's and Saint Mary's held the seven nothing
- 10:26lead at half time and Saint Mary's wind up taking a a a lead
- 10:33A2 score lead. Hasbrokites comes back, scores,
- 10:37intercepts the the a pass and then completes a 60 yard hook
- 10:42and ladder to win the game. I mean that, you know, both
- 10:45teams were all in one in that game.
- 10:47And and it was certainly, you know, you it's early like you'd
- 10:50mentioned, but you know, it gets late early and and Hasbrokites
- 10:54pulling even in one and one that that was a big win for them.
- 10:58And you know, Saint Mary's we're going to see this week against
- 11:01Woodridge's Goodrich for real. Or are they just taking
- 11:06advantage of maybe an, an easier schedule to start If Saint
- 11:10Mary's loses this week, they'll be Owen 3.
- 11:13And you know, for Saint Mary's to get into that parochial B
- 11:17bracket, you know, you, you, you really don't want to be
- 11:20struggling. I mean, they've, they've had
- 11:22better teams the last two years and unfortunately they've been
- 11:26taking a part in that bracket. But you know, another team that
- 11:29I I I I is impressive to make or they have the new, new complex
- 11:34down in Pagoda is Pagoda. I mean, you know, they have, you
- 11:38know, they have 5 or 6 really talented skill kids led by their
- 11:43quarterback tough kids. You know, they're always going
- 11:46to be tough kids and they are that's a team to look at.
- 11:50But you are right Corey, they are some struggling programs
- 11:53unfortunately in the NJIC Lodi who for the better part of 25
- 11:59years under Patorico was a consistent winner has, you know,
- 12:04has had some trouble the last 8 to 10 years.
- 12:07Yeah, yeah. And off to a a really rough
- 12:10start this year. You know, Pagoda, interesting
- 12:12thing about Pagoda is I know there's some discussions about
- 12:16being a Co-op program with Richfield Park, you know, for
- 12:19this year, right. And because Pagoda put the money
- 12:24in as a town to redo Tamblyn Field and, you know, Pagoda
- 12:29wanted to be the hosting district because they would have
- 12:31had the better facility. And that kind of put a, you
- 12:35know, a stick in the spoke and it wound up not happening.
- 12:38And, you know, who knows how long they can hold off on the
- 12:43pressure to Co-op because, you know, I don't see, you know,
- 12:47numbers are what they are. And unless there's going to be a
- 12:50big influx of football players here in the next few years, and
- 12:53not just Pagoda, but if any towns across North Jersey, you
- 12:58know, they may have to eventually, but they can have
- 13:01some fun this year. And however, for however long as
- 13:04it lasts, you know, playing as as the Pagoda Bucks without a
- 13:10Co-op and off to A2 and O start. And I mean, I don't know
- 13:13anything about Morris Catholic. You know, that was their first
- 13:16game where they, you know, they won, but it was on the road at
- 13:21Morris Catholic. It was A146 game.
- 13:23So regardless of what the, you know, level of competition was,
- 13:26they were evenly matched teams and Pagoda finds a way to win
- 13:29and then they come back and you know, smoosh Saddlebrook.
- 13:32And one thing we know about Saddlebrook now is they will be
- 13:34prepared. I mean, Joey Katrona is and with
- 13:38with his long time consigliere, a also a long time North Jersey
- 13:44football insider on the North Jersey sports.com the football
- 13:48show. You know, they're going to be
- 13:50prepared and ready and have a game plan.
- 13:52So, you know, 34 nothing. It's very impressive for Pagoda,
- 13:56so I'm happy to see it, you know?
- 13:58Yeah. I mean, Pagoda is one of those.
- 14:00Pagoda is one of those programs that, yes, you know, obviously
- 14:04the new complex is beautiful, but you know, a lot of
- 14:07tradition. Yes, yeah.
- 14:10I mean, they wanted to say, you know, when Dan Sabella was the
- 14:13head coach, Pagoda won a state sectional championship in one of
- 14:16the greatest state finals that I think any of the three of us
- 14:19were at. Remember that one that.
- 14:22Was a crazy game. What year was that?
- 14:23Yeah, MetLife. Yes, it's mountain life, Yeah.
- 14:27No, yeah. And that was like.
- 14:29Was that nine what it 90? No, it's not 96.
- 14:32It was in the 2006, 2006, 2006, somewhere like that, six or
- 14:37seven, something like that. We can look it up, probably 2006
- 14:40or 7. But that gives.
- 14:42That that core the two things that the two things that really
- 14:47stand out when you look back and listen, there've been a lot of
- 14:49great non public games at at MetLife slash giant Stadium.
- 14:54But the two games I remember were the Group 1, the pagoda
- 14:58crowd that night and the Wallington crowd the night that
- 15:02they won their second. Those.
- 15:05You know, you look at that and, and, and you kind of smile when
- 15:08you think about it. Yes, I mean that those were the,
- 15:12we didn't know it at the time, but though that was the top, you
- 15:18know, that was the peak of high school's football interest and
- 15:22attendance and community atmosphere in North Jersey.
- 15:26I mean, it's not that anymore. And, you know, we didn't realize
- 15:30that how good we had it. And it was fun.
- 15:33Yeah, a couple years, Corey, a couple years ago, too.
- 15:36Rutherford, I think it was like 1718 or around that time when
- 15:40Rutherford with Andy Howlett, the head coach, Steve Dunn was
- 15:43on the staff. They had a good run.
- 15:45And I remember a big game and, you know, the fans I think
- 15:48showed up. I don't remember the number of
- 15:49people, but I remember, you know, obviously Rutherford's in
- 15:51the game and maybe I'm still focused in the game.
- 15:53I didn't notice how many people were there, but I think they had
- 15:55a big crowd there, you know, because they're right next door
- 15:58to the state. So that was another a good one.
- 16:01I thought. I thought I remember that one is
- 16:03Andy Howe was there, his, his daughter, I think his, his, his
- 16:07wife up in the stands. You know, those are the things
- 16:09you remember. Those are special times,
- 16:12especially when you're that close, like Wallington.
- 16:13And it seemed like everybody was there in town.
- 16:16The fire truck was probably outside in the parking lot.
- 16:19Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I remember, you know,
- 16:22Riverdale, Ramapo, just a few years ago after the snowstorm
- 16:25played on Ramapo's home field. I mean that was.
- 16:28Oh yeah. Over and over, we.
- 16:29Had to climb over the snow pile. We had to climb over the snow
- 16:32piles, probably. Yeah, on the Sunday.
- 16:34It was on a Sunday afternoon, wasn't it?
- 16:35A Sunday about 12:00 game. Yeah, Gay game Sunday.
- 16:41Listen, I don't. I'm not doing it.
- 16:43You're not going to suck me into.
- 16:44It again this week. I'm not going off on a tangent,
- 16:47but let's just say local midday football in North Jersey really
- 16:52holds a special place. And it's not just me because the
- 16:55numbers back it up. It's anecdotal evidence, but
- 16:59it's anecdotal evidence that appears before your eyes and you
- 17:02can see it. But anyway, all right, so let's
- 17:05let's talk about some of these other things here.
- 17:06And you know, here's one for you.
- 17:08You know, I say it all the time. If you're a long time listener
- 17:11of the football show here on North Jersey sports.com, you
- 17:13know, my wife is a long time teacher in the Englewood School
- 17:17District And talk about a team, you know, couple years ago in
- 17:20the Ivy, got out of the Ivy last year, had a respectable season,
- 17:24you know, and many people talking about how Ramsey is, you
- 17:28know, not that they went away, but you know, back on the
- 17:31upswing again this year. Real good team.
- 17:34And Dwight Morrow plays into 3330, right?
- 17:37And I know you're a big Ramsey fan.
- 17:39You got a lot of apparel. You have a lot of gear.
- 17:41You know, I should probably add that to your intro.
- 17:43You're, you know, you're a fan of the bear.
- 17:45You, you, you have the flag that flies from the, you know, your
- 17:49window with the suction cup on your car when you drive into
- 17:52town. And the old Dwight Morrow Maroon
- 17:55Raiders gave the Rams a run this week.
- 17:58Well, by the way, by the way, I did have to mention to Coach
- 18:01Mark, if those you don't know, Coach Mark is one of the
- 18:04defensive coach at Ramsey. I did have to remind him that I
- 18:07am a Ramsey supporter and I was at Bears first win as a head
- 18:10coach. I was COVID here.
- 18:12If you remember, we were down to Point Pleasant, so it wasn't
- 18:14next door. But yeah, that I always follow
- 18:18Ramsey pretty close. They have a great quarterback,
- 18:21Justin Fatata, Justin's doing very well for them and it's
- 18:26pretty much he, he can take them places, you know, and he's
- 18:29throwing the ball around. Had four touchdowns.
- 18:32But you know what let's, you know, we talked about Ramsey,
- 18:34they can score. They got to get their defense
- 18:37playing a little bit better because it's going to get
- 18:40tougher as they going to, they're going to go over to
- 18:43Ramsey and play Ramsey this week.
- 18:45But talking about Dwight Morrow Williams, there's it's Arian
- 18:49Williams, 2 touchdowns, 11 carries, 116 yards.
- 18:53Hey, wait, not just him, it's Sakai Maxwell, 2 touchdowns.
- 18:58He ran for 16 calories and 259 yards.
- 19:02So Dwight Morrow, it reminds me the game last year which was
- 19:05played I think either this week or next week.
- 19:08Last year, a year ago when Dwight Morrow played DuMont, it
- 19:11was a shootout tie at 46 all so. But that's what it kind of was
- 19:16here. Dwight Morrow was, you know,
- 19:18playing a good Ramsey team and had to hold off.
- 19:21You know, Ramsey had to hold them off.
- 19:22They were up 33. I think they were 3322 1/2 and
- 19:26had to hold off a good Dwight Morrow team.
- 19:28Very athletic and skilled. So wait moral just be careful
- 19:32and Ramsey it's it's alert. They come into a big week this
- 19:36week they're going to host. As I mentioned, Mawa, who right
- 19:39now is 2 and O beat Pasket Hills big 4121 played a team in
- 19:44Tennessee 148 three. Watch out for the T birds.
- 19:48Ramsey. You guys better be ready now.
- 19:50One thing I'll say Ramsey has beaten the T birds T birds the
- 19:54last five games the last time they've met.
- 19:56So there's advantage T birds are solid and I understand the two
- 20:01quarterbacks know each other from lacrosse.
- 20:03They're both lacrosse players. So it should be an interesting
- 20:06match up there. Their neighbors, Corey.
- 20:08So Ramsey, we're watching Ramsey.
- 20:11And I think that maybe where I'm going Friday night, just I
- 20:15looked at the rest of the schedule, that seemed to be a
- 20:17game that caught my eye. Core Jim.
- 20:19Yeah. You mean you're not going to
- 20:23Bryce? It's senior night in DuMont.
- 20:26You got Englewood, DuMont in the hometown.
- 20:28I mean, you've been out of the confines of your hometown for
- 20:33like the better part of a month now.
- 20:35The Huskies are too. Jimmy, are you hearing this?
- 20:39Gory. I've watched.
- 20:40I watched the Huskies two weeks in a row on TV.
- 20:44So I've. Seen a longer town, right,
- 20:46right. I don't want to hear.
- 20:47I don't want to hear super football Network commentary.
- 20:50I don't you're either Jimmy, right?
- 20:53You're either. Jimmy was at Phoenix DuMont.
- 20:56He was at the game. He watched the game.
- 20:59If you're watching surveillance camera video, you know from 1
- 21:03angle from the press box with some guy that you never met who
- 21:07never doesn't know any of the kids screaming, that doesn't
- 21:10mean you watch the game, am I right Jimmy?
- 21:11I mean, Can you believe that this guy's not going to DuMont
- 21:14Englewood this weekend? Well, Joe, Joe Sottera has taken
- 21:18his name off the stadium. He's taking the parking, he's
- 21:21taking the he's taking the parking spot away.
- 21:24Parking. Spot but you.
- 21:28Know you mentioned. You mentioned, you mentioned
- 21:30DuMont guys, they, you know, they, they pulled one out
- 21:33against Garfield opening day and then at Teaneck, you know, they,
- 21:39they found the way. They were down.
- 21:41They fought back. They scored on a on a beautiful
- 21:44catch with 30 seconds to go. You know, Coach Barrington's got
- 21:49him going here. 2 and O, they played Dwayne Morrow.
- 21:52That was the game a year ago, that scene that went on forever.
- 21:55What was like 3 or 4 over clock, you know, Yeah, yeah, I think, I
- 22:01think it's gonna, I think it's gonna be a great one.
- 22:04But you know, I know, I know Brian has a, a twinkle in his
- 22:10eye for Ramsey, for Coach Mark and Coach Bear.
- 22:14You know, I, I went over there the other day and I, and I said
- 22:18to him, I said Coach Bear at the Heights game.
- 22:21I said, Coach Bear, I need to know whether the Huskies going
- 22:24to step it up defensively. And he said, I, I, I to be
- 22:30honest with you, I don't know. So, you know, we, we've said it,
- 22:34it's never been about the offense with Ramsey.
- 22:36Ramsey can score with the best of them.
- 22:38They need to be able to, you know, get, you know, they don't
- 22:41have to be the 85 Chicago Bears, but if they can be a bee
- 22:46defense, you know, they they can make a run.
- 22:49Yeah, and Bryan Carr do my two. And.
- 22:52Oh, and he could care less. It's weird.
- 22:53Yeah. You know, it's almost like a
- 22:55you, you want to shed a tear? It's like, you know, remember
- 22:57the old. You know guys watch the Indian,
- 23:01the Indian on the on the road with the traffic.
- 23:05Yes, just the one tear dripping out of the right eye, as you
- 23:10know, a requiem for the Huskies, Bryan Carr.
- 23:13It's it's too bad. Anyway, you know, I did want to
- 23:15mention like you, you said Pascal kills lost Mahwa speaking
- 23:194121, you know, at Mahwa on the road.
- 23:24Quick thing about Pascal kills. Now, I spoken to Evan Lampert
- 23:27there head coach who I'm a big fan of and really, you know,
- 23:32like Pascal kills has been out of the Ivy for the last couple
- 23:34years. In fact, last year, one of the
- 23:36best games that I covered all season was Pascal kills at
- 23:40Dwight Morrow. And Dwight Morrow pulled that
- 23:42game out too at the end on a pick six.
- 23:44It was a, you know, really fun game too.
- 23:47And Pascal kills going for this year there was they have a big
- 23:49senior class. There was a lot of excitement
- 23:53around the program and then they're running back Gavin
- 23:55Ulandi broke his foot before the season started and they're the
- 23:59court returning quarterback too. And I don't want to say too much
- 24:02because you know, it's not my story to tell, but their
- 24:04quarterback got ill and is going to be out for the entire season.
- 24:08So you know, it takes you take the starting quarterback and the
- 24:11starting running back out and you look at a season opener on
- 24:14the road at Mahwah and you see 4121.
- 24:17So a pretty good effort by the well, the the Broncos now I
- 24:21almost said Cowboys, boy, that would be by the by the by the
- 24:27Broncos. Me Cowboys there on on opening
- 24:31day. And they're they out of the Ivy
- 24:34League and they talk about a tough schedule opening on the
- 24:37road. I mean, I mean at opening at
- 24:39home against Miwa, sorry. And then on the road in Game 2
- 24:43at Westwood. And then Teaneck Ramsey, Dwight
- 24:45Morrow, Dover can get here soon enough for the fighting Broncos.
- 24:49But, you know, just just one of those things you you want to
- 24:53mention as we go along here during the season, some other
- 24:56games that I have written down, I mean, Northern Highlands 21,
- 24:59Wayne Valley 13 and a very competitive match up in the
- 25:03Super Football Conference. And, you know, Northern
- 25:05Highlands came from nowhere a few years ago, got rebuilt.
- 25:09And now Jimmy, I don't want to say I'm surprised by it, but it
- 25:12is impressive that they've had the staying power.
- 25:14You know, they have avoided the tide of, you know, good class
- 25:19followed by bad class and sync. You know, Highlands is good.
- 25:23And now it's proving that they can be year in, year out.
- 25:26Well, the one, the one thing that jumps out on comparative
- 25:30now compared to five years ago was the number of kids on the
- 25:35varsity at Northern Highlands. They listen, We all know Corey,
- 25:39winning helps a lot. Yes, you know, when you win,
- 25:43everybody wants to be a part of it.
- 25:44When you lose, nobody, you know, nobody wants to know you.
- 25:48But they you know, the facilities are top notch.
- 25:51The video board that they have, the replay board is, is
- 25:55incredible. You know, Coach Cords doing a
- 25:58great job. Coach Russo kind of got it off
- 26:01the, the, the, the mat, so to speak.
- 26:03But they've continued it. You know, that they, they had
- 26:08some adversity the other night. They had some kids go down with
- 26:11cramps and that weren't able to go back into the game and they
- 26:15wound up holding on. Wayne Valley, always a solid
- 26:19program. I think the one thing that jumps
- 26:21out at me at Northern Highlands this year is their lines
- 26:25offensively and defensively are bigger than they've been in the
- 26:29past. They were big physical team on
- 26:33both lines. They have some really good skill
- 26:35kids. And, you know, I I saw them and
- 26:38I know, listen, I know scrimmages don't mean a thing,
- 26:41but you know, they went up again, Westwood, they were they
- 26:44were obviously the most physical team in the scrimmage.
- 26:49And I see a lot of good things. I think that Ramapho game is
- 26:52going to be your, you know, as it always is, is going to be
- 26:55really, really interesting. Yes, Yep, Yep.
- 27:00I was going to I was going to say Highlands.
- 27:04I was going to say Highlands. One of the things that I noticed
- 27:06is they seem to be playing ball control.
- 27:09They ran the ball well. I think he ran for 270 yards on
- 27:1240 carries. And their leading runner, Chase
- 27:16Calarco, I think he went out with cramps.
- 27:18He had some issues. So somebody else comes in.
- 27:20I think it was Tucker Canning had he ran for 140 yards.
- 27:24So they've gotten a lot of extra depth.
- 27:26Sometimes, you know, you know, in the past last couple years
- 27:29they've had some depth now quarterback, they had depth.
- 27:31So Jack, now the quarterback with the backup before Jack, I
- 27:35think it's Mcclanahan, and he's doing very well for them so they
- 27:39can throw the ball. Jack O'Callaghan, I'm sorry,
- 27:42he's throwing well. He was 10 for 15 and a
- 27:44touchdown, 120 yards. So they're well-rounded.
- 27:48You got to be able to run the ball.
- 27:49And I think that's the type of thing that you just need to see
- 27:52out of Ramsey, too. If you can run the ball, you
- 27:55control the ball, you control the clock.
- 27:57The thing is, if you just go down and score in 2 plays,
- 28:00you're not controlling the clock.
- 28:01The other thing is the ball binds you away and all they have
- 28:04to do is stop you once in a while.
- 28:05So I think a good offense, it really helps that defense play a
- 28:10lot better. And you saw here, you know,
- 28:12Northern Highlands only got up. They win by eight points.
- 28:15So the game was kind of close. I think they could have scored
- 28:17another touchdown late, but they didn't.
- 28:19But the way I understand it, Pat Rice was there.
- 28:21Read Pat's story in a way. I recall him saying it was
- 28:25pretty much, there's no question, no doubt who was going
- 28:27to win the game. Highlands was in control and you
- 28:30know, dominating the time of possession, just running the
- 28:33ball, throwing the ball. Granted Wayne Valley looks good.
- 28:36I think their quarterback, we saw him last year up at
- 28:38Highlands. I think it's Danny, Danny
- 28:41Perullo. I forgot how to say his last
- 28:42name, but he threw very well. Touchdown pass and about 200
- 28:46yards throwing. So don't count Wayne Valley out
- 28:49now, you know, but it's going to be a good one.
- 28:51I think when they when they play Hills, Hills right now is coming
- 28:54back. They've been down a little bit
- 28:55of Wayne Hills and Wayne Hills played a really tough game
- 28:58against a good W Essex team. It was just one score game back
- 29:02in 4th. So you know, you you talked
- 29:05about early Corey good schools, W Essex, Wade Hills, old Japan,
- 29:11Westwood, the the programs that have been strong for years seem
- 29:14to be the ones who's staying there during the Highlands.
- 29:17Cool. Yeah, and I was there on Friday
- 29:19night, at least for the first half of Old Japan against
- 29:22Riverdale, and JC wrote the story.
- 29:24JC Balmo wrote the story for North Jersey sports.com.
- 29:28And you know, old depend it it's just they they they have some
- 29:32kids out with injuries they don't have, you know, and people
- 29:36say old depend. Oh, you know, they're an
- 29:39outlier. They have like, put it this way,
- 29:42Ram PO has I, I've talked to somebody who is in the junior
- 29:46football in Wyckoff and he said that they have too many players
- 29:50playing football in Wyckoff. It's like they, they have three
- 29:52teams going, they hit, you know, they, they can't find enough
- 29:56fields and opponents and everything else.
- 29:58So, you know, and that has translated obviously onto the
- 30:03varsity level where, you know, the round Pope winning tradition
- 30:07is second to none going back years to, you know, Mike Miello
- 30:11when I started, probably even before that.
- 30:13And a side note, I saw Mike Miello, who is the interim
- 30:16principal at Northern Valley Old Japan Regional High School.
- 30:20So I walked into the game. He's the first guy I saw it.
- 30:22So the coast looks great for and he's, you know, involved in his
- 30:26high school football. So, you know, Rabpo's an outlier
- 30:30with all those kids. You know, most of the other
- 30:32public school programs, numbers are an issue.
- 30:37I should, yeah, I'll say most probably.
- 30:39And, you know, there are a few outliers now, you know, like
- 30:41Hyatt has it rolling. So they seem to have good
- 30:45numbers. But when you look at old Japan,
- 30:47it's not like they have 100 guys.
- 30:49You know, they have 50 guys in the program, Ryan said.
- 30:53You know when people always ask me how many guys you got, how
- 30:55many guys you got? Because I tell him the same
- 30:57thing. It's the same number every year
- 30:58between 43 and 50 guys. And it's amazing how they just
- 31:03cycle through players. And last year they won a Group 3
- 31:08state championship with their two best players.
- 31:10One went to Division Three, John Hopkins, Johns Hopkins and one
- 31:13went to I don't remember. Can somebody help me if if you
- 31:17guys remember? But they had two players to go
- 31:19on and play in college. Nobody going to the SEC, nobody
- 31:22going to the ACC. It just, you know, and and this
- 31:26week against Riverdale, you know, they were down a couple of
- 31:30players through injury and they just turned it on after
- 31:35halftime. I think it was it was a 14 seven
- 31:37or 21 seven at the half. And then they blanked them the
- 31:39rest of the way too. And Maselli, the quarterback,
- 31:43you know, you know, they made the tough decision to move the
- 31:49move him into the quarterback starting spot last year when
- 31:52they had a guy who could have done it.
- 31:54And now he's a junior and he's got a full year of experience.
- 31:57And I don't want to say it's plug and play because that's
- 32:00that would be taking away from what Ultapan does.
- 32:02Like it's not just like they got great player that goes in for
- 32:04great player that goes in for great player.
- 32:06But it is amazing how guys step in, pick up for everybody else
- 32:11and Ultapan all of a sudden right back at it and the threat
- 32:15in North One Group 3, right? Yeah, definitely.
- 32:19You're right, Corey. You know, I get, you know,
- 32:21having a good quarterback helps a lot and and it's a program,
- 32:24you know, just continue to build on your success.
- 32:27The one of the guys you didn't mention, I think he's on the
- 32:29first state championship 2-3 years ago was long.
- 32:34Oh no, small Jack. Small right now his brother is
- 32:36there. So his brother his.
- 32:38Brother was one of the guys who didn't play the other day.
- 32:40He was in, you know, he was in street clothes and he's a good
- 32:42player, yeah. So they, the program continues,
- 32:46you know, all you needed and, and that's what you see.
- 32:48Like if you look at Rutherford, if you look at Westwood, right
- 32:51Klein, there's older brother Joey Klein, you go to
- 32:55Rutherford, older brother Chris Joya, you know what I mean,
- 32:59older brother Van Weber. So the young guys have seen,
- 33:03they've seen the older brother succeed.
- 33:05They want to succeed. So it's success builds success.
- 33:08And you know, it's lucky for those kids that the the program
- 33:12is continues to succeed and they just have to keep it going.
- 33:15Don't screw up. Just keep working hard and we'll
- 33:18all play together. We'll pull together.
- 33:19And I think even Stevie Clon instead, check the stats for
- 33:22Westwood. But Steve didn't score all the
- 33:25touchdowns. He probably ran a lot.
- 33:27He scored the final touchdown. But the other kids are stepping
- 33:30up. And that's what you get when you
- 33:32have good players. Other kids want to play as good
- 33:35as the other kids. So you need those guys because
- 33:39like you said before, right, some kids get hurt.
- 33:42So you need the other players to step up when it's their turn and
- 33:46next guy up, you know, hey, even the Westwood, right, Charlie
- 33:49Sarlo was a sophomore started. Now he's stepping up.
- 33:52You're seeing him get more visible on defense.
- 33:54He didn't really play much defense in the past.
- 33:57Now he's playing defense. He's always on offense.
- 33:59And now he seems to be stepping up, playing a solid defense.
- 34:02So, you know, it's programs. We that's our the name of the
- 34:05show. We'll call it programs.
- 34:06You know, we have programs. Here teams, I think, I think the
- 34:11key to it is, I mean, you look at these successful programs of
- 34:15consistency, you've got to look at the coaching Staffs,
- 34:20Westwood, Rutherford, Northern Highlands, obviously Coach Dunn
- 34:24and his staff. You know, these, these coaching
- 34:28Staffs seem to have the secret formula of how to develop kids,
- 34:34how to bring kids along who, you know, maybe as a sophomore, you
- 34:38see the kid on the sideline the next year, you're like, wait,
- 34:41where'd this kid come from? That's great, That's great
- 34:45coaching. That's the ability to develop
- 34:48kids and you need to be able to do that when you don't have
- 34:52unbelievable numbers. And, and, and that's where I
- 34:55think it starts. I listen, obviously you have to
- 34:57have some talent, but if they do these pros, but you know, you
- 35:02ability to, to make kids better from one year to the next, from
- 35:06one week to the next. I mean, again, I not to
- 35:09disrespect what a Westwood's talent at all those kids.
- 35:13And I told Danny this after the Northern Highlands game.
- 35:16I told the vino, listen, your kids always play hard and you're
- 35:20coached well, but to be two and O right now and, and to see the
- 35:25improvement in two weeks. That doesn't happen by accident.
- 35:29Yeah, yeah, yes. And just I, you know, I like,
- 35:34like you were saying, Jim, Like, where'd this kid come from?
- 35:36Like old Japan on Friday night, Leo Etter, junior wide receiver,
- 35:41Riverdale couldn't cover him. He's like, you know, racing up
- 35:45the sideline, running hitch routes, hit, you know, Micelli,
- 35:48Zach Micelli's hit him in stride.
- 35:50And like, who's Leo enter, right?
- 35:52Where did Leo enter come from? And all right, all of a sudden
- 35:56he's a guy that know that which, you know, is well coached,
- 35:59which, you know, is well prepared, which, you know, has a
- 36:01defensive scheme which, you know, scouted hard was all over
- 36:05the tape. They can't cover Leo enter.
- 36:08I never heard of Leo enter before.
- 36:10So, yeah, it just goes to say and and Zach Micelli obviously
- 36:14making good decisions as a as a kid has now been in, you know,
- 36:18some big games in his life already as yeah, yeah, two games
- 36:22into his junior season. So that that's.
- 36:24The other thing with these kids too, the other thing, Cory, with
- 36:27these kids, most of them play multiple sports.
- 36:31So they're athletic, they're skilled kids.
- 36:33So, you know, old to pan, I always think old to pan.
- 36:36Probably half the team is on the track team in this, you know, in
- 36:39the spring, you know, and I know Westwood kids are playing
- 36:42baseball rather for kids baseball.
- 36:44Some of them play basketball. You know, Quinn Webber, he's a
- 36:48gigantic kids, 6 foot 5 sophomore.
- 36:50He plays basketball, you know, and he's a good football player,
- 36:53plays my receiver, quarterback. So you've got kids that are
- 36:57well-rounded, athletic, skilled, and it's not just one sport.
- 37:01They're playing multi sports and they're winning it.
- 37:04All of them, you know, I mean, they're successful.
- 37:06So that's what it is. If you have a good team and good
- 37:10success in your school, it just continues and everybody wants to
- 37:14follow and be successful too. So like, you know, schools that
- 37:17hey, we're getting more kids to come out to play because we're
- 37:19winning. If you don't win, who wants to
- 37:21come out? The schools decline in there.
- 37:24The amount of football, but especially football probably is
- 37:26the toughest sport because it's very physical and potential
- 37:28injuries. So it's hard to get the kids and
- 37:30parents are more less inclined to push them to play it because
- 37:33they may get. Hurt and the and the powers that
- 37:36be are making it harder. I want to go out and play
- 37:38football, but that's again, I'm not going to do it.
- 37:43But I will say I will say this just a couple of names like with
- 37:47old Japan too. We said Jack Smalls younger
- 37:50brother. That's not fair.
- 37:51It's Shane Small, right? He's he's the kid.
- 37:55And then the other thing I want to say, too, is I am like,
- 37:58right. You know, you're expounding on
- 38:00my points about old Japan. And I want to say I'm not a
- 38:02Homer. Yes, I live in the district.
- 38:03Yes, that's where my kids going to school.
- 38:05But the way I see it is that I'm lucky enough to have been here
- 38:07during this era of Old Japan football because, you know, they
- 38:11they have won two of the three Group 3 state championships that
- 38:14have ever been contested. So it's not like, you know, just
- 38:17honking the horn for the home team.
- 38:19They they've done what nobody else in the entire state has
- 38:22done. And like, you know, Jimmy, like,
- 38:24like you guys are saying with continuity in the coaching
- 38:26staff, you know, Ryan Steffner, Joe Klaus, Pete Dunn, like those
- 38:30guys have been there forever. Brandon Gregory, Matt Doherty,
- 38:32Matt Doherty, the freshman coach at Old Japan has over 100 wins
- 38:36as a freshman football coach. It's crazy.
- 38:38It's crazy. So that that's that.
- 38:41And, you know, I'm not a Homer because I will mention that my
- 38:44beloved Palisades Park Leonia Tiger Lions lost their season
- 38:49open against the Seacaucus team that I don't think is going to
- 38:52go on to win many games this year, but you know, did score a
- 38:55couple of touchdowns at least and gave up over 40 points.
- 38:58But still rooting for the Tiger Lions.
- 39:03All right, so let's talk about, well, anything else stick out
- 39:05from last week? And then we should touch on some
- 39:07of the, you know, some good matchups coming down the Pike
- 39:10this week as Brian has already chosen his and left.
- 39:13You know, Brian's not a Homer anymore.
- 39:15He used to be, but no longer. But Jimmy, anything else from
- 39:18this past week that we missed? Yeah, you know, just just the
- 39:22the non publics going out and and and playing their national
- 39:26schedules. Bergen finished theirs 2 and O
- 39:30Don Bosco 2 and O Saint Joe's want to know, you know, so it,
- 39:35it appears that the, those 3 will be the, I would say
- 39:41favorites to win a parochial, you know, a title, you know,
- 39:47Bergen Catholic just, you know, continues to find a way.
- 39:52They, you know, I think if someone asked me what, what did
- 39:55I think the secret sauce was it at the Berg.
- 39:59And I said, Hey, very good coaching, very good talent.
- 40:02But I think coach Vito and their staff has really got these kids
- 40:07believing that if you play for each other and you love each
- 40:10other and you know, we work harder than anybody else.
- 40:14And when things get tough, they you know, lately the the, the
- 40:18way it's been the last three or four years.
- 40:20And when, when they when they get in that game where it could
- 40:22go either way, they find a way to get it done.
- 40:25And that's that's not by accident either.
- 40:28Well just to show the depth and remarkable information that one
- 40:33can find on North Jersey sports.com is the football show.
- 40:36This just in Bergen Catholic. Don Bosco Prep and Saint Joseph
- 40:41Regional may have good football teams this year.
- 40:44Yeah, they might. Right, you were going to say
- 40:47something about last week. You want to.
- 40:50Oh, oh, you know what? We'll stick with the topic
- 40:53you're on there. That's a good one.
- 40:54I think Berg and I heard a very physical game.
- 40:57I heard defense was critical for them, Very, very physical in the
- 41:02trenches. I hear from some reliable
- 41:04sources, quarterback, junior quarterback had couple 3
- 41:08touchdowns. So you know, you're seeing these
- 41:11sophomore, sophomore coming in now and you know, you're seeing
- 41:15these skill kids. And then even up at Bosco, you
- 41:19have a that's a sophomore up there too.
- 41:21Carson shown his first start and Bosco dominated that game early.
- 41:27The game got close late. The final score was 3821.
- 41:31But they, you know, they're you see in the younger guys who are
- 41:35coming up who are still picking up the pieces, but they a lot of
- 41:39talent on Bosco. I I saw them, the team they were
- 41:42playing was very big Monarch and out of Florida very big.
- 41:46But looks like, you know, both teams, both Bergen Bosco have
- 41:51gotten it together in terms of their offense.
- 41:53You know, they're going to have good defense.
- 41:55Both teams have good running. Bosco's running Dante DeLuca, we
- 42:00saw him last year is pretty solid running back for them.
- 42:03So it's and even if it's Joe's, Joe's went down to and played a
- 42:07team in Washington, DC and came back with a big victory. 3419 we
- 42:12talked about their senior quarterback.
- 42:14He threw for a touchdown, ran for a score.
- 42:17That's Lamar best. So, you know, those 3, these
- 42:20guys look like, you know, the changes to they're going to
- 42:23contend, as Jimmy said. And this week we have the big
- 42:26battle, I guess New York, New Jersey, and these guys are going
- 42:29to start going to play over the weekend.
- 42:32You've got Bosco playing at Saint Anthony, but you know,
- 42:36Bergen, I mixed them in that they're not.
- 42:38They're going down to play Winslow.
- 42:40Winslow, the defending Group 5 state public state champ, and
- 42:45that'll be a challenge for them. Jimmy mentioned them last week
- 42:48that the depth will be the challenge for Winslow.
- 42:51But the other guys are playing mostly New York teams.
- 42:54Joe's will play Cardinal Hayes. Pope John plays a New York team,
- 43:00Paramus Catholic. We talked about Paramus Catholic
- 43:02had a nice win, their first win last week against Pope John.
- 43:05They're going to be playing at home against Iona Prep.
- 43:08So all the Catholic schools are playing.
- 43:11Most of them except Bergen are playing teams from New York.
- 43:14So you'll you'll get a feeling where they're at there.
- 43:18But I think it's all going to come.
- 43:20I think the big game I have circled, I think it's a Friday
- 43:23night late and here in September, Bergen goes up to
- 43:26Bosco. I think we'll know where
- 43:28everybody, where things are on that Friday night.
- 43:31The top two teams, Bosco and Bergen.
- 43:34I think I think that is I think if you look at pound for pound
- 43:39or player for player as far as talent, I think Saint Joe's
- 43:43roster might be the most impressive.
- 43:46You mentioned Lamar best the quarterback.
- 43:48I mean last year out with a a broken collarbone.
- 43:52He comes back for the state game and I heard something
- 43:55interesting, maybe actually rebroke it in that game against
- 44:01Bergen in the state semis continues to play.
- 44:04I don't think he realized, but yeah, I I know he's nursing a
- 44:09hamstring injury and and, you know, hamstrings can linger if,
- 44:13you know, don't give it a rest. It would be a shame if that
- 44:17affects his senior year because he, I mean, you talk about a
- 44:21dual threat quarterback, he he would certainly make a
- 44:23difference for for Saint Joe's. No doubt, yeah.
- 44:29And you know what game we didn't even haven't even mentioned
- 44:31coming up this week is Ramapo at Ridgewood.
- 44:35Ramapo coming off an early season bye week, Ramapo and on
- 44:40staff now at Ridgewood. I don't know if he's coaching
- 44:42the quarterbacks or the offense or what it is.
- 44:45Is Brian Gibbs up against his alma mater, you know, and his
- 44:51old coaching crew, Nikki Tuso staff over there at Ramapo.
- 44:56So that's a little subplot that should be interesting this year.
- 44:59And Ramapo won and O after shutting out Irvington to start
- 45:04the season and Ridgewood 2 and O after wins over Clifton and
- 45:08Montclair. So, you know, that game almost
- 45:11slipped through the cracks. And you know, Ridgewood Ramapo
- 45:13is a pretty good rivalry, Jimmy. Yeah, it's going to be
- 45:16interesting to see Ridgewood. I mean, they've been, they've
- 45:18been the benefactor of a pretty easy first two games.
- 45:23Clifton with Coach Sink sync you they're struggling and and and
- 45:27it's amazing what's happened down in Montclair core for 60 or
- 45:3170 years was the predominant public school is really really
- 45:38struggling our buddy culture hello.
- 45:42Coach Ronaldello, who who has been invited on the football
- 45:45show more than any other human being in the history of North
- 45:49Jersey sport.com and has yet to accept the invitation.
- 45:52Yeah, he's the smart 1. You know, we all we all respect
- 45:55Ronnie. He's a he's a Montclair
- 45:58gradually played at Montclair when they were, you know, when
- 46:01they were dominant program. You know, a good friend of mine
- 46:06is a is a long, long time Montclair fan.
- 46:09He, he told me 3 or four years ago, he said, Jimmy, you watch,
- 46:12in three or four years we're going to, we're going to be
- 46:15really struggling. And I said, hey, Burke, I said,
- 46:17come on, you're talking about Montclair.
- 46:19But you know, it's true. They do not have a freshman team
- 46:23this year at Montclair. It's.
- 46:24Amazing. You know, they're struggling.
- 46:27They only return 1 starter from last year.
- 46:31A couple of kids transferred out, you know, so Coach Anello
- 46:35there has a tremendous rebuilding job.
- 46:38He's trying to revamp the the grammar school program and start
- 46:43from the ground up. But it's it's kind of
- 46:45interesting to see where Montclair is right now.
- 46:49Yeah, Hey, what other school? One other one.
- 46:51I'm sorry, one other school down there we have to mention is they
- 46:55also won a state championship in 2021.
- 46:58E Orange Jaguars. They're off to a.
- 47:00One all start. Under Coach Jacobs Coach Jacobs,
- 47:04Todd Jacobs. Back on our radar.
- 47:07Yeah, 27 nothing over Livingston, a very good
- 47:10Livingston team and they will host West side on Saturday.
- 47:14I just Group 5, you know, is kind of quiet.
- 47:17The other one I kind of a surprise.
- 47:20TCTI State County Technical Institute lost to West Orange.
- 47:25That was an odd game because I think they they had to postpone
- 47:28it and then they went and finished the game on Sunday, but
- 47:32they lost to West Orange. PCTI lost to West Orange 3229
- 47:36and now they're and two they've been to power the last three or
- 47:40four years in Group 5. So they're down a little bit.
- 47:43So just to enter 01 other school.
- 47:46I noticed big game, another group five team, Phelpsburg, the
- 47:50Lioners. They were in the final last
- 47:52year. Group 5.
- 47:53I think they're the one that lost to Winslow, if I'm not
- 47:55mistaken. They just crushed Westfield.
- 47:58Very good Westfield program. They have a program.
- 48:01They've been for 400 yards. It was just I never it was like
- 48:05John Riggins running the game. I saw some of the highlights.
- 48:07T Berg is back. Watch out.
- 48:10Group 5 out there. So that's all I have right now
- 48:14on on the Group 5 at the moment. Now.
- 48:19I was just going to ask you like your thoughts on on, you know,
- 48:22group 5 in football, it's Group 4 is certainly tougher than
- 48:28group 5 and Group 3 might be tougher than group 5.
- 48:32Like where what happened to all these North Jersey, the
- 48:35traditional big, you know, the Bloomfields in the world, you
- 48:41know, where just out of sheer numbers there, we're going to be
- 48:43able to put a competitive side, you know?
- 48:47Yeah, it's it's Union City. Union City Union.
- 48:52City I went to this year, yeah, obviously.
- 48:56At home. Lost the Pascack Valley at home.
- 48:59Obviously no shame in losing the Saint Peters last week.
- 49:02But I think you're right. I mean, I think group 5
- 49:06football, I mean, listen, Corey, a lot of the inner city, you
- 49:10know, you, you had your east side, you had your Kennedys, you
- 49:13had your Hackensack. You know, they, they're, they,
- 49:17you know, not that Hackensack struggling to that degree, but
- 49:20when was the last real big time Hackensack team that we see?
- 49:25When was the last big time Hackensack team that we've seen?
- 49:28I don't know. I know, I know.
- 49:29Coach Miello was the coach there.
- 49:31They actually, I think they won a sectional or got to the final
- 49:35at the stadium. Yeah.
- 49:38Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then they had to, you know,
- 49:42forfeit some wins when an eligible player.
- 49:45But I think Hackensack's last, last state championship was
- 49:48might have been 2000 with Ralph Doss 2001.
- 49:52So you know, the yeah. So I mean the the inner cities
- 49:57have struggled, you know. Passaic, East side Kennedy and
- 50:02you know, we we've talked about how many like how how was
- 50:05Kennedy and East side keeping it together over the last 10 years?
- 50:09And you know, I I think it's finally it, it's maybe caught up
- 50:12to them. And it's a shame because, you
- 50:15know, proud programs. I remember when we had, you
- 50:17know, Nikki Campanella from DePaul and saying, you know
- 50:20what, How about playing at Hinchcliff Stadium?
- 50:23And he said it's going to be a homecoming.
- 50:24We got 19 kids from Patrick. You know, there's your answer
- 50:27right there. So.
- 50:30But the, the, you know, not not, I mean, public school Group 5
- 50:33football. I, you know, Barringer used to
- 50:37be in the NNJ. Yeah.
- 50:39Barringer. Belleville.
- 50:41What? Belleville.
- 50:42Yeah, sure. All those teams, it's really
- 50:46changing. Times are changing and you got
- 50:48to move with the times and, you know, people are playing other
- 50:51sports, people are playing no sports.
- 50:54That's why, you know, I'd like to see, see things tilt back in
- 50:57the direction of, you know, participation.
- 50:59But can't happen. We get the Super Football.
- 51:03We got to, we got to feed the beast that is the Super Football
- 51:05Conference network. So, yeah.
- 51:08So 45 people can watch the game and somebody's screaming into a
- 51:11microphone. Anyway.
- 51:12Not going to do it this. Week $8087.00 for the
- 51:16subscription. For the year and and they're
- 51:19paying, they're paying the non publics, the the publics are
- 51:23doing it for free. So your taxpayer dollars for
- 51:27this goes for any resident of Bergen County.
- 51:30And I include myself here in, you know, in, in Dunville, which
- 51:34used to be called Northvale. Now it's, you know, we, we had
- 51:37to rename the town after Brian Dunn.
- 51:39But you know, my tax dollars and everybody else in the five towns
- 51:44that send their kids to Northern Valley Regional, All Japan High
- 51:47School. We the athletic budget is paid
- 51:50for by taxpayer dollars so that the Super Football Conference
- 51:53can package it for free and sell subscriptions and not give
- 51:57anything back to the school. Plus, you know Tori, it's
- 52:01interest must be nice. To start a business with no
- 52:04startup costs but. Anyway, yeah, I mean, you know
- 52:07how close I am to the to the non public sector, but you know, the
- 52:12Super Football Conference network, I think 80% of the
- 52:16games are gonna be parochial games.
- 52:18And they're paying the parochial schools to put them on.
- 52:21Yeah, I mean big bucks, but you know, it's like, but the the
- 52:27reality is Corey does does anybody want to watch Clifton
- 52:31versus Bergen VI, you know? No, no, no.
- 52:35The answer's no. That's why.
- 52:38That's why the answer is no. Right.
- 52:41I mean, what? Listen, I, I don't, I don't mean
- 52:44to make a mockery of it or, you know, like I understand these,
- 52:48some of these guys, some people forget that maybe they're
- 52:51educators before conference commissioners, but that's OK.
- 52:54You get caught up in the, you know, this is what the SEC does.
- 52:57This is what we can do too. So it's a great idea and not
- 53:00every idea is a great idea, but go ahead, pursue it or whatever.
- 53:03But I want to see the numbers. How many, how many people are
- 53:08watching the game? You know what I'm saying?
- 53:12Like. More more more importantly, core
- 53:14if if you're playing four or five games a week that are being
- 53:18put on, it's not like the old MSC game of the week where Mike
- 53:23Quick and Jimmy Caballo, they did the best game.
- 53:26And in the tri-state area, I mean, there are four or five
- 53:29games on the Super Football Conference.
- 53:31I wonder how you know that. That cuts into the pie, you
- 53:36know? Yeah, but let me have you
- 53:39watched any of it? I mean, I I refuse.
- 53:40There's no way. I have, I have not watched it
- 53:46make a highlight here or a highlight there.
- 53:48I, I know going into this that, you know, Mike Quick, who we all
- 53:53know is the, the GOAT of all time.
- 53:55You know, I know he's involved as far as doing some games.
- 54:00And I know his biggest concern was, you know, the the ability
- 54:04to do four or five games a week and, and do it right way and not
- 54:09just throwing on like you always said, you know, you got the one
- 54:13camera, you got this, you know. Well, that's my question.
- 54:16Is that what you're doing? Yeah, you know, I, I think there
- 54:19are a couple of cameras as far as I know, but you know, they're
- 54:22all. Stationary cameras, you got the
- 54:24one standard ambience, the one on the side, so it's not like
- 54:27anybody's following the ball. No.
- 54:30And, and, you know, and the ability to get the the right
- 54:33cameramen for five games, the right.
- 54:36Because you know why, Jimmy? You know why?
- 54:38Because if you wanted to do it right, you'd have to pay
- 54:40somebody to do it right. So it's just take the free feed
- 54:45from old to Pan and then sell it to Alta Pan?
- 54:48Why can't Alta Pan just turn on the huddle?
- 54:51They can. I guess you can.
- 54:55And I'll be honest with you. Our our, our, our huddle was on
- 54:58the other day at Paramus Catholic.
- 55:02And I'll be honest with you. I thought the camera work if
- 55:06with our huddle camera was that no, was better than, you know, I
- 55:10I might get in trouble for saying this, but I thought it
- 55:13would. I thought I said it.
- 55:15Yeah, I said it to Jimmy Caballo.
- 55:16I said I thought the camera work was better in our huddle than it
- 55:20was in the game. But you know, hey.
- 55:23So. Be.
- 55:26It Oh my God, there's so it opens up so many things.
- 55:30I just like just we're going to talk about it as the season goes
- 55:34on on the football show. But just like, let's be
- 55:36educators, you know, people are, are being paid, you know, at
- 55:41these public schools a, a good wage to run athletic departments
- 55:45as educators. And most of of them, I, I don't
- 55:51want to say too much, but a lot of my, a lot of people that I
- 55:54know do a great job putting the kids first and, and trying to
- 55:58make sure that there is an educational component to high
- 56:00school sports. And I as a taxpayer, I'm not
- 56:03even talking about it as a journalist or as anybody other
- 56:06than a guy who lives in a town with a good high school sports
- 56:10program. I, I would like to see that be
- 56:12the focus of pub. You know, I think high school
- 56:15football, public school, high school football should be a part
- 56:18of public school education, not pulled out as a standalone
- 56:23commodity to be packaged and sold to Alliance Orthopedics.
- 56:26But anyway, all that being said, we will talk about that and
- 56:30more, you know, we'll talk about that and more next week on The
- 56:34Football Show. Follow the leader.