WEST ORANGE- Whenever quarterback Jack Gilmore has attended football camps or showcases in recent years he’s never been bashful about saying just how great it is that his Seton Hall Prep Pirates are facing the best of the best on annual basis.
“I can always say that we play the best competition out there,” said SHP’s senior signal caller who is competing with sophomore Kahden Davis for the starting job this fall. “I love the fact we go up against the best teams in the state, and we always look forward to preparing for that next great challenge in front of us.”
SHP is coming off a 5-7 season in which it overcame an 0-3 start with a solid 3-1 finish, including earning an appearance in the Non-Public A semifinals.
The Pirates, as per usual, will once again be facing a very formidable slate of foes in 2024, and will be doing it with a predominantly inexperienced group – at least on offense where just one starter returns.
Still, with a wealth of talent on the roster, including a precocious crop of young players, there is definitely excitement in the air at the Kelly Athletic Complex where the unknown quotient of where the team might wind up in November is faced by an enthusiastic group ready to prove the worth of its collective selves.
SHP opens up the new campaign hosting Union, 1 p.m., Friday, Aug. 30, at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in a first-ever meeting between the two storied programs.
Years ago, it could have been the Pirates’ beloved Tony Verducci matching wits with the legendary Farmers head man Lou Rettino; and although that matchup never happened, the much-anticipated initial gridiron meeting between the two promises to hold intrigue as seventh-year head man Bill Fitzgerald sends his young Pirates up against first-year Farmers head coach Luke Scott’s highly-regarded public-school team out of the Big Central Conference.
“We are all focused on Union,” said Fitzgerald. “They have a tremendous program with great tradition, and they’ve done a terrific job recently while putting players in college.
“They are big, physical, fast; everything you want in a football team, so we better be ready to go at the end of August.
“Tony Verducci and Lou Rettino are legends, and those two men certainly made a lasting mark at their schools; and I know that I’ll be thinking about them and their families when we play each other.”
The crux of the schedule will be comprised of non-public powerhouses facing the Pirates, beginning with St. Joseph of Montvale, also at home, on Saturday, Sept. 7, and continuing with others such as DePaul (Sept. 20 away), longtime rival Delbarton (Sept. 28 at home) and concluding the regular season slate with road contests at traditional juggernauts Don Bosco Prep (Oct. 18) and last fall’s No. 1 team Bergen Catholic (Nov. 2).
SHP is situated this season in the Super Football Conference’s United White Division along with DePaul, Delbarton, St. Peter’s Prep and Pope John.
It's a Pirates team that graduated 29 seniors last June, including 10 on offense led by QB Liam Londergan (University of New Haven), running back Michael Dunmore along with talented wide receiver Julius Vicari (Slippery Rock).
Still, talent is ever-present, at QB with Gilmore and Davis, who both saw varsity reps last fall during a 3-game stretch when Londergan was sidelined with an injury. |
