When a Group 1 school such as Cedar Grove bids adieu to its record setting pair of top-flight skill position players in quarterback Stephen Paradiso and wide receiver Jackson Morrice from a memorable 13-1 sectional playoff championship squad there simply has to be a reboot of sorts, even with such a strong football program firmly in place under veteran coach Rob Gogerty.
RB-LBs Jerry Targia, Michael Cantarelli and Thomas Cannataro along with WR-DB Xavier Andujar and one of the state’s elite placekickers in Sebastian Kovacs will bolster the hopes for another strong Cedar Grove gridiron eleven.
And, the Panthers are by no means the only Essex County team dealing with significant graduation losses or other major changes either in terms of personnel or those leading the troops as teams are now fully underway with summer workouts, including 7-on-7’s and all else that is undertaken in preparation for full-scale pre-season workouts in mid-August leading up to 2025 season openers.
Essex’s two other defending sectional champions, Shabazz (10-4) in North 2, Group 2, and East Orange Campus (10-3) in North 1, Group 4, each have their share of new showcase performers to turn to in addition to a key returning RB-LB in Zaden McDonald, plus the Bulldogs bid adieu to coach Naz Oliver who is now at Penn State as former, longtime Newark Pop Warner coach Nasir Gaines is now directing the Brick City program.
When seen at the recent Phil Simms N.J. North-South All-Star Classic and asked about the prospects of his latest group of EOC Jaguars coach John Jacob indicated that ‘We should be pretty good!’
The Jags will return productive RB Tyshaun Sewell, a top WR in Alex Hanks and a sturdy LB in Abdoul Kakando.
EOC edged rival West Orange (9-3) in last fall’s N1G4 final and the Mountaineers were hit hard by graduation as QB Charlie LaMorte (Bucknell) LB Eayjay McAdams (Marshall) and WR Terrell Wilfong (Syracuse) are now in the college ranks.
However, being a Group 5 school like EOC, West Orange has more fresh faces to turn to in addition to returning key skill kids such as running back Farad Green (West Point commit) and WR-DB David Moore (UMass).
Neighboring rivals West Essex (8-3) and Caldwell (4-5) each return their veteran QBs in the Knights’ senior Jake Long and the Chiefs precocious sophomore Adam Sepe, but each will face different challenges in looking to reload.
West Essex lost most of its starter from last fall, highlighted by the departure of all-state safety and standout wide receiver Anthony Drago (Duke for lacrosse) along with its longtime coach Chris Benacquista who is now at Wayne Valley.
Dan Fulton, most recently of Knights’ Cardone Cup rival Hanover Park, has entered the picture as the new guiding force at the North Caldwell-based regional high school, and will face added challenges with several new faces having to step up in key roles for the Knights this fall.
Caldwell has to replace most of its starting linemen and if coach Todd Romano and his staff do a good job in that area, then the skill kids led by QB Sepe, returning leading rusher Nick Mignone and versatile WR Nick Moyano, should be quite effective once again along with the return of a talented kicker in junior Matt Murtagh.
One of Caldwell’s neighbors, Verona (7-4) has second-year coach expressing a lot of optimism about his 2025 Hillbillies when also approached on the subject at the Simms Classic. The promising squad returns the outstanding RB-LB Bodie Maisano along with multi-talented RB-WR-DB Jayden Nigro and Singh is very high on his junior QB John McInerney who looks to move into the role handled the previous three seasons by the now-graduated Connor DeMasi.
Back in the Brick City set to compete for bragging rights along with Shabazz could be Central (6-3), which has been on the way up under coach Mark Ingram and returns superb talents such as junior WR-DB Dishon Jerman and DL standout Mamoudou Kamara, while Weequahic (4-6) which looks to rebound behind 4-year starting QB Paul Jones III and heavily-recruited athletes such as TE-DE Tyshaun Boyd.
Essex County’s lone parochial school squad is Seton Hall Prep (2-8) which will have back its entire O-Line to build around with RB Bryce Robbins and a bevy of WRs including Joseph Prosica and Cadel Bariford-Stockling along with another of the state’s top kickers in Declan Farrell and a promising D-lineman in Cameron McClain, who is the younger brother of former SHP all-state safety and current Ohio State DB Jaylen McClain. Plus, the Pirates will welcome a new QB candidate in Montclair transfer Jaylin Bullock who must sit out first month of new season in accordance with NJSIAA regulations for repeat transfers since Bullock is now at his third school in three years.
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