MILLBURN-In no way is Millburn football alone in the sense that it is a program that is striving to reestablish some sort of consistency in terms of increased numbers and a coinciding factor of having more experienced varsity players on hand.
One of the best moves by the Super Football Conference was establishing Ivy divisions back in 2020 in order to give struggling programs that are in the process of rebuilding or simply reloading can be part of a schedule involving at least somewhat comparable programs going through the same situation.
The Ivy divisions have been such a success that the SFC expanded from two to three divisions and from 12 to 18 teams this fall.
Millburn is a member of the Ivy Gold Division which this season has a mixture of six teams from four different counties, while the Ivy Red and Ivy White are comprised of mainly schools from Bergen and Hudson counties.
The move an Ivy division has benefitted the Millers who have enjoyed a positive experience during a solid 6-3 season (4-1 in the Ivy Gold) which included five straight victories after a 1-2 start before a tough season-ending 21-14 loss to Pascack Hills (7-1) in a game that took two overtimes to decide in the Thursday night (Oct. 22) Ivy Division playoff semifinals.
Six teams qualify for the Ivy playoffs which are a productive alternative for the teams involved with the one stipulations that they forgo consideration for the NJSIAA state playoffs.
For Millburn, which returned just one offensive starter this season in senior running back- D-lineman Adib Curi, the decision to request inclusion in an Ivy division for 2026 has been a big plus overall for one of six Essex County football schools which have never won a playoff game since the NJSIAA tournament for the sport began back in 1974.
Columbia, Newark Academy, Newark Central, Newark East Side and Newark Collegiate are the other five schools with no football playoff victories and three of those schools – Newark Academy, East Side and Newark Collegiate – no longer have varsity football, although Newark Academy is still attempting to stay alive as a football program with a limited JV schedule the past two seasons.
Millburn’s three playoff appearances came with first-round exits in 2006 (41-14 at Irvington in North 2, Group 3), 2012 (42-12 at West Morris in N2G4) and 2017 (48-14 at Phillipsburg in N2G4).
This fall saw a nice in-season turnaround by the Millers who had absorbed their share of injuries to try and deal with early on and dressed only 28 healthy bodies - other than freshmen – for their first Ivy Division playoff game on Oct. 16 which was a solid 27-7 victory over North Bergen.
“Being in an Ivy division has been fantastic for us,” said third-year head coach Dan Guyton, who was a former head coach at Governor Livingston of Berkeley Heights. “With just one offensive starter back it was a perfect spot for us this season and I believe will also be good for us next year as well.
“Early on we had a rough game with Pingry (31-0 loss) and struggled vs Dover (14-12 defeat), but our kids have continued to work extremely hard and the younger guys with little experience coming in have also kept getting better.
“We have a big senior class this year, just not one with a tremendous amount of experience, but they’ve been great all season long in leading a group of players who have really bought into what we’re trying to teach.”
Having this fall capped off by the Ivy division playoffs, including a semifinal home game, has been a nice cap to what has been an overall positive experience this season.
“To have a home playoff game and that atmosphere for our kids, the school and the entire community is tremendous and I’m so proud of what our players have accomplished this season.”
Stepping in three years ago to take over the reins when Chris Drechsel (now an assistant principal in the high school) had stepped up to become the athletic director, was a welcome next step for Guyton in his lengthy coaching career that included nine seasons heading the gridiron program at his high school alma mater GL where he is a 1998 graduated after having been a standout quarterback and safety under longtime Highlanders coach Joe Hubert.
Guyton’s Millers went 3-7 in his first season in 2024 and then 4-6 last fall.
Drechsel, whose final team finished a respectable 4-5 in 2023, guided the Millers for eight seasons (2016-2023) including guiding the team that achieved the program’s last winning season in 2019 with a 7-3 mark.
“Chris Drechsel did an amazing job with the program and I was fortunate to step into a great situation and look to try and carry on his legacy which is made that much easier because we have a great bunch of kids to work with here at Milburn.
“I’m also fortunate to have a great coaching staff, including David Stevens, a former standout player at both Millburn and Syracuse University, who had been on Coach Drechsel’s staff, and when I became head coach I made sure to make him my ‘DC’ (defensive coordinator).
“He has done a tremendous job with our defense while helping that unit develop more consistency over the course of the season.
Helping to lead the defense are standouts including senior linebackers Troy Chastain and Mack Rodriguez, who help solidify the 3-3 stack,
“Troy is a lights-out defender and is as good as any ‘Mike’ linebacker I’ve coached,” said Guyton. Rodriguez has been fantastic as an outside backer.”
Senior safety Brandon Rey helps lead the secondary while the veteran senior Adib Curi helps to bolster the efforts up front.
Offensively, the Millers go with two quarterbacks in Rey and fellow senior Owen Skinner, who help provide varying looks for the opposing defenses to deal with.
“Those two guys have split time at QB since their freshman year with the JV and I have always been a believer that if you have two guys who are able to perform that the competition is good for both of them,” continued Guyton. “They have been splitting series and I am confident with either one of them running our offense.”
Senior Niko Hilas has emerged as the team’s primary ball carrier and has had a strong season.
“Niko had been all over the field on special teams for us, including on kickoffs, and I’m so proud of what he has accomplished as a running back this season,” said Guyton.
Another key offensive cog is senior wing back-DB Hunter Emrich, who leads the team in receptions and is a speed merchant for teams to try and deal with.
“Hunter wants to play college football and he is super-fast,” continued Guyton. “I coach track and he is an under 4.6 or mid 4.5 guy in the 40 and simply lightning quick.”
The O-Line is anchored by senior tackle Matt Halkic who made an amazing recovery and comeback this season after absorbing a torn ACL during the last wrestling season.
“We didn’t know if we would get Matt back this year,” said Guyton. “But, he worked unbelievably hard in PT (physical therapy) and although he missed the first three games of the season he has come back so strong to help lead our O-Line and strength of our offense during our best stretch of the season these last several games.”
Sophomores Evan Hammer (at center) and James Smith (right guard) and senior Braedyn Bates (left guard) have been other mainstays on the Millers’ O-Line this fall.
“This season has been a very rewarding experience,” said Guyton. “This team has provided some great memories for the players and coaches.”
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