Special Players Will Be Ready
To Help Ignite A Busy Week 0

Beyond whatever dividends may have been gained for the aerial attack through the now-customary 7-on-7’s in June and July, or even with whatever credence one places in the nearly three weeks of ‘official’ pre-season drills which commenced Aug. 11 - including a couple of scrimmages to get ready for it all – it will be time for a team to show exactly what it’s made of when the 2025 New Jersey high school football season gets underway in Week 0, Thursday, Aug. 28, through Saturday, Aug. 30.

While some teams may not begin until the post-Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-6, the importance of season openers can be talked about regardless of one’s start date.

There will be future Football Bowl Subdivision (1-A) prospects to take in during Week 0, whether it might be West Orange’s very elusive, West Point-bound running back Farad Green or Shabazz’ versatile 2-way standout and Stanford commit Zaiden McDonald, while veteran players will look to help lead their respective teams, including West Essex quarterback Jake Long, whose Knights face an unenviable task vs. reigning Group 3 state champion Old Tappan, or Verona, with hard-driving running back-linebacker Bodie Maisano as the Hillbillies take on St. Mary’s of Rutherford in one of the West Orange Mountaineers’ season-opening showcase of contests. (See Week 0 schedule below).

Shabazz, coming off a Group 2 runner-up finish in 2024, faces West Orange, 5 p.m., Friday, a night after Verona takes on St. Mary’s on Suriano Field.
West Essex lost twice to a mighty Old Tappan team last season including 19-7 in its season opener, yet the Knights then reeled off six straight wins and finished a solid 8-3 on the season.

The Knights, with Long behind center for a rather inexperienced Wessex team, are now led by first-year head coach Dan Fulton, a Montclair State graduate, who did a terrific job during his tenure at nearby Hanover Park.

The North Caldwell-based regional school will face a very formidable challenge vs. Old Tappan, 6 p.m., Friday, Aug. 29, at Travis Field, to kick off 2025.

Longtime Wessex head man Chris Benacquista is now coaching at Wayne Valley with the high school in the town where he lives, and the Indians have an interesting season opener on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 1 p.m., taking on Group 1 juggernaut Cedar Grove at West Point Prep up at the military academy campus up on the Hudson River as the Panthers reload with some holdover, talented pieces after losing record-setting greats in QB Stephen Paradiso and WR Jackson Morrice from last fall’s superb 13-1 squad. 

For those teams such as Barringer, which was 0-9 last fall, a loss to start the 2024 season led to eight more defeats, which makes this season under first-year head coach Markell Thomas perhaps one to keep a close eye on as the Blue Bears look to begin to turn things around as they prepare to host Livingston (3-6 last fall) in a big Friday, Aug. 29, season opener for both teams at Schools Stadium in Newark.

The Lancers, who have great interest from a large number of student-athletes in the sport despite some tough times posting winning seasons, look to get off to a strong start behind coach Bob Breschard and superb athletic talents such as RB-WR Abel Paul.

An Essex County game to watch to help kick things off on Thursday, Aug. 28, will see Newark Central, with a very talented arsenal, visiting Bloomfield at Foley Field.

Coach Mark Ingram’s Blue Devils have high hopes for a big season in 2025 coming off a 6-3 campaign last fall led by outstanding athletes such as junior wide receivers-defensive backs Dishon Jerman and Tyshawn Bailey who are both generating much college interest.

Central defeated Bloomfield, 27-15, to start 2024 to ignite a 4-game winning streak to start last season before the Brick City team fell to Verona, 31-20, in a Zone6ix showcase contest at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson.

The Blue Devils get another shot at Verona on Friday night, Sept. 26, at Sellitto Field in Hillbilly country and they would certainly like to reverse the result they absorbed last fall this time around.

Irvington (4-4 in 2024) has its own very challenging test at Ramapo up in Franklin Lakes in another one of the intriguing Week 0 season openers on Friday, Aug. 29. Second-year head coach Marco Soto’s Blue Knights will hope things can improve with some talented, young players returning from a .500 squad.

In essence it is difficult to say how much credence to place in a season-opening victory, but one certainty is that all the teams in the midst of preparing from this point on, including the mental part during any ‘dead period’ of rest in early August for some, is that the full focus remains on that Week Zero or Week 1 season opener.   

Week 0 schedule
THURSDAY, AUG. 28
Northern Highlands vs. Holy Spirit, 10 a.m. at Ocean City
Saddle Brook vs. Kittatinny, 3 p.m. at Hasbrouck Heights
Lakeland at Governor Livingston, 4 p.m.
Paramus at West Milford, 5 p.m.
Wallkill Valley at Hasbrouck Heights, 6 p.m.
Wallington at Brearley, 6 p.m.
Dumont at Garfield, 6 p.m.
Waldwick/Midland Park at Glen Rock, 6 p.m.
Westwood at Lyndhurst, 6 p.m.
Bergenfield at New Milford, 6 p.m.
Manchester at North Arlington, 6 p.m.
Hackensack at Passaic, 6 p.m.
Nutley at River Dell, 6 p.m.
Pompton Lakes at Rutherford, 6 p.m.
Randolph at Teaneck, 6 p.m.
Lodi at Wood-Ridge, 6 p.m.
Hopatcong at Elmwood Park, 6:30 p.m.
Becton at Hoboken, 6:30 p.m.
Pingry at Millburn, 7 p.m.
Dickinson at Fair Lawn, 7 p.m.
Ridgewood at Clifton, 7 p.m.
Central at Bloomfield, 7 p.m.
Pascack Valley at Union City, 7 p.m.
St. Mary vs. Verona, 7 p.m. at West Orange
Bergen Catholic vs. East St. Louis (Ill.), 7:30 p.m. at Ocean City

FRIDAY, AUG. 29
Hawthorne at Montclair Kimberley, noon
Indian Hills at Xavier (N.Y.), 1 p.m.
St. John Vianney at Seton Hall Prep, 1 p.m.
Bayonne vs. Morris Knolls, 3:30 p.m., at West Orange
Ramsey vs. Edgewood (Ohio), 5 p.m. at Canton, Ohio
Montclair vs. St Thomas Aquinas 6 p.m.
Old Tappan at West Essex, 6 p.m.
Irvington at Ramapo, 6:30 p.m.
Capital Prep (N.Y.) at Bogota, 7 p.m.
Paramus Catholic at St. Peter’s Prep, 7 p.m.
Mahwah at Franklin County (Tenn.), 7 p.m.
Don Bosco at Melissa (Texas), 7:30 p.m.
Passaic Tech vs. Burlington Township, 7:30 p.m. at West Orange

SATURDAY, AUG. 30
DePaul at Pope John, noon
Riverdale Baptist (Md.) at St. Joseph, 1 p.m.
Wayne Valley vs. Cedar Grove, 1 p.m. at West Point
Chicago Hope Academy (Ill.) at Eastside, 6 p.m.
Shabazz at West Orange, 7 p.m.