Photos by Steve Ellmore. Glen Ridge High School sophomore David Weissenberger drives past a Johnson player in a preseason scrimmage at Johnson in Clark last week.
GLEN RIDGE – Coming off last year’s 18-8 record, the Glen Ridge High School boys’ varsity basketball team is certainly looking to build upon that success this season.
But before getting too far ahead of themselves, head coach Liam Carr wants to keep his goals and expectations simple.
“For now, our kids need to practice hard and bring a consistent effort each day,” he said. “If we can instill some urgency, hopefully it can transcend into a positive start.”
Carr said this year’s Ridgers would be led by a handful of players, including sophomore guards Tyler Liddy and David Weissenberger and junior forwards Charlie DeLuca and Ryan Liddy.
“For now we are going to assign game captains,” said the coach, adding that this year’s team does not have any seniors on the roster. “Leadership was something we lacked over the summer as our top three scorers graduated, but I am confident someone can eventually gravitate into ‘captain-material’.”
Along with some key players returning, the Ridger coach said two two newcomers to look out for will be sophomore forward George Kinzler and junior small forward Nick Weber-Zazzu.
Despite not having any seniors, Carr said the team’s biggest overall strength was actually its experience.
“We have a core group of seven that have varying amounts of varsity experience,” he said.
Notably, the team was slated to open its season on Friday, Dec. 18, at Technology, but that game has been postponed to January 5 due to gym availability in Newark.
“So for now our focus is on Boonton on Dec. 21” at Boonton, at 4 p.m., Carr said. “We also have to play Group 4 schools Belleville and Millburn in December so we have our work cut out for us early.”
Entering his 12th season with the program and his 10th as the varsity coach, Carr will receive help this season by assistant coaches Rich Kennedy and Joe Mazzarella.
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