GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Since Steve Trivino took over as head coach in 2018, the Glen Ridge High School football team has gotten better each year.
Last season, the Ridgers finished with a solid 5-3 record while competing in the newly formed Ivy White Division of the Super Football Conference. The team ended the season with a three-game winning streak and won four of its last five games.
Trivino and his staff are excited about this year’s team, which includes a strong returning group. The Ridgers’ roster includes 34 players, which is encouraging for the Group 1 school.
“We got a lot of three- or four-year starters,” said Trivino in an interview with The Glen Ridge Paper. “My senior class is just a great group of kids, and they have made life easier for us and for the team. We got 34 bodies, which is up from 17 in my first year here. We’ve doubled it now, and we can only see things getting better.”
Senior fullback/linebacker Najm Wright expressed optimism about this year’s team.
“We got the same group of guys, basically,” Wright said in an interview with The Glen Ridge Paper. “We lost maybe five or six seniors. I feel that once everybody gets their stuff together, we should be fine. It’s about wanting more.”
To Wright, playing for the Ridgers is a joy.
“I just like football, being with the guys and having fun,” he said.
Wright and senior running back James McCarren will lead the ground attack.
Sophomore quarterback Dylan O’Neil, who started as a freshman, will direct the offense. His brother, senior Ryan O’Neil, will play H-back and tight end.
The offensive line will be anchored by senior center Tom Hausmann. Jake Russell also is back on the line after starting last year as a sophomore.
Defensively, Ryan O’Neil and 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior Teo Pavan, a transfer, will occupy the end positions on the line.
Wright and McCarren will also provide leadership as linebackers.
The secondary also is experienced, with sophomores Frankie Renois and Will Horan, joined by junior Colin Montelano, who sat out last year with a knee injury.
“We need to be a nasty, scoring defense,” Trivino said. “We need to get out there and think of gang-tackling and scoring six points. We have to act as one on defense.”
The Ridgers have shown a strong camaraderie, which will go a long way toward achieving another successful campaign.
“We have to work as one,” Wright said. “One player can’t do it all. We all work together, be humble, don’t get too cocky and just go out and do what we got to do. Glen Ridge football is a family; it’s a community. We come together and we love to play. We just do it for fun.”
The Ridgers’ goal is to win the Ivy White Division title. Teams in the Ivy White and Ivy Red divisions are ineligible for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs.
“We’re in the league for a reason — to rebuild,” Trivino said. “We got five wins last year. The big expectations are to go undefeated and win the league this year, because I think we have the talent to do it. We just got to put it out here and go get it.”
The other teams in the Ivy White Division are Dover, Dumont, Dwight Morrow, Fort Lee, Indian Hills, Montclair Immaculate Conception and Pascack Hills.
The Glen Ridge assistant coaches are receivers/secondary coach Carl Houser III, who is the longtime GRHS head boys lacrosse coach; offensive line/defensive line coach Tom Novak; defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Kyle Copeland; and “Kodak” coach Art Paulino, who coaches the “picture” team of the other team’s offense.
Schedule
Sept. 10: at Indian Hills, 6:30 p.m.
Sept. 18: vs. Montclair Immaculate Conception, 1 p.m.
Sept. 25: vs. Dwight Morrow, 1 p.m.
Oct. 1: at Fort Lee, 7 p.m.
Oct. 9: vs. Pascack Hills, 1 p.m.
Oct. 15: at Dover, 7 p.m.
Oct. 23: vs. Dumont, 2 p.m.
Oct. 30: to be announced
Nov. 6: to be announced
Glen Ridge looks to capture division title in football added by Joe Ragozzino on
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