Aiden Connaghan vs. Cristo Rey ths past winter.
GLEN RIDGE, NJ – The Glen Ridge High School boys basketball team, indeed, couldn’t wait to begin summer play.
That’s understandable, considering the vast amount of returning experience.
The Ridgers, coming off a tough 8-16 season this past winter, return all but two players for next season.
This summer, Glen Ridge, coached by varsity assistant coach/JV head coach Mike Salvatelli, enjoyed an impressive showing in the prestigious Bloomfield Summer League, finishing with an above .500 record. The Ridgers defeated Cedar Grove, the Seton Hall Prep freshmen team; the Bloomfield B team, Verona and Livingston, just to name a few. They fell to Belleville in the first round of the playoffs on July 22.
“We did pretty well,” said Salvatelli, a 2014 GRHS graduate who joined the coaching staff this past winter under head coach Liam Carr. “There were a lot of tough teams. There’s a lot of good competition. It’s a good way to prepare for next season.
“Most of our returning guys got varsity time last year,” Salvatelli continued. “Almost our whole team is coming back, which is great. Our two seniors (Simon Low and Kevin Mathew) last year were really good, so it’s going to be tough to replace them. But we’re definitely excited for the future, in terms of having all these freshmen who are now sophomores; and sophomores who are now juniors. We only have one senior coming back, Joe DeLuca. We’re excited for him. He’s one of our captains, with Sam Trunley, who is a junior. They have been doing a great job of leading the younger guys in the summer league. We’re excited about that.”
Trunley was a Second Team honoree on the All-Super Essex Conference-Colonial Division, along with Low. Mathew made Honorable Mention.
Other returning players for the Ridgers are rising seniors Aiden Connaghan and Mykel James; rising juniors Sean Kaveny, Ryleigh Titus, and Matt Van Bloem; and rising sophomores Michael Cifelli, Justin Fields, Carter Koenig, Bryan Mossako, Ryan O’Neil and Andrew Snyder.
When the season ended last winter, the Ridgers still maintained a relentless drive, much to delight of the coaching staff.
“We can tell, right off the bat, that these guys have been playing in the offseason, which is good,” said Salvatelli, who will be a physical education teacher at GRHS. “Our last game at the end of February until now, we see some big steps. Now these freshmen, they’re not little freshmen anymore; they’re sophomores, their games are developing and they are starting to realize the physicality of varsity basketball. We’re not the biggest team, but they are starting to play smarter and play harder and really understand the flow of a varsity level game.”
Salvatelli once again this summer directed the annual Glen Ridge M.V.P. Sports Camps at GRHS for boys and girls ages 6-13. He played for Carr, a 1995 GRHS graduate who has been at the helm since the 2006-07 season.
The Ridgers were runner-up in the North Jersey Section 2, Group 1 state tournament in back-to-back seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18 before enduring a tough season this past winter.
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