Pete Pascarella steps down as Irvington HS football coach; cherishes great memories and friendships

IRVINGTON – Pete Pascarella cares a lot about the Irvington High School football program.

He understands that he has to put in the necessary time and effort to help develop his players on the field.

But due to personal reasons, Pascarella unfortunately could not make that necessary commitment.

With the interest of his players in mind, Pascarella stepped down as the Blue Knights head varsity football coach after six seasons.

With several of his players attending county vocational schools, the Blue Knights do not start practice until 5 p.m. during the season in the fall. Pascarella, however, said he could no longer commit to the late hours, given his personal circumstances.

“It basically came down to a moral decision,” Pascarella said. “Do I keep this job and not commit the time, or do I do the right thing and step down so that these kids could get a coach who is able to put in these hours, and give the kids what they deserve I didn’t want to slight the kids.”

In all, Pascarella had been on the IHS football coaching staff for 14 seasons. He joined the staff as an assistant coach in 2002, Darnell Grant’s first season as head coach.

Pascarella served as Grant’s offensive coordinator. Under Grant, a 1991 IHS graduate, the Blue Knights arguably enjoyed their best run in program history. With talented players on both sides of the ball, they fashioned a stellar 64-21 record in eight seasons (2002-2009). The Blue Knights made the state sectional playoffs in seven straight years from 2003-2009, including reaching their first playoff championship game in 2006 when they lost a heartbreaking 18-14 decision to New Brunswick in the North Jersey Section 2, Group 3 final at Rutgers Stadium to finish with a 10-2 record.

When Grant stepped down after the 2009 season, Pascarella was promoted to the head coaching position.

After going 1-9 in 2010 and 3-7 in 2011 in his first two seasons, the Blue Knights qualified for the state North Jersey Section 2, Group 4 playoffs in 2012. They crushed Ferris in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion West Morris in the semifinals to finish 7-4.

The Blue Knights made the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 playoffs in the next two seasons, both times losing heartbreakers in the quarterfinals at home. They lost to JFK Iselin, 14-12, in 2013, to finish 5-5, and fell to Woodbridge, 34-33, in 2014 to end with a 7-3 record.

With a young team this past season, the Blue Knights started 0-5. But the team persevered, winning the next three games. They lost the final two games to finish 3-7.

Though he won’t coach the football team anymore, Pascarella plans to stay involved with IHS sports programs. Pascarella, a special education teacher at IHS, also is an assistant coach for the IHS track and field program and will continue in that role this spring.

Pascarella feels confident that the IHS football program will be in great shape. The new coach is expected to be announced at the next Irvington Board of Education meeting this month.

“The candidates that they chose from are awesome candidates and I am very confident that the program is going to keep going in the right direction,” Pascarella said.

For Pascarella, he will always cherish the great memories and relationships he has formed during his time with the football program.

“It’s been a great ride,” Pascarella said. “There have been a lot of great times. I made a lot of relationships with great kids who have gone on to do good things and become contributing members of society.

“It’s been really rewarding to see them blossom into awesome adults. When they come around to say hello to (me), you know your time is worth it.”