Seton Hall Prep has high expectations for its 2021 football season

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WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep football team has some high expectations as they enter the 2021 season. Last season, after a 0-3 start, they strung together three consecutive victories, topped off by a 26-25 thrilling overtime victory over No. 1 ranked St. Peter’s Prep last November at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in West Orange. The previous year they defeated then top-ranked St. Joseph Regional High School of Montvale 28-27. This summer the Pirates won the Greg Schiano 7-on-7 shootout at SHI Stadium on the campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway. They also won the New York Jets Nike 11-ON Regional High School 7-on-7 Tournament at Central Park in Morris County.

Senior wide receiver Nick Dunneman said, “We don’t look at a game like St. Peter’s last year or St. Joe’s the year before as upsets. We want to set that as a new standard and want to be one of those top teams in the state.” Senior running back Myles Thomason added, “What Coach Fitzgerald tries to relate to us is that we are not the underdog anymore. When we go against those high-ranked teams, we may not be expected to always win, but we are not thought of as soft Seton Hall Prep anymore.”

Senior quarterback Jaden Craig is excited to have committed to play at Harvard next year. “To me,” he said, “it is the best of both worlds. Elite competition in a football aspect and the best education in the world, and you can’t go wrong with that.”

Defensively, the Pirates are led by senior linebackers Jackson Dowd and Jackson Collins, who combined for 135 tackles and six and a half sacks, and in the secondary by senior Matthew Monteleone and sophomore Jaylen McClain, who has five Division I offers.

Head Coach Bill Fitzgerald commented about the upcoming season. “We have gotten a lot of attention; individuals have also got a lot of attention. Now we are not sneaking up on anybody. Those upsets people were talking about the last few years have to start becoming what is expected. When expectations are high, that is a good place to be. It means that there should be some confidence in what we are doing.”

Last season Craig was 71-120 for 794 yards and 10 touchdowns. Thomason rushed for 422 yards on 87 carries and two touchdowns. Dunneman caught 33 passes for 413 yards and five touchdowns.

Seton Hall Prep’s outstanding kicker/punter Nick Conforti also returns for his senior year. Last year he was 16-17 on extra points and 1-2 on field goals. As a punter, he averaged 43.3 yards per punt and 12 downed inside the 20-yard line, while on kickoffs he had 16 of 23 touchbacks. Conforti has committed to Yale University.

The offensive line will be led by seniors Nick Olivola, Anthony Bateh, and Jack Yousey, while the defensive line will be anchored by Collins and fellow senior Ryan Bodner.

Notes: The Pirates have been moved up to the Super Football Conference’s United Red Division and will face some of the top teams in the state and in the East region. They will also participate in the Rumble on the Raritan Showcase on Friday at 2 p.m. at SHI Stadium against Union City. This is their second such appearance, as they defeated Archbishop John Carroll High School of Radnor, Penn., 42-20 in 2019. Some preseason rankings have been announced by several media outlets. The Pirates are ranked No. 11 in New Jersey by Max Preps, and No. 19 in the East Region and No. 7 in New Jersey by High School Football America. The East Region is made up of schools from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The Pirates kicked off their season with an emphatic 51-7 home win over Pope John on Aug. 28.

Schedule

Aug. 28: Won, vs. Pope John, 51-7

Sept. 3: vs. Union City, Rumble at the Raritan at Rutgers, 2 p.m.

Sept. 11: vs. Don Bosco Prep, 1 p.m.

Sept. 18: at St. Peter’s Prep, 1 p.m.

Sept. 25: vs. Bayonne, 1 p.m.

Oct. 1: at Paramus Catholic, 7 p.m.

Oct. 16: at Delbarton, 1 p.m.

Oct. 23: vs. Bergen Catholic, 1 p.m.

Oct. 29: at DePaul, 7 p.m.