For a stretch of about 15 years, it was the premier game in Hudson County football. You could take a calendar, draw a big red circle around the date that was scheduled for the St. Peter’s Prep-North Bergen showdown and realize that it was the day that would eventually decide the best team in the entire county.
However, since North Bergen’s undefeated state championship season of 1997, the Bruins have hit some tough times. Not that they fell off the face of the planet or anything, because North Bergen has the longest consecutive streak of playoff appearances in the county, going to the post-season every year since 1987. And the Prep-North Bergen, albeit still perhaps the fiercest of football rivalries in the county, lost a little of its luster with the slight demise of the Bruins.
But not now.
Not this year.
Once again, this weekend’s showdown between the 6-0 Marauders and the 5-0 Bruins represents the best that Hudson County football has to offer in 2004. They are once again the two best teams in the county, the big powerhouses. The game will more than likely determine the eventual champion in the HCIAA. It won’t exactly clinch a championship, but it certainly will go a long way to who’s No. 1.
And it’s only fitting that Prep-North Bergen has its proper place of prominence.
“We’re happy to be in this position again,” veteran North Bergen head coach Vince Ascolese said. “We’ve struggled over the last couple years, but we managed to keep our heads above water. I think everyone on both sidelines will be aware of the magnitude of the game. It’s a big game. Because of the rivalry of Prep and North Bergen, it gets kids to play harder, so I don’t think it’s any different than any other time.”
St. Peter’s Prep head coach Rich Hansen is also excited that the rivalry has important meaning once again.
“It’s almost like ‘Back to the Future,’ ” Hansen said. “It’s always been a good rivalry, but it really hasn’t been the same in recent years. The game was played earlier in the year for a couple of years, and North Bergen has been a little down. But considering both teams are still undefeated in Week 7, the game holds a lot of ramifications. We have had some big games with Bayonne and Hoboken over the years, but there’s nothing like Prep-North Bergen. Nothing like a big Friday night game with everything on the line. It makes things especially exciting.”
Another reason why this game means more than any recent tussle is that the playing field has been considerably leveled. The Marauders aren’t as thoroughly dominant as they have been in recent years and the Bruins have improved greatly.
North Bergen’s talent pool has increased tremendously, with three talented running backs in Mike Rodriguez, Evan Rodriguez (no relation) and Reggie Caicedo, and a brilliant quarterback in William Macias. The Marauders have their three-headed monster in the backfield in Mike Brown, Rashawn Jackson and Kee-Ayre Griffin and a fine signal caller in Ryan Boysen.
Which means there is solid balance between the skilled position players. Both coaches think that their respective team has a good chance of emerging victorious this weekend, basically because both teams have been improving along the way.
“I like our chances,” Hansen said. “It’s great that we’re playing better, especially defensively.”
Last weekend, sophomore linebacker Will Thompson recovered two fumbles and returned them for touchdowns in the win against Bayonne.
“I like our depth on defense,” Hansen said. “We’re going two-platoon along the line and that’s a help. I like the direction we’re headed in. We’re in a game with a lot on the line, and we’re where we wanted to be at this point.”
Ascolese also likes his team’s chances to pull the upset against the state’s No. 3-ranked team and the team with the highest total of power points in the entire state right now.
“We think our kids are getting better and that’s key,” Ascolese said. “It’s very important to keep making progress at this point.” Ascolese knows that the Marauders are very talented.
“They do have two Division I kids (Brown and Jackson are both going to Virginia to play for former Ascolese protégé Mark D’Onofrio), so that’s something to remember,” Ascolese said. “You have to respect that. We have to control the football, because they’re so explosive, and they’ve proven that. We have to hold the ball to make it interesting.”
Hansen said that playing an undefeated North Bergen team in October certainly gets everyone going.
“It’s fun,” Hansen said. “I don’t think we have to tell our kids to get pumped up to play North Bergen. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be like the old days. It’s the way I like it. It’s my kind of football and it’s certainly going to be interesting. It defines what the county is all about. It’s a great rivalry with a great tradition. We’re both undefeated. It’s the way it should be.”
Ascolese agrees.
“Of course, it gets you excited,” Ascolese said. “I think we have a good chance if we play to the best of our ability. It’s a big game. It’s what you play for.”
And it’s what all Hudson County football fans have been waiting for – for what seemed like an eternity. – Jim Hague HOLDING THE KEYS – Two of the key performers in this weekend’s big showdown of the undefeated teams, namely St. Peter’s Prep and North Bergen, are running backs Reggie Caicedo of North Bergen (left) and Mike Brown of St. Peter’s Prep (right).