Josh Mercado and Danny Clifford have been the closest of friends since they were practically toddlers.
“We’ve been beyond friends,” Clifford said. “We’ve been brothers.”
So when the two started playing football together in the Hoboken PAL, they made a pact.
The two were teammates as 6-year-olds, helping the Hoboken PAL to a Turkey Bowl youth football championship.
“We knew from sixth grade that we always wanted to play together,” Mercado said.
So from grade school, the band of brothers first headed to St. Anthony, but then decided to transfer and became members of the Red Wings.
Every step of the way, the two were together. They were never even an arm’s length away from each other.
Eventually, the pair became key members of the Red Wings’ roster.
Clifford established himself as a top-flight offensive lineman, with Mercado first earning his reputation as a linebacker. The two helped the Red Wings win the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I state championship in 2012, bringing December grid glory back to the Hudson County program that practically invented it, namely the Red Wings of the mile-square city.
“It was so great to be able to win a state championship together,” Mercado said.
It was such a good feeling that Mercado and Clifford won another in 2013, with Mercado scoring the game-winning touchdown on a run with seven seconds remaining, giving the Red Wings the improbable win over Shabazz.
In fact, on that touchdown run, Mercado ran right over Clifford. The big brother opened the slot for the little brother to score a touchdown to win a second straight state crown.
“He opened the hole up,” Mercado said. “I just said, ‘I’m just going to run it right behind this guy.’ But we all did it together. It was a lot of sacrifice and hard work, but we did it.”
The sacrifice continued on Clifford’s part. Being 6-foot-5 and weighing close to 300 pounds, there were a lot of colleges interested in securing Clifford’s services. Clifford had schools like Iowa State, East Carolina and the University of Buffalo offering scholarships.
But unless there was a free ride for Mercado as well, Clifford wasn’t interested.
So it was going to be both friends in college or neither.
“It was hard to go through the process and say no to those schools,” Clifford said. “I just had to play with my brother.”
So that’s when schools like Sacred Heart in Connecticut got involved. Or better yet, Wagner College in Staten Island.
Being close to home and being together was the formula that sealed the deal.
So last Wednesday, in the high school library, there was a celebration of the two buddies, signing their national letters of intent to Wagner at the same time. There was a cake straight from Carlo’s Bake Shop with the Wagner Seahawks logo as part of the icing. This was a special day for two close friends.
Their parents and friends were in attendance. Clifford was moved to tears as he signed the letter.
“It’s the best day for me,” Clifford said.
Mercado had to act as the spokesman for the day.
“We have so many memories together, spending those long hot summer days in August and those chilly nights,” Mercado said. “We’ve both come a long way together.”
Mercado knew that he owed a lot to his buddy in terms of securing a scholarship for himself.
“We were able to do everything right,” Mercado said. “It’s the right fit for me, the whole nine yards.”
Mercado plans on majoring in criminal justice at Wagner. Clifford wants to major in business and entrepreneurship statistics.
But they will be together in college, just like they planned.
“That’s the reason why,” Clifford said about the emotions that flowed. “I never thought this could happen.”
“It’s really played out like a Hollywood story,” Mercado said. “We were always taught to strive for our dreams, that anything was possible.”
Hoboken head coach Lou Taglieri was proud of his two prized products.
“It’s really a different feeling, because Danny had some big time offers, but he waited for his friend,” Taglieri said. “They really wanted to go to school together and nothing was going to stop them. That’s what makes this special. They really are best friends. Every college that called me, I had to tell them that they had to package something together for the both of them. Even though Danny had a better shot of getting something on his own, he wanted this.”
Added Taglieri, “They earned this. They worked hard and earned it.”
Taglieri said that the friends are both excellent students, earning better than a 3.0 grade point average and high Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, so Wagner didn’t have to worry about them qualifying as freshmen.
“I knew it was going to be like this,” said Clifford, still overcome with emotion. “I knew it when we first talked about going to college and possibly playing together. It’s really a dream come true. We did great things here in Hoboken. Why not take it into college?”
Why not?
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com
You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.