On the eve of the official start of the high school football season, veteran Lyndhurst coach Rich Tuero couldn’t hide his excitement for Monday. It’s when t-shirts and shorts give way to helmets and shoulder pads, and 7-on-7 games are replaced with tackling and full contact.
“It’s the greatest time of the year,” said Tuero, who begins his 12th season as the Golden Bears’ head coach. “There’s nothing like fall football camp, it’s the time when you’re bonding with the boys. It’s the greatest time of the year, football season.”
While Tuero’s sentiment is shared by coaches throughout the state, such excitement is joined by a sense of urgency. Monday, August 11 is designated as the first day of practice by the NJSIAA, many of these same teams will be playing for real just 17 days later on August 28, when what’s known as “Week 0” begins.
Four of the six Observer-area teams – Lyndhurst, North Arlington, Nutley and Bloomfield, are in action that Thursday before Labor Day. It’s a reality that these teams face, knowing there isn’t time to ease into the preseason.
“I think they all understand and they all bought in,” said second-year North Arlington coach Ali Beh. “They understand, starting (Monday), how fast it’s going to come and that in less than 18 days we have the first game. They definitely understand that.”
Beh himself feels more comfortable entering year two as Vikings head coach, now that there’s a greater familiarity between his coaching staff and the players. After closing last year with a 27-0 win at Roselle Park, North Arlington entered Beh’s first full offseason as coach with positive momentum.
“Going into the offseason, it just brought a hunger and (the realization) that maybe we can do something where we can be a part of something big if we stay together,” Beh said. “We understand once we’re a complete team with all our guys being healthy, we’re able to compete with other teams.”
A strong 7-on-7 season has Beh confident that his team has made significant strides, but he knows the extent of their improvement won’t fully be known until this week.
A similar sentiment is shared by John Policano, who enters his third season as the head coach at Kearny. Like North Arlington, the Kardinals closed last year with a victory, 27-11 over Bergen Tech. While Policano has been pleased with the performance and numbers this summer, he knows the true barometer of their improvement comes now.
“We are running plays with no equipment on and teaching them stuff on the non-official days of practice,” said Policano. “But it’s going to be imperative to see how the kids react to putting on pads, getting hit and when there’s truly a rush coming at you.”
Policano and his staff have the benefit of an extra seven days of practice before its season opener on Thursday, September 4 against North Bergen. Even with those additional days, Policano can’t help, but wonder if it’s truly enough time.
“It’s not a lot of time when you break it down,” Policano said. “I know that’s something for the state and I know they start everything so early, but you look at the calendar and you go, ‘wait a minute, the state of New Jersey is giving us 24 official days.’”
It’s a sentiment shared by the programs with more football experience such as Lyndhurst, which is set to return several starters on both sides of the ball from last year’s 7-2 team. The Bears open up on Aug. 28 against Westwood in a high-profile matchup between two of Bergen County’s top small school programs.
“The experience is positive, but I’m still not comfortable by any means,” said Tuero. “I still feel like we have no time to get ready to go here, but it helps to have guys that have been there before. It’s still a little nervewracking.”
Also on August 28’s first night of the season, Nutley looks to build off of last year’s playoff appearance when it travels to River Dell. Bloomfield opens up at home against Newark Central as Mike Carter begins his 35th season as the Bengals’ head coach.
Belleville, which enjoyed a 5-4 season under head coach Brian Antab a season ago, begins on Friday, Sept. 5 against Ferris.
Teams are allowed to have up to two scrimmages before beginning the regular season, starting Monday, August 18.
Monday, August 11 also marked the first official day of preseason for girls tennis. For all other fall sports, the first day of preseason practice is Monday, August 18.
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)