The players of the Lyndhurst Jr. Football Senior team have experienced a lot of success throughout their youth football careers, including a Meadowlands Football League Pee Wees championship in 2020.
Now, after a rare down season last year, many of those same players have come back together for one more season together. One that is on the verge of ending with a championship.
After defeating Rutherford 19-6 this past Saturday to win the MFL Southern Division playoffs, Lyndhurst is heading to the MFL Senior Super Bowl for the first time since 2021.
These young Golden Bears, now 8-2 and on a six-game winning streak, will face Manchester in the Super Bowl on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Depken Field in Hasbrouck Heights.
Lyndhurst has never won the MFL Super Bowl at the Senior level.
“It’s been a great year for them, especially after a rough season last year,” head coach James Podolski said. “We came back, we had a lot of returning players and we had some kids come out (for the team) where it was their first year or some kids coming back out for the first time since they were peewees.
“They’ve had a lot of fun this year and it’s showing on the field they’re going out there every week and just having a good time.”
Running back Perrin Mosca led the way in the semifinals, rushing for three touchdowns in the win.
Mosca has been part of a three-head rushing attack, along with fellow running back Jeronimo Herrera and quarterback Jake Dolaghan.
Dolaghan has a talented group of pass catchers to throw to in wide receivers Liam White, Dom Van Orden and Mason Damiani, as well as tight end Jake Mercado.
Arguably the biggest strength for Lyndhurst has been its depth on the lines, which is especially rare for a league like the MFL where there are weight limits.
Anchoring the offensive line, predominantly composed of seventh graders, is John Gibbons, Ryan Ross, Luca Iannitelli and Josiah Maldonado, as well as Brandon Deruvo, the lone experienced eighth grader on the line.
“We kind of had a lot of injuries throughout the year with our line and the five that we went out with (on Saturday) are just guys that stepped up,” said Podolski. “They just haven’t given us a reason to lose their spot. They just took over.”
That depth has carried over to the defensive line where Iannitelli, Ross, Mercado, Liel White and Yariel Cortes have all been a part of a rotation up front.
Among those rotating at linebacker are Gibbons, Anthony Fuller, Herrera, Mosca and Luke Barriteau.
In the secondary are Liam White, Dolaghan and Damiani, as well as Ayden Lebron, who had a team-high four interceptions before a season-ending injury.
Others who have played major roles throughout the season include Chase Wright, Zhan Askaruly, Anthony Millaro, Dianluca D’Arco, Jordan Leon, Frank Mosca, Miguel Cedeno Jr., Jordan Gonzalez, Marcos Estrada, Zead Abdelgalil, Mark Eckert, Evangelos Demopoulos, Jaxon Thorne, Jose Pascuas, Jayden Dicapua and Rocco Gencarelli.
“Every week they come to practice and they have more and more energy. They’re more and more ready to play,” said Podolski, a 2017 graduate of Lyndhurst. “I got a lot of kids that play basketball and baseball throughout the year and they still show up every night and are full of energy. It’s pretty impressive.”
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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.)