As the head coach of the Kearny Generals Pee-Wee (8-9 year olds) and Junior (fifth and sixth grade) football teams for the past three seasons Omar Ruiz-Martinez has seen firsthand the steady progress and improvement that has occurred since the program was revived in 2023.
“We really saw the progress from the first year,” said Ruiz-Martinez, who played for the Kearny Generals growing up before playing basketball and football at Kearny High School. “We always knew the progression was going to be there. What really killed us the first year was the lack of experience. So the fact that we were able to get two more years of experience to finally show what we knew was there, really helped us.”
This fall not only saw the Generals turn that progress into wins, but the type of victories the program hasn’t seen in more than two decades.
Both teams made the playoffs of the Bi-County Junior Scholastic Football League for the first time in 22 years. The Junior Generals advanced all the way to the final before falling to Englewood, 12-0, in the title game this past Saturday in Cliffside Park.
For the season, the Junior Generals went 8-3, a mark highlighted by a 12-2 over defending champion Cliffside Park in the semifinals.
One of those touchdowns was scored by quarterback Joseph Distano, who is a dual-threat under center for the Junior Generals.
Distano is one of four rushing options for the Junior Generals, who ran the triple option on offense with Adrian Martinez, Anibal Santiago and Felipe Penati all on the field at running back.
“It shows that these kids really want to learn and are into the game,” Ruiz-Martinez said about his players’ ability and eagerness to pick the offense, which is rarely run in college football by anyone other than the service academies. “That was our main formation, but we also added four other formations. The fact that fifth and sixth graders are willing to learn it just show that there’s still kids out there that care and it just shows the progression.”
Shawn Sullivan and Andrew Real-Tice are the starting receivers.
On the offensive line, Mathias Carreno is the left tackle with Rayane Ait Mohamed at left guard. Nathan Richards is the starting center, while on the right side, William Tapia is the guard and Giovanni Valdez at tackle.
On the defensive line, Richards and Carreno are the starting ends with Matthew Gaters and Vincent Avitable at the tackles.
Martinez and Penati are the starting middle linebackers with Santiago and Real-Tice as the starters on the outside.
Caleb Custodio is the starting safety with Sullivan and Mason Faria at cornerback.
Others, who played major roles throughout the season include Williams Tasayco, Mason Alves, Liam McGirr, Maranii Medina, Manoel Ribeiro, Logan Romero and Liam Rosado.
The PeeWees went 7-3 despite limited numbers and experience, to exceed Ruiz-Martinez’s expectations.
The roster of Adrian Batiz, Aiden Brasil, Christopher Calderon, Jacob Custodio, Anthony Distano, Mason Estrella, Cole Hassan, Connor Pabst, Jayden Pais, Pedro Perez, Jayden Rivera, Aston Scarpa, Grayson Valentin and Carter West fell to Lodi in the playoffs.
“They were just excited to play and that’s why I’m excited about the future,” Ruiz-Martinez said. “It was a struggle to field numbers (at the beginning) and we expected maybe one win this year. The fact that we had seven, it was an amazing season.”
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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.)