Delbarton Yesterday

yesterdayBy Delbarton Kent Manno, Delbarton Archivist One team, One mission:

Delbarton Football 1998

In 1998, Google was founded, Apple unveiled the iMac, the Maastricht Treaty came into force, and the Yangtze River broke its banks, displacing more than ten thousand people. After many years of troubles in Northern Ireland both sides agreed to the Good Friday agreement. The Soviet Union Banking system suffered a meltdown when the ruble lost 70% of its value against US dollar in 6 months with several of the largest Russians banks collapsing. While these events made headlines, the Delbarton football players began their quest for the pinnacle of their sport, the NJSIAA Football Championship. Navigating this quest was in the hands of Head Coach John Kowalik and his experienced staff. Joe McCurdy ’00 says that Coach Kowalik “set the standards high” telling the team to “do the right thing when no one is looking. ” Jeff Parros ’98 remembers that Coach Kowalik ran an organized program and was at times “scary, tough, caring, and passionate. ” While Andrew Crocco ’99 found Coach Kowalik ‘mean’ early on, he would later see the method to his system. In the immortal words of Vince Lombardi, “Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness, and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. ” Clearly, the 1998 football team manifested these ideals.

Would this team be able to match the heights achieved by the Green Wave championship team of 1993? After losing the first game of the season to Orange, in 1998 the Green Wave rolled through the rest of the season with crucial wins over West Milford, Wayne Valley, and Passaic Valley winning the conference title. Jeff Parros ’01 remembered the Orange game vividly as upon exiting the parking lot the players were told to “put their helmets on and duck. ” A few of the more ardent Orange fans had decided to throw rocks at the Delbarton buses.

In the playoffs, the team dispatched St. John Vianney to reach the final test of the season against Immaculata. The 1998 championship game between two Catholic school football giants was set to be an entertaining affair and piqued the interest of many football fans. The game would be played on the site of the first collegiate football game between the College of New Jersey (later known as Princeton University) and Rutgers University (birthplace of college football) in 1869. Jeff Parros referred to the 1998 state championship game as a “big moment” and “slugfest. ” The team was led by quarterback Jeff Parros and a cadre of Co-Captains: Andrew Crocco, Scott Shundler ’99, Oscar James ’99, and Tim Johnson ’00. Yet, who can forget the lightning speed of Jermaine Pugh ’00 as the ball was tossed to him and he hit the corner for a big gain. (NJ.com calls Pugh one of NJ’s top 40 high school running backs of all-time) Even though the running game was starting to be deemphasized, Pugh was the perfect weapon for pushing back against that kind of tidal shift. The remnants of the William O. Regan running era were still alive and well in the hills of Morris. Parros would not only throw a touchdown pass to Wes Swackhammer ’01 in the game but also handled punting and kicking responsibilities. Pugh would go on to rush for 155 yards on 27 carries against Immaculata, scoring 2 touchdowns. Farah Reed ’99, Tim Johnson ’00, Schundler, Crocco, Matt Achilarre ’99, and James applied continuous pressure on the Spartan offense. By the second half, the Spartan offense lost momentum and was forced to punt several times. Reed and Johnson recorded 3 sacks each. Oscar James recorded a game high 10 tackles. Senior stalwart Scott Shundler iced the game with a crucial interception. The previously unbeaten and ninth ranked Immaculata would suffer its first loss in the last game of the year thanks to a determined Green Wave squad,

and the 21-3 win would yield the second NJSIAA Football Championship for Delbarton and a season record of 9-1. There remains a special bond among members of the football team that allowed them to respond to the navigational cues of Coach Kowalik. Crocco says the teammates supported each other and really enjoyed playing football with each other. Often, successful teams are those that demonstrate the greatest commitment to the players and, in turn, create the greatest sense of belonging and echo the words of former Athletic Director Brian Fleury : “Everything you do matters. ” Like old photographs, the memories of the 1998 football season fade over time — but twenty-four years later, the stewards of the 1998 championship football game left their mark on Delbarton and on New Jersey football.