This Monday, Nov. 25 marked the official first day of tryouts for the winter sports season in New Jersey. And for The Observer-area coaches, the prospect of the start of the season is one that generates excitement as it brings out the basketballs or rolls out the wrestling mats for the first time.
Per NJSIAA rules, Nov. 25-27 are reserved for tryouts for basketball and wrestling with the first day of formal practices set for Monday, Dec. 2. For bowling and swimming, practices begin on Nov. 25 with regular season games set for Dec. 2
Basketball and wrestling can begin regular season competition on Dec. 9, though most are not officially opening the regular season until the following on Dec. 19.
“As a coaching staff, we were actually just texting each other and we’re excited to go,” said Jody Hill who, incredibly, is beginning her 29th season as Kearny girls basketball coach. “Every season brings a new adventure and new faces, along with returning faces.
“Our outlook on this season is just to come in and about Kearny and put our best team out there.We’re just going to focus on us.”
After graduating just one senior rotation player from last year’s 15-13 team, Hill knows that she can hit the ground running with a veteran group that returns guards Makayla David, Mariel Ruiz, Olivia Covello and Jazlyn Villanueva.
Others, such as North Arlington’s girls basketball team and Lyndhurst’s boys teams have to replace several key players lost to graduation. Thanks to summer and fall leagues, both have gotten several games under their belt in recent months, which should prove especially beneficial in the limited 22 day window between now and the start of the regular season.
“We had a really good summer,” North Arlington girls basketball coach Brendan Queenan said. “We played in the Lyndhurst Summer League and the Bergenfield Summer League so we got 18 games with this group and a ton of practices, so they don’t feel like we are going to be rebuilding.”
Queenan will have to replace his top two scorers from a season ago in Skyla Acosta and Lia Cruz, but brings back guards Kyra Garcia and Lyndsay Gilbert from last year’s 16-10 team.The Vikings also anticipate being bolstered by a deep freshman class, some of whom are expected to be immediate contributors on varsity.
Lyndhurst’s Perrin Mosca has a similar situation with his Golden Bears boys basketball team. While replacing the program’s all-time leading scorer in Anthony Pizzuti, as well as Matt Slaby, CJ Baillie and Jake Meyer is a daunting task, Mosca does think the lack of established veterans outside of forward Shawn Bellenger and guard Johnny Chanme will bring an added level of competition this preseason.
“We spent summer and fall trying to get to know who’s coming in this. It was definitely different,” said Mosca. “I definitely knew who I was going to have these last couple of years, but this season is totally open.
“I know these kids that are coming in really want it, so it’s going to be a good battle. I’m excited about having these young guys coming in.”
This season will also feature some new faces, or in some other cases, familiar faces in new places on the sideline as former Christian Boyce becoming the new boys basketball coach at North Arlington with Dan Kesack taking over Boyce’s old position as the head girls basketball coach at Lyndhurst.
Hockey has also experienced some significant changes. Kearny and North Arlington High Schools, which teamed up with Secaucus to win a pair of McMullen Cups in the last three years, is now a part of a tri-op with former division rival Millburn. Lyndhurst, a longtime co-opt partner with Paramus, adds Mahwah to its established program.
Girls wrestling also continues to grow both in the area and statewide this winter with Kearny expected to have a full-fledged team, following in the footsteps of Nutley and others.
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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.)