Can a team not win a state sectional championship and be the best team in school history?
If you are Parsippany Hills, the answer is … yes.
The Vikings were a true powerhouse in 2006 but had the misfortune of running into a Wayne Hills dynasty. In the North 1, Group III finals at Rutgers in 2006, Par Hills gave Wayne Hills a great battle before losing, 23-12.
One year earlier, the Morris school lost a 46-0 decision to Wayne Hills. Par Hills would go on to win sectional titles in 2014 (20-13 over Cranford at MetLife) and 2019 (38-21 over West Essex).
Both those state champions were terrific teams, but were they better than Par Hills 2006?
Answer: No!
I posed that question to Dave Albano – Par Hills’ coach during that entire time – and he said to go with 2006.
That team was so good it just missed being among the 10 best teams in Morris and Sussex counties during that time over the quarter century.
Two other teams that were good enough to make the Top 20 in the last 25 years were No. 14 Randolph (2010) and No. 15 Morristown (2010).
Both will always be linked for a number of reasons. Both resided in the IHC-Iron (Randolph nosed out Morristown that year in the regular season, 6-0). Both won sectional championships back to back at MetLife Stadium on the same day.
Both schools had good coaches who were maligned on a state website that was dumb enough to allow parents and fans to comment and critique high school teams, coaches and athletes (and a certain Daily Record football writer) without having the guts to use their name.
Two of the coaches who were buried all season on that website were Randolph’s Joe Lusardi and Morristown’s Chris Hull – two good men who were good coaches. Neither deserved the garbage they were forced to deal with because of that site, which lasted only a few years before it was taken down.
Do you think I was pulling for those two guys in the state finals? You better believe it! It was a very rewarding afternoon for both of them and they had the last laugh over the chowderheads who anonymously trashed them all season.
We are continuing Hofmann’s Quarter Century Top 20 countdown with Nos. 11-20. Last week, we ran the teams who just missed making the Top 20.
Next week, I will reveal my Top 10.
11. Parsippany Hills 2006 – Dave Albano’s Vikings fell short in the sectional title race against Wayne Hills, but this was his best team. The team had an All-State caliber quarterback in Mike Gerardi (2,300 yards passing, 32 TDs) and a great receiver in Billy Magill (118 catches over two years) but the strength of the team lied in its defense led by Vin Lombardozzi (147 tackles, 18 for loss, 8 sacks).
12. Newton 2017 – Matt Parzero built the Braves back up and they reached the crescendo with a 28-14 victory over Lakeland for the first state title in school history. Newton overwhelmed teams with its Wing-T running attack and piled up almost 4,000 yards rushing with Chase Cramer (1,497 yards, 19 TDs), Will Larsen (592 yards, 5 TDs), and QB Luke Young (469 yards, 3 TDs) leading the ground game. Young threw for 1,287 yards and 17 TDs – eight of them to WR Jaiden Elliott.
13. Morris Hills 2020 – This team gets the nod by a hair over the 2016 Scarlet Knights squad that beat Parsippany Hills (27-14) to win the sectional championship behind quarterback Daymon Fleming, who was my player of the year selection when I was at the Daily Record. The 2020 team had arguably the best offense in school history on the way to a 5-1 season. Charlie Rex rolled up 719 yards and 10 TDs and the team rushed for 1,927 yards in half a schedule. Double that, and we are talking about 4,000 yards running the ball. QB Tyvon Sargent threw for 439 yards … double THAT, and you get almost 1,000 yards of passing offense. So we are probably up to 5,000 yards of offense if it weren’t for the season abruptly being shut down.
14. Randolph 2010 – The Rams nosed out Morristown by a 6-0 score in the middle of the year and they got the nod by one spot over the Colonials. The Rams won their first sectional crown in 20 years – since the team’s Miracle in Montclair victory in 1990. Randolph’s D-Line overwhelmed the Mounties in a 19-0 victory in the state finals at MetLife. Randolph had an assembly line of strong QBs and Chris Westernhiser was the latest. They were also strong in both lines (Peter Wolmart on offense, Nick Gangemi on defense) and Montclair found itself beaten in the trenches all afternoon in the finals. Two weeks earlier, Randolph needed double overtime to beat North Bergen in a playoff thriller, 24-21.
15. Morristown 2010 – The Colonials won their first sectional crown since 1999 by overwhelming Nutley at MetLife, 40-6. Kevin Gaskins had the best game of his career, rushing for 308 yards. Hull’s team had a big afternoon on defense, led by linebacker Darren Dungee, who was injured during the game but played through. The Colonials rushed for 425 yards on the afternoon, with stellar linemen Xavier Rivera and Dungee paving the way for much of that yardage..
16. Hanover Park 2024 – Dan Fulton’s Hornets won their first sectional championship since 1990 when they beat Glen Rock, 24-3, and came within a two-point conversion stop of beating Shabazz in the state Group II semifinals, 8-7. Fulton’s team was not overpowering physically but they were very tough to contain because of its speed and quickness. QB Joey Borrello (1,671 yards passing, 19 TDs, 510 yards rushing, 11 TDs) was effective throwing and running and defenders such as Joey Filippone (3 sacks, 15 TFLs), Hector Lopez (5 sacks, 12 TFLs) and Azaad Parks (6 sacks, 3 TFLs) were constantly visiting enemy backfields.
17. Butler 2024 – Jason Luciani’s Bulldogs (9 sectional titles) have arguably the best program in Morris County history and last year might have been its best team ever. Butler rolled off 11 straight wins and pounded Mountain Lakes in the sectional final, 42-7, before running into a Cedar Grove juggernaut in the state Group I semifinals, 52-21.The team beat Becton (28-13) and Glen Rock (21-12) to win the school’s first NJIC in program history and then put up more than 40 points in all three sectional victories (47-8 over Weehawken and 40-20 over Glen Ridge) before hammering Mountain Lakes. QB David Smith had a terrific season, throwing for 1,499 yards and 28 TDFs (just 5 INTs, including NONE in the first six games). Versatile P.J. Coffey was one of the best all-around players in school history.
18 Kittatinny 2018 – Joe Coltelli’s Cougars beat Newton in an all-Sussex sectional final, 28-19, for the only sectional championship in school history. Newton had won the regular-season battle, 28-17, but Coltelli and his staff found a way to turn things around. Kittatinny had a powerful running game led by RB Jacob Mafaro (1,759 yards, 20 TDs) and QB James Franco (663 yards, 12 TDs) but Franco could also sling it when needed (981 yards, 16 TDs) with Austin Seames (7 TDs) his favorite target in crunch time.
19. Hopatcong 2005 – The Chiefs went down to Rutgers and beat Sparta in OT, 20-14, to win the school’s second sectional championship in five years (the team won one its first in 2001). I chose this Chiefs team because of its suffocating defense that was led by two-time state champion wrestler Zack Rey, who was a game-changer on the D-Line for a Chiefs ‘D’ that allowed just one touchdown or less in all of its games against public schools until the state final (Hopatcong lost in Week 2 to Pope John, 14-7). Hopatcong’s calling card was incomparable running back Joe Martinek, who would go on to rush for 7,589 yards and 79 TDs in his Hopatcong career. He would go on to be named first-team All-State by the Associated Press as a junior in 2005 and the following year as a senior.
20. Chatham 2015 – The Cougars have never won a sectional title but this group under Jason Izsa was its best ever. Chatham was big and physical and played its best football in the first two games of the sectional playoffs by beating up Barringer (31-6) and West Essex (45-6) in back-to-back weeks before losing to Cranford (50-23). The team’s calling card was a big, physical O-Line led by Jahanzab Khan (6-2, 230), Colin Ness (6-0, 280), Michael Kellstrom (6-0, 270), Graham LeMon (6-6, 300), Nick Zack (5-10, 200), and Ryan Barnett (6-3, 235). The high point of the season came when Chatham held a 38-0 lead with 6:34 left against West Essex, setting up the running clock.
