It was no big deal, just a victory over a divisional opponent on Sept. 5.
Nothing to see here, right?
Wrong!
Hanover Park surprising Madison, 33-19, had a special meaning to rookie Hornets coach Nick Liberato, who spent seven years as an assistant coach to Dodgers coach Chris Kubik.
It was no ordinary victory.
That’s because Kubik was no ordinary role model to Liberato.
“Coach Kubik,” Liberato said, “taught me so much about the game. I’m so appreciative. He is one of my mentors. He taught me everything, from how to coach, how to interact with other coaches, how to plan, how to conduct myself on game day.
“Coach Kubik does a tremendous job with the way he does things. He sure taught me a lot. To share the field with him was an honor. It was a surreal moment. They said we played great. They played great. It was a very respectful exchange.”
If a small statement can be made in early September, the Hornets made it.
Hanover lost the guts of its first state championship team since 1990 – and lost coach Dan Fulton to West Essex.
Enter Liberato, coming into his first head coaching job.
He has shown that he is no run-of-the-mill rookie coach in the early going.
Far from it.
“He is definitely smart,” Hornets quarterback Jack Kovacs said. “He’s not a rookie coach, that’s for sure. He is a very good coach.”
Liberato comes from good coaching stock. His dad, John, was a highly successful coach at Hanover Park and Summit. Nick Liberato also coached under Kevin Kostibos at Summit and John Power at Morristown.
The players love the new coaching staff, which also includes Liberato’s dad.
“I couldn’t be any more proud of the coaching staff,” Kovacs said. “They came in with so much energy and they have us going. We are definitely putting in a lot more work than most teams day-in and day-out. We make practice as hard as games so that the game is the easy part.”
Nick Liberato brought his dad on staff. John Liberato brought success to a struggling Hanover program in the late 1990s, reaching one sectional final along the way.
“(John Liberato) is great, everyone loves him,” Kovacs said. “The morale in the community is great because of him. He pushes us really hard. He knows when to joke around and when to be serious. He is getting us to where we need to be.”
The Hornets graduated all of the prime-time players from last year, whereas Madison returned many players from last year’s playoff squad.
But Hanover had the look of a contender in its league and section with the win over Madison.
“It was totally a team effort from top to bottom, from the coaching staff to everyone on the roster,” Liberato said. All three phases stepped up.”
Hanover took the early lead and kept it for the rest of the game when Kovacs went in from 8 yards out. A short time later, he connected with receiver Darien Iannacone for a 56-yard score.
Madison’s A.J. Eldridge caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Luke Maguire later in the second quarter, but Hanover’s Dante Rosado (18 for 111 rushing) had two touchdown runs in the fourth quarter to keep the Hornets ahead.
“The running game is part of our DNA,” Liberato said. “There is a new age of football where people like to spread things around and we do that, too, but you win at the line of scrimmage. For us to run effectively, the way we did, gives us a great chance for success.
The line, consisting of returning starters George Abdy, a two-year starter, and three-year starter Gianmarco Canziani, was solid. Louis Rowe, Angelo Churchiello, and Jimmy Casola are the other blockers.
That group goes one way. Liberato played one way at Summit and he wants his kids fresh in the fourth quarter, so he prefers going two-platoon whenever he can.
“We challenge them to do their job and they appreciate that,” he said. “When I played at Summit, I didn’t touch the field on offense. We had kids who only played offense. With the pace we go, being fresh in the fourth quarter is more important. The hurry-up is our philosophy. That’s how we practice. That tempo and intensity we play with … we don’t want to change. We want to be aggressive and do what we want to do.”
A lot of that starts with the left-handed Kovacs (6 for 112 passing, 119 yards, 2 TDs), a receiver last year.
“He’s a tremendous athlete and leader,” Liberato said. “He’s a competitor who doesn’t shy away and you could see that shine on Friday nights. He makes great decisions in the run and passing game. This is his first season at quarterback as a converted receiver. He has taken on the offense and makes decisions … I have great respect for his work ethic. He is really taking the bull by the horns. He is a skill position player who can do a lot of things for us.”
Rosato is another throwback player.
“He is a tremendous leader, a north-south running back,” Liberato said. “We love his running style, shifty and quick and he doesn’t hesitate. We love that as coaches.”
The Hornets stamped themselves as contenders in the American White. We’ll know more when they pay Mountain Lakes a call Friday night. The Herd erupted for 49 points in a 49-14 victory over Pequannock last week. Mountain Lakes rushed for 376 yards.
“We knew we’d get a heavy dose of run against Madison so we had to protect against that,” Liberato said. “Our tenacity and togetherness on ‘D’ gets me jacked up. The kids are great at preparing. Madison started to get the ball to the edges and we rallied to the ball and rallied together and stood tall.”
“Going into the Madison game, a lot of people thought we’d lose,” Kovacs said. “We lost so many upperclassmen and they returned so many, but we learned a lot last year. It showed us what it takes to win and that it takes a lot.
“It was not a surprising win to us. We put in so much work all week at practice. Week 0 (beating Hudson Catholic) was big for us. We got out all of our jitters and now we are firing on all cylinders. The future is bright because we know how to win.”
