Playing in the game means the world to many Morris County seniors.

Madison’s trio of Brandon Quintero, Jack O’Donnell, and James Amorosi will get one more chance to play football together.

Hanover Park’s Finn Kenney and Kevin Loparnos get one more chance to play football … period.

Injuries cut into the careers of Morris Catholic’s Matt Lahoe and Chatham’s Jacob Bitar … and now they have something to prove.

Chatham’s multi-skilled Jackson Hodges, meanwhile, will have an opportunity to shine as a Cougar before heading off to Gettysburg, where he’ll join former Randolph quarterback Sean

Clark, who happened to be the Offensive MVP for the West squad in last year’s Robeson game.

All of the players will gather for the annual game on June 11 at Belleville High School.

The game will be simulcast by Big State Sports on YouTube.

Quintero, O’Donnell, and Amorosi were thrilled to get the call to play in the Robeson game. They grew up on the football field together, from flag football in kindergarten, all the way through grade school, and right up to excelling for Dodgers coach Chris Kubik at Madison High.

“It might get a little emotional,” said Amorosi, who’ll play lacrosse in college. “We’ve played together for a while, way back to when we were young.”

“It’s an awesome opportunity for us to play with each other one last time,” added O’Donnell, a stellar two way lineman. “One last chance.”

“It’ll be really fun,” said Quintero, a defensive lineman who’ll be playing in the football steps of his brother Santi, who played in the Robeson game in 2018. “We have been playing football together ever since we started playing.”

All three of them are two-year starters for Madison. Whoever replaces them will have big holes to fill.

“We’ll definitely miss them,” Kubik said. “We have a lot coming back next year, but those guys took up spots. They will definitely be missed. They’re great kids and they’ll be missed in the locker room and in the weight room.”

Loparnos, meanwhile, has always wanted to participate in a football all-star game. Because of his tireless work ethic, the receiver will get that opportunity. He certainly earned the Robeson invite.

Whenever Hornets coach Dan Fulton opened up the school weight room over the last four years, Loparnos was right there in the middle of things lifting weights.

When Loparnos was a freshman, he was a mere 5-8, 120-pounder. But he matured into a sturdy 6-2, 190-pounder who caught 17 passes for a team-leading 281 yards as the Hornets finished 7-3 and reached the state playoff semifinals.

“Coach Fulton really helped me,” Loparnos said. “I never skipped a lift and I was always in there. I always pushed myself, but I did everything he told me. I owe a lot to my coaches.”

“Everything Kevin has is earned,” Fulton said. “We always knew he was a good athlete and would be a good receiver on Day One. But he was small. He must have grown 6-7 inches and lived in the weight room. He did all the speed stuff and became a phenomenal receiver for us.”

When they were ninth-graders, Fulton moved both Loparnos and Kenney all over the field in an effort to get them into the Hanover lineup.

Loparnos settled in at receiver and cornerback and was one of the best receivers Fulton has ever had. Kenney, meanwhile, settled in at offensive guard and linebacker and is elated that he has four more quarters of high school football left to play.

When his senior season ended in a playoff game against Rutherford, he thought his football career was over.

Turns out, it wasn’t.

“I heard about this game and I realized I’d get a chance to put on the pads one more time,” Kenney said. “I’m very excited and happy to put the pads back on.”

Kenney (45 tackles, 3 for loss) has always played linebacker and relished the nuances of the position. No wonder he grabbed the opportunity to play when given one last chance.

“Hitting people is my favorite part of the game,” he said. “There isn’t any other sport where you can get angry and release that anger.”

“Finn is a great kid,” Fulton said. “He came in as a running back as a freshman and we moved him to guard out of necessity and there were no complaints. He bought into being a lineman. He was a two-year starter at linebacker. He is the only kid in the program to have gotten onto the varsity field as a freshman.”

Lahoe and Bitar, meanwhile, both had careers that were plagued by injuries. The Robeson game will give them a chance to show what they can do against top-notch competition.

Lahoe was tormented literally right from the opening whistle as a senior. In the Crusaders season-opening game, he took a handoff against Caldwell, sprained his ankle, and then spent the rest of the game hobbling around.

He spent the rest of his senior year nowhere near 100 percent. Not only that, but Morris Catholic finished 0-10. The Crusaders were manhandled in every game, but he will get one last chance to redeem himself.

“It is a big thrill,” the running back-linebacker said. “For me, I didn’t have the best season. But this is another opportunity to go have fun. My senior year I hoped for a good go-off year but it didn’t go off as planned.”

Lahoe wants to walk on at the University of West Virginia next summer and the East-West game will acclimate him to a higher level of football. He wants to test his skills at the highest possible level. That is why the Robeson game is so meaningful to him.

“It’ll be a fun experience against the best kids from the area,” he said. “It’s a chance for me to prove my talent against everyone else.”

As a Morris Catholic junior, Lahoe was a 1,000-yard rusher. Not only that, his character on the field and off was so endearing that Crusaders coach John Hack returned to the sidelines at the school to coach players such as Lahoe.

Hack almost chose to step aside from coaching after the 2022 campaign and then resigned at the end of the 2023 season. He will be the new head coach at Voorhees this fall.

“Matt is a fantastic kid,” Hack said. “He was my first and only 1,000-yard rusher in my time at Morris Catholic. He is a warrior and a great teammate.”

Bitar’s injury woes took place during his junior year and short-circuited his plans. He will attend Fordham and major in business. That’s why he jumped at the chance to play in the Robeson game. If he cannot play college football, now he’ll get a chance to see how he stacks up against stellar competition.

Bitar rushed for almost 1,000 yards for the Cougars but it came after an injury-plagued junior campaign. If he’d had his senior year while he was a junior, he may have been recruited to play.

As things turned out, D-3 college coaches had their rosters all but mapped out when recruiting season came around.

There was some interest in Bitar, but things were never solidified. He will always wonder what might have been, but now he has the East-West game to see just how he stacks up.

“I was hoping after the year I had I’d be able to play in college,” he said. “It hurt not having a junior year. That is when recruiting really starts.”

Bitar suffered from a lingering hip injury that limited his availability. He showed what he could do as a senior when he rushed for 918 yards and 11 TDs.

“We had high hopes coming into his senior year but we didn’t expect almost 1,000 yards and 10 TDs,” coach Evan Picariello said. “He was a very, very good running back as a senior.

He was hurt as a junior and we did not know what to expect going into his senior year. But he worked hard in the weight room. August rolled around and he stepped right in. As a sophomore he showed glimpses. But he was hurt as a sophomore and junior. We didn’t see much. As a senior, he was an all-around really good football player. He showed speed and power and was not afraid to mix it up. “He wanted to play in college. He didn’t know he wanted college football until senior year, but he had no tape to go off.”

In addition, Bitar was Chatham’s National Football Foundation scholar-athlete recipient. He owns a 4.1 GPA and scored 1440 on his SAT.

Now he’ll get a chance to see how he stacks up against many players going on to the next level.

“I’ve thought if I do well in that game, a coach can see and I could use it to my advantage,” he said. “I have nothing to lose. Just go out there and do whatever I can. Whatever happens, happens.”

Hodges, meanwhile, had a terrific three-year career as a Cougar and the Robeson game will serve as a way to get acclimated to college football.

For three years, Hodges played all over the field and was a consistent threat for Picariello. Hodges presented problems for defenses whenever the ball was in his hands. Over three years, he was 127 for 256 passing for 1,377 yards and nine TDs, rushed 253 times for 1,282 yards, and caught 52 passes for 489 yards. He is one of the most versatile players in school history.

Hodges is listed on the West roster as a quarterback, though that can change. He projects as a slot receiver at Gettysburg.

“I’ll definitely have a lot of fun,” he said. “I know guys who played in the game last year.”

One of those was former Randolph’s Clark, who was the West MVP and is now playing quarterback at Gettysburg.

“I went out to watch football practice and I liked it,” Hodges said.

“He shines with the ball in his hands and is a threat from all over the field,” Picariello said. “He can throw, catch, rush, and kick return. He accomplished all four. He is a tough kid, an athlete, a gamer, all of that. Guys like that are tough to replace. We are gonna miss him at Chatham, that’s for sure.”

The Robeson game means something even to the coaches. Whippany Park coach Luke Maginnis, the West’s head coach, gets to lead senior Wildcats Lucas D’Addozio, Michael Fahmine, Peter Urato, and Andrew Deehan onto the football field one final time.

“It is a really cool environment,” Maginnis said. “I am coaching with people I am friends with. Plus, this is for the kids, many of whom are competing in one final game.”