Story by: Greg Tartaglia / Record Sports Department
Help for the North Arlington football program has arrived in the form of Super Bowl champions.
The team went 2-25 over the past three seasons. Both wins came at the expense of Ridgefield, and last year’s came via forfeit (after the Royals suspended varsity football). That means the Vikings varsity has not walked off the field with a victory since 2016.
Enter the next generation.
“We had a big freshman class come in,” coach Paul Savage said. “The eighth-graders last year had won the [Meadowlands Football League] Super Bowl at their level. … There’s actually two freshmen that are going to get time on the varsity level this year, because they’re just good football players.”
The roster size at Group 1 North Arlington has jumped from 32 to 44. Two more players will be eligible to play the entire season after transferring from St. Mary back to their home district a year ago: left guard/nose tackle Christopher Stirone and fullback/linebacker Robert Tomasco.
“They came back last year as juniors and had to sit half the season out,” Savage said. “Now we have them for a full year, so that’s going to help our squad out.”
Savage, a 2002 North Arlington graduate, enters his third year at the helm of a team with just two winning seasons and one playoff berth (a 4-6 campaign in 2015) in the past two decades.
“The numbers increasing is a good sign,” he said. “It’s just, we started at zero, and we’re getting there.
“Like everybody says, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.”
The tradition
North Arlington was awarded a pair of NJSIAA sectional titles in the 1940s and went unbeaten (8-0) in 1957 to earn the North 1, Group 2 crown.
In the 45 years since the state-playoff system was initiated, the Vikings have qualified four times and reached a pair of sectional finals – 1984 and 1994.
John Galante guided the latter team and has the most wins of any North Arlington coach since 1950 (64 from 1990-2005). John Kaelin (1964-75) is second in that span with 49.
Paul Kelley (1955-63) – who oversaw the ’57 championship group – and Anthony Marck (2006-16) are tied for third with 39 victories apiece.
The challenge
For North Arlington, the No. 1 hurdle is playing in the NJIC Meadowlands Division.
That means one game each against reigning Group 1 sectional champs Butler (North 1) and Hasbrouck Heights (North 2). Those teams met in the inaugural North Group 1 Bowl, which Hasbrouck Heights won, 41-7.
“I read that Hasbrouck Heights is ranked No. 6 in the nation, small-group wise, right now,” Savage noted. “The biggest goal is to be competitive in all our games and win the games that we’re able to.”
Expectations
While Group 1 football inherently means small rosters, an upside is that players get more opportunities to earn varsity letters.
Rising juniors Joe Witt (QB) and Pete Ziakos (center) both enter their third season as starters. Witt was a slot receiver as a freshman and sophomore but showed a good arm on the baseball field and is the Vikings’ best athlete.
Rising senior lineman Jeremiah Mercado returns and will lead the offensive side of the ball at left guard. “He’s a kid I could see playing at the next level,” Savage said.
“There are certain people that need to have leadership roles on this team, to [the point] where that’ll get this thing going,” the coach added. “It’s definitely going in an upward direction, for sure.”
