The players and coaches in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference made it a year to remember on the gridiron.

The league saw a new champion, several deep postseason runs, and players rack up numbers that stood with the state’s best. Who stole the spotlight this season

Below, find the conference’s 2024 postseason honors, which include the Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Team of the Year and honors for each of those three awards in every division.

Player of the Year: PJ Coffey, Butler, Sr.

If you look across all five conferences, you won’t find many players who meant more to their team than PJ Coffey did.

The 5-11, 160-pounder had 57 carries for 400 yards and nine touchdowns, 37 receptions for 615 yards and 13 scores, 35 tackles and three takeaways, one punt return for a touchdowns, and a 47-of-52 conversion rate on PATs. Coffey also completed 3-of-3 passes for 53 yards on the season and his receiving touchdown total was first in the NJIC and tied for 12th in the state.

How big was this leap for the three-sporter? Coffey had 11 total touchdowns in his junior campaign and a passing score. He nearly doubled his total from last year and helped Butler win its first NJIC championship and first sectional crown since 2018.

“This wouldn’t be possible without my teammates or coaches,” Coffey said of his senior campaign. “[The coaches] prepped us all offseason through the weight room and long summer days throwing at the field. It allowed me to have such a great season. Overall, this is what I’ve worked for ever since I was younger. I just want to say thank you to the coaching staff and my teammates.”

Coach of the Year: Kyle McCourt, Glen Rock

It ended up being a banner type of season for first-year head coach Kyle McCourt, who guided Glen Rock to its best season in years.

Glen Rock posted a 9-2 record, reaching the NJIC championship game and reaching a sectional final. The senior class, led by quarterback Nick Atme and two-way lineman Peter Lagemann, was productive under McCourt’s guidance and capped off their successful high school careers on a high.

McCourt will look to build on his first season heading into next fall and should continue to compete in the NJIC and beyond.

“We had a really good season and a good group of seniors,” McCourt said. “We had 15 seniors and they pretty much set the tone for the year. A lot of them contributed in all three phases of the game and we had a lot of underclassmen who contributed and helped make this year unique. We had a great support staff from the rest of the coaches. It was an overall collective and fun year.

Team of the Year: Butler

It was the year of the Bulldog in the NJIC.

Butler put it all together in 2024 with an 11-1 record, a division crown, a NJIC title and a sectional championship. The league championship is the first Rutherford has not won since 2020.

Head coach Jason Luciani and company outscored their opponents by a ridiculous margin of 454-145. They scored 84 more points than the second highest scoring team in the conference in St. Mary (Ruth.) and the 10th-most points in the state.

Butler scored 40-plus points in eight of its 11 wins and outscored NJIC opponents by an absurd margin of 351-66.

Their season concluded with a 52-21 loss to Cedar Grove in the North Group 1 semifinals, but this was an all-time great campaign for the Bulldogs and perhaps the best in the 12-year career for Luciani.

“It was the culmination of a lot of hard work,” Luciani said. “We played a lot of this year’s seniors when they were freshmen. Those years of working – to see all their goals come to fruition for them in their senior year – it was rewarding for me and certainly rewarding for them as well.”

NJ.com division honors

Colonial Division

  • Player of the Year: Jon Palsi, Becton, Sr.
  • Coach of the Year: Jack Maher, Becton
  • Team of the Year: Becton

Liberty Division

  • Player of the Year: Nick Atme, Glen Rock, Sr.
  • Coach of the Year: Kyle McCourt, Glen Rock
  • Team of the Year: Glen Rock

Meadowlands Division

  • Player of the Year: PJ Coffey, Butler, Sr.
  • Coach of the Year: Jason Luciani, Butler
  • Team of the Year: Butler

Patriot Division

  • Player of the Year: Nasir Owens, St. Mary (Ruth.), Sr., RB/LB
  • Coach of the Year: Paul Johnsen, St. Mary (Ruth.)
  • Team of the Year: St. Mary (Ruth.)