Football Aims to Take it One Game at a Time

If the Summit Hilltoppers are feeling extra pressure as defending state champions, they are not letting it show.  For the fourth year in a row, the Hilltoppers have returned their entire coaching staff and everyone involved is excited to get this season underway.

"If other people say the target is on our backs that's fine," said head coach John Liberato.  "We just want to be 1-0 after Voorhees.  We approached it the same way last year as we kept going.  Every team wants to win the state championship and that's their goal, but you have to have steps to get there and that's the way we approach it."

Voorhees will be the first game of the season, and is one of five new opponents that the Hilltoppers will face this season.  The Hilltoppers will also take on Warren Hills, Rahway, New Providence, Kenilworth and David Brearley for the first time.

"We're just going to do our job and get our kids prepared for whoever we're playing," Liberato said at the team's Media Day Wednesday. "You might have an idea of familiarity with the teams you played last year, but they have different players also and they're going to do different things.  So from week to week we have to prepare our kids to understand what they're going to face."

Not all of the opponents will be unfamiliar.  The team will meet Hillside, A.L. Johnson, Cranford, and rival Governor Livingston again this year.  The Governor Livingston game will once again be played under the lights, though it will be in Berkeley Heights this year.

"This year it's at Governor Livingston," Liberato said.  "We're going to switch off every year.  Investors Savings Bank is going to sponsor the game and they give the Investors Savings Bank Cup, so, what we did here last year we're doing up there this year."

Summit took the biggest hit on offense with the loss of Dwaine Dabney, Matt Rea, and Joe Jakolski, but Liberato sees it as an "opportunity for this year's senior class."

"It doesn't change things," he said. "We're going to do what we do best.  We probably passed the ball 50 percent of the time on first down and we'll always do that.  We'll put the kids in the position to be successful."

Last year's remarkable success also gave Summit an extra edge.

"We were lucky enough last year to be ahead in enough of our games to give a lot of our underclassmen a lot of time," said offensive and defensive tackle Austin Jennings.  "So even though we've got some younger guys, they've had varsity experience and they've come up with a team that knows how to win."

The team is also confident in their offense's level of competitiveness.  Ryan Bringewatt should fit nicely into the quarterback position, and will be surrounded by experienced teammates.

"It feels pretty good," said right guard and inside linbacker Nick Oristanio.  "We feel confident considering we ran the same offense the past two years.  Everyone's up to speed, and I feel like we're ahead of where we've been in the past few years.  I'm optimistic."

Despite graduating 25 seniors, the team returns a significant number of talented players to the offense.  Nowhere will that be more obvious than from the line.

"I think our strength comes from our three offensive lineman," said coach Liberato.  "We have Max Munoz back at center for the third year.  We have Nick Oristanio back at guard.  We have Austin Jennings back at tackle.  We have the two outside guys.  You have Sal, who's the fastest kid on the team, and then you have O'Malley who's 6'6".  So we're going to try and use all the weapons."

Munoz, Oristanio, and Jennings are just three of the senior leaders on the team.  Captains have yet to be named, but leadership seems to be a quality this team has in excess.

"It's different," Munoz said.  "Last year we had some expertise guys who knew what they were doing and this year we have a lot of young guys who need to stop up and they look like they will.  We know what it takes to get our running backs those extra yards and we're ready to do what it takes."

Defensively, the Hilltoppers also bring back a solid number of players.  Last season the Hilltoppers marked defense as one of the core areas to improve upon.  This year, the unit returns with more confidence and experience.

"We have a good nucleus back with our defensive ends O'Malley and Jeffries.  Those guys really never came off the field last year.  Then you have Nick Oristanio, he's back for a third year at middle linebacker and he's our master controller.  He makes all the calls up front.  We feel we have a good nucleus back."

"There's a little bit of pressure but I think we're going to make it all the way again," said O'Malley.  "There's a great supporting role here and everyone's doing their part."

Special teams is another area that the Hilltoppers rely heavily on.  The loss of Alex Melendez might have been a cause for worry, but the Summit program has another kicker to step in.

"Melendez was an outstanding kicker, but we have a sophomore, Michael Badgley, and he's an outstanding kicker," Liberato said.  "You're going to be pleasantly surprised with a sophomore that can kick like he can."

The rest of the special teams unit is both experienced and highly regarded.

"We have Sal (Liberato) back for the third year at long snapper and he's ranked 11th in the nation," Liberato said.  "Peter Badgley is the holder that we've had for three years.  So our operation time on field goals and extra points is very, very good. Stefano (Stadlinger) now steps in as our punter, and with Sal getting the ball back there, what we do on special teams is really going to help."

"I feel pretty good," Sal Liberato said. "Everybody's been working really hard.  I did a lot of off season training so I'm just hoping that it pays off this season.  We did lifting together as a team and running together this summer.  Hopefully that will give us some team unity."

Oristanio summed up the team mentality nicely in just two short words.

"Go Summit!"

Download the movie