Elmwood Park football stepping up to face a tougher challenge | State of the Program

For Elmwood Park, 2024 will be a year in a new league facing old rivals.

The Crusaders are moving back to mainstream competition in the NJIC Colonial this season after four years of play in the Union Division. The Crusaders (4-6) reached the Union final in each of the last two years and planned to level up even before the conference scrapped the developmental league.

Coach Tom Mulligan is candid about the challenges his team will face, especially with a roster in the low-to-mid 30s. Getting the chance to face Garfield and Lodi in back-to-back weeks is a nice tradeoff for alums like him who bleed Crusader red.

"When I saw that, I was so excited," Mulligan said. "It's like, let's go. Now we're back. We get the boys from the other side of the tracks and then the Mayor's Trophy. I'm excited for it. It's going to be fun playing some of those meaningful games again."

Elmwood Park was one of the founding members of the Union Division in 2020 and leaves in a much better place than where it started. The Crusaders finished with a 17-11 record over the last four seasons after settling for one win or fewer in five straight years beforehand.

Now, Elmwood Park will be placed in a division with Becton, Cresskill/Emerson, Garfield, Lodi, Lyndhurst and Palisades Park/Leonia.

As Mulligan put it, the training wheels are off as he prepares for his 11th season on River Drive.

"I'm so excited," Mulligan said. "I know it's not going to be easy. I'm not an idiot. I'm a realist and it's going to be tough. It's not going to be the Union Division. There are going to be games where you are the underdog. You're not going to be the favorite and that's fine. I love it. I love being the underdog."

MORE: Inside look at HS football teams in Bergen and Passaic counties

The tradition

Elmwood Park won four straight sectional titles from 1969 to 1972, when the school and the town were known as East Paterson.

Those remain the only sectional titles for the Crusaders, although the team has made five trips to the state playoffs since then. By stepping out of the Union Division, the Crusaders are once again eligible for the state playoffs.

Mulligan led the Crusaders to their last playoff trip in 2014 and now shares a program record with Ken Karl as the longest-tenured head coaches.

The challenge

Elmwood Park is hoping the experience across the lineup can help mitigate the challenge of moving divisions.

It starts at quarterback with senior Jayden Ferrer, who returns to lead the offense for the third straight season after throwing for 996 yards and 10 touchdowns last fall.

Junior Jesse Schratz (726 yards on 114 carries) will be by his side again as the lead running back and should benefit from an offensive line that graduated only one starter. Senior linemen Lucas Thomas and Brayden Olson are part of that established core in the trenches, while senior linebacker Kyle Shamah will orchestrate the defense as a four-year starter.

"We're senior-heavy this year," Mulligan said. "So it's the year to get anything done wins-wise in mainstream football."

Expectations

This will be uncharted territory for everyone on the current Elmwood Park roster.

Mulligan feels like he has the pieces to be competitive in games and pinpoints a Week 2 matchup with Lyndhurst as a good measuring stick.

"Honestly, I would be a liar if I said I didn't want to win and win now," Mulligan said. "But I think realistically, it's the same thing as always. Keep getting better every day. Push forward. Be better at the end of the season than we were at the start of the season. And yes, those rivalry games would be nice to pull off."

Schedule

Aug. 29: vs. Palisades Park/Leonia

Sept. 13: at Lyndhurst

Sept. 21: at Lodi

Sept. 27: vs. Garfield

Oct. 4: at Becton

Oct. 10: vs. Cresskill/Emerson

Oct. 17: TBD

Oct. 24: TBD

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Elmwood Park football stepping up to face a tougher challenge | State of the Program