St. Mary football aims to build on best season in years | State of the Program

St. Mary football coach Paul Johnsen looks forward to having more company this season.

Participation has rebounded well following the COVID-19 pandemic, though the small parochial program from Rutherford expects more than just a well-populated sideline.

Last season, the Gaels were the No. 6 seed in the six-team Non-Public B playoff bracket. While several eligible teams chose not to participate, Johnsen’s bunch took on powerhouse DePaul in the opening round and learned some valuable lessons in a 63-21 loss.

“The kids realize that these bigger parochial schools, they’re human just like we are,” said Johnsen, whose team drove to a touchdown on its opening drive. “From top to bottom, could we compete with that team that day? No, they were a little bit bigger in numbers, bigger in size.

“But,” he added, “it just showed the kids that you can go compete with whoever you want, you’ve just got to put that work in.”

The Gaels’ grouping should yield a fuller bracket this year, as the NJSIAA has opted to categorize schools by non-public equivalency. Non-Public B will now feature all schools with enrollments similar to public Groups 1 and 2 schools .

The tradition

St. Mary has enjoyed stretches as a non-public power program, most recently in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the four-group playoff alignment that lasted until 2019, the Gaels reached 12 Group 1 finals in a 19-season span (including Johnsen’s senior season of 1997) under longtime coach Mike Sheridan.

The team’s last state championships came in 2006 under Sheridan, who went 202-113 in 32 seasons at the helm.

Though others have led St. Mary to playoff titles – Bill Stonis in the 1980 North Parochial B bracket and Bruce Bartlett in the same section in 1976 – Bartlett (34-21-2 in six seasons) is the only coach besides Sheridan to register more than 30 wins with the Gaels.

After his team went 6-5 last fall, Johnsen (10-16) has a chance to climb the ranks this year.

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

The challenge

The main concerns at St. Mary, besides potential postseason opponents? “Staying healthy, staying the course, and again, just improving every day and doing what we’re supposed to do,” Johnsen said.

The Gaels have fielded extremely young teams the past several seasons. Maturation of players who stayed with the program is helping, as did the arrival of a few transfers in 2023.

“This is, I feel like, everything we’ve been working [toward] for the past two or three years,” Johnsen said. “This is first year we get to deal with having a nice senior class.”

That fact also makes St. Mary a contender for a title it has yet to win.

Expectations

Last year brought about the Gaels’ first winning record since before the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference began its annual tournament for division winners. They wound up third in the NJIC Patriot division but may bring back the most talent of any team in the league.

Senior leaders include returning QB Bradley Higgins (14 TD passes last year) and highly versatile Kazier White (849 offensive yards, 4 INT on defense).

Goal No. 1 is to win the Patriot for the first time since 2015 and make a run at the conference championship.

“That is the plan,” Johnsen said before adding a caveat. “We shrink it down, though. We’re just talking about getting better every single day, and if we do that, we think that [the NJIC title] is a very, very attainable goal.”

Schedule

Aug. 29: at Pequannock

Sept. 7: vs. Park Ridge

Sept. 13: at Wood-Ridge

Sept. 20: at Weehawken

Sept. 28: vs. Bogota

Oct. 4: at Wallington

Oct. 11: TBD

Oct. 18: TBD

Oct. 25: TBD

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: St. Mary football aims to build on best season in years | State of the Program