An early-season slide to begin last season slowed Sparta, but the Spartans finished the year as a championship contender once again.
Sparta lost to a division opponent for the first time in several years to begin last season, falling to Lakeland to end a 36-game winning streak within the division. The Spartans continued to struggle after that, crawling to a 1-5 record by mid-October.
"You look at all four of those games, they were all losses to programs who made runs into the playoffs," coach Frank Marchiano said. "We had graduated a lot of impactful players during the offseason and we had players coming into roles they had never filled before on varsity. I'm very proud of those seniors for not throwing the towel in and coming to work every day."
A pair of wins to end the regular season allowed Sparta to sneak into the North 1, Group 3 sectional playoffs as the No. 7 seed. The Spartans traveled to No. 2 seed Hillside in the quarterfinals and rallied from a double-digit deficit to pull off a 27-26 upset.
The following week, Sparta lost to West Morris in the sectional semifinals.
"It was a great program win to head to Hillside and beat a great team," Marchiano said. "But when your season ends with a loss, it adds a little more motivation into the offseason. Everyone works a little bit harder after things end sooner than you hoped they would."
The last-season turnaround coincided with then-sophomore Shane Hoover stepping in at quarterback. He threw for more than 1,100 yards and a dozen touchdowns in two-thirds of a season.
Marchiano, also the school's baseball coach, knew about Hoover's athleticism and was impressed with how he took to his new role.
"Shane is just an exceptional athlete," Marchiano said. "There's nothing he can't do on the baseball field and that translates to football too. He's a three-sport athlete playing basketball and he's often the one bringing the ball up the court. Getting his first start in Game 5 and what he was able to do from there until Game 12, we are now watching him grow and mature and become more of a leader."
The tradition
Sparta has been the standard-bearer for playoff success among Sussex county football programs.
Last year marked the 12th straight season with a playoff appearance, and the 29th time the Spartans have reached the postseason, the most of any school in the county.
Sparta owns seven sectional championships, tied with Lenape Valley for the most in Sussex County. The Spartans last hoisted a trophy in 2015, when they beat River Dell in the North 1, Group 3 sectional final for the second year in a row.
The challenge
The downside to a streak of success like Sparta's is the pressure of keeping that trend going.
The playoff streak was in jeopardy last season before the Spartans' late-season turnaround.
"It's still high school football," Marchiano said. "You can never rest on what you've done in years prior. Every season is a new crop of kids. Every season has a different set of challenges. It comes down to perseverance and staying the course."
Expectations
The Spartans expect to compete within the SFC American White division and contend for a sectional title.
But the 2024 season will include a difficult start as Sparta's first five opponents all won at least seven games last season. The full schedule features six playoff teams from a year ago, five of which won at least one playoff game.
Sparta's Week 0 opponent, Montville, also snuck into the playoffs as a No. 7 seed and pulled off a first-round upset.
"That's a tough team in Montville," Marchiano said. "We know we have to make sure to get off the bus in that one."
Schedule
Aug. 30: vs. Montville
Sept. 6: at Lakeland
Sept. 13: vs. Roxbury
Sept. 20: at Newton
Sept. 27: vs. Vernon
Oct. 4: at Dover
Oct. 18: at West Milford
Oct. 25: vs. Jefferson
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