Ridgewood Football: Another Year of Expectations for the Maroons in Year Two Under Torre Watson

RIDGEWOOD, NJ – With less than 72 hours before the Ridgewood Maroons open their season, 2024 is expected to be another year of high hopes and big aspirations.

Under first-year Head Coach Torre Watson, the Ridgewood Maroons had an up and down season in 2023. The team started 1-3 and climbed their way back into the postseason picture, thanks in part to a miraculous win over Montclair, before losing their opening round playoff game for the second straight year in a shootout against Union.

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In an effort to set themselves up better for late season success, Watson has been impressed with this year’s senior class’s ability to set the tone during the first few weeks of practice. The second-year head coach acknowledged that the struggles at the start of last season and the early exit in the postseason are well below the standard for the Ridgewood football program. Watson is confident that 2024 will start off much better than 2023.

“These seniors are focused on being great leaders, having a great commitment, and changing the narrative from last season,” Watson said. “They have worked very hard in the off-season and this camp to have some better success for us. Our schedule is much more difficult this year than last, so we are prepared for that. These kids are excited to get going so we will see how things go week to week.”

In keeping with the roller coaster nature of 2023, the Maroons shuffled through three quarterbacks a season ago. Sophomore Hudson Feeney started the year as the starter after winning the job in camp, but suffered an ankle injury in September against Northern Highlands. The job was then passed to first-year student Gavin McCrone who started five games for the Maroons before he was injured in the regular season finale against Ramapo. Will Yates was then forced to start Ridgewood’s lone playoff game and shined under center, throwing for 236 yards and three touchdowns on 12 of 14 passing.

Despite the production in the postseason, Yates will play receiver for the Maroons in 2024 as the competition has been between the junior Feeney and sophomore McCrone. With Ridgewood’s opener against Clifton set for this upcoming Friday, Watson is still unsure who will be the starter when the Maroons take the field.

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“This year will again be an open competition between Hudson and Gavin,” Watson told TAPinto Ridgewood. “They have had a great camp and we will decide going into game one who will be the starter.”

As always with Ridgewood under Watson’s brief tenure in charge, the Maroons will rely heavily on the team’s seniors with players like Max Caruso, AJ Caruso, JC Flynn, Nick Brigliadoro, Jack Fitzgerald, MJ Aguilar and Harrison Cariddi projected to play important roles for Ridgewood in 2024 at the line of scrimmage.

At the skill positions, personnel like Colin Burns, Calvin Ran, Sam Diamond, JJ Lee and Michael McCarthy will be impact players, as well as defensive starters Owen Laffey, Charlie Schwanwede, Yates and Christian Smith and Jayden Watson.

On special team, the group will include Porter Holleran, Aidan Alegre, Zach Rubin and Finn McCarthy, according to Torre Watson.

Behind a deep roster, the expectations are once again high in Ridgewood in 2024. After a somewhat disappointing first year in charge of the Maroons, Watson understands the goals of Ridgewood football do not change despite roster and staff turnover. As a former Ridgewood football player himself, Watson is fully aware that the season is not considered a success unless the Maroons are the last team standing.

“Our expectation here does not change from year to year,” Watson stated. “We want to be a competitive team each week and contend for league and state titles here. This is a very hard task given the strength of our division in the league and our group in the playoffs. Nonetheless, we have had that as a goal in our program for years and it will not change. Being led by this senior class is something that we believe will put us in contention for these things week in and week out and we look forward to what this season brings with them.”

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