North Jersey's No. 20 team maintains strong foundation with new coach | Top 20 countdown

Following the most successful coach in the combined football histories of Midland Park and Waldwick is a tough ask.

Fortunately for the players from both Bergen County communities, a former champion has entered the picture.

Dan DiStasi is the fifth head coach in the 18-year history of the Waldwick/Midland Park co-op team, which begins the 2024 season ranked No. 20 in the North Jersey Public Top 20.

The 2007 Bogota grad – who played on the Bucs’ North 1, Group 1 title team as a senior – was hired in January after Greg Gruzdis stepped down .

“Coming in as new coach in a new program, obviously you’re interested to see how the kids react to all of the new stuff that they’re going to come across,” DiStasi said. “And the kids have really bought in. They’ve been working hard, really since the middle of the spring, when we started up the weight room.”

DiStasi had served as an assistant to his former high school coach, Dan Sabella, since 2016, helping him bring a state title to Paramus Catholic before following Sabella to Ridgefield Park and Don Bosco.

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

The tradition

Prior to their merger, Midland Park and Waldwick were longtime Thanksgiving rivals. They also combined to employ 21 coaches, only three of whom finished their tenures with winning records.

Two of those lasted just one season: Tony Caporale with the Panthers (7-2 in 1987) and Howie Reed with the Warriors (9-2 with a North 1, Group 1 crown in 1988). Sonny Santorine was the only other to finish above .500, going 85-80-8 in varsity games (.515 winning percentage) at Midland Park from 1957-76.

Gruzdis went 88-47 (.652 win percentage) in 14 seasons leading the co-op, which included nine state-tournament berths and trips to sectional finals in 2013 and 2014. During his tenure, the boroughs’ youth programs also combined, further cementing the desire to work together for greater success.

“It’s a perfect kind of match, the two communities,” DiStasi said. “Those kids are playing together all the way through, from when they’re little until they get up to our level. So, I’m lucky because I’m stepping into something that’s been established, and it works.”

The challenge

Long entrenched in the Wing-T offense, Waldwick/Midland Park must adjust to a new scheme. DiStasi became familiar with the three-back system as a volunteer coach at Elizabeth, but now he anticipates using a Sabella-esque spread style with multiple formations.

“That’s just kind of what I came from as a coach,” DiStasi said. “And the kids have the same kind of attitude they’ve had with everything else – they really dove headfirst into learning everything that we’re trying to do.”

The short-term adjustment may be less arduous given that the Warriors’ three running backs all graduated. Four starters on the line are back, and rising senior quarterback Alex Caserta can pass (1,066 yards, 10 TD in 2023) and run (421 yards, 9 TD).

“We have a really great senior group this year,” DiStasi said. “There’s nine of them, and they’ve really taken charge and set the tone for the underclassmen on how we want the season to go this year.”

Expectations

The Warriors won four straight division titles from 2019-22, qualifying for the NJIC Tournament and reaching the final in 2020.

They remain in the Liberty Division for the conference’s next two-year scheduling cycle and are reunited with reigning NJIC champ Rutherford, a rival from their time in the Colonial Division.

“Rutherford is the class of the league right now… and that’s going to be a tremendous challenge for us,” DiStasi said. “But my expectations are always going to be high, and we’re going to hold the kids to that throughout the whole process.

“The program has been successful. There’s a foundation there that we’re stepping into with this new system. It’s all about how quickly we mesh and get things going.”

Schedule

Sept. 6: vs Rutherford, 7 p.m.

Sept. 13: at Glen Rock, 6 p.m.

Sept. 21: at Pompton Lakes, 1 p.m.

Sept. 27: vs. North Arlington, 7 p.m.

Oct. 4: at Manchester, 6 p.m.

Oct. 10: TBD

Oct. 18: TBD (Homecoming)

Oct. 25: TBD

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: North Jersey's No. 20 team maintains strong foundation with new coach | Top 20 countdown