He felt like he had been in “a bar fight” for three days in April after his diagnosis, and even then, he considers himself lucky.

5, RB/LB, 6-0, 230 – it was 1994 again and not the middle of the pandemic that took Callender’s life in August at 43. I played freshman football at Williamstown. “They were going to do whatever they could do in their power to watch me play.

It was something he shouldn’t have had to go through, nobody should have had to go through.

#5” embroidered on the back of the coaches' black crewnecks; in the presence of Dave McCombs, Callender’s head coach at Shabazz. There’s a chance Secaucus meets a former Liberty Division opponent in a crossover game towards the end of the season, but it’s first five games will be different than the last few years.
“But now? “Got to keep fighting. The teams are split up 1st-4th (with 1st & 2nd separated), 5th & 6th, 7th & 8th. “I learned he was a hard player, a hard hitter,” Johnson said, “We had to make sure we stepped up and did it for him.”. “The best thing about this school and this community is how together all of us are. He makes no promises after that. At any moment, anything can happen.”. Football was returning to Pleasantville, but during a moment of silence on Friday night, he could not forget the shots that rang out as he played in a state playoff game between Pleasantville and Camden, and the fear that gripped him.

Meanwhile, Monge hopes for a vaccine or medications that will convince doctors to give him a green light to play his senior season in 2021. The cheerleaders did their routines; the band played the national anthem and their halftime show. The games are always played on Saturdays. Hausmann said Mater Dei head coach Dino Mangiero had no complaints about the halftime set-up.

Hansen told his players it was “a miracle that we’re playing a football game” given how COVID-19 had devastated the state, and few coaches would disagree with that assessment. Hansen is retiring as head coach after this season -- nudged, in part, by the demands of navigating the COVID crisis.

That decision also uncloaked the sanctity of halftime, which, instead of a private confessional, was like a Joel Osteen event held in the open air for all to see, though few if anyone appeared interested. The games are always played on Saturdays. A. Football locker rooms are part grotto, secret vault and situation room – a place where players and coaches can go to grab a Gatorade, vent or cry, or deliver raw and honest speeches in the strictest of confidence.