The River Dell High School football team will be tested right off the bat when it opens its season tomorrow night.
The Golden Hawks will face West Essex, the defending North 1, Group 2 state champion, which defeated River Dell in the state final at MetLife Stadium last year.
Photo: The Record
Ninth-year head coach D.J. Nimphius wouldn’t say there’s a rivalry, or that this is a “revenge” game, since the personnel changes from year to year — a sentiment echoed by his senior captains, Tim Barnes, Kevin Barry, Austin Berninger and Ryan Duran — but it is still a good opening day litmus test for River Dell, which looks for a return trip to the Meadowlands after posting a 10-2 record in 2011.
“They’re very good again,” Nimphius said of West Essex. “They took it to us very good. We’re going to have to play better football than we did the last time. Right now, as far as I see, they’re simply better than us until we prove otherwise.”
“Starting with West Essex is a great opportunity for us [to prove our worth],” Berninger said.
Due to enrollment, River Dell is now classified as a Group 3 school, and with a new alignment, the Hawks will enter a new division, comprised of itself, Pascack Valley, Ramapo, rival Ramsey, Mahwah and Lakeland.
“I have no problems being in Group 3 because that’s what our numbers say,” Nimphius said. “It will be quite a challenge.”
In order to get back to MetLife, “we’re going to have to be very sound early in the year with what we do best – running the option and playing outstanding defense,” the coach said, adding that River Dell also possesses a strong special teams unit.
Duran said that the Hawks would have to treat every game “like it was their last” and use that as motivation to get back to the state final.
Many of the returning River Dell players are at the skill positions, including the 6-foot-4, 185-pound Barnes, a senior quarterback and multi-sport athlete who has garnered interest from Division I schools, and running backs Barry (5-10, 165) and Duran (6-1, 190).
This preseason, Berninger (6-2, 255), two-way lineman Andrew Stengel (5-10, 190), linebacker Bobby Wopelhurst (5-7, 175), wide receiver/defensive back Christian DeSanctis (5-10, 165) and offensive lineman/linebacker Chris Allingham (6-0, 190) have all impressed Nimphius. The coach has also seen “outstanding repetitions” from Dylan Gramuglia (6-foot, 190), a two-way lineman.
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