State's No. 1 Soccer Conference
Remains Heavily-Stacked SEC

Longtime Essex County coaches like Marty Berman, in the early stages of his 41st season at Seton Hall Prep while entering the year with 566 victories, and Doug Nevins, one of his former Pirate players who has etched his own incredible reign at West Orange with 415 victories in his first 26 seasons, will tell you the same thing on an annual basis.

And the strong assertion that they make each fall appears to have an even more emphatic reality this fall when one looks around the state’s boys soccer scene.

The Super Essex Conference - and particularly the loop’s top division - the American, is the best league in New Jersey high school soccer.

And perhaps by as wide a margin as it’s ever been.

Consider that three group state champions return this season with plenty of talent still in tow. No. 1 ranked St. Benedict’s, which went 19-0-1 last fall in winning the Essex County Tournament title and a Non-Public A state championship, returns standouts such as high-scoring senior forward Amadou Hann, who dominated up top for much of last season while scoring 23 goals for the powerful Gray Bees.

West Orange, which was ranked No. 2 in the state by nj.com entering this season, was edged by St. Benedict’s, 1-0, in an early regular season match on Thursday, Sept. 3, but will once again be a favorite to repeat in Group 4 where it rolled to the state championship last fall while finishing an impressive 24-2, including a narrow 1-0 setback to the Gray Bees in the ECT final at Livingston.

Montclair Kimberley Academy, ranked 10th in the pre-season statewide poll, returns the bulk of its lineup from a Non-Public B state championship squad and the Cougars demonstrated just how formidable they can be with an impressive 4-1 home-standing victory over crosstown rival Montclair, also on Sept. 3.

Glen Ridge, which is also a member of the SEC-American Division this fall, had its own banner season in 2025 under its terrific coach Brian Ianni, as the Ridgers defeated Delaware Valley, 3-1, to win their first Group 1 state championship since 2019.

SHP, which is off to a strong start this fall, was eighth in the first nj.com statewide rankings and Berman’s team should be able to put together another strong side that could very well be yet county and state tourney title threat.

Montclair, ranked 15th in that same pre-season poll, has gotten off to a bit of a rough start with losses to Millburn (1-0) and MKA; however, veteran coach Toure’ Weaver’s Mounties are usually a strong finisher once they get some of the early kinks out of the armor, and promise to be a very challenging squad as well.

The schedule has little let up for Montclair with upcoming road matches at West Orange (7 p.m., Sept. 9) and St. Benedict’s (Sept. 16 at 4 p.m.) before hosting SHP, 4 p.m., Sept. 23, at Fortunato field.

An early-season unranked team to keep an eye on could be West Essex, under veteran coach Rob Grosso, who previously did some very solid work with strong Millburn sides. The Knights, who are in the SEC’s second-best division, the Liberty, tied MKA, 0-0, to start this season, and then knocked off Millburn, 2-1.

Nevins will guide West Orange against his high school alma mater on Sept. 16 as SHP visits the Mountaineers at 4 p.m. in what is always a much-anticipated showdown.

In terms of some of the personnel to watch for the aforementioned soccer sides, for St. Benedict’s, in addition to the ever-present finisher Hann, the Gray Bees return other standouts including sophomore defender Richmond Laribah, junior midfielder Frank Pah and senior goalkeeper Graham O’Hara, who played behind the since-graduated Mason Schuler for much of last season but appears ready for a big season guarding the net.

West Orange may have bid adieu to national high school Player of the Year Marcus Jackson (UCLA) along with high-scoring Carl Hall; however, the Mountaineers return plenty of talent including junior defender Chase Winds, senior midfielder Darius Millington (13 goals, 7 assists in 2025) and steady senior goalkeeper Agustin Arrieta.

MKA graduated key pieces such as all-state keeper Jan Hegna (Harvard) and high-scoring forward Nick Carrascosa (St. John’s), but has loads of experience still in tow for veteran coach Rob Leather with senior defender Wes Narucki, senior midfielder Solomon Lucas and high-scoring senior forward C.J. Dike, who came on strong during the Cougars’ 2025 state tourney championship run while finishing with 12 goals and 7 assists.
A superb all-around athlete in senior Joe Morante takes over in goal for Hegna and shows excellent promise to continue strong net-minding for MKA this fall.

Boosting the fortunes of another deep and talented SHP side are junior defender Henry Foucaud, junior midfielder Finnegan Salamone, senior forward Matthew Pasternak and senior keeper Liam Collins, who shared time with two other goalies last fall but is certainly ready to take an even larger role this season.

Montclair returns consistent senior midfielder Desmond Dosch and high-scoring senior forward Florian Intres (12 goals, 10 assists in 2025).

Young and talented West Essex is boosted by an ascending nucleus including sophomore defender Kyle Moran, junior midfielder Charlie Agosta and sophomore forward Mason Buchsbaum.  

And, don’t sleep on other very capable SEC soccer sides, such as at Millburn, Livingston, the aforementioned Glen Ridge and Verona.
Glen Ridge edged Verona, 2-1, in a high-octane North 2, Group 1 state sectional final last fall.

The Hillbillies are coached by the legendary SEC mentor Jack Weber, who guided Montclair for 30 years before making the transition to Verona where he resides.

All told, the SEC promises to produce more championship contenders in 2026.       

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