NORTH CALDWELL- The last two times Hanover Park and West Essex have met, each game was a one-point nailbiter with the Knights prevailing, 22-21 in 2024, and the Hornets winning 29-28 last year. So, when these two teams met on a brilliant Friday 9/11 afternoon at Travis Field, more of the same would have been expected in the 30th Cardone Cup Game between the two longtime rivals from neighboring counties.
It was anything but a nailbiter.
With a dominant performance on both sides of the ball, the host Knights shut out the Hornets 31-0 in a Super Football Conference crossover game while also taking back the Cardone Cup once again.
How dominant was it?
West Essex outgained Hanover Park 336-42, held the ball for 35:45 and allowed just one first down, which came with 9:30 left in the game.
Where did the domination come from?
“The kids had a real good week in practice and my coaches put together a great game plan” lauded Knights coach Dan Fulton, who coached the Hornets from 2018-24. “The kids are coachable, they did what we asked. That’s a good football team, and I think we just did our job. I didn’t expect this, I thought a shootout was coming.”
The Knights set the tone on their first possession, going 55 yards in 17 plays and taking 9:40 off the clock. Led by senior QB Gaetano Iavarone, West Essex converted two third downs and a pair of fourth downs. He was 5-5 for 33 yards on the drive, and it was a 13-yard connection with Anthony Conforti that set the Knights up in Hanover Park territory at the 40. Anthony Cirigliano’s two-yard pickup on 4th-and-1 from the 31 extended the drive.
A 10-yard scamper by Iavarone moved the ball to the 12. On 4th-and-goal from the six-inch line, the senior burrowed in to make it 7-0 with 42 seconds left in the first quarter.
With 8:55 left in the half, West Essex took over at their 3, and put together a 21-play, 97-yard drive to double the lead. The key play was a running into the kicker penalty on 4th-and-1 from the 12, which kept the drive alive. Once again, the Knights went for it on 4th down, and Iavarone ran for five yards on 4th-and-1 from the WE 26. He then converted three third downs with his arm, two passes going to Cirigliano and the other to Luke Kesack. A 10-yard strike to Kesack made it 1st-and-10 from the HP 12. On the next play, Iavarone scampered in for the score with 14 seconds left in the half and it was 14-0 West Essex at the break.
The senior QB showed a good chemistry with his receivers, and the hard work has paid off.
“Every day in practice in summer, and then now.,” said Iavarone. “It’s no secret West Essex works hard.”
And Coach Fulton lauded the work of his QB.
“We knew what Gaetano had more than anything was heart,” said the Knights’ second-year head mentor. “He is a gamer. He’s a kid that’s just gonna make plays. We’re gonna keep getting the reads better and better and he’s just gonna keep getting better and better. We’re gonna watch the film, we made a lot of mistakes today and we’re gonna focus on that.”
It was more of the same in the second half with the Knights taking the kickoff and holding the ball for almost six minutes. A 22-yard hookup with Nick Dungo moved the ball to the HP 22 and when the drive stalled, the aptly-named Knight Whitmore booted a 32-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17-0.
The defense then made a play, with junior Luke Cifelli intercepting a tipped pass at the HP 11. After a 10-yard burst by Cirigliano, the junior RB hauled in a 3-yard swing pass for the score, which made it 24-0, and erasing any doubt about the final result.
By the numbers: Iavarone was 15-21 for 114 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. He ran 15 times for 42 yards and 2 TD. Ayden Green led all rushers with 93 yards on 7 carries and 1 TD. Kesack led the defense with two of the five TFLs. He also caught 6 passes for 41 yards.
Both teams will be on the road next Friday. West Essex travels to Sparta, while Hanover Park is at Caldwell.
30th Cardone Cup Game, Friday, Sept. 11, in North Caldwell:
Hanover Park (2-1) 0 0 0 0 0
West Essex (3-0) 7 7 10 7 31
Gaetano Iavarone 1 run (Robert Warmington kick)
Iavarone 12 run (Warmington kick)
Knight Whitmore 32 FG
Anthony Cirigliano 3 pass from Iavarone (Warmington kick)
Ayden Green 26 run (Warmington kick)
***
Cardone Cup Has A Rich History
The Cardone Cup, established in 1980, has become a coveted prize for the winner of the regular season clash between the two very similar schools from bordering counties; and the most recent pair of showdowns between the teams epitomizes just how closely-contested a rivalry it is.
Hanover Park edged the Knights, 29-28, in last season’s game, also at Travis Field, while West Essex earned an equally narrow 22-21 triumph over the Hornets in East Hanover in the 2024 gridiron battle.
Special guest Don Cardone, one of Cosmo Cardone’s three sons, who came out to the regional high school in North Caldwell this past Wednesday for a special Cardone Cup breakfast while also taking the opportunity to speak to the respective captains from both teams and also enjoy some breakfast together just a couple of days before their 2026 regular season contest.
“The Cardone Cup most importantly represents a tradition and a connection between our communities, which are really the same in many ways, just in different counties,” said the West Essex AD. “There are a lot of the same demographics at both schools which honor the great tradition of the Cardone Cup which honors Cosmo, a longtime Hanover Park guidance counselor, whose own kids went to West Essex.
“It’s not simply about the football game or who wins it. The game reminds us that these two communities - despite being competitors - have a shared history and have a great deal of respect for each other.
“We want you guys to remember to be physical, compete at a high level in the game, be passionate and proud for your school, but remember that you guys have a mutual respect.
“The greatest rivalries aren’t built on ‘disrespect.’ They are actually built on competition, mutual respect and tradition.
“Who knows? One day you could be college roommates, in the same fraternity, or perhaps even wind up working with each other in the job world.”
Don Cardone, who was a standout ice hockey goalie for West Essex, and played freshmen football for the Knights after a Pop Warner career with the Roseland Raiders, shared some memories of his dad, who was ultimately someone with a passion for helping others.
“My dad tried to make things better for those around him and he always looked out for younger people,” said the 1975 West Essex graduate who now runs a successful broadcast, software and digital media company. “He started a Roseland Teen Center to help keep kids from just hanging out on the streets and getting in trouble, providing a place where they could go to play pool and simply have some good fun together in a positive setting.
“He would also do whatever he could to help the students he worked with at Hanover Park in an effort to get them into the college where they wanted to go, while making direct calls in order to do whatever extra work he could do to help the kids achieve what they wanted in the college process.
“He was very involved in both schools, including with his own kids going to West Essex. My two younger brothers played football including my youngest brother who was a member of the 1980 state championship team that played in the Meadowlands.
“My dad wound up having quite an impact with young people who went to both schools, and it’s terrific that the Cardone Cup remains such a special part of both schools’ football season!”
The Cup game has been an off-and-on contest since 1980 depending on division and conference schedules that the two teams are presented each year now by the Super Football Conference.
There was no Cardone Cup game from 2021-2023, and before last year’s 29-28 Hornets victory the Morris County school had not won the cup game since 2016.
The two coaches – Nick Liberato at Hanover Park and Dan Fulton at West Essex – are each in their second years at their respective schools and both have unique connections to where they work now, and in Fulton’s case, where he had been.
For Liberato Hanover Park is a school where as a very young boy he could watch his dad, highly-regarded North Jersey coach John Liberato, etch an indelible mark with the Hornets as he was head coach of the program from 1994-2002 while winning four straight Cardone Cup games from 1997-2000.
“I love coaching at Hanover Park and the Cardone Cup remains a very big part of our season,” said the younger Liberato, who took over the reins of the Hornets last fall after serving as an assistant coach at Madison. “The West Essex game is part of a very important stretch of very tough opponents for us in the next three weeks since we’re at Caldwell next week (Sept. 18) and we then host Westwood (Sept. 25).”
The man Nick Liberato replaced at Hanover Park happens to be Fulton, who spent seven seasons as the Hornets head coach, including guiding the team to a 10-2 season and a North 2, Group 2 state sectional title in 2024, even with a narrow 22-21 setback to Wessex in the Cardone Cup game that year.
When longtime West Essex coach Chris Benacquista decided to accept an offer of the head coaching position at Wayne Valley in the town where he resides and where his son and daughters have gone to high school, Fulton made the move over to the North Caldwell-based regional school in order to coach the Knights.
“Demographically they are very similar schools,” said the Wessex head mentor with a unique perspective on both programs. “Hanover Park was a great place and I loved being there. I coached these kids (pointing to Hornet 2026 senior tri-captains at the breakfast) when they were sophomores and I won my first state title, and I care about them still.
“It’s a tremendous rivalry and I’m so happy to now be at West Essex where the players are just as passionate about football and come ready to work hard each and every day.
“Growing up as a kid in Parsippany and playing for coach Dave Albano at Parsippany Hills I hated both Hanover Park and West Essex, but I knew about the Cardone Cup, how big a rivalry it was, and how cool it was to be a part of the game.
“Now, being blessed to have coached at both schools that compete for the Cardone Cup it is tremendous to have another game between two outstanding teams and high school football programs that truly appreciate tradition and respect.”
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