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One of the standout defensive players to keep eye on in upcoming 46th Phil Simms New Jersey North-South High School All-Star Classic will be Summit senior Tyler Kessel, seen with coach Kevin Kostibos during the annual Media Day for the game held March 17 inside Kean University's Harwood Arena. The Dartmouth-bound Kessel will wear his familiar No. 12 in the June 9th all-star gamea at Kean's Alumni Field and the biggest name involved with the successful all-star event, who once starred for the Giants, will be there on game day. (SC photos and by John Haddad)

Summit’s Standout Linebacker
Will Help Lead North Defense

By JR Parachini
for sidelinechatter.com

UNION- Perhaps the main reason why the North has won three straight and now has another opportunity to take its first lead in the series in the Phil Simms New Jersey North-South High School All-Star Classic is the stingy play of its defense in recent games.

The North has held the South to an average of just 15 points in those wins after the South scored 38 the last time it won the game in 2018.

The 46th edition of the North-South Classic is set for 5 p.m., Sunday, June 9, at Kean University’s Alumni Field.

The annual North-South Media Day to help introduce players and coaches for the two teams was held March 17 inside Kean’s Harwood Arena.

Of the nine gridiron standouts from Union County schools that are on this year’s North roster, four of them are linebackers. North linebacker coach Wilber Valdez of Union City was excited to meet them at Sunday’s Media Day at Kean University, where the game will be played in three months.

There’s Myles Hamilton of Linden, Noah Ricca of Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Kordal Hinton of Union and Tyler Kessel of Summit. There’s also a lot of tackles here.

These players will form the barrier that the South will try to break through. After seeing these kids excel during their senior seasons that won’t be an easy task at all.

“I love to get to hit people; I love the contact,” Kessel said.

A Summit captain and his team’s leading tackler, Kessel will represent the Hilltoppers at the 2024 Simms North-South Classic.

The sturdy 6-foot-1 210-pound Hilltoppers senior standout will get to wear his No. 12 and is also receiving one more chance to walk off the field with a victory before he continues playing in college in the Ivy League at Dartmouth.

Summit did finish as the No. 1 team in Union County for 2023, but fell two victories short of its goal of capturing the North 2, Group 3 sectional state championship for the first time in five years. The Hilltoppers, seeded No. 1, were defeated by eventual champion West Essex 27-17 at Tatlock Field to finish 7-3. West Essex was the only public-school team Summit fell to last fall.

“We fell short of our ultimate goal,” Kessel said. “We did finish No. 1 in the county, which was awesome. I think we helped reset the culture at Summit after a couple of down years.”

Kessel paced Summit in total tackles with 133, solo tackles with 41 and tackles for losses with 15. He also produced one forced fumble.

“The main thing for us last year was trust,” Kessel said. “We were a tight group of guys and we all knew what our jobs were.”

With the North on a three-game winning streak that began in 2019 and continued with triumphs the past two seasons after Covid prevented the game from being played in 2020 and 2021, the series is now tied at 20-20-2.

There was also no game in 2002 because of inclement weather right before kickoff at Rutgers. The game began with a South victory 45 years ago in 1979.

Simms managed to get two of his New York Giants teammates to serve as the honorary captains. Wide receiver Stephen Baker will be representing the North and defensive lineman Leonard Marshall the South. Marshall spoke at Media Day and proclaimed that the South would whoop the North. Baker could not attend but delivered a message on the big screen, saying that he couldn’t wait to be with the North players and also catch another pass from Simms.

Kessel is also a Giants fan.

“This is definitely a huge honor to be among these players and get a chance to compete with them,” Kessel said.

Kessel didn’t play tackle football until high school. “My freshman year I was super raw,” Kessel said.

Summit head coach Kevin Kostibos continues to be heavily involved with the administrative part of the event. Kostibos also helped mold Kessel into the player he is.

“I owe all of my success to Coach Kostibos,” said Kessel, who played on the varsity for three seasons and was a two-year starter at linebacker.
Kessel said his top three colleges were Dartmouth, fellow Ivy League school the University of Pennsylvania and Lehigh.

“I just loved the camaraderie at Dartmouth,” Kessel said. “Plus their staff has been together for something like five or six years now, which you don’t see a lot. I can really see myself developing as a player and a person there.”
Kessel said that his course of study at Dartmouth will most likely be economics.

As for three months from now Kessel’s immediate goal is to help the North do two things it has never done before which is win a fourth straight game in the series and finally take the lead.

Bragging rights are, once again, on the line.

“What I want to do in this game is show that I belong here,” Kessel said. “I’m confident in my abilities, so hopefully I can go out there and have some fun.”

Simms Maintains His Enthusiasm About Promoting North-South Classic

Simms talked about how the North-South All-Star Football Game can be run even better when he addressed the audience at the Classic’s recent Media Day.

The retired Giants quarterback and popular NFL on CBS commentator has now had his name attached to the North-South game for 10 years.

“I want to talk to more people like you to bring more attention,” Simms said. “We’ve had some big crowds and it’s a big deal to get the word out. That helps attendance.”

In his 10 years Simms has brought in some of his New York Giants teammates to be at Kean helping out, including the likes of Jim Burt and Scott Brunner. This year’s honorary captains include other former teammates by the names of Leonard Marshall, who will lead the South, and Stephen Baker, who will lead the North.

For the first time this year there is a girls flag football game scheduled for 1 p.m. at Kean the same day. Last year there was a mini-competition held at halftime.

Even the introduction of the players who are present with their parents is even produced on a larger scale.

“The program starts here and is a lot of fun and then when you get to the game we’re all happy and glad to be on the field making it better,” Simms said. “There is a lot of high-end talent here.”

Since the North has won the last three games to even the series at 20-20-2, there are bragging rights on the line in three months. Because the of the North’s recent success the North how has another opportunity to take its first series lead.

NORTH-SOUTH SCOREBOARD 
SERIES TIED AT 20-20-2:  
2023: North 10, South 6 – at Kean University
2022: North 21, South 16 – at Kean University  
2021: No game because of the COVID-19 pandemic 
2020: No game because of the COVID-19 pandemic  
2019: North 24, South 23 – at Kean University 
2018: South 38, North 16 - at Kean University 
2017: South 30, North 22 - at Kean University 
2016: North 7, South 0 - at Kean University 
2015: South 23, North 21 - at Kean University 
2014: South 20, North 14 - at Piscataway High School 
2013: North 54, South 8 - at Kean University 
2012: North 14, South 7 - at Kean University 
2011: South 21, North 14 - at Kean University 
2010: North 17, South 3 - at Kean University  
2009: South 7, North 0 - at Kean University 
2008: North 31, South 25 - at Rutgers Stadium 
2007: South 14, North 7 - at Rutgers Stadium 
2006: North 31, South 16 - at Rutgers Stadium 
2005: North 9, South 7 - at Rutgers Stadium 
2004: North 26, South 21 - at Rutgers Stadium 
2003: South 3, North 0 - at Rutgers Stadium 
2002: No game was played at Rutgers 
because of inclement weather before kickoff. 
2001: North 24, South 0 - at Rutgers Stadium 
2000: South 20, North 5 - at Rutgers Stadium  
1999: South 22, North 19 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1998: North 33, South 31 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1997: South 28, North 24 - at The College of New Jersey 
1996: South 32, North 23 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1995: North 37, South 15 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1994: South 21, North 16 - at Trenton State College 
1993: South 9, North 8 - at Giants Stadium 
1992: North 7, South 7 (tie) - at Giants Stadium 
1991: North 26, South 12 - at Giants Stadium 
1990: North 14, South 10 - at Rutgers Stadium  
1989: South 24, North 0 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1988: South 12, North 9 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1987: North 21, South 10 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1986: North 20, South 17 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1985: North 10, South 10 (tie) - at Rutgers Stadium 
1984: North 7, South 0 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1983: South 41, North 7 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1982: South 16, North 7 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1981: South 32, North 0 - at Rutgers Stadium 
1980: North 13, South 6 - at Rutgers Stadium  
1979: South 34, North 13 - at Rutgers Stadium

Follow JR Parachini on 'X' (formerly Twitter) @parachini_jr

Two of the coaches who always assist with smooth running of the annual Phil Simms North-South Classic are the father-son tandem of Barry and Kevin Kostibos. Kevin is the veteran head coach at Summit and his dad, who had been a head coach at both Watchung Hills and Livingston, has been working the past few seasons as an assistant on staff at Manville.

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