Two teams with strong recent history but both hit hard by graduation set to battle in the featured contest of the third annual Mountaineer Classic at West Orange to help kick things off for the new season on a Thursday night.
On that same evening another time-honored solid program in West Essex, starting fresh in a sense after graduating an All-Everything offensive energizer, must travel to face an experienced Montville team under the lights in Mustang country.
Down at the Shore in the annual Battle at the Beach amidst the beautiful seacoast views in Ocean City, it will be Shabazz, coming off back-to-back appearances in the Group 2 state final contests, facing Atlantic City.
The multi-talented and experienced Bulldogs have been elevated to Group 3 this season.
And, that is part of slate during the first of three days in what folks who follow New Jersey high school football refer to as ‘Week Zero’ and this year comes actually two weekends before Labor Day, which falls a little later this year (Sept. 7) on the calendar.
In terms of the Jersey high school football annals, teams used to start practice either Labor Day weekend or just right after that holiday Monday while the first game didn’t occur until the third or even fourth weekend of the month.
However, with teams now starting practice in June right after the end of the spring sports season, high school football in the Garden State now sees teams frequently spending the greater part of three months preparing for a late August or early September opener.
That’s the Jersey football landscape today so here we are.
Two individual kickoff their brand-new head coaching stints at their respective schools with former Verona standout Matt Riccitelli stepping up from his role as a top assistant to now head the Hillbillies’ coaching staff for the 2026 campaign beginning with their 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, opener vs. Ramsey at Sellitto Field.
Riccitelli’s old boss at Verona, Manj Singh, has now moved over to his own high school alma mater at Montclair and he will lead the promising, young Mounties as they begin their journey together by hosting Ridgewood, 1 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 29, at Woodman Field.
On that same late August Saturday afternoon, also at 1 p.m., recent 2-time Group 1 state runner-up in Cedar Grove - also with some new faces in key spots for highly-regarded veteran coach Rob Gogerty - will be meeting Gloucester in the Battle at the Beach in Ocean City.
All told it should be quite the opening weekend for Jersey high school football with a variety of games to interest most fans.
There are a couple of All-Essex matchups to keep an eye on with Bloomfield traveling to meet Newark Central at Shabazz Stadium at 7 p.m. on Friday (Aug. 28), and Glen Ridge hosting West Side noon Saturday at Hurrell Field.
Central features one of the top all-around players in the state in senior WR-DB Dishon Jerman, who has multiple FBS college offers, along with an experienced QB in junior Zahyir Taylor who passed for 1,502 yards and 15 TDs in 2025.
Looking at the third annual Mountaineer Classic inside Suriano Stadium on the West Orange High School campus, there are four games to take in beginning with two Morris County teams, Mountain Lakes and Jefferson meeting at 4 p.m., Thursday, the 27th, followed by the featured local contest as Ramapo battles the host Mountaineers at 7:30 p.m.
In Friday’s (Aug. 28) Mountaineer Classic doubleheader it will be Franklin vs. Ewing Township at 4 p.m. followed by Hudson Catholic vs. Irvington at 7:30 p.m.
