(Inspired by the Little League thread):
-played 6 years for the Belleville Jr. Bucs (3rd-8th grade) from 1988-1993 before playing my 4 years in HS. There was no 'mighty mite' (1st-2nd grade) division in Belleville until 1996. My first year we played in the Metropolitan League, which was an eclectic mishmash to say the least:
Belleville, Fair Lawn, East Orange, North Bergen, Kearny, West New York, Caldwell, Woodbridge/Port Reading
We made the playoffs, upset Woodbridge in the 1st round (we lost to them 14-0 in the regular season), then lost to Fair Lawn in the semifinals. I think that league broke up and for the rest of my time we played in the Suburban Twin County Football League, which featured teams like Nutley, Clifton, Bloomfield, Paterson Jr. State Colts, Manchester, Garfield, etc. Went undefeated (9-0-1) and won the 'Super Bowl' in 6th grade, went 2-6 in 7th grade and 4-4 in 8th grade.
I still remember my 7th grade game against Garfield, which was the TV-36 jr game of the week. It was duller than dishwater for 98% of the game and then had a classic ending. We scored on a 30-something yard TD run on our first possession...and the rest of the game was played between the 30's until the final minute. Garfield completed a diving pass down to the 1-yard line with 53 seconds left in the game. We opened up that year 0-3, losing 14-0 to Clifton and then 2 heartbreakers to Manchester and Paterson, 7-6 and 7-0 (Paterson went undefeated and won the championship that year), and I remember my coach saying in the post-game interview with the TV-36 people, "with the way our season has been going, I figured they would score and get the extra point on the last play of the game." However, we ended up having a great goal-line stand, stuffing the first 3 plays then causing a fumble in the backfield on 4th down. We recovered at the 4 and took a knee to end the game.
Joe P.
-played 6 years for the Belleville Jr. Bucs (3rd-8th grade) from 1988-1993 before playing my 4 years in HS. There was no 'mighty mite' (1st-2nd grade) division in Belleville until 1996. My first year we played in the Metropolitan League, which was an eclectic mishmash to say the least:
Belleville, Fair Lawn, East Orange, North Bergen, Kearny, West New York, Caldwell, Woodbridge/Port Reading
We made the playoffs, upset Woodbridge in the 1st round (we lost to them 14-0 in the regular season), then lost to Fair Lawn in the semifinals. I think that league broke up and for the rest of my time we played in the Suburban Twin County Football League, which featured teams like Nutley, Clifton, Bloomfield, Paterson Jr. State Colts, Manchester, Garfield, etc. Went undefeated (9-0-1) and won the 'Super Bowl' in 6th grade, went 2-6 in 7th grade and 4-4 in 8th grade.
I still remember my 7th grade game against Garfield, which was the TV-36 jr game of the week. It was duller than dishwater for 98% of the game and then had a classic ending. We scored on a 30-something yard TD run on our first possession...and the rest of the game was played between the 30's until the final minute. Garfield completed a diving pass down to the 1-yard line with 53 seconds left in the game. We opened up that year 0-3, losing 14-0 to Clifton and then 2 heartbreakers to Manchester and Paterson, 7-6 and 7-0 (Paterson went undefeated and won the championship that year), and I remember my coach saying in the post-game interview with the TV-36 people, "with the way our season has been going, I figured they would score and get the extra point on the last play of the game." However, we ended up having a great goal-line stand, stuffing the first 3 plays then causing a fumble in the backfield on 4th down. We recovered at the 4 and took a knee to end the game.
Joe P.
