This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Caldwell Football Showed Resiliency This Fall

Chiefs finish 7-4, lose Condit and LaTorraca, but Puzzo returning.

In a sport like football, where one of the objects of the game is to beat your opponent into submission, moral victories are often hard to come by. For the Caldwell football team, which entered this fall with thoughts of hoisting a state championship trophy, this season could not have gotten off to a worse start. Yet at the end of a grueling 11-game schedule, they have found respectability and salvaged some pride, finishing 7-4 and reaching the state semifinals before losing to a very good Summit team.

On a Saturday afternoon on Sept. 10, the Chiefs opened up the season at home with a humbling at the hands of cross-town rivals, West Essex. Suddenly a team that was thinking about winning a state title during the summer practice sessions had been given a bit of a rude awakening. At one point this season, the Chiefs were 3-3.

"Let's go back to the beginning of the year when we got our butts kicked by West Essex," said Caldwell head coach Ken Trimmer. "Who would've thought that we would end up being 7-4?"

Find out what's happening in Caldwellswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But after suffering back-to-back defeats against Shabazz and , Caldwell went on a run. They knocked off Cedar Grove, Glen Ridge, Barringer and Orange (three of four games on the road), before getting within a game of the state sectional championship at Kean University last week.

In the North II Group 2 state sectional semifinals, the Chiefs put up a good fight, but ran into the , who have yet to lose this season. Looking back on the schedule for Caldwell this fall, four of the team's 11 opponents will be playing this weekend in the state championships.

Find out what's happening in Caldwellswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We lost in the semifinals to a really good team and we played halfway decent," Trimmer said. "We're young, we have a lot of kids coming back."

Caldwell was a heavy running team, behind an offensive line which had just one senior on the unit. That could lead one to believe that next year the running game has a chance to be dominant, but the loss of workhorse Tyler Condit and speedster Michael LaTorraca to graduation will be tough to manage. The running back tandem combined for 21 touchdowns this fall. On the defensive side, Condit was one of the team's best players and leading tacklers at inside linebacker.

"The bottom line is if we can develop those kids [the offensive linemen], if they can get in the weight room like they're supposed to and work real hard, they've got a year under the belt, then we'll see what happens."

However, they will have Sonny Puzzo back under center next year, heading into his senior campaign. The junior signal caller tossed 10 TDs, while rushing for two and catching one. With receivers Billy Pierce and Andrew Goodman returning to the fold next year as well, Caldwell's passing attack has the potential to be an explosive one.

However, the locals still return to one of the most difficult schedules next season, getting both Madison and Summit within the section, not to mention West Essex within the Liberty Division. It will not be easy sledding for the Chiefs when they return next fall.

"It was a very positive season. Very positive," Trimmer said. "I think we made some great strides defensively. The defensive linemen, they're all back except for one kid. We've got a lot of positives here, so it's almost like you can't wait to get started."

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?