Caldwell High Football Team Seeks 'Redemption'

It's just like old times for the Caldwell High School football program.

Head coach Ken Trimmer has officially started his 17th season, scrimmages are on the horizon and soon it will be opening night against Montville on Sept. 11.

The Chiefs lost 20 seniors from last season, but Trimmer and his staff seem to lose about the same amount of seniors every year.

In 2008, the Chiefs were believed by many to be in a rebuilding year but instead beat Governor Livingston for the North Jersey Section 2, Group 2 state title.

"In the scrimmages the other teams were feeling sorry for us," Trimmer recalled. "That makes the job so enjoyable to mold these kids."

The Chiefs won six out of their last seven games in 2009 to finish 8-3 and captured the Super Essex Conference's Colonial Division.

Caldwell looks to rebound this fall after losing to Orange, 10-7, in the North Jersey Section 2, Group 2 semifinals last season.

The Chiefs had beaten the Tornados 21-0 just two weeks prior, but Trimmer pointed out that Orange's starting quarterback missed the regular-season encounter and returned for the playoffs.

"That was a huge disappointment and we only have ourselves to blame," Trimmer said.

For senior quarterback Chris Lawshe, one of the three senior captains along with running back Darnel Thomas and linebacker Christopher Zaorski, there is really only one word about this season. "Redemption," Lawshe declared. 

Zaorski said the Chiefs have been hitting the weight rooms and getting ready for this coming season.

"Our entire summer has been to get back to that point," said Zaorski, who admitted the Chiefs might have been thinking about the championship game when they faced Orange in the semifinals.

"Yeah, we overlooked them," he said.

But with a team-first attitude that Trimmer has instilled during his more than 40 years with the program, the Chiefs look to make another run this season.

"Our No. 1 goal, the kids know it and the parents know it, is to win games," Trimmer said.

"Nobody is more important than the whole program. We have been fortunate to have a successful program."

Trimmer once again has witnessed 90 players come out for the team for this season. 

While some coaches are no longer with the program, including new Newark Academy head coach Steve Trivino, Trimmer remains on the sidelines even though he retired in June as a physical education teacher at the high school after 46 years with the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District.

"I wanted to make it to 50 because that is a round number," Trimmer said. "Somebody asked me how it feels to not teach, I told them I won't know until school starts. From that point on, I will be a full-time head football coach.

"I told my wife that life could not have been any better with three great kids and five grandchildren. I've been blessed in a system like this."