So DePaul is the first team in the Big North United (Big Five) to release its upcoming football schedule. I was on the phone with Spartans AD Joe Lennon today — my first question was when he was ever going to retire, he just laughed and said he was having to much fun doing the job.
But Joe did tell me that this was the first time in his thirty-something years where he had gone out to try to find out-of-state games for the Spartans. He said he put out 40 inquiries and got only 2 responses, which he couldn’t believe. He thought he would get a lot more. DePaul is 2-time defending New Jersey Non-Public Group 2 state champs, and have one of the top recruits in America in RB Kareem Walker who will be a senior this fall.
I asked if the Spartans schedule was 100 percent locked in stone, and Lennon said yes, but I think I would peg it more at 99 percent. There are a lot of things going on regarding schedules and the Big North and who is going to play who, and who might not play who. But we will get to that another time.
Here you go….It didn’t come with dates, so I am going to just put down that weekend. Obviously, we know most games will be Friday night, but until official word comes from the athletic department, I’ll just note the weekend.
DePaul 2015 Football Schedule
Sept. 4-5 at Pope John XXIII
Sept. 11-12 Our Lady of Good Counsel (MD)
Sept. 18-19 vs. Pascack Valley
Sept. 25-26 vs. Lawrenceville Prep
Bye
Oct. 9-10 vs. Bergen Catholic
Oct. 16-17 at Poly Prep Country Day School, Brooklyn
Oct. 23-24 vs. St. Joseph Regional
Oct. 30-31 at Paramus Catholic
Nov. 6-7 vs. Don Bosco
So the Spartans will start in “zero†week in a rematch with Pope John, and play 9 games over a 10-week span. The schedule is very much like 2014, with 2 obvious changes. The Our Lady of Good Counsel game replaces Passaic Valley on the schedule and Poly Prep fills in the spot for Northern Highlands.
As of now, the Spartans only have 1 Big North Conference “crossover†game and that is with Pascack Valley (the Indians are also two-time defending sectional champions – remember NJ public school teams don’t play down to state champions because, well, no one knows why).
I showed this schedule to one other Big North United football coach and he said, “wow, they are moving up in class.†Interesting. Lennon also said that the school wasn’t in any way looking to “fly anywhere†to play.
Our Lady of Good Counsel in Maryland is no stranger to North Jersey football. In the 2012 season opener at Annapolis, after the biggest freaking thunderstorm I ever saw delayed the game, Good Counsel beat St. Joes 14-10. (The game after that was when Gilman beat Bosco 13-6 to end the Ironmen’s win streak). Good Counsel is coming off another strong year, finishing 10-2 and losing to DeMatha in the WCAC Championship.
Poly Prep finished 9-1 last year including a 29-7 win over Delbarton, who ended up playing for the Non-Public Group 3 state title in NJ. So they seem legit as well.
So, as far as the other teams in the Big North United….it looks like Paramus Catholic will again play a schedule of nothing but private/non-public teams in 2015. I think we will start to get some news on Bosco’s schedule very soon, as I have hinted at before, 2015 is a very big year for Don Bosco Prep with the school’s centennial anniversary. St. Joe’s has a bunch of different things in the works, I know their schedule will be different than the one they played last year.
I just hope someone lines up another team from Louisiana. (see bio)
Honesty requires me to say that I haven’t talked to anyone at Bergen Catholic about their football schedule for 2015 (although I’m sure Dan Long will put it together when it’s ready). Also, I must thank friend and fellow Ace Keith Idec who had the DePaul schedule first, but told me it was OK for me to publish it.
It is very early for a football schedule to come out for one of the Big 5 teams, I know, it doesn’t seem like it but it really is. In the past few years, this has been more of a late January, early February thing.
It feels like football season ended a month ago, oh wait, it did, but it never really ends.