Seton Hall Prep, Union High School shine in NY Jets-hosted tournament

In a high school football tournament hosted by the NY Jets, New Jersey’s Seton Hall Prep and Union High School edged out the competition.

The start of the NFL season is still weeks away, but the New York Jets are already bestowing some special honors.

Hard rain couldn’t stop the festivities at the Central Park of Morris County in Parsippany/Troy Hills, NJ, as the Jets hosted the Nike 11-ON High School Football Tournament fueled by Gatorade.

The event hosted 48 schools from the tri-state area over the past two days. Seven-on-seven endeavors served as the main event, while the 16 teams that advanced to the elimination tournament also got to partake in lineman drills that, per information from the Jets, consisted of “strength, agility, and skill-based competitions.”

(Video courtesy of the New York Jets.)

The Seton Hall Prep Pirates, based in West Orange, took the final in the traditional 7-on-7, topping fellow parochial school St. Peter’s Prep by a 23-14 final. SHP, led by head coach Bill Fitzgerald, picked up right where they left off, as the last game of their shortened 2020 season was a 26-25 victory over the Marauders back in November.

St. Peter is the defending champion of the most recent Non-Public Group 4 title, topping Don Bosco Prep at MetLife Stadium in 2019.

Union High School’s lineman endeavors are perhaps no surprise.

The Farmers, headed by Lou Grosso, averaged over 30 points a game last season en route to a 4-3 record. They enjoyed an undefeated regular season in 2019 and earned a victory in the Section 5, Group 2 tournament over Clifton before falling to Ridgewood for the section title.

The Jets came through for the winners, as well as SHP’s fellow semifinalists Hudson Catholic and DePaul Catholic, with a pair of team-branded Nike athletic shorts.

SHP and Union will be honored during the Jets’ preseason finale on Aug. 27 against the Philadelphia Eagles in East Rutherford.

SHP opens their season on Aug. 28 against Pope John XXIII, while the Farmers will kick off against Staten Island-based Curtis on Sept. 7.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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