Football Team Swarms Field on First Day of Practice

The Jets and Giants had their first pre-season game at the New Meadowlands stadium – but one could argue there was even more excitement amongst the members of the Cranford High School football program who gathered for opening day practice Monday.

Head coach Erik Rosenmeier and his staff were on-hand in the morning to hand out equipment, and his players got the chance to suit-up for their first official practice later in the day – which took place behind the high school at the teams' practice facility.

"Well to me first day is always like Christmas morning," said Rosenmeier. "I'm excited. I can't sleep the night before. I'm sure a lot of them probably couldn't sleep either -- a combination of anticipation and nervousness. All the work that we've done up until this point is for now. The pads are on. We're going to go out there and try and win positions. But for me, the first day is always one of great anticipation and I hope the boys feel the same way."

The Cougars have been training during the summer in preparation for the two-a-days that begin Tuesday. Rosenmeier is confident the hard work will pay big dividends down the road. He added that this is the best summer the football team has had in terms of attendance. As a result the Cougars are emerging from it as a stronger, tougher and more confident team.

Close to 80 players, including 30 freshmen, will go through the paces of a rigorous training schedule.

"There's a little bit of a rite of passage to it – we have four or five double-sessions planned and those are always hard," noted Rosenmeier. 

The Cougars will have their first scrimmage next Tuesday – a quad against New Brunswick, Roselle and Pompton Lakes. The next scrimmage after that will be the following Friday when they host Mendham.

"We have a great mix of talent and schemes for us to look at both offensively and defensively. Our last scrimmage is against Somerville and they offer a lot of what our opponents will have throughout the year.  So that will be a great test to get us ready for our opener against Johnson," he noted.

This year's schedule will have a familiar look – as the Cougars face the same opponents as 2009 when they finished with a 4-6 mark. But that doesn't faze the - 6th-year head coach, who knows that with a break or two, they could have easily finished 7-3 a year ago.

"I think a lot of (teams) are expecting to have big seasons, so it's going to be quite a challenge. But we have pretty high expectations too. I'm looking forward to the challenge. I know the boys are also," he said.