For the many new varsity players at Livingston, Tuesday's quad scrimmage at Union City's Roosevelt Stadium provided a glimpse of what to expect when the season begins in less than three weeks.
While the scores and results from their scrimmages against Cliffside Park, Teaneck and Union City might not count in the record book, Lancers head coach Barry Kostibos believes the scrimmage (the first of three they will play), proved a valuable lesson to those who are just getting acclimated to the varsity level.
"They learned that the game is faster," said Kostibos, whose team graduated 22 seniors from last year. "The kids are bigger and stronger, some kids are more intense. What they've learned is that they've got to bring their 'A' game to the table now. It's not JV football, it's not freshman football, it's varsity football which is a whole different animal."
Find out what's happening in Livingstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
As part of the scrimmage set up, Livingston ran 10 offensive and 10 defensive plays against each of the other three schools participating, starting first with Cliffside Park. In addition, the JV team squared off against the JV squads of Teaneck and Union City.
The Lancers started off well, with junior running back Zach Wolkstein rushing for a 40-yard touchdown on the first offensive play of the day. Livingston showed plenty of reasons to be optimistic during their matchup with Cliffside Park. While they struggled in the final matchup of the day against Union City, Kostibos and his team left the school knowing that there were some bright spots as well aspects that need to worked on before the season begins.
Find out what's happening in Livingstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"We did some good things and we did some things we need to improve on," said Kostibos, adding that there were no major injuries on the day. "We're all new. Everyone's new. It's kind of to be expected. It's growing pains, that would be the best way to describe it. Hopefully we'll get better and better as the days progress."
Livingston opens the regular season on Friday, Sept. 9 when they play Barringer at 7 p.m. in the brand new Newark Schools Stadium. The Lancers' home opener is on Friday, Sept. 23 when they host Belleville.
Last season Livingston went 5-5 and qualified for the NJSIAA North 1, Group IV playoffs before losing to eventual champion Randolph in the first round.
