After years of losing and last place finishes, the Columbia football team was the surprise story of the year last fall, going from two wins over the course of five seasons, to an 8-2 mark in '09.
The perfect combination of a senior-laden team hungry for victory, and a new batch of opponents in the newly formed Super Essex Conference Liberty Division propelled the Cougars to their best record since 1951 and the first playoff appearance since 1982.
"Last year we were saying if we could win three to five games it would be a heck of a season," said Columbia head coach Dave Curtin. "Then the confidence just took off."
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Columbia came within a game of winning the inaugural division crown, and fell short in a 41-6 loss to Westfield in the North II Group 3 state sectional playoffs.
The burning question facing the Cougars is can they do it again? Can they produce consecutive winning seasons for the first time in recent and distant memory?
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If they are going to do so, it will be on the backs of a veteran backfield, and a bunch of young players. Senior running back Denzell Nieves is an outstanding talent, and is unquestionably the most dangerous and explosive player on the team.
"He has got great vision, he has great hips, quick feet. He has got everything. He just finds a hole," Curtin said. "If he was a little bit bigger, I'm telling you if he was two inches taller, he would be a legitimate Division I prospect. But they look at size. They never look at the heart."
As a junior starter last season he carried the ball for 968 yards and 11 touchdowns, leading the team in both categories. Nieves averaged more than eight yards per carry, and is a big play threat every time he touches the ball. Despite his unassuming size, Nieves finds a way to keep his legs churning and to find the hole.
"I think I'm going to do great," Nieves said of the upcoming season. "I've been working hard this off season and working with my offensive line. We just have to get it together."
Blocking for him is starting fullback and fellow co-captain Matt McGriff, who is also a starting linebacker. McGriff and Nieves, along with Rich Goodluck and Obinna Nwanyuriri make up the backfield for the Cougars.
Columbia lost 29 seniors last season to graduation - nearly half of the team - and have been left without most of its starters on the offensive and defensive lines last season. In order for Columbia to have any success, it's paramount that the players up front in the trenches play well, especially the offensive line.
"We're young. We're very young. Outside of maybe five or six kids, we're very inexperienced," Curtin said. "We kind of stayed even because we have so many young guys. So we're trying to develop them as fast as we can to see what happens this year."
Demetrius Cooper returns for a second season as the starter at quarterback, but will be pushed by sophomore Deon Hudson, who begins the season as the starter for the first two games. Cooper, who ran for more yards than he threw for a season ago at qb, could be an extra weapon in the backfield should the sophomore win the job.
A secret weapon for the Cougars this season is kicker, Ndubuisi Okafor, who looked very good in Columbia's final scrimmage against Roselle earlier this month, pinning teams deep in their own territory.
"It's a huge weapon because our defense right now is ahead of our offense, we're very good on defense," Curtin said. "So if we can do things like that and pin them, our defense will make plays."
With so many seniors lost from a year ago, most teams in the Liberty Division will likely be expecting a down season from the Cougars. But while Shabazz seems to be on the rise this season, there are no powerhouse or heavy favorites to win the division this season.
"I expect to try and finish off our undefeated season from last year," Nieves said. "The teams that we faced last year, they had big seniors too. We still had youth and we just have to pick it up and keep clicking."
In order to have success this season, which now with the elevated expectations means making the playoffs, Columbia will have to run the ball. If the offensive line can make holes for the backs, Columbia will be competitive. Curtin said he was going to throw more this season, but consider that the Cougars ran 447 offensive plays last season, and fewer than 15 percent of them were passing plays.
This season will also depend on how the newer players without experience step into their roles as contributors on the team.
"If the sophomores and the juniors who haven't played varsity before, if they step up and do what they have to do, that shows a lot," McGriff said. "We lost our whole defense and our offensive line.
Columbia gets it started on Saturday at Underhill against Kearny at 1 p.m.
Schedule
9/11 - Columbia vs. Kearny 1 p.m.
9/24 - Columbia at Eastside Newark TBA
10/1 - Columbia at Shabazz 7 p.m.
10/9 - Columbia vs. Millburn 1 p.m.
10/16 - Columbia at Nutley 1 p.m.
10/23 - Columbia at Barringer 3 p.m.
10/30 - Columbia vs. West Essex TBA
11/6 - Columbia at Belleville TBA
11/25 - Columbia vs. Irvington 1 p.m.
