NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game: North Skill Position Standouts

The North Jersey Suburban Youth Football League has long been one of the top multi-County youth football conferences in North Jersey. With over 20 teams from four different Counties in the "A Division", it really does serve as a glimpse into the future of North Jersey High School Football. In the annual NJSFYL 8th Grade All-Star Game this past weekend, some of the biggest and brightest stars from the league came out to play. Below is a look at some of the standout skill position players from the North Team.    The NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game was my first time getting eyes on the impressive Chatham Quarterback, and it took all of three plays to see he's going to be a good one. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 155-pounds as of November 2024, facing a third and 10 from his own 35, Englekraut threw a back shoulder ball 30+ yards into an unrelenting wind and placed it beautifully for his Wide Receiver. That throw was just the beginning of a strong performance from QB1 throughout the night, which culminated in an MVP performance, despite the wind consistently blowing in at 25-30 mph. Named a captain for the game, the righty showed off the arm talent and athleticism that makes it possible for him to be a four-sport athlete (football, basketball, lacrosse and baseball). The future is very bright here and certainly has to be thought of as arguably the top 2029 Quarterback in Morris County.     It was pretty evident early on in the game that Warsager would be a significant factor in the North Team's offensive attack. By evident early on, I mean he caught two passes on the opening drive for 42 yards, including the NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game's first scoring play of the night. Both grabs were not easy to make, as he tiptoed the sideline on both of them and appeared to have limited vision because of defenders. Warsager's night was just begining there. Just four plays into the second quarter, Englekraut and Warsager connected again for a nine-yard touchdown scoring strike that saw Warsager use every centimeter of his 5-foot-6 frame to reach the ball across the goal line while being brought down. With time slipping away late in the second quarter, Warsager turned into a warrior and leveled up yet again with back-to-back catches. On the first of the consecutive grabs, he made what I feel was his most impressive play of the game, as he took a simple nine-yard curl and turned it into a 29 yard catch and run, picking up nearly 20 yards after contact. The very next play, he reached the 100 yard receiving benchmark in the first half on a simple out route, that he turned into a 20 yard gain. While the West Orange prospect wasn't the tallest kid on the field, he certainly put me and a lot of other people on notice.       With all the jaw-dropping plays through the air commanded by his Chatham teammate [player_tooltip player_id='1566331' first='George' last='Englekraut'], the contributions of Gabriele were obviously overshadowed in the NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game. However, a RB doesn't rumble for 750 yards and 13 total touchdowns in the regular season on an undefeated team, without ability. With that said, the starter at Running Back certainly got his chances early, often and throughout the game. While the stat line isn't going to pop out much, the defense had to account for the well-rounded play of Gabriele which obviously helped open up the air attack. As a common theme, there wasn't a ton of room to run for the Morris County native--but he just put his head down and kept working. This was personified on the last play of the game, as Gabriele took a simple Dive play up the middle and just..kept...pumping his legs, carrying South Team defenders and put the game on ice for the North Team with a big first down.     Another Union County native that impressed in the NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game was Summit's [player_tooltip player_id='1566473' first='Colton' last='Post']. He came on somewhat quietly, late in the first quarter as he reeled in not one, but two, crucial passes on third down plays to keep the North Team's second drive alive. As the first quarter dissolved into the second quarter and the teams flipped sides, Post continued to keep the pedal down. On the second play of the second quarter the hot hand of Quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1566331' first='George' last='Englekraut'] was again dealing and this time he and Post connected for a huge 35-yard gain to bring the ball down to the five yard line.       Reeves was one of the starters at Wide Receiver for the North Team and during warmups, he looked like a kid that was going to use this platform as a springboard towards the future. He checks a lot of the physical boxes in terms of size, frame and catch radius--but it took a little time for No.85 to get going in the NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game. The tallest Wide Receiver on the North Team didn't record his first catch until the third quarter. Yet, then he made a second catch and then he made a third catch, with each one increasing in difficulty. Like some of the other athletes listed he won't have a stat line that will pop out, but when you look at his raw ability and the level of difficulty of some of his catches, it's easy to see the talent is there for the Union County product.    <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Additional Players of Note</h3>   Shawn O'Brien | Quarterback | Del Val United - It couldn't have started off much worse for O'Brien, as his first two drivers were essentially three and out's with a mixture of penalties, bad snaps and fumbles. However, come the third quarter, O'Brien settled in and started to show why he was selected to the NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game. He got the first series coming out of the half and ripped off a few nice runs and connected on a pair of passes. The dual-threat QB finally break through and scampered 30-yards for the second half's first touchdown and corresponding extra point--putting the North Team up 22-6.   Andrew Campra | Wide Receiver | Kenilworth - Was one of the starting Wide Receivers for the North Team in the NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game. Early in the game, I thought he would be much more of a factor based on how he was used. Throughout the first half, the Union County native was put in motion to see overload one side or the other. His movement made the defense react and it was noted, but not much production resulted from it. It should be noted that Campra did have a nice reception on a 14-yard slant in the game   Miles Nyenator | Running Back | Bloomfield - He shook off an early fumble to really become the bell cow back in the second half of the NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game. The workhorse saw a number of carries from the second quarter on, but despite playing one last youth game on his home field, Nyenator never really got going. However, he did record a couple short runs to keep the chains moving in the second half.   Landon Goldan | Defensive Back | North Hunterdon - Don't worry about the fact that Goldan was the smallest kid on the field. Don't worry about how the weather conditions were less than ideal. Also, don't worry about the fact that he wasn't thrown at much at all, during the NJSYFL 8th Grade All-Star Game--because when he was tried, he was true. Goldan gave up a ton of size in this game, but when his man was the target, he was in the right spot to make a play. The Hunterdon County came up with a pair of defended passes in the second half, one in each quarter, to help the victorious North Team.

The North Jersey Suburban Youth Football League has long been one of the top multi-County youth football conferences in North Jersey. With over 20 teams from four different Counties in the "A Division", it really does serve as a glimpse into the future of North Jersey High School Football. In the annual NJSFYL 8th Grade All-Star Game this past weekend, some of the biggest and brightest stars from the league came out to play. Below is a look at some of the standout skill position players from the North Team.