The MaxPreps Tour of Champions finally made its way to the Northeast. And if high school football aficionados had one guess which football program was being honored nationally, one would presume Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey, NJ. The all-boys school, located in high school football crazed Bergen County just miles away from New York City, is by far the top football program and team in the Northeast. So, on Sunday January 28th, the MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard made its way up to the beautiful Pearl River Hilton in Pearl River, New York to honor the powerful Ironmen at its team banquet.
Don Bosco Prep, who hung to the #1 spot for a few weeks in the MaxPreps national ranking poll, had a dream-like season. The Ironmen went undefeated for a 12-0 record including a come from behind win in the Ohio vs. USA football festival to the pounding it placed on inner state rival St. Peters Prep of Jersey City, NJ, 41-0 in the Championship Game.
At the first rate, upscale Don Bosco Prep Touchdown Club 2007 Awards Dinner, MaxPreps and the Army National Guard honored Coach Greg Toal and the Don Bosco Ironmen with the MaxPreps National Ranking Trophy for finishing #15 ranked among over 15,000 schools. The ceremony started with a speech from MaxPreps Representative, Gene Golda, highlighting and congratulating the team on a fantastic season. Sergeant Barea of the New Jersey Army National Guard then took to the podium and presented the National Ranking Trophy to Coach Greg Toal to a tremendous applause from the enthusiastic 450 people in attendance.
The night continued on with a professionally produced season highlight film with a Jersey-style twist, numerous presentations, standing ovations, scholarship awards and finally compliments by Coach Toal to his 27 seniors for their commitment to the team, coaches, Don Bosco and to each other. This year's Ironmen were surely loaded with high level Division 1 college prospects with All-American star players attending schools such as National Champion Florida and Louisville, however, they were a true team where all players contributed on different occasions. A team that took pride in out-working its competitors, a team that brought its hard hat to the gridiron, a team when down dug deep, a team representing New Jersey and its Head Coach very well.
With a strong underclassmen team coming up, maybe, just maybe, the MaxPreps Tour of Champions will be coming back to the Metro NY area next year.