Immaculata head coach Mike Columbo addresses his team. (Source: Immaculata Football Twitter)
They may not be playing their traditional Skyland Conference rivals, and they may not even be playing anyone local, but Immaculata football is looking more and more like the Spartans of old.
The Somerville school bowed out of the Big Central Conference before the league played its first game because it thought it should be playing smaller schools.
The Spartans bolted and joined the North Jersey Super Football Conference, but because of COVID cancellations and a short year would up playing three BCC schools anyway – New Brunswick, Montgomery and Bernards.
That strategy has paid off for Immaculata, which is 4-0 while playing in the NJSFC Independence Red Division, along with Essex and Hudson County schools. They’ve beaten 3-2 Shabazz and 2-2 Weequahic en route to their best start since Columbo’s first season in 2018, when the Spartans won their first four games – but also finished the season 5-5.
Having left Brooks Field for the Torpey Athletic Complex in Bridgewater, and with a new turf field behind their high school they hope to turn into a stadium where they can play home games in the future, things are looking bright for Immaculata again.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Immaculata Head Coach Mike Columbo about the Spartans’ turnaround: