One last ride: Top Somerset, Hunterdon senior football players to clash in inaugural Shaun O’Hara Foundation Senior Bowl

67 football players, 13 cheerleaders, all seniors.

All will take to a high school football field one more time Wednesday night, as the top seniors from Somerset and Hunterdon Counties will square off in a brand-new all-star game: the Shaun O’Hara Foundation Senior Bowl.

The idea came about a year earlier, after the absence of the Basilone Bowl, which had been a big event over the years to benefit wounded soldiers and their families. The financial realities of the post-COVID world caught up with the game – which began in 2013 – and with an inability to raise enough money, it went on what at the time was believed would be a one-year hiatus.

The O’Hara Foundation Senior Bowl is the offshoot of that – a spinoff, if you will – thanks to O’Hara himself, a Hillsborough graduate, standout at Rutgers, and Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants. O’Hara began his foundation in 2009 to help those suffering from cystic fibrosis and their families, and to raise awareness of it. The Senior Bowl is the latest high profile event to be a part of it.

Then there’s Rick Mantz, O’Hara’s coach at Hillsborough in the late ’90s and a legend himself with the Raiders, both as a player and coach, who also helped bring the game about, along with Montgomery head coach Zoran Milich.

And running the essentials of the event will be current Hillsborough head coach Kevin Carty, Jr., for whom many of his graduating seniors will play one more time on the same field they played on as Raiders.

Carty is coaching Team Otto, named after another ‘Boro legend, the late, great coach Otto Gsell, who passed away 24 years ago. The other side, team Rocky – named after longtime Hillsborough Athletic Director Rocky Forte, who died in 2009 – will be coached by Rich Seubert, the current Watchung Hills head coach, who also won a Super Bowl team on the same offensive line as O’Hara with Big Blue.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Hillsborough coach Kevin Carty, Jr., about the genesis of the Shaun O’Hara Foundation Senior Bowl, and what to expect in Wednesday night’s inaugural game:

WHAT: Shaun O’Hara Foundation Senior Bowl
WHERE: Noonan Field at Hillsborough High School – Hillsborough, NJ
WHEN: Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 6 pm
TICKETS: $8 at the gate, $5 pre-purchased from senior participants

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of the event, including postgame reaction, game story, and updates on Twitter including in-game video with the senior football players.

See below for Team Otto and Team Rocky rosters, as well as the list of participating cheerleaders, and the game officials, in PDF format.