Bernards senior OL/MLB Tyce Hanratty at Conference Media Day at Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union on August 5, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Junior quarterback Nolan Walsh was a thousand-yard passer last year, throwing 12 touchdowns against just three interceptions.
Top receiver Sean Arcelay – another junior – hauled in 25 passes for 470 yards and five touchdowns. And four of six non-QBs who carried the ball last year return as well.
Then, on the defensive side, the team’s leading tackler, Tyce Hanratty, has 86 tackles last year, along with two sacks, five TFLs, two forced fumbles, one recovery and two picks.
That would be enough to give any team championship aspirations, but for Bernards, hold the phone: there’s more.
Head coach Jon Simoneau says quarterback may be one of their deepest positions, while Walsh has only lost two games as a starter, and is a district wrestling champion to boot. Couple that with Hanratty giving up the chance to run the rock on offense to play up front instead, and Simoneau says, “how can you not be excited?”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be work to do.
Simoneau says one of the biggest priorities for Bernards is developing depth, with a very thin junior class. Never one to sit back, the veteran coach has been scouring the hallways looking for more 11th graders to help the cause. Now it’s time to put them to work.
Bernards also will enter the season with the longest active Big Central Conference win streak, having won 32 straight against BCC opponents. Their last loss in league play came on September 2, 2022, a 35-20 defeat at the hands of Hillside, and they’re just three wins shy of the all-time league mark, held by St. Thomas Aquinas.
If they’re to break it, it would come in Week Four, when they visit Delaware Valley. Should they keep winning, Hillside could be their potential 37th straight BCC win.
Click below to learn more about the Bernards Mountaineers in 2026 from head coach Jon Simoneau and senior offensive lineman/middle linebacker Tyce Hanratty with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko at Big Central Conference Media Day:
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