Tag: Barris Grant

February 18, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

Hillside’s Barris Grant departs Comets to take over storied football program at Union

Barris Grant – who led the Hillside football program for the past nine seasons – has left to become the new head coach at Union, after the Board of Education approved his hire Tuesday night.

Grant – who also will be a physical education teacher at the high school – replaces Jason Scott, who was there just one year after Lou Grasso stepped down to become the athletic director in his hometown of Colonia. The Farmers were 2-8 last season.

Grant had a record of 67-25 with Hillside, leading the Comets to three stellar seasons from 2017 through 2019, winning sectional titles all three seasons, and a regional title in 2019. Overall, Grant’s teams made four sectional title games.

The first of those years, Hillside went 9-3 and got the seven-seed in Central Jersey Group 2, then shocked top-seed Point Pleasant Boro at Rutgers, 20-13, to win the title.

They’d come back the next year to go undefeated in the 2018 regular season. In the playoffs, they were the top-seed in Central Jersey Group 2, and beat second-seed Manasquan for the title, 36-10. They would fall to Haddonfield, 17-7, in the South 2 regional championship at MetLife Stadium.

And then came the topper, the perfect 12-0 season of 2019.

Those Comets could put up points, while locking down teams defensively. They pitched six shutouts that season, only allowing double-figures twice, averaging 35.7 points per game in the regular season. They featured senior quarterback Nahree Biggins (1,083 yards, 12 TDs), while senior runningback James Louis led a 3,000-yard team rushing attack.

Seniors Anu Okungbowa and Akugbe Omokaro led a defense that registered 34 1/2 sacks on the season.

It all led to a third seed in South Jersey Group 2, and a sectional title with a 14-10 upset at top-seed West Deptford. The Comets then went on to with the South 2 regional championship at Rutgers over South 2 sectional champ and second-seed Cedar Creek, 25-3.

The 2022 team also reached a sectional final. As the two-seed in North 1, Group 3, they fell at top-seed Old Tappan in the title game, 28-14.

Union has won 11 sectional titles as a program, the most of any Union County school, and won its most recent title the same year Hillside and Grant won theirs, in 2019.

Grasso’s squad went 12-1 that season, earning the top-seed in North 2, Group 5, winning the section by virtue of a 42-28 victory over third-seed Clifton. They would fall, however, in the North Group 5 regional championship game at MetLife Stadium, 41-37, to Ridgewood, which lost the inaugural North 5 bowl the year before to Piscataway up at the Meadowlands.

Click below to hear Barris Grant talk about taking the head football coaching job at Union, and his impact at Hillside, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

November 5, 2022November 5, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

Simonson, Salters power Hillside comeback over River Dell to send Comets to fourth sectional final in five playoff seasons

Another week, another comeback.

Last Saturday at Conant Street Park, second-seed Hillside had to rally to beat 7th-seed Parsippany Hills, scoring the game’s final 19 points to come out with a 33-28 first round win.

This week, on the same field, the Comets trailed 13-3 just over two minutes into the second half, but scored the game’s next 30 points en route to a 33-13 win over 3rd-seed River Dell in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 3 semifinals.

The victory puts them in a sectional title game for the fourth time in five seasons, after missing last year, and with no playoffs during the 2020 COVID season. Hillside won three championships from 2017 through 2019, over Point Pleasant Boro, Manasquan and West Deptford, having also won a “Regional Championship” in 2019, beating Cedar Creek at Rutgers.

The run game was once again strong for Hillside, which got 155 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries from Army commit Kyon Simonson, while quarterback Caleb Salters carried eight times for 111 yards, including a 46-yard fourth-down conversion on a drive that have Hillside a 26-13 lead in the final quarter. Overall, the ground game pounded out 326 yards.

But the Hillside defense did its part, too. Zaimir Hawk had a pick six, while Marcus White had two interceptions. And River Dell – despite jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a fake field goal that went for a touchdown – managed just 49 yards on the ground and 79 through the air for 128 total.

Click below form postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Chris Tsakonas:

Hillside RB Kyon Simonson

Hillside head coach Barris Grant

September 4, 2021September 4, 2021 by Mike Pavlichko

No. 10 Won’t take anything for “Grant”ed when Comets rumble with Bernards Sunday

The Hillside football team is responsible for handing Bernards four of its last five losses over the past three years.

But head coach Barris Grant recognizes those were different players and different teams; all that is in the past.

That’s the mindset when the Comets face the Mountaineers Sunday in Piscataway, in the Rumble on the Raritan showcase at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium.

It’ll be Game One of a doubleheader on the “Big Central Game of the Week” driven by Mark Montenero and his team at the world-famous Autoland Sunday. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 pm Sunday; air-time on Central Jersey Sports Radio is set for 1:45 pm with Mike Pavlichko hosting the pregame show. Justin Sontupe and Tim Catalfamo will call all the action, with Bernards High School sports broadcasting student Matt Lesnik joining the booth as well.

Click here to listen live to the broadcast.

Game Two, scheduled for 5 pm, will feature Somerville and Northern Highlands.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Tim Catalfamo talk about Hillside with Comets’ head coach Barris Grant: