Sometimes it’s one player, sometimes it could be two or more who are most instrumental in a team achieving a monumental goal.

Since the end of the 2016 season, when Highland Park had last won a football game heading into this season – Thanksgiving against arch-rival Metuchen that year – the goal just beyond their grasp had been a victory.

The losses kept piling up. There were forfeits, and a drop down to JV.

And this year, some close calls. There was a 50-44 loss to Dunellen. And a late-game, close loss to Dayton.

Midway through the season, head coach Shawn Harrison got a call from Point Pleasant Beach head coach Joe Zaccone, asking if they wanted to play a game toward the end of the season. Thinking it would be another opportunity to get that elusive win, they set it up.

And good thing the did. On November 2nd, Highland Park did it. They snapped a 51-game losing streak – the longest active streak in the state at the time – with a 46-29 win. Never has anyone from Central Jersey had such a good time at the Jersey Shore.

To go three and four seasons without a win can feel deflating. The big scores, the Ls piling up. But the entire team stuck with it – every single player.

For that, we have named the entire Highland Park Owl football team our Central Jersey Sports Radio MVP for 2023.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with senior left tackle Danny Sanchez and junior right guard Brian Mahoney of Highland Park, as well as assistant coach Joe Policastro and head coach Shawn Harrison: