Tag: Shawn Harrison

by Mike Pavlichko

Highland Park isn’t letting foot off the gas as Owls embark on new season coming off win

The last time the Highland Park football team won a game before last year was Thanksgiving, 2016. They had beaten arch-rival Metuchen 35-7 in front of their home crowd to cap a successful 6-4 season.

The Owls would lose their next 51 games, slowly building into the state’s longest active losing streak, before a game scheduled at the last minute. Head coach Shawn Harrison wanted one more opportunity for his guys. He could see the team’s improvement. Just one more shot.

And they made it count.

The final was 46-29 on November second down in Point Pleasant Beach. Owls over the Garnet Gulls in a battle of the birds. The streak was over.

Highland Park head coach Shawn Harrison and assistant – and former longtime head coach and standout – Joe Policastro celebrate the Owls’ first win in 52 games on November 2, 2023 at Point Pleasant Beach. (Photo: Marcus Borden)

Now, as Highland Park gets set to embark on its 2024 season in a couple of weeks with a Friday night, September 6th game at Dunellen, it’s all looking forward. Key players are back. Numbers are as good as or better than they’ve been, and a weight has been lifted from everyone’s shoulders.

After all, the Owls are starting a season coming off a win for the first time in seven years.

Click below to hear from Highland Park head coach Shawn Harrison and senior quarterback Markos Hantsoulis:

by Mike Pavlichko

Marcus Borden’s 2024 GMC/BCC Camp Caravan: Highland Park looks to build on season-ending win

Preseason practice for the 2024 high school football season opened Monday across New Jersey, and Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden has kicked off his 2024 GMC/Big Central Conference Camp Caravan with an afternoon visit to Highland Park.

Watch Borden’s full coverage below, including clips from camp, and interviews with head coach Shawn Harrison, along with seniors Markos Hantsoulis (QB), Zyaire Holland (RB/LB/RET), Brian Mahoney (G/LB) and junior Konstantinos Hantsoulis (WR/DB).

You can now watch all the 2024 Camp Caravan videos on YouTube by clicking this link!

by Mike Pavlichko

Highland Parks keeps chugging as Owls search for elusive “W” to end streak

42.

That’s the number for Highland Park, and one which the Owls hope grows no bigger. That’s the number of games in a row they have lost, a streak that began in 2017.

32.

That’s another number for Highland Park. That’s the number of players Shawn Harrison has available a week before the season. That’s a number the Owls do hope grows, as it will increase the chances of that first number staying right exactly where it is.

READ PAST COVERAGE: Rebuilding Highland Park a labor of love for “program guy” Harrison

Harrison, and alum and head coach, continues to spend almost as much time finding players as he does coaching them: in the halls, in the town, anywhere he can. The thing is, he hasn’t always found kids with experience. But that’s beginning to change.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko at Big Central Media Days with Highland Park head coach Shawn Harrison and senior TE/DE Jowuan Keyes:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rebuilding Highland Park a labor of love for “program guy” Harrison

When the head coach of your football team is an alum, there’s a special connection to the program, the student-athletes, the fans, the parents, and the whole town. Even if Highland Park is struggling to regain its former glory.

The Owls have won more New Jersey state championships – 23 – than all but one other school: Montclair, which has won 26.

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But of late, it has been real hard times. Due to low numbers, they could only manage five games in 2018. They didn’t field a team at all in 2020. Highland Park has the longest active losing streak in the state at 33 games, ten ahead of JP Stevens, which has lost 23. But with some seasons with fewer games, it’s been way longer since the Owls won a game: Thanksgiving, 2016, against Metuchen.

This year, as many schools, that Turkey Day rivalry is at the beginning of the season. And the two will square off next Saturday (August 27, 1 pm) in the 2022 season opener on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

This may be the Owls’ best chance yet. They come into the season with 34 players, their best numbers in years. Head coach Shawn Harrison has been working hard to boost the numbers in and outside the program. With no feeder league like Pop Warner, Harrison has instituted flag football for younger kids in town, at least to help them grasp the concepts of football and its plays, even if they can’t tackle.

Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talked with Harrison as preseason camp opened up in early Augsut. Click below to listen:

This Sunday, be sure to check out cjsportsradio.com for a sit-down interview with Joe Policastro, the legendary former Highland head coach, who remains an assistant with the team he played for in the late 1950s. He’s been in the program for over 60 years.