North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week saves his best for biggest stage

Luciano Mayer may have been the perfect leading man for the Waldwick/Midland Park football co-op’s first tournament championship.

The North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week, presented by HSS, is a junior at Midland Park High School. His father, Michael, is the athletic director at Waldwick.

The neighboring boroughs joined forces 20 years ago with modest gridiron glory between them, apart from Waldwick’s 1988 North 1, Group 1 sectional triumph. Midland Park never reached the state playoffs as a solo program.

Defeating Garfield in the Oct. 23 NJIC Tournament final, 35-34 in overtime, gave the Warriors reason to celebrate a long-awaited hardware hoisting.

“I’d say it was an experience like nothing else,” Luciano said when asked how he might look back on the victory in years to come. “To be able to play with your friends like that – and everybody supporting each other after going down and coming back – and then celebrating together, it’s just a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

The game was an all-timer for certain. Only one prior NJIC final had been decided by a single point in the tournament’s 11-year history (Hasbrouck Heights 14, Pompton Lakes 13 in 2016). One other had been decided in overtime (Rutherford 14, Hasbrouck Heights 7 in 2017).

This year’s clash had both. And it helped Waldwick/Midland Park avenge a 2020 title-game loss to Becton. And it featured a 14-point, second-half Warrior comeback.

Garfield took a 21-7 lead midway through the third quarter. The visitors got within 21-20 thanks to a 13-play, 97-yard drive that featured 11 runs (seven by Mayer).

“After that drive, I knew we were capable of coming back and getting it done,” Mayer said. “We just needed to keep on pushing through.”

The 5-foot-9, 185-pound running back/middle linebacker pushed his way to the forefront of every clutch Waldwick/Midland Park play in the endgame, after his team fell behind 28-20:

• A 3-yard TD run with five seconds left in regulation (schoolmate Will Dell’Aglio ran in the tying two-pointer).
• A 13-yard TD run, his third of the game, on the Warriors’ third play of OT (Thomas Del Rey kicked the winning PAT).
• A share of the tackle that stopped Garfield star Jorheny Rodriguez on the 1-yard line as he attempted what would have been the winning two-point run. Mayer, Rocco Marquis, Ben Junta, Aidan Maher and others joined forces (what else?) to get it done.

“I saw [Logan] Feehan hit him in the backfield, and I just knew there was going to be a big pile,” Mayer said. “I thought he was a few yards short. Watching it back, I didn’t realize how close he was to getting in.”

Mayer’s three scoring runs gave him 23 for the season, a new program record on all fronts. Previously, the most single-season rushing TDs in the co-op era (2006-present) was 20 by Shawn Grigsby in 2019 – that also stood as the most ever by any Midland Park student-athlete. Ryan Meyer had 23 total TDs for Waldwick in 1999, but 22 were rushing (one came on a kick return).

As much as they are enjoying the first Waldwick/Midland Park conference championship, Mayer and friends also are focused on the team’s 12th state-playoff bid in 15 years.

Drawing on past experience worked with their first tournament venture, so that remains the plan.

“When we beat Rutherford, that was a big overtime win [to give the Warriors the division title]… it was an emotional game for all of us,” Mayer said.

“But then, once Monday hit, we knew we needed to reset and start preparing for Wood-Ridge [in the NJIC semis]. So that’s what we’re doing now.”

Luciano Mayer

Sport: Football

School: Midland Park

Class: Junior  Age: 17

Accomplishment: Mayer carried 32 times for 181 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in overtime, to help the Warriors outlast Garfield in the NJIC final. He also got involved on the two-point conversion tackle to preserve the 35-34 win.

Also nominated: Elijah Davis of Becton, Alex Kramer of Tenafly and Jack Schneider of Ramapo for football; Daniel Bolgov of Fort Lee and Michael DeCarlo of Passaic Tech for cross-country; and Jason Baer of Tenafly, Michael DaSilva of Lakeland, Max Zagorski of Becton and Danny Scuro of Demarest for soccer.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week saves his best for biggest stage