Here to Stay: Holmdel Shows That Heavy Graduation Losses Won’t Stop the Winning
TOMS RIVER – After graduating seven starters on offense and eight on defense, it looked like maybe this was the year the clock would strike midnight on Holmdel’s status as a top Shore Conference contender.
A program that has struggled to string together winning seasons for much of its existence would fall back to earth after two straight division titles, even with star quarterback Jack Cannon returning.
All the Hornets could do was roll their eyes at that statement after Friday night’s impressive 48-35 win over Donovan Catholic in their season opener.
“It’s always the same thing here,” senior two-way lineman Luke Schiess said. “The year before that, people said literally the exact same thing. ‘Oh, they graduated all their linemen.’ It was the same discussion around that group. It’s next man up. The coaching staff does a great job developing guys so every single year there’s new guys that are ready to step up.”
That was the old Holmdel. This is a group that expects to win every year no matter who graduates.
Holmdel senior quarterback Jack Cannon accounted for five touchdowns to help the Hornets open the season with a 48-35 win over Donovan Catholic. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspimages.com)
“It’s a testament to the new coaches because we’re building a program here,” Schiess said. “Even when Cannon leaves, we’ve got Tommy Fletcher coming up, and he’s doing a great job. They’re getting him as many reps as possible, so you can always look at the individual players, but over time it’s a program.”
A foundation laid by former coach Jeff Rainess over his eight seasons has now added another layer under second-year head coach Noel Kavanagh.
“We definitely want to uphold a really high standard, and that’s been our motto of the summer – continue to elevate the standard,” Kavanagh said.
The Hornets, ranked No. 11 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12, saw an opportunity to remind the Shore Conference that they’re not going anywhere on the heels of an 8-2 season when they traveled to face the No. 6 Griffins (0-2) on Friday night.
“We keep proving ourselves,” said junior WR/DB Michael Todisco, who had an interception and a fumble return for a touchdown in the win. “We kind of keep getting disrespected, but we like being the underdogs. We like going out and putting ourselves on the map and proving everybody wrong.”
Plus, it helps to have Cannon back for a final year. The SSI first-team All-Shore selection from a year ago rolled up 346 total yards on Friday night, running for 187 yards and two scores and throwing for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Holmdel showed that the high-octane attack behind the Dartmouth-bound dual threat would have no drop-off despite graduating the bulk of last year’s starters.
“Coming into this game, we knew that nobody picked us,” Cannon said. “We really used that as fuel. We weren’t expecting to run the ball as heavily as we did. Our O-line came out firing off the ball, beating the crap out of their D-line. We just went with what worked.”
Holmdel didn’t have a single punt until garbage time in the fourth quarter. The Hornets moved the ball at will, amassing 396 total yards, 237 of them on the ground.
Even when they did get stopped, they didn’t. When Donovan Catholic forced a field-goal attempt late in the first half, Cannon, who is the holder, picked up the snap on a fake and hit a wide-open Ryan Pescatore for a 24-yard touchdown and a 28-0 lead.
Holmdel was all too aware of the attention surrounding Donovan Catholic, which added a host of transfers this season, including FBS prospect Kahden Davis at quarterback. Davis threw a touchdown pass and ran for 116 yards on 9 carries before leaving the game with a knee injury in the third quarter.
“They have a collection of players,” Schiess said. “A lot of these guys (on Holmdel) have been playing together since they were in AYF together. This senior class has won all through AYF, and when we went 1-8 (on varsity in 2022), our freshman team was 7-1. This group has been winning throughout.”
“I think we definitely put a little respect on our name,” Kavanagh said.
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The Shore Conference schedule-makers certainly thought highly of Holmdel as the Hornets jumped from Class C North, which they won last season for their second straight division title, to the highly competitive Class A North this fall.
“I just think that’s an opportunity for us,” Schiess said. “This year we’re going to be playing the level of competition we have to be playing later on in the season, so I think this is good for us because this prepares us for the end goal, which is to win a sectional title.”
“Last year people said we were only good because our schedule sucks, but this year we have a chance to prove that we really belong in the A North, and we’re a pretty good football program now,” Cannon said.
Holmdel will have a chance to make the whole state take notice with divisional games against Red Bank Catholic and Rumson-Fair Haven, who have both staked their claim so far to being the Shore’s No. 1 team. The win on Friday night sets up a huge showdown with Rumson-Fair Haven on Sept. 12, and the Hornets also have a nondivisional game remaining against a well-regarded Brick Memorial team.
“Of course our schedule is really hard because we’ve earned that, and now we have to prove that we belong here,” Kavanagh said.
The Hornets want to make it clear that losing good players to graduation doesn’t mean taking a step back.
“Times have changed at Holmdel,” Cannon said.
Scott Stump is the football editor for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and also has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
Email: scottstump25@gmail.com
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