Chris Damian Hired as New Raritan Football Coach
Chris Damian has taken over for good friend Anthony Petruzzi as the new head football coach at Raritan, which is looking to return to its winning ways four years after reaching back-to-back state sectional finals.
The Hazlet Board of Education approved Damian on Monday night. He previously was Raritan’s offensive coordinator and has been part of the staff for 11 seasons.
This is his second stint as a head coach after two seasons with Keansburg in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2013-14.
“I’m extremely excited about the opportunity,” Damian said. “The program means a lot to me having been here over a decade. It’s hard to replace your best friend, but he wanted me to take the job, I wanted the job, and I’m just excited to put my stamp on something again and get us back to playing meaningful games at the end of the season.”
Damian is a 1999 St. John Vianney graduate who was a two-way lineman for the Lancers. He went on to play tight end at Monmouth University from 1999-02. After graduating from Monmouth in 2003, he coached as a graduate assistant at Wagner College in 2003-04.
He then returned to his alma mater and served as an assistant under legendary former Monmouth coach Kevin Callahan from 2005-2012, coaching running backs, tight ends and special teams during the course of his time with the Hawks.
Damian then took the job at Keansburg for two seasons before staying in the Bayshore and joining Raritan as an assistant. He was the offensive coordinator on Raritan teams that reached NJSIAA sectional finals in 2021 and 2022.
Damian is retaining almost the entire staff from last season, which includes veteran defensive coordinator John Principe. The Rockets will continue running the flexbone option offense with Damian handling the play-calling as head coach.
Chris Damian, shown with former Raritan quarterback Ben Hutchins, was an assistant with the Rockets for 11 seasons before being named head coach. (Photo courtesy of Chris Damian)
He takes over for Petruzzi, who stepped down after 16 seasons with the Rockets, which included a state sectional title and two other trips to sectional finals.
Raritan is coming off a 3-7 season and a second-place finish in the Class D North division. The Rockets face a challenging schedule this fall after being realigned into the new Class C North with Howell, Marlboro, Neptune, Ocean and Red Bank.
Neptune and Red Bank are both coming off division titles and playoff appearances, Howell and Marlboro were both playoff teams last season, and Ocean returns a strong group of skill position talent. Also, Raritan plays defending Central Jersey Group 3 champion Holmdel, returning sectional semifinalist Matawan and returning division champion Toms River East outside the division.
The Rockets return starting quarterback Parker Needham and slotbacks Marko Brown, Louis Zweidinger and Eric Berg, but graduate almost their entire offensive and defensive lines, led by Southern Connecticut State recruit Matt Zweidinger, as well as All-Shore fullback/linebacker John Jeleniewski.
Damian’s hire means the two vacant head coaching positions in the Shore Conference offseason have been filled. He followed a similar trajectory as James Mahoney, who was the offensive coordinator at Brick Memorial and takes over for veteran coach Walt Currie, who stepped down after 19 years on the heels of a Central Jersey Group 4 title for the Mustangs.
Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
Email: scottstump25@gmail.com
