December 1, 2001 Hopatcong Chiefs - State Champs!! The celebration...
The last time I remember the fans storming the field at a Hopatcong football game was when we snapped our forty game losing streak. And that was ten years ago. It was amazing. We just stood there, soaking it all in. And of course a part of me, deep down, wished I was still a student so that I could justify storming the field. But I was content sitting back and watching everyone celebrate. Hopatcong was on top. I think a lot of people were also stunned at what we just witnessed. It was borderline improbable.
	A couple weeks earlier, I ran into Mr. Windt, one of the coaches for the Chiefs and my former Chemistry and Physics teacher from high school. We were talking about the team and I asked him how he thought they would do in the playoffs. He said he didn't know- you never know what could happen. He said something to the effect of, "[High school football] is nothing more than a bunch of seventeen year-old kids running around on a field. And the day it becomes more than that is that day I quit coaching." I thought that was really profound, but it also speaks volumes.
I probably could have watched the celebration forever. It was such a wave of excitement, of celebration, of emotion. Even as we drove out of the parking lot- horns were honking, people were cheering. I ran into the center, Mike Jacobellis a couple weeks after the game and he said how amazing the feeling was. I told him that they could probably ride this one for quite a while and he agreed. Another thing that made this game so special was that it was the first season under their new coach, Paul Reduzzi. In one year, he accomplished what many before him had failed.
	I couldn't help but thinking that this would be the defining moment for many of the kids on that field. And I don't think that's a bad thing. Because they could end up playing a trumpet in Penn Station- but no one, no one, can ever take away what they did on that football field that December afternoon. On that day, they were the best. On that day, they gave a championship to a school and a town that patiently waited for nearly thirty years for something like this. On that day, they made us understand what is truly meant by Chief Pride...

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