Mount Olive Jr. Marauders Football Association Celebrates 65 Years

The Mount Olive Junior Marauders started in 1957 as the Budd Lake Rams. After two seasons, the name was changed to the Highlanders, and after a few more years they were coined the Marauders. When West Morris Mount Olive High School opened in 1972 (the name was changed to Mount Olive High School in 1978), the Marauders name was adopted by the high school team.

And in this, their 65th season, the Junior Marauders host site is one to behold. Last season, the organization got a new turf call Skull Rock at Turkey Brook Park, a brand-new two-story press box, and this season are the recipients of a new $50,000 scoreboard courtesy of a donor. “It’s going to be the largest youth football scoreboard in the state,” says John McBride, President of the Mount Olive Junior Marauders Football Association.

“I've been involved the last six years in the program,” states McBride. “I love this. I don't get paid for this. This is my passion, and this is what I love to do. I've been fortunate enough to work hand-in-hand with the Mount Olive High School coach, Brian O'Connor, who has a son in our program, the same age as my son. We've been coaching together since flag (football) and we've even installed the high school playbook within all of our levels, and we've been teaching it to our own kids since flag. So, they master everything by the time that they get to freshmen year, and they're familiar with the playbook and all the verbiage and ready to go, and get a step up on other programs who don’t do the same types of things.”

The Mount Olive Junior Marauders pride themselves on their sportsmanship. “Sportsmanship is definitely something from the very first practices of the season that we instill into the kids’ brains,” says McBride. “In other sports – I coach baseball, basketball, football, and other sports – you see sometimes parents going bananas on coaches and umpires, just making a complete sideshow of the game and embarrassment for the kids and themselves. Fortunately, I haven't seen that here, because the MCYFL (Morris County Youth Football League) has done such a great job with their mission statement and the rules they put in place. If a coach gets thrown out of the game for harassing an official, the coach is going to be fined, and the association will be fined and possibly placed on probation.” All coaches pass certification tests and background checks.

Welcoming supporters and opponents to Skull Rock at Turkey Brook Park (Photos courtesy of Mount Olive Junior Marauders Football Association)

 This season, the Mount Olive Junior Marauders are offering girl’s flag football for the first time, just months after the high school offered the same program for its female teens. “This year, we're doing a pilot program with girls,” says Mc Bride. “We have two teams, an elementary team grades three to five, and a middle school team grades six to eight. Currently we have about 12 girls on each of those teams. Then also for the first time this year, we're doing a pre-K to kindergarten flag football division. Normally, flag football was just first and second graders. This year, we're actually going to be fielding three teams at the pre-K level and then six flag football teams at the first and second grade levels. And then along with the six contact level programs, we actually are approaching 300 kids in the program this year, which is phenomenal.” There is also a separate Mount Olive Junior Marauder Cheerleading Association. “The cheerleaders are phenomenal. They field girls all the way from flag up through our eighth-grade teams, and the cheerleading program has always been strong.”

Among the opponents the Junior Marauders play are Roxbury, Randolph, Rockaway, and Long Valley. Sponsorships are always welcome. “We're always looking for sponsorships from local businesses,” says McBride. “We have banners that hang across our field that we offer as sponsorships. We're a 501c3 nonprofit; we put everything back into the program. Starting September 10, all of our home games are at Skull Rock at Turkey Brook Park. We run games all day long, so people can come at any point in the day and catch a great football game.” All game are held on Saturdays during the season.

For more information about the Mount Olive Junior Marauders Football Association, who play in the MCYFL’s National Conference, visit www.momarauders.com. Skull Rock at Turkey Book Park is located at 30 Flanders Road in Budd Lake.