New Passaic Valley High football coach Max Wassel thrilled with his team, as Hornets begin ‘Phase 1’ of preparation for 2020 season

Max Wassel will admit that his first head coaching job, on the grdirion, has certainly come with a unique set of challenges.

A graduate of Passaic Valley High, Wassel was named the head football coach at his alma mater this past January, weeks before the world had really heard of Covid, back when school was held five days a week, with the occasional snow day during the winter months.

Max Wassel, here with his parents, head coach Al Cappello and John Wallace, in 2010, after he made his selection to attend Wagner College.

Things have changed, but the prognosis for high school football in New Jersey this fall is good, despite an abbreviated schedule, and Wassel is ready to go, with an excited group of football players.

Read more about Wassel here. https://mikelamberti.wordpress.com/2020/01/08/alum-max-wassel-named-head-head-football-coach-at-passaic-valley-high-as-he-succeeds-chet-parlavecchio/

Passaic Valley began ‘Phase 1’ of practice on Aug. 10, and will continue Phase 1 for another week, followed by two weeks of ‘Phase 2’ work.

Phase 1 is strictly conditioning, without any football equipment being used. Practices are limited to 90 minutes, per day.

Phase 2 allows the use of footballs, but there is still no-contact in practice, which can go for two hours, per day.

Players go through daily temperature checks and wear masks, before practice. Once on the field, they can remove their masks, but then put them back on before departing the facility.

Max Wassel will also be an educator at PV, starting this fall.

At the end of Phase 2, the team will have two weeks off, as school begins. The Hornets will return to practice on Sept. 14, have one scrimmage, and then open its season, on the first weekend in October, against Vernon High School, probably on Saturday, Oct. 3.

The Hornets remaining schedule features a game at Lakeland, then home games opposite West Milford and Sparta before road games at Jefferson and Wayne Valley to close out the reglar season, by early November. The team could be play two additional games, but that format has yet to be confirmed.

Wassel, a former PV football player for head coaches Angelo DeSalvo and Al Cappello, is the seventh different head coach at Passaic Valley, over the last 25 years. Two of those coaches, Chet Parlavecchio and Bill Johnson, had multiple tenures on the job.

“The kids have been great,” said Wassel, a 2010 PV grad. “They came into practice in good physical condition. They worked hard, even though we couldn’t work out as a team during the off-season. It was good to see.”

Wassel, like his predecessor, Parlavecchio, will run the defense while Joe Wassel, PV’s head wrestling and golf coach, as well as Max’s older brother, will be the offensive coordinator.

The coaching staff also features Jay Tiseo, who will coach the wide receivers and defensive backs, Alex Iachetta, the line coach, Dom Carfagno, who wil coach tight ends and defensive linemen, and Zach Mazalewski, a former PV quarterback who will work with the signal callers.

The freshman coaches are once again Steve Smith and Nick Andriani.