East Rutherford – Two Super Bowl tickets weren’t enough.
Brandon Hiltz also needs his sidekick to come with him.
Hiltz, a junior at Parsippany High School, was named the Steve DiGregorio Young Man of the Year Tuesday morning at the Super Football Conference at MetLife Stadium. Hirtz received his two free tickets from the New York Jets to attend Super Bowl LVII in Arizona next month. He also received a $5,000 scholarship.
“I had no idea,” Hiltz said of Super Bowl tickets. “All I knew was scholarships.”
But no one knew about the second set of tickets presented on Tuesday. Hirtz was primarily honored for his friendship and work with the autistic individual, identified as JM in Tuesday’s announcement. I was sitting right behind him.
The Jets then said JM also received two Super Bowl tickets.
“I was so happy for him and his dad when they said JM was going.” They came to every game. They were everywhere for me.”
According to Hirtz, he and JM were first introduced in second grade. Although he was aware of his JM differences, he always tried to treat him as a friend.
“I never realized how much of an impact I had on his life,” Hirtz said. “I’m not going to lie when I was reading some of the things they said. I almost cried a little.”
Hirtz said JM was always encouraging him on the Redhawks’ sidelines and that they would be friends forever.
“I will be friends with him for life,” Hirtz said. “I can’t go anywhere without him.”
Not even the Super Bowl.
Details of Monday’s Awards Ceremony
Each of the 114 Super Football Conference teams has nominated one player for Young Man of the Year.
The award is based on the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Nutley athletic director Joe Piro said in a statement Tuesday that the award honors the community for his spirit of service and the legacy of his DiGregorio, a former Nutley athletic director who passed away in October 2021. said it is.
From the original 114, the list was narrowed down to seven finalists, each representing one large section of the Super Football Conference. Pirro read out some of their accomplishments before handing over to Jets defensive tackle Solomon Thomas, who announced Hirtz as the winner.
Thomas, who has spoken at multiple SFC schools as part of Defensive Line’s mental health awareness program, congratulated the finalists and shared their achievements and their true legacy, not just their victories in games or social media. He said he was impressed by the fact that
Other DiGregorio finalists were Austin Fratura (Sparta), Daniel Cullen (Livingston), Bradley Manso (Memorial), William Parella (Kinneron), Nick Della Luna (Natley) and Jordan Glover (Union Catholic).
The SFC also introduced the first Drew Gibbs Coach of the Year Award in 2021, named after the late longtime coach Ramapo.
