CLARK, NJ — Gus Kalikas has been around Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders football his entire life. Now back as the head coach for this season, there’s very little the school’s athletic director is going to change.
“When we look at the culture at Johnson, we know the roots and that’s running the triple-option and running it well,” Kalikas said. “There’s no mystery.”
Arthur L. Johnson is coming off a three-year run, led by quarterback Robert Gallagher, who graduated this June, where the Crusaders went 6-3, 7-2 and 7-2 and qualified for the state playoffs in 2022, 2023 and 2024. The only feat Arthur L. Johnson was unable to attain was a playoff victory.
Still, the Crusaders proved to be a tough out for any opponent they went up against, with Gallagher throwing for nearly 1,600 yards total the past three seasons.
Also lost to graduation was 2025 grad Ryan George, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season and almost 2,400 total the past three years.
“We’re down a lot of seniors from last year, but our goals are the same,” said returning linebacker-quarterback Jack Kalikas, son of head coach Gus. Jack will continue playing lacrosse in college at Division 1 University of Vermont.
“There will be learning curves and they come with reps after reps after reps,” Kalikas said.
This will be the second time Jack will be coached by his father, Gus. The first time was in middle school.
“I’ve been a part of the triple-option since middle school and it’s my favorite offense,” Jack Kalikas said. “It’s like breathing.”
Arthur L. Johnson also excelled on defense for most of last year, allowing 14 points or less in five of its eight regular season games.
Rarely do you see teams score 50 points one week and then give up 60 the next, but it happened to the Crusaders last year, who closed their regular season with a 56-24 win at Perth Amboy High School and were then downed at Willingboro High School, 62-7, in a first-round South Jersey, Group 2 contest at Arthur L. Johnson’s Nolan Field in Clark.
Gus Kalikas lauded the job Anthony DelConte did the past 11 seasons as Arthur L. Johnson’s head coach. DelConte played for Kalikas before graduating in 2006.
“We practice every day, going 100 percent,” said senior returning two-way lineman C.J. DiBiasi. “We all trust each other.”
Running backs don’t gain the yardage they do and quarterbacks don’t have the time to throw the ball without the unsung guys up front, the offensive linemen, doing their jobs.
“We might not get the credit, but we have to do what we have to do,” DiBiasi said.
Arthur L. Johnson has the same eight-game regular season schedule it had last year, playing the same teams consecutively. The only difference is the ones they played at home last year they are playing on the road and vice versa.
Arthur L. Johnson won its first five games last year, four of them by double digits.
This year’s squad will be challenged greatly to try to match what last year’s team was able to accomplish.
“Our goal, like many other teams, is to take it day by day and to win each day,” Jack Kalikas said. “We know the amount of work that is necessary to put in.”
Arthur L. Johnson opens home during Week One on Friday, Sept. 5, against David Brearley High School, with the game in Clark billed as First Children’s Night.
Arthur L. Johnson’s next home game, Friday, Sept. 26, vs. Metuchen High School is Crusader Night at Nolan Field.
Arthur L. Johnson’s third home game on Friday, Oct. 3, against Governor Livingston is Alumni Night and Patriot Night.
The final home game vs. Perth Amboy High School on the playoff cutoff date weekend of Friday, Oct. 24, is Seniors Night.
Arthur L. Johnson Crusaders 2025
Friday, Sept. 5, David Brearley, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 12, at New Providence, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 19, at Abraham Clark, 6 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 26, Metuchen, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 3, Governor Livingston, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 10, at Delaware Valley, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 17, at North Plainfield, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 24, Perth Amboy, 7 p.m.
Photo by JR Parachini
