SUMMIT, NJ — When the game was on the line, Alex Schwark came through big-time for the Summit High School Hilltoppers in their football season-opener.
The senior quarterback scored both Summit touchdowns to lead the Hilltoppers to a come-from-behind 14-11 triumph in a rare game at Morristown High School played last Friday, Aug. 29.
“Week Zero games are a toss-up,” Summit head coach Kevin Kostibos said. “You’re still trying to figure out your identity.”
Summit is now preparing for another road game, this time at Montgomery High School on Friday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m.
Montgomery also opened on Thursday, Aug. 28, and came away with a 35-28 single overtime victory at Hopewell Valley High School.
Summit opened last year with a convincing 46-7 win at home against Montgomery, en route to a 5-4 playoff qualifying season in North 2, Group 3. Montgomery went 1-9 last year, losing its first nine games before closing with a 35-0 win at West Windsor–Plainsboro High School North.
With Summit down 11-0 in the third quarter, Morristown scored the only points of the first half on a touchdown and two-point conversion in the second quarter and then added a field goal in the third quarter. Schwark produced a 43-yard touchdown run for the first Hilltopper points of 2025.
Schwark then scored the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 46-yard run. Junior placekicker Jackson Marx kicked both extra points.
Schwark excelled on the ground, carrying the ball 14 times for 227 yards, an impressive 16-yard average. He was not as successful throwing the ball, completing just one of eight passes and being intercepted three times.
However, Schwark overcame his passing ineffectiveness by breaking free for two long touchdown runs, which were the only touchdowns of the game scored in the second half.
“Alex is an absolute competitor,” Kostibos said. “He’s been a running back for two years and when Cole has been injured he’s stepped in and done a great job.”
Cole Sabol, Summit’s quarterback last year who as a junior passed for just less than 1,000 yards, tore his achilles during lacrosse season this spring and is out. Kostibos said there is still a chance he may play at some point this season.
Cole is a captain along with Schwark, senior Ben Cohen, senior Connor Gawronski and senior Anthony Trujillo.
“To play the quarterback role without doing it a lot, Alex was able to take the team on his shoulders and move us forward,” Kostibos said. “He put the team on his back and grinded out a win. It was a valiant effort by him and the other 10 guys on offense, everyone blocking for him.”
It was a particularly good game for an offensive line without a lot of varsity experience.
“We’re a run-first offense,” Kostibos said. “The guys up front create the chemistry. Four of our offensive linemen are first-year starters and they had also had a huge game.
“Alex had something like three or four carries of over 40 yards. The other 10 guys did their job as well. It was a great team effort.”
Defensively for Summit, leading tacklers included senior linebacker Daniel Licciardi and junior linebacker Matt McKeever with eight each. Junior linebacker Gavin Schnall contributed seven and senior end Minjoon Kang contributed six.
“Our defense was awesome, lights out,” Kostibos said. “They were able to get us out of some spots. It was a complimentary effort.
“Each phase of the game was able to pick up another. The crowd was great, the place was packed and Morristown got everything they could want from a home-opener. A ton of credit to Morristown.”
Summit won its season-opener for the third straight year.
“It was a great opportunity to define ourselves as a team and program, especially for this year,” Kostibos said. “We did some good things, made some mistakes, but we played a physical brand of football. Hats off to Morristown; they gave a great effort as well.
“All you can do is take what you’ve learned so far and apply it to Week Zero. I asked our seniors if they wanted to play on the early weekend and, for the opportunity to play another game, they all agreed that they wanted to.”
The Hilltoppers are used to scoring a lot more points than 14 during most of their victories. In last year’s 4-0 start, Summit averaged 35 points.
The win against Morristown was only the fourth victory by 14 points or less during the tenure of Kostibos, with his first year at the helm of the Hilltoppers being 2013.
Here’s a look at those four low-scoring wins, all of them on the road:
Aug. 29, 2025: Summit 14, Morristown 11 – at Morristown, season-opener.
Sept. 15, 2017: Summit 14, Immaculata 13 – at Immaculata, evened record at 1-1.
Summit finished 6-4 and made the playoffs in North 2, Group 3.
Sept. 25, 2015: Summit 14, Warren Hills 12 – at Warren Hills, put Summit at 3-0.
Oct. 31, 2015: Summit 13, Rahway 12 – at Rahway, put Summit at 5-3.
Summit finished 6-4 and made the playoffs in North 2, Group 4.
Union County Football Week Zero Scoreboard
Thursday, Aug. 28
Woodbridge 14, Union 0 – at Woodbridge
Westfield 21, Plainfield 14 – at Plainfield
Lakeland Regional 28, Gov. Livingston 0 – at Governor Livingston
Wallington JR/SR 20, David Brearley 13 – at David Brearley
Friday, Aug. 29
Elizabeth 42, Linden 7 – at Linden
Summit 14, Morristown 11 – at Morristown
Willingboro 35, Rahway 33 – at Rahway
Bernards 27, Cranford 15 – at Bernards
Photo by JR Parachini
