Football: Archdiocese responds to allegations of illegal recruiting at Paramus Catholic

The Archdiocese of Newark has responded to allegations that the Paramus Catholic football program illegally recruited a player from Belleville High School.

NJ.com reported Saturday that the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association held a controversies committee meeting on Sept. 15 and found the program guilty of illegally recruiting the player while he was at Belleville High School. The football player in question has played in games for the Paladins this season.

The punishment, according to the report, is a one-year ban from the postseason and a two-year probation.

Archdiocese director of communications and public relations Maria Margiotta sent a statement to NorthJersey.com, reading: “Paramus Catholic takes this matter seriously, and the NJSIAA’s decision regarding the high school is now under review by the Superintendent of Catholic Schools to determine appropriate actions. We appreciate the time and deliberation of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Controversies Committee in the matter.”

It is not clear from the statement whether the school will appeal the NJSIAA's decision, and Margiotta declined to answer questions. Paramus Catholic head coach Greg Russo and athletic director Bill McPartland did not return calls to be interviewed for this story.

The NJSIAA, the governing body for high school sports in North Jersey, usually allows schools an appeals process after rendering this type of decision.

According to the NJ.com report, the infraction centers around Paramus Catholic assistant coach and teacher Christian Maldonado sending texts to the player to entice him to come to Paramus Catholic. Maldonado denied that was the intention of his communications, but the report says the committee did not believe Maldonado to be credible.

Two weeks ago, Paramus Catholic won its first game since 2020 with a 21-20 victory over Chaminade of New York.

The Paladins are 1-4 this season and their next four games are against teams ranked No. 1 through No. 4 in the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey statewide Top 25 rankings.

Entering last week's games, the Paladins ranked 16th out of 17 schools in the United Power Rankings for Non-Public Group A. That formula is used to seed teams for the public school playoffs, and is used as a factor by the committee that seeds the non-public playoffs.

Paramus Catholic hired Russo as head coach last December. Russo was the offensive coordinator on the Paladins' staff when Paramus Catholic won state championships in 2012, 2013 and 2016. He then went on to Northern Highlands, where he guided the Highlanders to sectional championships in 2019 and 2021.

The Paladins football program drew criticism during its glory years for welcoming in high-profile transfers Jabrill Peppers (now with the New England Patriots) and Rashan Gary (now with the Green Bay Packers). Defenders of Paramus Catholic insist the school isn’t doing anything the other big North Jersey non-public powers are doing, but feel the school has been singled out because of those big names.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paramus Catholic NJ football: Archdiocese responds to allegations