Team turns tragedy to triumph by dedicating season to late coach

The St. Thomas Aquinas High School football team faced a major challenge before the start of the season, but it would not be on the field. 

Head coach Brian Meeney, who had pulled the program up from barely enough players to form a team his first season to a 9-1 record in 2021, died of a heart attack March 22. Meeney, a married father of two children, was 46. 

In the months since his death, the team showed how suffering, while painful, can turn tragedy into triumph. The players not only had to deal with the emotional impact of his passing, but after time to grieve, hire his replacement.  Jerry Smith, St. Thomas Aquinas’ athletic director, hired Tarig Holman, who had been coaching at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, Iselin. 

Holman knew he had a challenge in front of him, not just in terms of continuing Meeney’s success, but in helping his players transition past their grief. 

“I think when I started off here, I looked at the foundation that had been laid by Coach Meeney,” said Holman. “I also looked at the staff. I look at myself as a person who is big on relationships. At the end of the day, that is what it is about. The kids had established a tremendous relationship with Coach Meeney. So did the staff. The last thing I wanted to do was break the relationships. I wanted to enhance the relationships and build on the foundations. 

“We have a tremendous coaching staff,” he continued. “I’m surrounded by great people who are all headed in the same direction. We all want to help these young men rise up and meet their greatest potential. So that is where we start.” 

To help the players and students get past their grief, Holman noted that the school offered counseling and Campus Ministry. 

“We talked about it with them as well as in confidence,” Holman said. “We just wanted to be there for each other. Football is an emotional game and life is emotional, too. I think this was a tremendous amount of adversity for these young men to be able to handle, especially at this age when it comes to losing someone who was part of their family. At the beginning of the year, we talked about committing ourselves to the cause and Coach Meeney was a big part of that.” 

Senior Jayden Young, a four-year starter at quarterback, said he and his teammates initially reacted to Meeney’s death with shock, disbelief and sadness. 

“But the people at the school were incredibly nice,” Young said. “There was always someone to talk to, always someone asking if you were OK. It was like everyone was going through it together.” 

Senior teammate Najee Lovejoy, who had played for Meeney for three years, said hearing about his death was “my first time dealing with loss.” 

“I felt like he was family. The school provided lots of support for us in how we dealt with it,” he said. 

Under Holman’s guidance, the St. Thomas Aquinas Trojans showed they could deal with it. After losing its season opener to Timber Creek, the Trojans won eighth consecutive games, including a 17-14 victory over Edison by scoring two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to improve to 8-1. The Trojans finished first in their inaugural season in the United Gold Division of the Big Central Conference with a 4-0 record. 

On Oct 11, the football seasons for St. Thomas Aquinas and Immaculata High School, Somerville, came to an end in the quarterfinals of the Non-Public, Group B New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament

No. 5-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas fell to host and No. 4-ranked Holy Spirit, Absecon, 50-21 after trailing 29-7 lead at halftime.

No. 2-ranked DePaul, Wayne, defeated the visiting and No. 7-ranked Immaculata Spartans 42-13 after forging a 35-7 lead at halftime.