Bergen Catholic High School


Bergen Catholic High School is an all-male Roman Catholic high school in Oradell, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grade.
Bergen Catholic operates under the supervision of the Archdiocese of Newark. The school draws students from a wide geographic area that includes over 100 North Jersey communities, Rockland, Orange, Westchester counties and New York City.

Accreditation

The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1989, and is accredited until January 2026.

Enrollment

As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 721 students.

Activities

Mock trial team

The Bergen Catholic mock trial team has won 13 county championships and five state titles, as well as a National Championship. Bergen Catholic's team is nearly entirely student-run. In 1991, Bergen Catholic High School won the National High School Mock Trial Championships held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Bergen Catholic returned to the national championship hosted in Columbia, South Carolina in 2000 after going undefeated in the county, Regional and State tournaments. The 1999-2000 team ultimately finished 4th in the country, with three "Outstanding Attorney" awards. The 2016 team won the New Jersey state championship, sending it to the National High School Mock Trial Championship in Boise, Idaho.
In the 2008–09 season the team made it to the county finals, losing to Indian Hills High School. In 2010, the team defeated Mahwah High School to win the Bergen County championship, but the team lost in the regional semi-finals, ending its season as one of the top ten teams in the state. The Bergen Catholic team fell in the semi-final round of the county tournament at the end of January 2011 to the Mahwah High School team that went on to win the 2011 Bergen County Championship.
Bergen Catholic's Mock Trial team finished undefeated in the regular season in 2014 and finished third overall in the county. In the 2015 season Bergen Catholic again finished undefeated in the regular season. In the "playoff" tournament Bergen Catholic defeated Northern Valley Demarest in the first round. Then on January 29, 2015, in a double header, defeated Mahwah in the semifinals and Indian Hills in the finals.

Athletics

The Bergen Catholic Crusaders compete as a member of the Big North Conference, a super conference that is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties that operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Until the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in Division C of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, which included high schools located in Bergen County, Essex County and Passaic, and was separated into three divisions based on NJSIAA size classification. With 984 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Non-Public A for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 381 to 1,454 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the United Red division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Non-Public Group A for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 738 to 1,404 students.
Bergen Catholic has a long-standing rivalry with fellow Catholic schools Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey which was ranked first in the state by NJ.com and with Saint Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, which was listed at 14th on NJ.com's 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football".
Bergen Catholic offers 17 sports at the varsity level:
Bergen Catholic has one of the most successful programs in New Jersey. The Crusaders are 20-time state champions: they were awarded the Parochial A North title by the NJSIAA in 1963, 1965 and 1966, and won via playoffs in 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Through the 2019 season, the team had an overall record against in-state teams of 420-156-10. A record of 99–10 between 1990 and 1999 made Bergen Catholic the winningest football program in the state of New Jersey for the decade of the 1990s.
The 1979 team defeated DePaul Catholic High School by a score of 14–6 in the Parochial A North championship game at Giants Stadium to finish the season 10-0-1. The 1980 team finished the season at 8-2-1 after winning the Parochial A North title with a 12–0 win against Seton Hall Preparatory School in the finals. The 1982 team defeated Immaculata High School by a score of 25–0 in the playoff finals to win the Parochial A North sectional title and finish the season at 11-0. The 1986 team finished the season with a 9-1-1 record after defeating St. Peter's Preparatory School by a score of 33–0 in the Parochial A North sectional championship game played at Hinchliffe Stadium. The 1991 team finished the season 11-0 after defeating Saint Joseph Regional High School by a score of 14–0 to win the Parochial A North championship and earn a ranking of 11th from USA Today. The undefeated 1992 team's championship game with Paramus Catholic High School, which Bergen won 44–34, was voted "Game of the Century" by The Record. One of the most anticipated high school games in New Jersey history was their championship game in 1998, when BC won the Parochial Group IV championship by defeating rival St. Joseph Regional 35–9 in the final at Giants Stadium. The 1998 team finished with a 12–0 record, and was ranked first in New Jersey, 9th in USA Today national poll, and was voted "Team of the Century" by The Record.
Since 1998, the program has been to the state championship game 12 times. The 2001 team finished the season with a record of 10–2 after defeating Delbarton School by a score of 10–9 on a fourth-quarter field goal in the Parochial Group IV sectional finals. In 2004, the team went to Giants Stadium to play archrival Don Bosco Prep and won the state championship with a 13–10 victory, thanks to the play of Brian Cushing. Cushing would later go on to become one of two players to have started in four Rose Bowl football games as well as an All-American at USC and a 1st round draft pick of the Houston Texans who was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2009.
After a 13-year drought, the team finished the season with a 10–2 record and won the 2017 Non-Public Group IV state sectional championship with a 44–7 win against St. Peter's Preparatory School in the title game of the tournament; The team dominated all three rounds, defeating eighth-seeded St. Augustine Preparatory School by a score of 56–21 in the first round and fifth seed Delbarton School 41–16 in the semifinals, before scoring 44 points in the final.
In 2021, the Crusaders defeated Don Bosco Prep by a score of 28–7 in the tournament's final game at MetLife Stadium to win the Non-Public A state championship and finish the season with a 12–0 record. The team, which won its 15th state title, was recognized as the 3rd best high school football team in the country according to USA Today and fourth nationwide by MaxPreps.

Wrestling

The Crusader wrestling program has been the most successful in Bergen County over the past two decades. Bergen Catholic has won the Bergen County Championship 20 times, most in county history and hold the record for most consecutive titles by winning nine straight from 1999 to 2007. The Crusaders have won the North Parochial "A" state sectional title 22 times and in 14 of those seasons they have gone on to win the overall Parochial "A" state championship ; The program's 14 state championships are the fourth most of any team in the state.
One of the most memorable of those state championship wins came in Trenton in 2003 where the Crusaders upset heavily favored Camden Catholic High School 40–30. In addition to state and county titles, BC has won the District crown in 32 consecutive seasons. BC has also seen six of its wrestlers win a total of 12 individual state championships. The 2013-14 team won their first Star-Ledger Trophy as the #1 ranked team in the state of New Jersey and was ranked within the top ten in various national polls.
In 2016, Nick Suriano won his fourth consecutive state championship, finishing his career with a record of 159–0 and becoming the second wrestler in state history to complete his career undefeated while winning four state titles.

Basketball

The basketball team won the Non-Public A state championship in 1978, 1994 and 2002 and 2019.
Bergen Catholic won their first Bergen County Jamboree in 1977, and has a total of nine county championships with the most recent in 2015. Through the history of the Bergen County Jamboree, Bergen Catholic holds the most total games played, total wins, and championship appearances. They also rank second in appearances and championships. Bergen has won nine North Parochial "A" state sectional championships and four Parochial "A" state championships. Their most recent success came in the 2001–02 and 2002–03. The 2002 team captured the school's first state championship in more than 10 years with a 71–69 win over St. Augustine Prep. The team would make it to the semi-finals of the Tournament of Champions where they eventually fell to St. Anthony. The 2002–03 team consisted of five Division I players. They finished with a 25–4 record and a #3 ranking in New Jersey. They captured the school's most recent Bergen County Jamboree along with another sectional championship." The Crusaders won the 2015 Bergen County Jamboree by a 66-44 score in the tournament final, defeating a Teaneck High School team that had previously won four consecutive Jamboree championships.