Senior captains Schnall, McKeever and Kubeck represented Summit Hilltopper Football at the fourth annual Big Central Conference Media Day, marking the official start of the 2026 season for a program that reached last year's state final.

The program announced the three captains on Saturday, Aug. 8, after they appeared at the conference's showcase event at Kean University's Harwood Arena in Union. The captains were tagged alongside CJ Sports Radio and MyCentralJersey, the BCC's primary media partners.

Summit enters 2026 coming off a season in which the Hilltoppers were ranked No. 1 in Union County, won the Big Central Conference United Gold Division title and advanced to the North 2 Group 3 state final. That run ended with a 35-14 loss to West Morris Central, but not before Summit knocked off Warren Hills 24-21 in the first round and West Essex 31-28 in the semifinals.

The new captains inherit a program with 17 state championships and 35 conference titles. They replace a 2025 leadership group of Alex Schwark, Ben Cohen, Connor Gawronski, Anthony Trujillo and Cole Sabol. Schwark and Trujillo earned team MVP honors last fall.

The Schnall and McKeever surnames also appear in Summit's captain lineage. Ryan Schnall captained the Hilltoppers in 2023, and Tim McKeever wore the "C" in 2022. Dennis McKeever, who identifies himself as a volunteer coach and "the voice of Summit Youth Football," shared the Media Day announcement Saturday.

Big picture, the conference is thriving. BCC league president Scott Miller told CJ Sports Radio at the Aug. 5 main event: "This is what it's about. This adds excitement, not only to our conference, but to these schools. We're trying to do good things for these kids."

The Big Central Conference is entering its seventh season. Summit competes in Division 3 and remains classified as Group III North by the NJSIAA for the 2024-26 cycle.

Fall camp opens the week of Monday, Aug. 10, according to the program's posted schedule.