Garbolino and North Brunswick seniors hungry to bring home that elusive title

North Brunswick has had seasons like this before, especially in the Mike Cipot era.

Last year’s team started 5-1. The 2020 COVID-shortened edition started 6-0 and finished 7-1. The 2019 team lost its second game but didn’t lose again until the sectional semifinals, winning eight straight before a season-ending loss to Cherokee.

Almost ditto for the 2018 team, which also started 1-1, but made it a step further, to the Central 5 title game against Sayreville, losing an epic to end the season 10-2.

That was Cipot’s second season in North Brunswick.

The one thing the Raiders haven’t done in that time is bring home that elusive sectional title, and they’re well aware.

This year, even more is at stake, as the NJSIAA will have football playing down to group champions for the first time in New Jersey playoff history. And Frankie Garbolino says the second-ranked Raiders are hungry to check one, or maybe two of those boxes off their to-do list.

He would know. The senior has been the starting quarterback since the start of his sophomore season, the COVID year. He’s gone 20-5 as a starting QB.

Some of the names around him have changed. Others haven’t.

But he has been consistent: 1,701 passing yards and 17 touchdowns in 2019, and another 1,857 and 23 last year. He’s at 4,354 passing yards and 46 touchdowns for his career, with three regular season games to go, and then the playoffs.

But there’s one thing different from the 2021 version of Frankie Garbolino. He has a championship under his belt now. It’s for baseball, as the Raiders knocked off heavy favorite St. Joseph-Metuchen last Spring to win the GMC Tournament Championship.

READ MORE: A 10! North Brunswick wins first ever GMC title as Konstantinovsky fans 10 en route to 4-2 win over defending champ St. Joe’s

Click below to hear CJSR’s Mike Pavlichko talk with North Brunswick senior quarterback Frankie Garbolino about this year’s Raider team, and their quest to bring home a sectional championship, and maybe more:

North Brunswick (5-0) is one of four unbeaten teams left in the Big Central Conference, the others being Phillipsburg, Brearley and South Plainfield, all 5-0. The Raiders visit New Brunswick (1-5) Friday night.