North Hunterdon senior runningback Alex Uryniak scores a touchdown against Woodbridge in a 35-7 win in Annandale on October 14, 2022 (Source: @NHLionsFootball on Twitter)
With nine public schools from the Big Central Conference remaining in the state playoffs – and just one win away from a sectional final – we think all of them have a good chance to make it to a championship game and play for a title.
Of course, the road won’t end there. For the first time ever, the NJSIAA has football playing down to group championships. So anyone who wins a sectional title in 2022 will go on to the group semifinals the week before Thanksgiving. North 1 and North 2 winners in each group will play locally at Franklin High School, while South and Central winners in each group will play at Cherokee High School in Burlington County, about 15 minutes East of the Turnpike in the Cherry Hill area.
The Group Championships are two weeks later, the first week of December, at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium in Piscataway.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, here’s each team’s path to the sectional finals:
#1 Phillipsburg (9-0) vs. #4 Paterson Eastside (6-3): North 2, Group 5 semifinals, Friday 7 pm
The top-seeded Stateliners have been dominant all season long. Since a 14-7 Week One win at Sayreville, they have not won a game by fewer than two touchdowns, and have an average margin of victory of 25 points. Any concerns how a talented group that wasn’t entirely the “A” team last year certainly has been washed away by this season’s performance.
The fact that P’burg is balanced also makes them less vulnerable to a team that can shut down one player. Xavier Moore leads a ground game that has rushed for 1,804 yards and 26 touchdowns with 627 yards and seven scores of his own. But junior Caleb Rivera – who should get the bulk of the carries next year when Moore graduates – has 427 yards and seven scores, while Jinior John Wargo has 336 yards and five touchdowns, and QB Jett Genovese – just a sophomore – has rushed for 252 yards and 6 touchdowns. Plus, five receivers have at least 120 yards, including top catcher Matthew Scerbo, Jr.
Paterson Eastside has played some good teams, but their schedule is not nearly as challenging as Phillipsburg’s. You’d be hard-pressed for us to find a team we think can beat the Stateliners this year – and that may include Easton on thanksgiving.
For the record, the program’s last undefeated season was in 2005, when the ‘Liners went 12-0 under Bob Stem, beating Easton on Turkey Day, and Piscataway the following weekend in the North 2, Group 5 championship game, a win that stopped the Chief’s three-year reign as sectional champions, the first of which came in Joe Kuronyi’s last season as head coach at P’way.
#3 Westfield (7-2) at #2 Union City (8-1): North 1, Group 5 semifinals, Friday at 7 pm
This may be the challenging game for a Big Central team this weekend. Not taking anything away from anyone else’s opponents, but just the style of play is different from what Westfield sees in the Big Central, particularly the type of teams on its schedule. Not to mention Roosevelt Stadium (a.k.a. the Eagles’ Nest) is on the roof of the high school!
Altitude issues aside (just kidding), Union City can pour on points like nobody’s business. They have scored 45 or more points four times this year, beating Union in the opening round of the playoffs 62-20 (Westfield beat them 21-14 in Week Two) and routed Livingston 66-7 on September 9.
READ MORE: Westfield uses ground game and its usual stellar defense to top Bridgewater-Raritan
Last week, the Blue Devils made some early mistakes and fell behind against Bridgewater-Raritan. They were able to recover, but that may not be possible against Union City. Westfield not only will have to avoid early mistakes, but avoid them almost entirely.
READ MORE: Westfield’s Wragg wants Blue Devils to have success he saw growing up
They’ll need a mix of the run and pass game from guys like runningback Dylan Wragg and dual-threat QB Trey Brown, son of former Giants quarterback Dave Brown. And they’ll need to keep fresh on D. The Soaring Eagles run the Wing-T, and don’t bust a lot of big plays. Time of possession could be a factor here, and the best Westfield defense is a good offense that can keep Union City off the field.
#6 Edison (7-3) at #2 North Brunswick (8-1): Central Group 5 semifinals, Friday at 7 pm
These two teams have played some epic games over the years, with North Brunswick winning all five coached by Mike Cipot. Edison’s looking for its first title since 1991, and the Raiders are looking for their first ever, but having made two finals in the last four Playoff years – 2018 and 2021 – losing an epic in its own right, 6-0 at Sayreville in 2018, as the Bombers went on to win the South 5 “bowl game” that year.
All that aside, the last time out was on September ninth in Edison, a 13-10 win for North Brunswick. But Edison QB Matt Yascko was out that game – for a second straight week – with a broken nose, while top receiver Malcolm Stansbury also missed the game due to injury. Getting those two back could be a difference-maker if there wasn’t always some other storyline surrounding the game. This is one where anything can happen.
For Edison to move on to the sectional final (it would be a surprise if it weren’t on the road at Lenape next week) they’ll need Yascko – in his fourth season as a starter – to have one of his big games. The kid is a leader, and his team will follow. But he’s also 0-3 against North Brunswick. (He didn’t start the game against the Raiders his freshman year; that was Lucas Loffredo, whose injury later that season opened the door for Yascko to be the No. 1 QB.)
Remember that 50-49 win at the end of the COVID season over Hillsborough? Yascko ran in a two-point conversion for the lead as the Eagles went for the jugular. That’s the kind of performance Edison needs.
And while Edison has a very good defense and can get after the QB, Frankie Garbolino will pilot the offense. He’s another leader, and a champion – playing on the Raiders’ GMC Tournament winner last year – and he and the offense will put up some points. North’s D will have to continue playing at the high level it’s played at all year long, and clean up any mistakes they made two weeks ago in the regular season finale against Cranford – where they allowed a season-high 34 points – and in last week’s opening round win over Hunterdon Central, a 45-31 win. That’s an average of 32.5 points per game allowed in the last two contests. In the first seven games of the year, North Brunswick had three shutouts, allowed an average of 5.9 points, and had three shutouts. That’s the form they’ll need against the Eagles.
#1 North Hunterdon (9-1) vs. #5 Morris Knolls (7-2): North 2, Group 5 semifinals, Friday at 7 pm (on CJSR – click here to listen live)
One might have wondered when Kente Edwards got banged up against Colonia how the Lions would fair with only one of their two-headed monster backs on the turf at a time.
Just fine, thank you.
In fact, North Hunterdon has tightened up defensively, allowing more than a touchdown only once since then, in a 21-14 road win over a good Montgomery team. They’ve held six of their ten opponents to a single touchdown, and their only loss is to Phillipsburg, a team they won’t have a chance to see in the playoffs, being in different groups.
And Alex Uryniak has more than held up his end of the bargain. He’s now rushed for 900 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season, including 169 yards and two scores – his first multi-TD game of the year – at Montgomery, and a career high 264 yards and three touchdowns the following week against Woodbridge. Now, he did go for under 100 in the next two games, but they didn’t really need all that much, and relied a little more on the passing game in a 35-7 win in the regular season finale over Voorhees and a 34-7 opening round playoff win over 8th-seed Middletown North.
I’d count on the offense doing what it does, and even a bit more of Edwards’ presence. The question is the defense.
The key for North Hunterdon will be stopping the “Houston veer” option offense, which can really take advantage if a team is not disciplined. Sure, the Lions have lost to Morris Knolls in their last two matchups. But the first of those was the opener of the 2020 season, and a game scheduled within a day, essentially, after a last-minute COVID cancellation, something that happened fairly frequently that year all across New Jersey. Preparing for this offense takes more than a day. That game was a 35-14 loss, and they met again to open last season, with the Lions falling 35-21. They narrowed the gap, and this year’s North Hunterdon team is better, hungry and extremely focused. If the defense can learn from last year’s game and be prepared, the the offense keeps doing what it does, North Hunterdon will be in its first final since it won it all in 2017 over – of all teams – Phillipsburg.
#3 Ridge (7-2) at #2 Ramapo (7-2): North 1, Group 4 semifinals, Friday at 6:30 pm
Both these teams can score, but Ridge has had a better defense, at least in its wins. In the Red Devils’ seven victories, they have allowed a grand total of 24 points, but in their two losses allowed 49. They turned it over early, particularly in the air, but one could also say that had something to do with the teams they faced: Phillipsburg and Hillsborough, the only two squads to beat Ridge this year. They have pitched three shutouts, and no one has scored more than a touchdown against them in any of their wins.
READ MORE: Ridge pounds Roxbury to move on in North 1, Group 4 playoffs
That allows their offense the opportunity to produce, and produce they do. Junior Will Deady has rushed for 1,071 yards and 14 touchdowns, while quarterback Jack Berisha has passed for 1,304 yards and nine touchdowns. While he has thrown seven interceptions, six of them came against P’burg and ‘Boro; he threw one more in a 35-7 win over Hunterdon Central, and has been flawless since – a streak of five games without a pick.
Valuing the ball will be key for Berisha and Ridge, and then stopping Ramapo, which has racked up 2,263 passing yards behind the arm of junior QB Landon DePrima, who has found seven different receivers this year to the tune of at least 100 yards each. On the ground, they’ve rushed for another 1,562 behind a blanaced attack led by senior runningback Ethan Morgan. The Red Devils’ need to keep the ball out of Ramapo’s hands, and get it into the end zone. Eating some time off the clock wouldn’t hurt either.
#2 Cranford (7-2) vs. #3 West Essex (6-3): North 2, Group 3 semfinals, Friday at 7 pm
Cranford and Hillsborough were the only two Big Central teams to win championships last year, and both graduated a ton of talent. Yet both were looking in contention for another trophy this year. That is, until the Raiders suffered a couple of quarterback injuries to backup Tyler VanCleef, then starter Ryan Tasetanoi,and were down to their third string quarterback, sophomore Alex Reiling.
Cranford suffered no such bad luck, and could very well be back in a final for the second straight year. Their only two losses are to a pair of the Big Central’s top teams: North Hunterdon and St. Thomas Aquinas. And they knocked off state-ranked North Brunswick, 34-14, on Cutoff Weekend, depriving the Raiders of a top seed in the South Group 5 supersection.
How’d they do it? With homegrown talent that grew up playing together all through youth football, just like last year’s team did. And a coach – in Erik Rosnemeier – who encourages his players to participate in multiple sports. (It’s really more of a blessing than a curse!)
Shane VanDam threw for over 1,500 yards last year, while Colin Murray rushed for over 2,100 and a state-best 31 touchdowns. And though no one has Murray’s number’s, this year’s Cranford team has more of a ground game, albeit more balanced, and that can make them extra dangerous. It starts with their quarterback, Liam Godwin – a bit player last year with 166 receiving yards – good for fourth on the Cougars – who has moved to quarterback and proved a dual threat. While he doesn’t have gaudy stats, you just don’t know what he’s going to do with the ball; he’s thrown for 750 yards and five touchdowns, but rushed it for 866 – to lead the team – and 14 trips into the end zone. Cranford has three – yes, three! – runningbacks with over 600 yards, including senior Shane Kanterman (772, 9 TDs) and Ryan Lynskey (636, 7 TDs). Such balance and mystery has been the key to the Cougars’ success.
Their opponent Friday night has three very good losses: at Wayne Valley, to Caldwell and at West Morris, teams that are a combined 29-0, and they will be a challenge, no doubt. There’s never been a truer cliche: Cranford just needs to play Cranford football.
#2 Hillside (8-1) vs. #3 River Dell (5-4) : North 1, Group 3 semifinals, Saturday at 1 pm
Sometimes you’d rather be lucky than good, but fortunately Hillside is both. The Comets – who are playing up in Group Three this year, don’t forget – had to pull one out last week to beat seventh-seed Parsippany Hills and Conant Street Park last Saturday afternoon in the first round. But they were good enough to score the game’s final 19 points to survive and advance to this week’s semifinals, getting another home game to boot.
It all starts with a pair of thousand-yard rushers from last year, Syracuse-bound Muffawaq Parkman and Army-bound Kyon Simonson. Yet, it was someone else, Darvens Tunis, whose 44-yard touchdown catch gave Hillside the lead, after they thought they had the game tied up at 28, but didn’t as Par Hills blocked the PAT.
READ MORE: Hillside scores 19 unanswered to top Parsippany Hills in a wild one in North 1, Group 3 first round
River Dell has been a bit of a mystery this season. They were just .500 heading into the playoffs, and have a loss to the top-seed in this section, Old Tappan. But they also have losses to 4-5 Parsippany Hills and 3-6 Pascack Valley, while also losing to unbeaten Westwood (9-0). So go figure this one.
We’ll try. Put it this way: for all the offense Hillside has, this one may come down to denfense. They have pitched three shutouts on the season, and held two others to a single touchdown.They are 7-1 when holding the opposition to under 21 points, which isn’t really a big ask, all things considered. In their only loss, St. Thomas Aquinas only needed 17 points in a 17-7 win, but River Dell’s D is not nearly as good. They’re allowing 26 points a game, and only twice have they allowed fewer than 15 points. But those have come in the last two games: seven by Paramus in the regular season finale, and 14 last week in the opening round to 6th-seed Vernon, which was a season low for the Vikings.
#4 Brearley (9-0) vs. #8 Kinnelon (6-3): North 2, Group 1 semifinals, Friday at 7 pm
I’ve never understood teams that root for the 8-seed in an 8/1 game, figuring that team will be the easier one. Quite the opposite, they scare me. Anyone who can knock off a No. 1 seed in the playoffs scares me, because they’re playing good football. It’s hard to get that lucky, especially in either of two brackets that are snaked, because you’re really talking about the 1/16 or 2/15 game, and – in general – there’s a bigger disparity.
That said, Brearley head coach Scott Miller surely will have his team respecting 8th-seed Kinnelon, which knocked off top-seed Pequannock last weekend. Miller told CJSR he was all ready with buses on cue if they needed them; now the Bears get an unexpected home game.
READ MORE: Brearley rides Sims – surprise, surprise – to 9th straight win, and into North 2, Group 1 semifinals
It starts and ends with Matt Sims for the undefeated Bears. He has thrown for a modest 803 yards and seven touchdowns, with fellow senior Brendan Fitzsimmons his top target – 589 yards and four touchdowns – but has run it to the tune of 1,156 yards and 23 scores this season. (By the way, Sims – a two-way player – also has four interceptions on defense.)
Kinnelon is a tough nut to crack. There’s not a lot of history, with head coach Dustin Grande in his first year at the helm, but they play a ball control offense, run by his son, Zach. The Colts have gotten stronger as the season progressed, starting 2022 with a 2-3 mark, but winning their last three regular season games, in addition to their playoff opener. They won’t be intimidated on the road either; we saw that last week. But Park Ridge is not Brearley, although only two of their six wins came against teams below .500, so they’ve played a good schedule.
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