Ten questions for the Big Central as the 2023 HS Football season is about to kick off

With many high school football teams across New Jersey just a few days away from their season openers, we’ve got some thoughts on the upcoming season. At this point, we have more questions than answers, so it’s time to ask away!

Here are the first five of our ten questions about the 2023 high school football season, with the second half of our list coming out tomorrow.

1. Who’s Number One? That’s a very good question. We asked the same one to kick things off in 2022, after tremendous seasons by Hillsborough and Cranford the year prior. The thing was, both had lost the vast majority of their production from the year before.

Much the same has happened this year, after both North Hunterdon and Edison won sectional titles. The Lions – who finished No. 1 last season – lose Martini, Edwards, Vaddis, Uryniak and company, while the Eagles – who finished third a year ago – graduate Yascko, Shittu, Stansbury, Sabio and more. Not only that, but both head coaches are gone. Matt Fulham of Edison has retired, and Kevin Kley stepped down from North Hunterdon to start a family.

So, who’s going to take the top spot? Two schools from the American Silver division merit serious consideration, as well as a couple from Middlesex County.

Phillipsburg (10-1 last year) returns leaders in four of the six major statistical categories, with QB Jett Genovese (1,380 yards, 13 TDs) and top wide receiver Matthew Scerbo, Jr. (486 yds, 7 TDs) back for their junior seasons. Also back are Caleb Rivera (5 sacks) and Cameron Bohal (6 interceptions) for their senior campaigns.

The other is Ridge – which was 7-3 last year – which will have to replace some key pieces, but has rushing and receiving leader Will Deady (1,265 yards through the air, 442 on the ground) back, along with Christopher Oliver, who led the defense with six sacks. Both will be seniors. But lost to graduation are quarterback Jack Berisha (1,315 yards, 10 TDs) and defensive back Adam Meiner, whose ten interceptions last year led the entire state.

North Brunswick (8-2 in ’22) is always a consideration; in fact, the Raiders were the preseason No. 1 team in our Big Central Media Poll last season. Granted, they lose a lot, but with the exception of Frankie Garbolino – who graduated after last season with three full years as the starting quarterback under his belt – the Raiders seem to lose a lot every year, but never really slip. To wit: North Brunswick is 48-15 in six seasons as head coach, never winning fewer than six games, and twice reaching sectional finals (in 2018 and 2021).

And what about St. Thomas Aquinas? The program is having unprecedented success under Tarig Holman, who’s entering his second season, having gone 9-2 last year. The program is 18-3 in the last two seasons, its best back-to-back campaigns since a three-year stretch from 1984-1986 where then-Bishop Ahr went 29-4 and won three straight state titles. They also lost a lot, including QB Jayden Young (1,656 yards), top receiver Benjamin Bussiere (759 yds) and defensive lineman Isaiah Marellis (9 sacks), but with the NJSIAA’s “one free transfer” rule, Holman has a chance to reload.

2. Who are the marquee returning players in 2023? We’ve already mentioned a few of them, but perhaps the highest profile player back is Jaeden Jones of Colonia. Last year, his junior season, he rushed for 1,661 yards, scored 19 touchdowns and 114 points as a quarterback. He’s the top returning player in all three categories in the Big Central, and was the first QB to lead the Big Central in rushing in its short three-year history, something he very well could do again this season. He’s also a great kid, highly personable, and the face of the Patriots’ program.

Montgomery has a great one-two combination of returning quarterback Michael Schmelzer and wide receiver Matt D’Avino. In their junior seasons last year, Schmelzer threw for 1,658 yards and 21 TDs, making him the top returning passer in the Big Central, while D’Avino is the top returning receiver in the league (1,054 yards) and his 14 TDs last year rank second (behind Jones) among returning Big Central players.

The next two top receivers coming back in the Big Central are A.J. Bosch of Woodbridge and Jahad Thompson of Carteret. Bosch had 40 receptions for 655 yards and eight touchdowns a year ago, while Thompson hauled in 44 catches for 618 yards and six TDs.

On the defensive side of the ball, Hezekiah Ragaland of Carteret will continue to make an impact; not only was he the team’s leading tackler last year, but he also had 21 tackles for loss, the same as Davon Grant of St. Thomas Aquinas; both had the most TFLs of any returnee.

South Brunswick got after the quarterback a lot last year in its first season with Joe Goerge back at the helm, and though Jacob Brokaw (17) is gone, Dason Boateng and his 11 sacks return this season.

Besides P’burg’s Cameron Bohal – who we mentioned earlier as one of the reasons the Stateliners could open the season No. 1 this year – being the top returning Big Central player in the interceptions category with 10, there are also three other returning defensive players who logged at least four picks last season. Marcus White of Hillside and Matt Botvinis of New Providence each had five, while Joel Cordoba of Plainfield had four.

On Special teams, some sure-footed kickers return, namely Simon Bramwit of Bernards, who made 30-of-31 PATs a year ago and is back for his senior season. Phillipsburg’s Luke Brogan is coming off a junior year where he made 40 of 45 point after tries, and North Hunterdon’s Ben Cleary has one more go after hitting on 43 of 46 extra point attempts.

And there’s a lot of explosiveness coming back, too. Five players who had kick returns of 90 yards or better are back on the field this year. In fact, Hillsborough’s Jackson Jankowicz – as a sophomore last year – returned two kicks for touchdowns, one for 99 yards against Ridge and another a few weeks later for 92 against Hunterdon Central, both in wins. Casey Chiola of Colonia – coming back for his senior season – had a 99-yarder for a touchdown ina season-opening win over New Brunswick. Others who topped 90 yards were Kevin Burgess of Philllipsburg, Peter Del Re of Westfield, and Terrell Mitchell of Somerville.

On the punt return side, Eric Thompson – back for his junior year at Carteret – had the longest of any Big Central player coming back this year, an 80-yarder for six last year against North Plainfield. Two other seniors this year also had big punt returns for scores a year ago: Jake Caldwell of Bernards (78 yards vs. Voorhees) and Patrick Smith of South Plainfield (60 yards against Governor Livingston).

3. Which new coach will make the biggest impact in 2023? In the last two years, the Big Central has turned over more than a third of its coaches. There were 14 new skippers in 2022, and there will be ten new ones this season, making it 24 coaching changes out of 59 league teams in the last two years.

Edison and North Hunterdon, both of which won sectional titles in 2023, both had coaching changes, but both head coaches are facing some talent turnover, graduating a ton of seniors. It’ll be a challenge for Matt Yascko of the Eagles and CJ Robinson of the Lions to replicate last year’s success this fall.

Don Soflikanich has won titles as a head coach (Asbury Park) and two as a coordinator (at New Brunswick) and takes over a Sayreville program that could be poised for big things this year.

I like Somerville’s Matt Bloom in this story line, even though he was the head coach at the end of last season for Somerville, which won its last two regular season games to qualify for the playoffs. He was the last holdout from the Vanderbeek/Whitaker era, but took the reins late in the year after things didn’t quite work out with first-year head coach Ian Pace. Four our purposes, he’s also a “new” coach.

The other could be JP Stevens and Jason Goerge, the son of Joe Goerge, who remains at South Brunswick. He’s worked with his dad – one of the best and most respected coaches in the game – for years, and will hope to grow the program and change the culture in North Edison, where the Hawks haven’t seen a “W” in years.

4. How will the Aquinas multiplier affect the BCC? After two tremendous seasons in a row, St. Thomas Aquinas – a combined 18-3 in that stretch – is now a Group C multiplier, which means any public school that plays them will get a big boost.

The multiplier means any school that plays them will get a guaranteed 36 power points for a win, 24 for a loss, and 30 for a tie. And that could really boost some area teams, who have not had a multiplier since St. Joseph-Metuchen in 2019.

The Trojans have just one out-of-conference opponent before the public school cutoff, so eight teams in four different supersections will benefit:

• South 2: New Providence
• North 3: Cranford, Hillside, North Plainfield, Summit
• North 4: Rahway, Scotch Plains-Fanwood
• South 5: Edison

Edison “got hurt” last year by the multiplier – the double multiplier – that put Lenape as a higher seed in the playoff seeding, thanks to their double-multiplier; they got a big boost from a pair of losses to St. Joe’s Hammonton and St. Augustine. Of course, we put “got hurt” in quotes there since Edison wound up beating Lenape – on the road – for the Central Jersey Group 5 title, the Eagles’ first sectional crown in over 30 years.

5. Can Highland Park and JP Stevens stop their losing streaks? The Owls have the longest losing streak in the state, now at 42 games, while JP Stevens has lost 31 straight, and owns the second longest losing streak in New Jersey.

Highland Park was 0-9 last season, with some of the best numbers the program has had in recent years. They were 0-8 in 2021, didn’t play varsity in 2020, 0-10 in 2019, 0-5 (after forfeiting a some games due to lack of available players) in 2018, and 0-10 in 2017. Their last win came against arch-rival Metuchen on Thanksgiving in 2016, a 35-7 victory.

JP’s streak is shorter in terms of numbers and length, as it’s played more full seasons. Their last win came in 2018, a 29-14 victory over Monroe. They lost their last two games that year, then were 0-8 in 2019, 0-4 in 2020, 0-9 in 2021, and 0-8 last season.

Shawn Harrison is back with the Owls, and Joe Policastro will be there, too, helping him out. It’s hard to say who their best chance will be against, but it may be early in the season, when players are healthy, before they get banged up and the numbers drop.

Stevens has Jason Goerge taking over the reins, hoping to bring stability and increase participation. Not playing a Group 5 schedule will help, and with any improvement at the hand of Goerge, a win – or two – isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

We consider ourselves unbiased here at Central Jersey Sports Radio, but we’re rootin’ for ya!