Plainfield scrimmages at Sayreville on August 24, 2024. (Photo: Marcus Borden)
The 2023 football season was a huge success for the Plainfield Cardinals.
Besides the fact they had some really talented players, they got to a level that had not been reached in quite some time.
With a 6-5 record, the victory total was the most they’d had since Clinton Jones’ first go-round as head coach, in 2006. And in between, there had been little success.
From 2007, the first year under Reggie Robinson, through 2020, the final of five seasons under Corey Tucker, Plainfield won a grand total of 25 games over that 14-year stretch. That included an 0-9 year in 2012, four one-win seasons, and five two-win campaigns. The Cardinals were 8-38 in the five seasons under Corey Tucker before James Williams arrived.
In 2021, Plainfield won five games for the first time since 2005, going 5-5. They finished 5-6 the next year, and last year, improved to 6-5.
And there’s plenty of talent as the Cards (1-1) face a big early season game Friday night, their Big Central Liberty Gold Division opener at third-ranked Woodbridge (2-0). It’s the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving on Central Jersey Sports Radio, and you can hear it live with pregame from Nicholas A. Priscoe Stadium at 5:45 pm and kickoff at 6. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel have the call; click here to listen.
Plainfield is led by standouts Ala-Meen Watkins and Joel Cordoba.
Watkins is the QB who can play everywhere. Besides throwing for over 1,300 yards and ten touchdowns last year, he’s also a middle linebacker and defensive end who kicks and punts, too.
Cordoba is the reigning Central Jersey Sports Radio Two-Way Player of the Year, who plays wide receiver and cornerback. “He’ll catch a 60-yard bomb on one end, then come back and catch a pick-six on the very next possession,” says head coach James Williams.
Last season, as a junior, Cordoba grabbed 60 passes for 1,234 yards and nine touchdowns, while also adding two rushing scores. On the defensive side, he had five interceptions, more than half of which – three – went for touchdowns. They came against Elizabeth and Carteret in the regular season, and against West Orange in a first round playoff defeat.
All that will come in handy against the Barrons Friday night.
Click below to hear Plainfield Interim Head Coach Al-Majid Hutchins talk about the Cardinals with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
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