It was a busy and thrilling Friday night in the Big Central Conference. We’re just three weeks to the season, and some early-season results have been big ones.
Ridge 34, No. 6 Hillsborough 7
The Red Devils beat the Raiders for a second straight season, this time at home and in convincing fashion.
The American Silver division of the BCC is a beast night in and night out, but Ridge took care of business Friday night.
The first half belonged to Ridge, which led 20-0 at the half on a pair of QB Connor McLachlan touchdowns from one and two yards out in the second quarter, adding on after Ryan Turner’s 33-yard run to open the scoring, making it 20-0 at halftime.
Joseph Sachnowicz extended the lead with a four-yard TD run in the third, and after Hillsborough got on the board on a touchdown pass, Ryan Turner caught a 46-yard strike from McLachlan to make the final score.
Ridge is 1-1, and now will face top-ranked Phillipsburg next Friday night at home. The Stateliners are 2-0 after humbling No. 8 Hunterdon Central, 35-0, handing those Red Devils (2-1) their first loss of the year.
You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio at 7 pm, with pregame at 6:45, and Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas on the call.
No. 10 Piscataway 22, Old Bridge 21
In the fourth quarter, Piscataway was down, but not out.
The Chiefs – who lost a heartbreaking donnybrook last week to Bridgewater-Raritan, 52-48 as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio – rebounded with a late rally at Old Bridge’s Vince Lombardi Field.
The Chiefs actually led 16-14 at halftime, with none of the points coming from the offense. Wiley Wingate recovered a fumble in the end zone to tie the game at seven in the second quarter after Cam Olivencia caught a five-yard pass from Brody Nugent to Open the scoring for Old Bridge.
Jamari Atkinson then scored on a 50-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, a week after Jahai Johnson tied a national high school football record against Bridgewater with three kick returns for scores in that game. And the Chiefs closed the first half scoring with safety when a band Old Bridge snap on a punt went out the back of the end zone.
After a scoreless third, Nugent threw his second TD pass of the game, a seven-yarder to Jaden Griffith. James Bodley scored the Chief offense’s first points of the night on a five-yard scamper with 3:12 to go, making it 22-21.
On the ensuing Old Bridge possession, Na Jay best picked off a Nugent pass that looked like it would seal the game, but the Knights forced Piscataway to punt with under 30 seconds to go.
That’s when the Chief defense stepped in. Old Bridge fumbled, Coby Bell recovered, and the Chiefs did the same after a tough loss a week ago.
Piscataway improved to 2-1, while Old Bridge fell to 1-2.
Voorhees 33, JP Stevens 0
A week after snapping the state’s longest active winning streak at 42 games, JP Stevens got blanked out in Hunterdon County Friday night.
Vorhees improved to 2-1 under new head coach Jon Hack with the victory, fuled by 315 yards rushing and 406 yards of total offense, on a 91-yard, two-touchdown night for quarterback Sam Meekings.
Matteo Tramutola scored two rushing touchdowns on the night, going for 219 yards on 21 carries.
Stevens fell to 1-1.
No. 6 Bernards 7, Delaware Valley 0
The Mountaineers improved to 3-0 with a 7-0 win at Delaware Valley to take the Mountain Valley Trophy for a third straight season.
It was also their 17th straight victory against Big Central competition. Their last league loss came in early September, 2022, a 35-20 defeat at the hands of Hillside. Bernards beat the Comets in this season’s meeting last week, 30-14.
Other Friday Night Scores…
The only score of the game came in the first half, on a Patrick Carlisle rush. The Mountaineers are 3-0 ahead of a home game next Friday night against Voorhees (2-1). Del Val drops to 1-1 and hosts JP Stevens (1-1) next Friday night.
- No. 4 Somerville 42, Montgomery 7
- No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas 42, North Brunswick 6
- No. 6 Woodbridge 41, Plainfield 26
- No. 7 South Brunswick 28, Monroe 21
- Rahway 28, Perth Amboy 7
- Middlesex 18, South Hunterdon 8
- Johnson 28, New Providence 24
- Watchung Hills 28, North Hunterdon 7
- South Plainfield 35, North Plainfield 30
- Spotswood 24, Brearley 0
- Highland Park 32, Dayton 6
- Phillipsburg 35, Hunterdon Central 0
- Belvidere 21, Manville 0
- Bound Brook 35, Dunellen 20
- Metuchen 25, Roselle 28
- Sayreville 40, Edison 21
- Cranford 21, Carteret 0
Saturday’s Games…
- No. 9 Bridgewater-Raritan at Morris Knolls
- Union at St. Joseph-Metuchen
- Colonia at Linden
- Elizabeth at Westfield
- East Brunswick at Franklin
- JFK at Governor Livingston
- Summit at Hillside
- Scotch Plains at New Brunswick
- Roselle Park at South River
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Saw the Carteret/Cranford game on a YouTube stream from Cranford’s YT channel. It was strange on offense, I don’t think Jakir Thomas took an offensive snap. That offense was way out of sync.