Saturday Big Central Roundup: Great starts continue for No. 3 Somerville, No. 9 St. Joseph, and Summit

Dayton was the one to spoil the party Saturday afternoon.

In four Big Central football games, third-ranked Somerville, No. 9 St. Joseph of Metuchen and Summit all won, but South River fell to the Bulldogs at home.

Here’s a look at the Saturday afternoon contests:

No. 3 Somerville 22, Hillside 0: The Pioneers are quickly approaching a level they haven’t seen since the COVID-shortened season. With Saturday’s victory, The ‘Ville is off to a 5-0 start, its best since they ran the table in 2020, going 7-0. That season was cut short one game when their “postseason pod” finale with 6-1 Phillipsburg was cancelled due to players testing positive and contact-traced for COVID on both teams.

This one was all Somerville, which got all three touchdowns on the ground, including two from Terrell Mitchell, and one from Josh Rodriguez.

Somerville hosts Summit (4-0) next Friday night at Brooks Field, while Hillside (2-3) will host Roselle (0-5) Saturday afternoon at Conant Street Park.

No. 9 St. Joseph-Metuchen 35, Westfield 16: It’s the Falcons’ best start (4-0) since 2017, when they ran the table in the GMC and regular season for a second straight year and third time in five campaigns, finishing the season at 9-1 under Rich Hilliard, with their only defeat coming in the Non-Public Group A first round, 35-7 to Paramus Catholic.

Westfield had the only score of the first quarter, a 31-yard field goal from Enzo Ferrero, but St. Joe’s got the next five scores, including three touchdown passes from junior quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo in the second quarter, to take a 21-3 lead at the break. He ended up throwing five on the day, going 13-of-18 for 280 yards. The Falcons got two touchdowns in the third to make it 35-3, and with a 32-point lead, triggered the running clock for the remainder of the game, in which Westfield got a rushing touchdown from Luka Blasi and an 81-yard fumble recovery scoop-and-score for 81 yards from Jordan Walsh.

Next up, St. Joseph entertains North Brunswick (1-4) for a rare Friday night game under the lights at Brenner Family Field at 6:30 pm. Westfield drops to 2-2, and will visit Hillsborough next Friday night.

Summit 21, Cranford 7: The Hilltoppers are off to their best start since 2018, when they finished 10-2, beat Rahway for the North 2 Group 3 title, then lost to Ramapo at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands in the inaugural North Group 3 “regional bowl” game.

Quarterback Cole Sabol completed just three of 11 passes in the game, but for 105 yards, and two of those three completions went for touchdowns. He also rushed for one.

Summit visits Somerville – also 4-0 – in a battle of unbeatens Friday night, while Cranford (2-2) travels to Rahway (4-1) Friday night.

Dayton 12, South River 8: The Bulldogs got their first win of the season and improved to 1-3 behind two touchdown passes from John John DeSarno to Adrian Bernkopf.

Next Saturday, Dayton hosts Belvidere (4-1), while the Rams (1-3) visit Delaware Valley (3-1).