Phillipsburg continues quest to take care of “unfinished business” as St. Joe’s visits Maloney

The main goal of every football season in Phillipsburg is to beat Easton. That’s always No. 1.

But for someone like third-year starting quarterback Gett Jenovese, there’s still something nagging at him: the fact that while the Stateliners have beaten the Red Rovers in back-to-back seasons, they also reached the state sectional finals both years, and came home without a trophy.

In 2022, it was West Orange they fell to in the North 2, Group 5 title game. Last year, it was Union City.

They got a measure of redemption last week in a rare, mid-season non-conference matchup, beating the Mountaineers 21-14 on the road. But that’s still not the ultimate goal.

And yet, while sixth-ranked Phillipsburg wants another championship trophy for its display case at the shiny, new, high school up on the hill, they have taken it day-by-day, game-by-game, according to head coach Frank Duffy.

And the Stateliners (4-1) will have to do that again Friday night when No. 4 St. Joseph of Metuchen (5-0) rolls into town for a big matchup. You can hear it on the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, with pregame at 6:45 and kickoff at 7 pm. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas have the call; click here to listen.

Genovese has been his usual solid self, throwing for 690 yards and eight touchdowns while rushing for 242 yards and three scores. And he has back top wide receiving target Matthew Scerbo, Jr., who has 19 catches for 275 yards and five TDs. The pair have been playing on the varsity squad for three years together.

Scerbo owns the Phillipsburg career touchdown and reception records, both set this year, and Duffy says he’s about 200 yards away from the becoming the school’s all-time receiving yardage leader.

Defensively, the ‘Liners can get after the quarterback, with eight sacks on the year, while they’ve also recovered five fumbles.

Click below to hear Phillipsburg head coach Frank Duffy talk about the Stateliners, and Friday night’s clash with St. Joe’s: