No. 6 Piscataway hosts Bridgewater-Raritan on September 7, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
It has been a long, slow, steady climb back for the Piscataway football team.
A year off during the COVID-19 pandemic – while everyone else in the Big Central except for Carteret played – set the Chiefs back several years. But now, there are no excuses.
No one on the current team missed a year of high school ball due to the pandemic. That means even the seniors played all four years, went through four years of weight room, and four years of conditioning.
Saturday, third-seeded Piscataway beat sixth-seed Bayonne 42-13 in the opening round of North 1, Group 5, in what might appear to the naked eye and anyone who knew the Piscataway program before COVID to be a ho-hum first round win. But it was anything but.
It was the Chiefs’ first playoff win since 2018, a season which saw them go 13-0 in the first year of the expanded postseason, setting a Middlesex County record for wins in a season, and winning the North 5 bowl championship. Had the NJSIAA had group champs that year – instead of starting it in 2022 – they would have rematched with Sayreville – the South 5 bowl champ – for the statewide Group 5 title.
The importance is not lost on head coach Dan Higgins, or his players as Chiefs (7-3) head into this Friday night’s semifinal matchup at second-seed West Orange (8-2).
They will bring up to Essex County James Bodley, who scored a career high four touchdowns last weekend, three of which came in the second half, and three different ways: a 38-yard fumble return, a six-yard rush, and an 85-yard kick return for a TD. He needs just 79 more yards to become the latest 1,000-yard rusher at Piscataway.
Click below to hear Piscataway coach Dan Higgins talk about the Chiefs and this weekend’s game at West Orange:
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