Early look at Big Central Football 2025: Who will challenge Piscataway, Old Bridge in National Gold Division?

In 2025, the Piscataway Chiefs ran away with the National Gold title in the Big Central, sweeping their counterparts to go 4-0 in the division, while Old Bridge went 3-1. The rest only won one divisional game and will look to make inroads in 2025.

It’s probably no surprise the two teams that fared the best a season ago are led by veteran mentors. Old Bridge’s Matt Donaghue has been through some wars and was an assistant under predecessor Anthony Lanzafama, and Dan Higgins of Piscataway is the second most-tenured coach in Middlesex County.

Here are the preliminary schedules for the National Gold Division teams – in alphabetical order – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge. Please note game dates and times may be changed without notice as the season approaches. Division games marked with an asterisk (*).

East Brunswick Bears (2-8, 1-3, tied for 3rd with Monroe, South Brunswick in ’24)
Head Coach: Zach Gega (1st season)

• Week 0: South Plainfield (Thurs, 6p)
• Week 1: at Hamilton West (Sat 2p)
• Week 2: Franklin (6p)
• Week 3: at Monroe*
• Week 4: Old Bridge* (6p)
• Week 5: Hunterdon Central (6p)
• Week 6: at Piscataway* (6p)
• Week 7: at North Hunterdon
• Week 8: South Brunswick (6p)

The noise of last year’s sudden dismissal of Andy Steinfeld just before preseason camp is in the rear view mirror, but much of the coaching staff remains in tact, as Offensive Coordinator Zach Gega was promoted to head coach after the season, back in December.

Still, much work remains, as East Brunswick has only won four games over the past three seasons, going 2-8 last year after back-to-back one-win campaigns. Gega will return sophomore QB Sean Christie – who was thrown into the fire last year, and was a thousand-yard passer – but he will have to slash the 19 picks he threw last year against just seven touchdowns. Christie is the only returning QB to take a snap last year. The Bears tried a lot of different players last year, now is the time for that experience to pay off.

Monroe Falcons (4-6, 1-3, tied for third with East Brunswick, South Brunswick in ’24)
Head Coach: Nick Isola (9-12, 3rd season)

• Week 0: at West Windsor-Plainsboro (6p)
• Week 1: Hunterdon Central (6p)
• Week 2: at South Brunswick* (6p)
• Week 3: East Brunswick* (6p)
• Week 4: at JFK (6p)
• Week 5: North Hunterdon (6p)
• Week 6: at OId Bridge* (6p)
• Week 7: at Franklin (6p)
• Week 8: Piscataway* (6p)

The Falcons will lose their starting QB in Brandon Macaluso (1,425 pass yards, 17 TD) as well as their top receiver (Logan Fotiadis, 482 yds, 6 TD) and No. 1 rusher (Michael Sabbio, 301 yds, 2 TD), as well as a number of seniors on defense. Still, the out-of-conference schedule seems manageable.

Old Bridge Knights (6-4, 3-1, 2nd place in ’24)
Head Coach: Matt Donaghue (15-15, 4th season)

• Week 0: Cedar Creek (Battle at the Beach at Rowan) (Sat, 3p)
• Week 1: at Edison
• Week 2: at Piscataway* (6p)
• Week 3: South Brunswick* (6p)
• Week 4: at East Brunswick* (6p)
• Week 5: Morristown (6p)
• Week 6: Monroe* (6p)
• Week 7: at Hunterdon Central
• Week 8: Colonia (6p)

The Knights finished the 2024 regular season strong, winning three straight, culminating in a 36-29 double-overtime win at Colonia on Cutoff Weekend, before falling 16-14 to Cherokee in the opening round of the playoffs. The big news is they return dual-threat quarterback Brody Nugent for his senior season. He nearly threw for 1,000 yards (953, to be exact, 12 TD, just 4 INT) but rushed for over 1,000 as well, going for 1,017 and 16 touchdowns. And even with graduation losses, he’ll have targets to throw to like junior Cam Ollivencia (12 catches, 140 yards, 4 TD) and Aiden sophomore Aiden Rios (10 catches, 148 yards, 2 TD). Key defensive standouts like senior DB Xavier Diaz (7 INTs) and DL Michael Kvas (2 sacks, 7 TFL) should mean good things as well.

Piscataway Chiefs (7-4, 4-0, National Gold Champs in ’24)
Head Coach: Dan Higgins (173-58, 22nd season)

• Week 0: Edison (6p)
• Week 1: at Bridgewater-Raritan (6p)
• Week 2: Old Bridge* (6p)
• Week 3: Ridgewood (6p)
• Week 4: at South Brunswick*
• Week 5: Sayreville (6p)
• Week 6: East Brunswick* (6p)
• Week 7: at Hillsborough (6p)
• Week 8: at Monroe*

While the Chiefs’ top receiver and runningback graduate, sophomore quarterback Landon Pernell – who threw for 1,275 yards and 13 touchdowns last season – is back, bringing the offense some stability this year and next. They’ve always got young and up-and-coming players in the wings, and Zaire Young (21 carries, 92 yards) is the top returning back. No doubt Piscataway will miss Jahai Johnson, an electrifying return man, but a mixed defense with seniors and underclassmen means this year’s squad should pick up right where it left off, and maybe make more of a move in the states this year.

South Brunswick Vikings (3-6, 1-3, tied for third with Monroe, East Brunswick in ’24)
Head Coach: Ibrahim Halsey (3-6, 2nd season)

• Week 0: Robbinsville (6p)
• Week 1: North Brunswick (6p)
• Week 2: Monroe* (6p)
• Week 3: at Old Bridge* (6p)
• Week 4: Piscataway* (6p)
• Week 5: at Watchung Hills (6p)
• Week 6: at Union (Thu, 6p)
• Week 7: Edison (Thu, 6p)
• Week 8: East Brunswick* (6p)

Things started well for Vikings’ first-year head coach Ibrahim Halsey, who came over from Roselle after Joe Goerge left for Woodbridge, going 3-0. But for whatever reason, they went into a tailspin after averaging nearly 30 points a game in the first three, losing their next six, averaging just 6.8 points per game in that span, getting shutout by Piscataway and Watchung Hills. The good news is QB Daniel Duffie is back for his senior season, and so is No. 2 receiver Kamari Toney (49 catches, 259 yards, 2 TD), who was just a sophomore last season. South Brunswick will lose a ton of seniors on defense.