By Saturday, most of the Big Central Conference teams that opened up on Week Zero – the vast majority of the league – had already played. But four more games featuring five BCC teams yielded three wins to wrap up a hectic opening weekend.
Old Bridge came away with a huge victory, dropping Cedar Creek, 21-7, in the Battle of the Beach at Rowan University in Glassboro. The Knights got three touchdown runs (1, 68 and 48) and just under 200 yards rushing on 15 carries from senior quarterback Brody Nugent against a Pirate ballclub our of the West Jersey Football league that went 8-3 last year. The win – coming out of conference – could really boost Old Bridge in terms of potential playoff positioning eight weeks from now, on Cutoff Weekend.
In other action around the league, Delaware Valley opened with a 27-13 win at Metuchen. The Terriers’ defense pitched a first-half shutout as Ben Culberson and Jayden Brown scored in the first quarter on 17- and 51-yard touchdown runs, respectively, to give Del Val a 14-0 lead at halftime. In the second half, they’d add two goals and a 58-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Picardo-Leask. Metuchen got 189 yards passing from quarterback Cam Hayes-Durina in the losing effort.
Manville was a 19-6 winner at Keyport, rolling off 287 yards of offense, all but two of which came on the ground. Senior quarterback Josh D’Ambrosio ran it 11 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the win, in which the Mustangs never trailed. And that makes it two straight season-opening wins over the Red Raiders.
Here’s the Saturday scoreboard featuring Big Central teams:
- #9 Old Bridge 21, Cedar Creek 7 (Battle at the Beach) (Coverage from Marcus Borden)
- Delaware Valley 27, Metuchen 13
- Manville 19, Keyport 6
- Freehold Boro 13, New Brunswick 8
Here’s the rest of the Week Zero scoreboard in the Big Central…
FRIDAY SCORES
- #2 Somerville 34, Schalick 17
- #4 Bernards 27, Cranford 15
- #5 St. Thomas Aquinas 56, Montclair 3
- Willingboro 35, #7 Rahway 33
- #8 Piscataway 31, Edison 14
- Elizabeth 42, Linden 7 (Coverage from Mike Pavlichko)
- Washington Twp. 43, Hillsborough 12 (Battle at the Beach) (Coverage from Marcus Borden)
- Montgomery 35, Hopewell Valley 28 (OT) (Game Story and Audio)
- Bridgewater-Raritan 35, Notre Dame 20
- Summit 14, Morristown 11
- Pt. Pleasant Beach 37, South River 6
- Robbinsville 41, South Brunswick 34
- Watchung Hills 9, Moorestown 7
- Monroe 41, West Windsor-Plainsboro 0
THURSDAY SCORES
- No. 1 Woodbridge 14, Union 10
- Spotswood 38, Middlesex 0 (Game Story and Audio)
- Sayreville 26, Colonia 18 (Game Story and Audio)
- Hunterdon Central 36, North Hunterdon 28 (Game Story and Audio)
- South Plainfield 9, East Brunswick 7
- JFK 36, Perth Amboy 0
- Westfield 21, Plainfield 14
- Belvidere 23, Hackettstown 20
- North Warren 32, Bound Brook 27
- Wallington 20, Brearley 13
- Lakeland 28, Governor Livingston 0
- Hammonton 24, Franklin 14
- Lakewood 48, JP Stevens 8
- Jackson Twp. 33, North Brunswick 0
- Voorhees 39, Orange 16
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