Saturday Big Central Roundup: Piscataway tops Ridgewood as all three phases play defense; Somerville gets back on track; St. Joseph, New Providence, Spotswood remain undefeated

With eight games on the Saturday slate in the Big Central, there was plenty of football to take on in a beautiful day in Central Jersey, and they made the most of it.

Three teams remained undefeated with wins, including New Providence and No. 9 St. Joseph of Metuchen, both now 3-0, while Spotswood cruised past South River on the road to improve to 4-0 on the season.

No. 9 Piscataway put together what might have been the most impressive win of the day, beating Ridgewood 16-8 at home. The Chiefs – whose defense has been up-and-down much of the year, but also knocked off No. 6 Old Bridge last week – faced Ridgewood and their difficult-to-defend Wing-T attack. But Piscataway allowed them just a single touchdown and two-point conversion in a 16-8 win. In the fourth quarter, they came up with a red zone stop, held the ball for seven minutes, landed a punt inside the one, then got a safety to cap the win, recovered the free kick, got a first down, and kneeled the rest out.

Falcons continue to fly…

Senior quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo scored four times – all on one-yard touchdown runs- and threw another to Reggie Bropleh as No. 9 St. Joseph beat Elizabeth 41-20 Saturday afternoon at Brenner Family Field in Metuchen.

The Falcons never trailed in this one, jumping out to a 14-0 lead, but found themselves locked in a 20-20 game after A’rique Fleming threw touchdown passes for 40 yards to Qua-Yon Williams and 30 yards to his twin brother Quameen. But Joe’s took the lead right back on reggie Bropleh’s 36-yard TD reception and the third score of the day from Scaramuzzo. Leading 34-20 heading into the fourth, Scaramuzzo added one more touchdown for insurance it turned out the Falcons would never need.

Now 3-0 on the season, St. Joseph will host Westfield (2-2) next week, while Elizabeth falls to 2-2 and will visit No. 4 St. Thomas Aquinas (3-1) Friday night.

More undefeated teams…

Spotswood and New Providence also kept their perfect seasons going as we approach the halfway point of the season. The Chargers improved to 4-0 with a 35-8 win at South River, holding the Rams scoreless until the second- and third-team came in for the final quarter and the running clock. They’ll host Highland Park (2-1) on Friday night. The Rams drop to 0-4 with a trip to Dayton (1-2) Friday night.

And New Providence is now 3-0 after a 30-0 shutout at Metuchen. That’s the Pioneers’ best start since 2020, when they went 8-1 in the COVID season, their only loss coming to Glen Rock, 42-28, in Week Five. They’ll get Roselle (1-2) next Friday night at home, while the Bulldogs fall to 1-3 ahead of a Friday trip to Johnson (2-1) for the first of back-to-back road games with the Crusaders and Highland Park.

Somerville rebounds…

Coming off a tough home loss last week, the No. 5 Pioneers took to the road Saturday afternoon and beat Rahway, 20-7. It comes after a 22-15 home loss to Montgomery that snapped their eleven game regular season win streak. Now back on the winning side of the ledger, Somerville (3-1) is back at Brooks Field next week to play Hillside

Here’s the Saturday afternoon Big Central scoreboard:

• No. 5 Somerville 20, Rahway 7
• No. 8 Piscataway 16, Ridgewood 8 (Click for the game story)
• No. 9 St. Joseph-Metuchen 41, Elizabeth 20
• New Providence 30, Metuchen 0
• Spotswood 35, South River 8
• Governor Livingston 26, North Plainfield 0
• Westfield 21, Union 0
• Hillside 17, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 12

Here’s the Friday evening scoreboard from the Big Central for Week Three, with links to individual game stories. Click here for the full Friday Night Big Central Roundup.

• No. 1 Phillipsburg 28, Ridge 6
• No. 2 Woodbridge 34, Colonia 21
• No. 3 Bernards 31, Voorhees 21
• No. 4 St. Thomas 57, Franklin 45
• No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan 35, No. 7 Hunterdon Central 7 (heard LIVE on CJSR)
• No. 10(t) Montgomery 24, North Hunterdon 8
• No. 10(t) Old Bridge 45, South Brunswick 7
• Sayreville 28, Hillsborough 14 (Coverage from Marcus Borden)
• JFK 35, New Brunswick 0
• Edison 20, North Brunswick 14
• Plainfield 33, Perth Amboy 7
• Brearley 27, Highland Park 26
• Delaware Valley 48, JP Stevens 0
• Johnson 34, Roselle 8
• East Brunswick 35, Monroe 26
• Cranford 35, South Plainfield 14
• Bound Brook 14, South Hunterdon 2
• Dayton 37, Roselle Park 20
• Linden 28, Watchung Hills 21
• Summit 21, Carteret 0
• Belvidere 53, Dunellen 20
• Manville 42, Middlesex 0 (recap with audio)