No. 7 Piscataway, with improved defense, faces rival No. 8 Sayreville with solid finish in mind

Gerry Wilson, the volunteer Piscataway football assistant coach and resident “whisperer,” often sends the Chief players motivational messages aimed at getting the team in the right mindset. For him, there’s an unshakable belief that so much of football – nay, sports in general – is mental.

Yogi Berra may have had a quote about that.

“To quote Thomas Carlyle: “A Thought Once Awakened Does Not Again Slumber.” Simply Meaning: We cannot Afford to Take Time Off Any Plays. Once The Whitsle Blows We Must Go. Playing Fast, Physical and Smarter TO THE WHISTLE with HUSTLE and MUSCLE. MUST BE A MINDSET.”

That’s part of a typical message from Wilson, whose son (Piscataway ’05) Kyle won three state championships with the Chiefs and will be honored at halftime of their Week Five game. No doubt the younger Wilson lived it during those title runs in 2002, 20023 and 2004.

As for the 2025 team, a solid finish to a season currently sitting at 4-1 starts with finishing Friday night when No. 8 Sayreville (5-0), their old rivals from the GMC Red Division, come to Kenny Armwood Stadium of the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving.

You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, starting with pregame at 5:45 pm and kickoff at 6. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel have the call; click here to listen.

A big bonus for Piscataway has been the eligibility of two players who will be instrumental to the rest of the regular season, and any playoff run that might ensue. Both are transfers from St. Thomas Aquinas who call Piscataway their hometown.

Wide receiver /defensive back Josiah Zayas and runningback/linebacker Mickye Simmons had to sit out 30 days after coming back from North Edison, and both played their first game last week in a 28-0 win at South Brunswick. Zayas spent his freshman year in the Piscataway program before becoming a Trojan, and Simmons spent two years home before going there last year, playing sparingly on defense only.

For head coach Dan Higgins, both will figure into the remainder of the season significantly, on both sides of the ball, and especially Friday night against a Sayreville club that is off to its best start since a 6-0 beginning to 2018. They finished 11-1 that year and won the Central Jersey Group 5 title over North Brunswick, and beat Willilamstown on a fumble recovery int he end zone at MetLife Stadium to take the first-ever South Group 5 regional bowl championship.

Their only loss that season? 27-6 at home to Piscataway, which won the North 2, Group 5 championship, and beat Ridgewood in the North 5 Bowl Game the next day at MetLife, finishing 13-0, becoming the first – and still only – Middlesex County school to win 13 games.

Click here to listen to Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins talk about the Chiefs with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: