Bridgewater-Raritan tops Union City at home, 22-7, to clinch first sectional finals berth since ’17

The last time Bridgewater-Raritan reached a sectional final, it was their third straight trip, in 2017.

All three years they’d face Westfield, and all three years the Blue Devils won, ending a wild stretch where they went 36-0 over those three seasons, 2015 through 2015.

Well, Westfield is down in Group 4 now, but the Panthers had quite the nemesis on the other side of the Basilone Field Friday night in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 semifinals.

That would be fourth-seed Union City, which has been one of the top public schools in the state for the past decade or so, and which also beat Bridgewater-Raritan 62-10 last year in this same round. Though the Panthers were 4-6 heading into that game, and were 7-3 before Friday night’s semifinal, few might have given them a shot.

They should have.

The Panthers held Union City to just one touchdown, in the second quarter. But they get touchdown runs of 20 yards from Denzel Amoafo and seven-yards by Jahmier Black, as well as a safety, and two field goals – 29 and 25 yards – from Joe Squiccarini – en route to a 22-7 win that wasn’t quite as close as the score indicated.

Now, the Panthers (8-3) will host the North 2, Group 5 final, next Friday night at 6:30, they just have to wait to see who their opponent is. It’ll be the winner of Saturday’s semifinal between second-seed Piscataway (8-2) and sixth-seed Bayonne (7-3). That game is at 1:00, and you can hear it live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, our “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving.

So if you want to congratulate the Panthers’ coaching staff, you know where they’ll be.

Click below to hear Bridgewater-Raritan head coach D.J. Catalano talk about the win over Union City with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: