Proving it was no hype, just reality, Brody Nugent of Old Bridge delivers for Knights, wins CJSR Offensive Player of the Year Award

Before the season even started, before Marcus Borden’s Camp Caravan, the ex-East Brunswick coach raved about Brody Nugent. He was a big fan, and predicted big things from the Old Bridge senior.

He delivered on every one of them.

Historic high school football stats are hard to come by in New Jersey. Around 2010 is the last year one can find somewhat reliable stats publicly available. And in all that time, it appears no one has done what Brody Nugent did this year.

That’s not counting the intangibles, of course: leadership, grit, toughness.

But numbers-wise? No Middlesex County quarterback has thrown for over 2,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 in the same season. There have been some really good ones, but typically they are either big passers or big runners. But not both.

Nugent certainly is both. In the passing game, he went for 2,276 yards and 19 touchdowns. On the ground, he ran for 1,262 yards and 20 more touchdowns.

That makes him responsible for 3,538 yards and 39 touchdowns leading an offense that helped take the Knights to the precipice, where they fell to eventual Group 5 champion Washington Twp. in the “Central Jersey” Group 5 title game.

Click below to hear Alec Crouthamel with Old Bridge QB Brody Nugent, the 2025 Central Jersey Sports Radio Offensive Player of the Year:

Honorable Mentions:

• Dylan Chiera, Colonia: One of three Middlesex County quarterbacks to pass for over 2,000 yards this season, the senior led the Big Central with 2,436 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, helping the Patriots reach the North 2, Group 4 semifinals, where they fell to eventual champion Phillipsburg.
• Jack Kristjanson, Montgomery: One of the senior captains on a team that made history, qualifying for its first-ever sectional finals a year after going just 1-9. “Confident and calm under pressure,” says first-year head coach Sean Carty, Kristjanson threw for 1,846 yards and 17 touchdowns this season.
• Devin Thomas, Plainfield: One of four Big Central QBs to throw for 2,000-plus yards this year, it was even more impressive since he hadn’t played football since his freshman year at St. Thomas Aquinas. A member of the state Group 4 champion Cardinals’ basketball team last season, Thomas came back in the fall and threw for 2,214 yards and 29 TDs, while also rushing for 474 yards and five more scores.
• Andrew Avent, Rahway: The CJSR Three-Way Player of the Year literally does it all for Rahway. But at runningback was where he did his best work in four years as a varsity starter. He finished with over 4,000 career yards and 77 touchdowns, getting 1,961 this season. He holds the career and single-season rushing and scoring records, and is – in a word – dominant.
• Shaun Jackson, Sayreville: The senior runningback carried for 1,977 yards this season and 30 total touchdowns, while also logging 342 receiving yards. He was a big reason the Bombers improved from 4-6 last season to 9-2 this year, their only two losses coming to two sectional finalists: Montgomery in the regular season, and Old Bridge in the CJ5 semifinals.
• Justin Scaramuzzo, St. Joseph-Metuchen: The senior ran the offense with aplomb, throwing for 1,212 yards, 12 touchdowns, and just one interception. The numbers aren’t flashy, but mistakes were rare, indeed, especially in a tight 0-0 game at the half in October that wound up being a 21-0 win over Phillipsburg in Metuchen, the Stateliners’ only regular season loss before the playoffs. Scaramuzzo also carried the ball 100 times for 580 yards and 12 more touchdowns.
• Zymere Weaver, St. Thomas Aquinas: He also threw for over 2,000 yards this year, going for 2,236 and 24 touchdowns through the air, while also rushing for five scores.
• Joshua Allen, Woodbridge: The senior runningback finished two carries shy of 200 and ran for 1,549 yards – 7.9 per carry – and 20 touchdowns, with a long run of 89 that was nominated for Big Central Highlight Reel Play of the Year.