Bound Brook looks to get in the win column in ’26 with Friday visit to arch-rival Manville

In rivalry games, anything can happen, and it often does when Bound Brook and Manville get together regardless of the sport.

That said, while the Crusader football team went 5-5 last season and made the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs, they have had struggled against the Mustangs – who have had some of their best years of late – in their last couple of meetings.

Last year, it was a 49-7 defeat on Cutoff Weekend, and 42-3 Manville the year before. But the Crusaders took their 2023 meeting, winning 25-15.

In 2026, it’s been tough sledding out of the gates for Bound Brook in more ways than one. The defense has given up 75 points in the first couple weeks while only scoring a pair of touchdowns adding up to 12 points overall on offense.

But Manville had some issues last week, too, after a season-opening blowout at Keansburg. They missed two extra points and a two-point conversion on their three touchdowns, and wound up losing 21-18 at Brearley last Friday night.

So maybe Friday night’s meeting between the two arch-rivals is anyone’s guess. Either way, you can hear it on Central Jersey Sports Radio on our Big Central Game of the Week presented by Bellamy & Son Paving. Kickoff is at 6 pm with Mike Pavlichko and Vin Ebenau calling all the action. Pregame is at 5:45; click here to listen.

Moving forward, seventh-year head coach Dave LePoidevin says Bound Brook also needs to clean up the penalties on offense.

“We have to eliminate them and we have to do a much better job with that, something we try to work on everyday at practice,” LePoidevin said. 

On the positive side, their running game led by senior Amero Diaz is something to keep an eye on moving forward.

“We thought we’d rely more heavily on the pass but we’re seeing that we’ve been doing a much better job with the run, so we’re looking to really build on that and watch it grow,” LePoidevin said.

Click below to hear Bound Brook head coach Dave LePoidevin talk about the Manville game with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Vin Ebenau: