With Friday being the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there was a heavier Thursday night slate in the Big Central Conference than usual, and some teams put up some exceptionally big numbers in wins, some of them blowouts.
No. 4 Piscataway dropped 42 points on East Brunswick in a 35-point win to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2019; Cranford blew out Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 40-14, at home, to improve to 2-0; Bernards won a little closer, beating Governor Livingston at Olcott Field, 49-29, to get into the win column for the first time this season; and Highland Park blanked JP Stevens, 43-0, in a rare meeting when both teams were 2-0 coming in. That’s the first time both had that kind of a start in the same season since 2002. And Spotswood dropped 47 on Metuchen Thursday night as well.
Scroll through for recaps, scores, interviews, and the rest of the weekend schedule in the Big Central!
No. 9 Ridge survives road test in Flemington in Battle of the Red Devils…
One team are the Red Devils in Red, the other the Red Devils in Green. Thursday night, the ones in green (Ridge, 2-0) topped the ones in red (Hunterdon Central, 0-3), 23-17 on a late touchdown and a big defensive stand.
But those records weren’t a good indicator for how hard-fought and close this game would be.
Ridge took a 7-0 lead on a Jack Donley 34-yard touchdown pass from Tristan Frank in the first quarter, but a 51-yard touchdown catch by Jason Cebula and a 24-yard field goal by Gavin Conway in the second gave Central a 10-7 lead. Ridge, however, would answer, with a C.J. Griffith two-yard wun and a 32-yard field goal by Herik Villalba-Ozuna to give the guys in green a 17-0 lead at the break.
Reggie Osae-Aye’s 72-yard touchdown catch tied the game at 17-all in the third, but Elijah Thomas scored on a 58-yard touchdown run with under eight minutes to go to put Ridge back on top. And a big defensive stand late helped seal the win.
While Ridge ran for 248 yards and had 369 yards of total offense, Central QB Odin Potynsky made some big plays, and wound up throwing for 324 yards and two touchdowns.
Now 0-3, Hunterdon Central has lost those three games by a grand total of 16 points, including a three-point loss to Eastern in Week Zero and a seven-point loss at Hillsborough a week ago tonight.
Notes and Nuggets…
- Bernards’ win over Governor Livingston got the Mountaineers in the win column, after starting the season 0-2, with a road loss at Rutherford in the opener and a home loss to Cranford last week. Both came by six points. Bernards had not started a season 0-2 since 2017 – almost a decade ago – when they lost their first four games (to Shabazz, Roselle, Johnson and Hillside) and finished 3-7.
- Spotswood’s 47 points against Metuchen were the most the Chargers have scored against the Bulldogs in 23 years, since a 52-3 win in 2003. It’s also the second highest point total they’ve ever put up against their counterparts from the Brainy Boro.
- Highland Park has now outscored its first three opponents 99-0, with a 29-0 season-opening win over New Brunswick, a 27-0 home win over Middlesex last week, and tonight’s 43-0 win at JP Stevens. The last time they scored that many points was in that 46-29 win at Point Pleasant Beach in the 2023 season finale that ended their 51-game losing streak. Their last 43-point win was at Dunellen, on October 16, 2015, a 59-16 victory. Now the question is, when was they last time they shutout three straight teams? We’re going to have to dig into the history books. The next question is, will Joe Policastro, their intrepid assistant, former head coach and star quarterback find it first? Stay tuned!
THURSDAY SCORES:
- #3 Piscataway 42, East Brunswick 7
- #4 Old Bridge 21, South Brunswick 0 (RECAP w/ AUDIO)
- #6 Somerville 54, North Hunterdon 6
- #9 Ridge 23, Hunterdon Central 17
- Highland Park 43, JP Stevens 0 (Coverage from Marcus Borden)
- South Hunterdon 21, Middlesex 15
- New Providence 27, Johnson 20
- Cranford 40, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 14
- Voorhees 14, North Plainfield 7
- Bernards 49, Governor Livingston 29
- Montgomery 32, Watchung Hills 14
- Spotswood 47, Metuchen 14
FRIDAY SCHEDULE:
- #2 St. Joseph-Metuchen at Westfield, 4 pm
- Hillsborough at #5 Bridgewater-Raritan, 4 pm
- Carteret at Summit, 4 pm
- #8 St. Thomas Aquinas at Franklin, 6 pm
- #10 Rahway at Woodbridge, 6 pm
- Monroe at North Brunswick, 6 pm
- Plainfield at Colonia, 6 pm
- Roselle at Perth Amboy, 6 pm
- JFK at South Plainfield, 6 pm
- Dayton at Brearley, 6 pm
- #1 Phillipsburg at Freedom (PA), 7 pm
- Bound Brook at Manville, 7 pm (LISTEN LIVE on CJSR)
- Belvidere at Dunellen, 7 pm (Follow Marcus Borden on Twitter for updates)
- New Brunswick at Linden, 7 pm
- Edison at Sayreville, 7 pm
- Elizabeth at Union, 7 pm
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
- Roselle Park at South River, 1 pm
- Delaware Valley at Hillside, 1 pm
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