The Piscataway Chiefs celebrate their North 1, Group 5 title, their first since 2018, with a 29-28 comeback win over Irvington at Kenny Armwood Stadium on November 14, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
It was a comeback for the ages for the Piscataway football team Saturday afternoon.
No, check that: make it two comebacks for the ages.
The first was obvious: after taking a 17-0 lead into halftime of the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 title game, the third-seeded Chiefs saw fourth-seed Irvington score the next 28 points – all in the second half – to stun the home crowd at Kenny Armwood Stadium.
But after momentum swing after momentum swing, the Chiefs got to within one on a 30-yard scramble by senior QB Landon Pernell to cut a 28-17 deficit to 28-23. After missing a two-point run, Devin Labega recovered Patrick Novak’s onside kick, and Shawn McGee caught a nine-yard touchdown pass to go up 29-28 with 32 seconds to go.
They would hold on defense, and escape with the most miraculous of comebacks.
But the second “rally” was one that takes a little more thought and historical knowledge.
The Chiefs had won seven of ten trips to championship games under Dan Higgins from 2002 through 2018. They didn’t win in 2019, but in 2020, Piscataway cancelled all fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a move that set the program back. They went winless the next year. And missed the playoffs the next year, too, something that never happened once under Higgins pre-covid.
It was a comeback, redemption, and a sense of normalcy in Piscataway, eight long years after they won a title in 2018, and the first “North 5 Bowl Game” in NJSIAA history, becoming the first Middlesex County program – and still, the only one – to win 13 games in a season.
Piscataway (10-2) now will face North 2, Group 5 champion Passaic Tech in the state Group 5 semifinals next Saturday at Kenny Armwood Stadium, since the Chiefs finished higher in the overall North 5 standings than the Bulldogs. A time has yet to be announced.
Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden with Chies’ head coach Dan Higgins and senior QB Landon Pernell, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen. Scroll down for more on this game story.
The Chiefs built up a 17-0 lead thanks to two second-half touchdown passes from Pernell – 21 yards to Colby Cotton and 56 yards to Devin Labega on a beautiful catch-and-run – plus a 37-yard field goal from patrick Novak, his second in the last two playoff games. And they were dominant on defense, pressuring Irvington QB Justin Spellman.
But the Blue Knights came out with new energy in the second half and turned the tables.
An 18-yard TD catch in the back of the end zone by Sinaj Thomas-Williams seemed to turn the tide for Irvington, even though they still trailed 17-7. It was a 50-50 ball that popped out late, but officials ruled it a catch and a touchdown.
That was mid-way through the third. And they added three more scores in the fourth: an 18-yard touchdown run by Leonidas Williams, another catch by Thomas-Williams from 54 yards out, and a ten-yard run by Mitch Jenkins to give Irvington a 28-7 lead with 2:21 to go.
The Chiefs moved the ball well on the next possession, with just one time out left, getting to the sideline to stop the clock as much as possible. With 1:10 to go, down 11, Pernell looked to pass, scrambled under pressure on first and ten, and somehow made it into the end zone with 61 ticks left.
Piscataway would go for two, but a pass to Devin Labega popped loose. But Patrick Novak perfectly executed an onside kick, a line drive on the ground that went 11 yards, bounced up, and was recovered by Labega, setting up the Chiefs at the Irvington 45 yard line.
They’d move the ball again, setting up first-and-goal at the nine, and that’s when Pernell found Shawn McGee in the end zone for six to take a 29-28 lead. Another two point try – a run by Pernell – ended a yard short. That would have given the Chiefs a three-point lead to survive an Irvington field goal for the win.
Leading by one, Novak booted the ensuing field goal through the end zone for a touchback with 26 seconds left. Irvington took over at their own 20, Piscataway got called for offside, and it was first-and-five. Spellman found Thomas-Williams for a four-yard gain, but a false start set Irvington back five yards with eight seconds to go. And on the final play, Piscataway’s defense harassed Spellman, who threw an incomplete pass to the right sideline, and the Chiefs were champions.
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