Author: Mike Pavlichko

by Mike Pavlichko

Saturday Big Central Roundup: No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan wins lone league game, with two others now on Monday; controversial ending at Cranford-Rahway tilt

The Saturday schedule in the Big Central Conference already was light, with just three games on tap, but the forecast for the big Nor’easter barreling up the East Coast slashed that number by two thirds.

That will leave two games – and four teams – playing on Monday, with all four having to come back on quick rest to play Friday. The lone game of the day say No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan pick up a shutout win at Westfield.

And an already wild Friday night around the league got even wilder following a controversial call at the final horn in the Cranford-Rahway game.

Panthers roll at Westfield, 20-0…

All in all, it’s very likely all three Big Central games could have been played Saturday, as the weather seemed to calm just in time for No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan to play its 1:00 game at Kehler Stadium in Westfield against the Blue Devils. (The others were North Brunswick at Franklin and Phillipsburg at St. Joseph, which have been moved to 6 pm and 3 pm Monday, respectively.)

And the wind wasn’t terribly bad either, which was good news for Panthers’ sophomore quarterback J.B. Baxter, who went 8-of-14 passing for 80 yards, while Jahmier Black led with 78 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries in a 20-0 road victory.

But perhaps more impressive was the Bridgewater defense. The Panthers (4-1) held Westfield (1-4) to just nine yards on the ground, and taking out their quarterback, two of the other three ball carriers in the game had negative yardage. Charlie Young was the leading rusher with seven carries for 31 yards.

Jon Okolo had just five carries for 17 yards for Bridgewater-Raritan, but made them count, scoring two touchdowns. Senior defensive lineman Trent Levash also had a fumble recovery off a blocked punt.

The win makes it victories in back-to-back games in back-to-back years over Westfield for the first time since 2009 and 2010, with a slight asterisk. They beat Westfield in the regular season in 2019, then lost to them in the playoffs, and won again in 2020. But that had a postseason loss in between, and the 2020 season was the COVID-year, in which Westfield only managed to play two games, both losses to the Panthers and St. Joseph-Metuchen.

Bridgewater visits Hunterdon Central (1-4) next Friday night, while the Blue Devils travel to Woodbridge (3-2).

Let’s go to the videotape…

There is no video review in high school football in New Jersey – at least, not anymore. (A short-lived attempt a few years ago was ditched when two video reviews in state finals were botched and the NJSIAA decided to do away with it.)

But there often are multiple photographers and cameras on site at every high school football game, and Friday’s game between Rahway and Cranford at Madden Field was no exception.

Rahway was down 14-7 and had a chance near the goal line with five seconds to play. Jaquan Robinson threw to Jaylen Eastman, who caught the ball in the air across the goal line, but he landed out of bounds. That much is not in dispute.

Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden was in the back of the end zone, shooting video of the play. His video appears to show anywhere between :00.5 and :00.7 seconds on the clock at the time Eastman’s cleats touch the turf, at which point the clock would stop.

Watch the video below, which also appears to show the clock stutter, never showing :00.6 or :00.5 but jumping right to :00.4, although it appears those are also the correct times. The clock may not display the missing two-tenths in between, but appears to be counting them nonetheless.

CJSR analyst Marcus Borden’s video of the ending of the Cranford-Rahway game at Madden Field on September 25, 2026. (Video: Marcus Borden)

Rahway argued there should still be time on the clock, and from this vantage point that makes sense.

However, NJ.com reporter Steven Bassin has video that shows the start of the play with the scoreboard on the other side of the field in the frame.

In Borden’s video, pre-snap, his play-by-play account indicates five seconds are on the clock. But from Bassin’s point of view, the video starts after the snap, the clock is still at :05, and a little over one full second into the video – with players already moving – the clock remains at five seconds even.

After the play, the clock appears frozen at :00.3, then after several seconds winds down to zero.

But remember, there is no video review in high school football in New Jersey. But officials can get together to discuss, and they did. After meeting on the field, the officials held up the football to show the game was over.

So what really happened?

That’s anyone’s guess, since no one besides the officials are privy to their conversation. But in any case, officials can meet to discuss what each person saw. It’s very likely they saw the three-tenths of a second on the clock after the play, but not at the time the catch was made and the ball was out of bounds. But if the officials did notice – and there’s a better chance of this – that the clock did not start on time, and was more than a second late in starting, that they decided time should have run out and the game was over.

What’s notable here is the scoreboard and clock locations at Madden Field – yes, plural. While many high school stadiums have one scoreboard in the back of one of the end zones, Madden has two scoreboards, one along each sideline. So it’s very possible the line judge and head linesman – who are stationed on opposite sidelines on the line of scrimmage, watching for false starts and off-sides penalties – saw the clock failed to start and relayed that to the group as they met to discuss.

Without having talked to the officials – who reportedly left the field with no explanation to either coach – we’ll never know, but based on the video evidence, this would seem to be the only explanation, and – we think – the right call.

SATURDAY SCOREBOARD

  • No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan 20, Westfield 0

FRIDAY SCOREBOARD

  • No. 4 Old Bridge 27, No. 2 Piscataway 26 (Game story with audio)
  • No. 3 Elizabeth 28, No. 10 Ridge 23
  • Montgomery 38, No. 7 Somerville 35
  • Cranford 14, No. 8 Rahway 7 (Recap with video via Marcus Borden)
  • Sayreville 37, No. 9 St. Thomas Aquinas 21
  • South Plainfield 14, Carteret 6 (Game story with audio)
  • Brearley 33, JP Stevens 0
  • Union 42, Hillsborough 13
  • Dayton 40, Roselle Park 35
  • New Providence 48, Roselle 0
  • East Brunswick 34, Voorhees 7
  • Woodbridge 28, Colonia 21
  • Perth Amboy 40, Metuchen 0
  • North Plainfield 41, JFK 7
  • Watchung Hills 21, Hunterdon Central 19
  • Johnson 21, Spotswood 6
  • Bernards 28, Delaware Valley 0
  • Middlesex 21, Dunellen 0
  • Highland Park 47, South River 0
  • Belvidere 35, Bound Brook 0
  • Scotch Plains-Fanwood 33, North Hunterdon 22
  • Plainfield 37, Linden 14
  • Manville 42, South Hunterdon 8
  • Hillside 44, New Brunswick 0
  • South Brunswick 38, Monroe 14

THURSDAY SCORES

MONDAY SCHEDULE

  • No. 1 Phillipsburg at No. 5 St. Joseph-Metuchen, 3 pm
  • North Brunswick at Franklin, 6 pm

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY:  Summit 20, Edison 0

Senior QB Matt McKeever threw for 115 yards and a touchdown while senior runningback Gavin Schnall ran for 103 yards and a score to help Summit beat Edison, 20-0, in a Big Central Conference crossover game. Jackson Marx matched a season-high with a 37-yard field goal, going two-for-two with another 30-yarder as well.

Logo for Bellamy & Son Paving, promoting the Big Central Game of the Week, featuring bold text in red and yellow colors.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas call all the play-by-play live from Investors Bank Stadium at Tatlock Field in Summit, NJ, on September 24, 2026:

1st Half
2nd Half
by Mike Pavlichko

South Plainfield grinds one out, hangs on to beat Carteret on windy night at “The Pit”

South Plainfield got 114 yards rushing and a touchdown on just nine carries by Jayden Jones, but it helped make the difference as the Tigers ran the ball almost exclusively in a 14-6 road win over Carteret Friday night in the Big Central Game of the Week presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The Tigers attempted just three passes in the game, all going incomplete, while Christian Brown ran it 17 times for 62 yards and a score.

When Jones broke free on the second play from scrimmage in the game to score a touchdown just 55-seconds in, it looked like a battle of two teams with solid ground games might turn into a foot race. But it was not to be, as that was the only score of the first half. Both squads could move the ball, but no one else seemed to be able to get into the end zone.

With 8:55 left in the third, South Plainfield (3-2) got a 13-yard run from Brown to make it 14-0. That was another short drive, too, taking just three plays to go 25 yards after Carteret had turned it over on downs following a failed fourth-down conversion attempt.

Truly, this game belonged to the defenses, both of whom played very well, though penalties and mistakes seemed to plague Carteret, who had at least three bad snaps that resulted in significant losses of yardage, three for 30 yards in the first half alone. Starting center Brandon Byron broke his leg on the second play of last week’s game loss to Scotch Plains-Fanwood, a repeat injury after doing the same against Hillside last year.

Carteret looked done for in the fourth quarter until the Ramblers (3-2) got on the board with 2:47 to play, on a 13-yard touchdown run by Al-Naiquan Boseman. An onside kick was expected, but a line drive kick went well over ten yards, pinning South Plainfield back inside its own five, but they were able to ice the game anyway.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart with South Plainfield head coach Bill Hamilton and senior running back Jayden Jones, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Cranford remains unbeaten as Worrell’s two TDs sink No. 10 Rahway, Cougars net 14-7 road win

A pair of touchdowns from senior runningback Gabe Worrell gave Cranford all the cushion it would need to survive a fourth quarter Rahway touchdown, keeping the Cougars undefeated with a 14-7 road win in a Big Central Conference crossover game at Madden Field Friday night.

Worrell scored on a 27-yard run in the opening quarter, and that was all anyone would get in the first half.

He added a five-yard touchdown on the ground in the third quarter to put his team up 14-0, and it was enough insurance to withstand a 16-yard touchdown pass from Rahway QB Jaquan Robinson to Anthony Robertson in the fourth quarter, giving the Cougars the win.

Worrell finished the night with 22 carries for 148 yards, with his first quarter TD the longest run by any player on the night.

No. 10 Rahway suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 4-1.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Marcus Borden, with head coach Erik Rosenmeier and senior RB Gabe Worrell, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Friday Night Big Central Roundup: Old Bridge uses mammoth rally to beat Piscataway, Montgomery takes second straight from Somerville; two Top Ten unbeatens go down

There was no calm before the storm Friday night in the Big Central Conference.

While a Nor’easter is set to hit the Garden State Saturday, with the worst effects expected to be at the Jersey Shore and in coastal communities – postponing two of three BCC games slated for Saturday until Monday – the results on the field were pure chaos.

Consider:

  • No. 4 Old Bridge scored 27 unanswered points to rally and beat No. 2 Piscataway at home, 27-26
  • No. 8 Rahway was stymied at home by Cranford, 14-7, to remain undefeated
  • Montgomery won a see-saw battle with No. 7 Somerville, 38-35, their second straight win over the Pioneers
  • Unranked Sayreville upset No. 9 St. Thomas Aquinas 37-21 in North Edison

It was a wild night, and we’ve got you covered as you scroll down through the Friday Night Big Central Roundup for Week Four.

Montgomery scores 22 unanswered to take down Somerville, again…

In their first seven meetings, from 2002 through 2008, Somerville owned Montgomery, winning five of those matchups. But since 2012, it’s been the other way around.

The Cougars won their second straight over the Pioneers Thursday night, 38-35 in a back-and-forth affair that saw Montgomery (3-2) score the last 22 points of the game, all on touchdown runs by Zach Mutton, who scored four in the game.

No. 7 Somerville (3-2) led 13-0 after one on a Justin Bowen 30-yard touchdown run (the PAT was blocked) and a nine-yard run by James Hampton. But Monty took a 16-13 lead into halftime on a six-yard run by Mutton and a three-yard run by Zach Furey, converting for two after each.

Then, it was back to Somerville, who got a 42-yard run by Shyheim Hobbs-Harris and a seven-yard jaunt by James Hampton, also completing a pair of two-point conversions, giving them a 29-16 lead in the third. Mutton scored from three-yards out, to get Montgomery within six heading into the fourth quarter.

But that’s where the defense held, and Mutton kept doing his thing. He scored on four- and five-yard runs in the fourth quarter – also booting the PAT on the first and running it in for two on the second – to give the Cougars a nine-point win.

Montgomery now leads the all-time series with Somerville, 8-7.

Click below for postgame reaction from Montgomery head coach Sean Carty with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

Notes and Nuggets…

  • Saturday’s schedule in the Big Central is down to one game, but who knows if that will even happen. No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan is set to play at Westfield at 1 pm, and as of late Friday night, the game was still on. Blue Devils head coach Matt Andzel told CJSR that the situation will be assessed again in the morning. Already, two other Saturday games were moved to Monday: No. 1 Phillipsburg will plat at No. 5 St. Joseph-Metuchen at 3 pm, while Franklin will host North Brunswick at 6:00. For teams that play on Friday the next week, games must be played no later than Monday, and Monday’s weather is no guarantee right now, either. The Panthers host Hunterdon Central Friday night, while Westfield will travel to Woodbridge. No doubt both would prefer not to have such a quick turnaround.
  • After Friday’s games, there are five undefeated teams remaining in the Big Central, with only one of them ranked at the moment. Hillside, and Cranford may have the best shot to get in, after teams seven though ten (Somerville, Rahway, St. Thomas Aquinas and Ridge) all lost Friday night. But don’t forget about Sayreville, which beat No. 9 St. Thomas and visits current No. 4 Old Bridge next Friday night.
    • No. 3 Elizabeth (5-0)
    • Highland Park (5-0)
    • Hillside (5-0)
    • New Providence (4-0)
    • Cranford (4-0)
  • New Providence now has the longest active winning streak in Big Central play, up to 16 games after a 48-0 win over Roselle. They have allowed just 30 points in four games all season. Besides Friday night’s shutout, they allowed seven in a season-opening win at Voorhees, 20 in a win over Johnson the following week, and three points against Metuchen last week, outscoring their four foes 136-30. Old Bridge has the second longest league win streak, now at ten. Piscataway had a seven-game win streak against the BCC heading into their loss to the Knights Friday.
  • What a season debut for North Plainfield senior quarterback Zion Fairley. He scored six touchdowns in a 41-7 win over JFK, including three passing – two to Zyon Brown and one to Anthony Costello – two rushing, and one more on a blocked punt he returned for a touchdown. Fairley transferred in from Hudson Catholic during the off-season, but as a senior transfer, had to sit out per NJSIAA rules.

FRIDAY SCORES

  • No. 4 Old Bridge 27, No. 2 Piscataway 26 (Game story with audio)
  • No. 3 Elizabeth 28, No. 10 Ridge 23
  • Montgomery 38, No. 7 Somerville 35
  • Cranford 14, No. 8 Rahway 7 (Recap with video via Marcus Borden)
  • Sayreville 37, No. 9 St. Thomas Aquinas 21
  • South Plainfield 14, Carteret 6 (Game story with audio)
  • Brearley 33, JP Stevens 0
  • Union 42, Hillsborough 13
  • Dayton 40, Roselle Park 35
  • New Providence 48, Roselle 0
  • East Brunswick 34, Voorhees 7
  • Woodbridge 28, Colonia 21
  • Perth Amboy 40, Metuchen 0
  • North Plainfield 41, JFK 7
  • Watchung Hills 21, Hunterdon Central 19
  • Johnson 21, Spotswood 6
  • Bernards 28, Delaware Valley 0
  • Middlesex 21, Dunellen 0
  • Highland Park 47, South River 0
  • Belvidere 35, Bound Brook 0
  • Scotch Plains-Fanwood 33, North Hunterdon 22
  • Plainfield 37, Linden 14
  • Manville 42, South Hunterdon 8
  • Hillside 44, New Brunswick 0
  • South Brunswick 38, Monroe 14

SATURDAY SCHEDULE

  • No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan at Westfield, 1 pm

MONDAY SCHEDULE

  • No. 1 Phillipsburg at No. 5 St. Joseph-Metuchen, 3 pm
  • North Brunswick at Franklin, 6 pm

THURSDAY SCORES

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 4 Old Bridge scores 27 unanswered points to come back and stun No. 4 Piscataway, 27-26

Old Bridge football coach Matt Donaghue got four solid quarters of football from his team, the only problem being that two of them were last week and two of them were this week.

Last Friday night, they needed a late field goal to hang on and beat then-No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas, 26-24. This week, the No. 4 Knights fell behind in the first half, and were down 26-0 at halftime to No. 2 Piscataway at Lombardi Field in Old Bridge, but rallied to come away with a 27-26 win, with a PAT after a game-tying touchdown turning out to be the difference.

The Chiefs (4-1) got three touchdowns from Zaire Young – of seven, one and two yards – in what was a dominant first half, with quarterback Landon Pernell doing some damage as well.

Donaghue didn’t have to say much in the locker room at halftime. He just repeated the score until, one by one, the Knights picked each other up. The game plan was fine, the execution was another story.

In the second half, all that changed, just three plays in, when Chase Rizzo got Old Bridge on the board with a 74-yard touchdown run. Then, he ran for another. And caught a third from Aiden Rios. All in the third quarter.

With just under six minutes to go, he caught a 71-yard TD pass from Rios to tie the game, and the extra point by Araion Mezera put the Knights up by one. But the defense still had to hold on.

And hold on they did, as Griffin Nugent picked off Pernell with 25 seconds to go to seal the deal, handing Piscataway its first loss of the season.

Old Bridge improves to 4-1 ahead of a home game with currently unranked (but maybe not for long) Sayreville (4-1), which handed No. 9 St. Thomas Aquinas its second straight loss, beating the Trojans in North Edison Friday night, 37-21.

Click below to hear Old Bridge head coach Matt Donaghue talk about the win over Piscataway with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

dramatic dark clouds over garesnica croatia
by Mike Pavlichko

Nor’easter set to hit Jersey Shore, and two Saturday Big Central games have been rescheduled; wind still could be a factor in games, including Friday

As a multi-day Nor’easter appears set to provide misery to coastal areas of New Jersey with rain, wind and flooding, and though the worst is supposed to be at the Jersey Shore, two of Saturday’s three Big Central games already has been rescheduled.

Franklin head coach Blair Wilson informed Central Jersey Sports Radio that the Warriors’ (0-4) home game against North Brunswick (1-3) has now been moved to Monday at 6 pm.  Later in the evening, it was announced that No. 5 St Joseph-Metuchen’s (2-1) home game against No. 1 Phillipsburg (3-1) also had been rescheduled. That game will now take place in Metuchen at 3 pm Monday.

However, one other game remains on the BCC slate. That’s at 1 pm, as No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan (3-1) travels to Westfield (1-3).

The NJFCA sent out an email to members about the proper procedure for cancellations and postponements, so some may be in the works, and some may have already happened, but as of early Friday afternoon, all three BCC games are still on the slate.

 

As for the weather, as of noon Friday, AccuWeather is predicting for the Metuchen, Franklin and Westfield areas showers and clouds in the morning, with about a quarter-inch of rain likely to fall between noon and two pm, with winds out of the north-northeast at 25 miles pe hours, and gusts potentially topping 50 miles per hour. Temperatures will be in the low 60s.

A little less rain is expected to fall in Westfield, which tracks with statewide forecasts calling for worse conditions along the Jersey Shore, and varying up and down the coast.

The forecast calls for continued rain into Sunday, and even into Monday. Any games would have to be played no later than Monday if a team plays Friday next week – as is the case for Franklin and North Brunswick – and anyone playing next Saturday could delay as late as Tuesday.

As for Friday, rain shouldn’t be a factor, at least in the Big Central Conference’s footprint, but wind could be. For Carteret, which hosts South Plainfield in the Bellamy & Son Paving Game of the Week tonight at 7:00 – click here to listen – the forecast calls for 69 degrees at kickoff, low humidity, but 20 mile per hour winds out of the north-northeast, and gusts up to 37 miles per hour.

by Mike Pavlichko

McKeever, Marx, Schnall power Summit to 20-0 home win over Edison

On the field before Thursday night’s home game against Edison, Summit head coach Kevin Kostibos was asked about his defense, which has bee giving up just over 19 points a game through the first four this year.

His response was that they’ve played well, but big plays had been the difference.

Well, they didn’t give up many against the Eagles, and the ones they did didn’t matter, as they shutout Edison 20-0 at Tatlock Field in the Big Central Game of the Week presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, and heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

In fact, they held Edison to turnovers on downs on the Eagles’ first two possessions, the first of which stopped then on the Hilltopper 15 yard line.

Offensively, Summit did enough to win against an Edison defense that was, in the main, up to the task – if only they could have put some points on the board.

Gavin Schnall rushed 17 times for 100 yard and a six-yard score in the fourth quarter. QB Matt McKeever threw for 115 and a 33-yard touchdown to Will Heil in the first quarter. And Jackson Mark went 2-for-2 on PATs and 2-for-2 on field goals, matching his season high of 37 yards late in the third.

Summit moves to 3-2 with the win ahead of a trip to Watchung Hills next week. Edison drops to 1-4 but has the first of three home games coming up next week as East Brunswick rolls into town.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Chris Tsakonas with Summit QB Matt McKeever, RB Gavin Schnall, head coach Kevin Kostibos and Athletic Director Allison Flockhar, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Governor Livingston 28, Lyndhurst 20

Junior runningback Elijah Garcia ran for two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass as the Highlanders one back-to-back games for the first time this season, taking a road win at Lyndhurst in Bergen County.

Sophomore QB Colin Hughes also threw a pair of touchdown passes in the win, which gets the Highlanders to 3-2 on the year, heading into a Saturday home game next week against Johnson, the first of three straight home games the next few weeks for Governor Livingston.

by Mike Pavlichko

No excuses for dinged up Carteret, as run-first Ramblers host South Plainfield in traditional GMC matchup

Carteret and South Plainfield have been playing each other for years, whether it’s in the Big Central Conference or the GMC.

Both are blue-collar, grind-it-out, run-the-rock football teams. And when they meet again this Friday night at the newly-renovated Walt Overholt Stadium – affectionately known as “The Pit,” don’t expect much different.

It’s our Friday night Big Central Game of the Week on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with kickoff set for 7 pm, and pregame at 6:45. Mike Pavlichko and Nick Hart have the call; click here to listen.

The Ramblers come in at 2-2, but have split their first four games, alternating between wins and losses. Throw out a 53-6 loss to the largest public school in the state, Elizabeth, in the opening week – and the Minutemen are off to a fantastic start – and the Ramblers are 2-1 the rest of the way, and have allowed just 25 points in their last two games, including a 13-6 loss at Summit two weeks ago, and a 16-12 win at Scotch Plains-Fanwood last Friday.

Senior Danyun McKill runs the offense, but it’s Al-Naiquan Boseman who powers it, taking 75 carries this season and going for 591 yards and five touchdowns, while the mobile McKill is next on the list at 130 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. He can run it if he has to, but Boseman is the No. 1 option most plays.

Defensively, Carteret is a bit thin in the secondary due to some injuries, but they do get after the ball, and get behind the line of scrimmage. To wit, they have six sacks and 25 TFLs on the season, with linebacker Nick Gomm leading the way at eight hits behind the line.

Click below to hear Carteret football coach Kevin Freeman talk about the Ramblers and their matchup against South Plainfield with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Dennis McNulty to take the reins at New Brunswick boys’ basketball

When Dennis McNulty stepped down as the boys’ basketball coach at Timothy Christian in Piscataway after six seasons and unprecedented success, the next question was “Where would he land?”

The short answer was at Rutgers Prep, where he signed on as an assistant this past season for Matt Bloom, who’d also been having a successful run as head coach.

But back in mid-August, Bloom also left – not long after Mary Klinger retired was head coach of the girls’ program – and now McNulty is back in the head coaching game, just not with the Argonauts.

The New Brunswick boys’ basketball program announced on Twitter Thursday morning that Dennis McNulty will be its new head coach.

McNulty spent six season as the head coach at Timothy Christian, and was quite successful. The Tigers reached double digit wins each season, even in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign, with standouts like Jalen Fleming – the school’s all-time leading scorer – and big man Chukwudi Raphael Mamah.

In his first season as head coach, he took a 5-19 squad in 2019 and went 15-10 with a third place finish in the GMC Gold Division at 13-5.

His teams were 88-58 overall, and 66-16 in divisional play in the GMC. They shared or won outright three division titles, sharing the 2021-22 Gold Division title with Wardlaw-Hartridge, the 2023-24 Blue Division title with Spotswod, and winning this past season’s Blue title outright, with a 9-1 record.

The Tigers – who were the ten-seed in the 2023 GMC Tournament – also knocked off seventh-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen in the opening round, with a 56-53 road win.

New Brunswick is likely banking on McNulty’s work to turn around Timothy Christian in the hopes he can do the same with the Zebra program, which has struggled in recent years.

New Brunswick was 6-19 last season under Antoine Allen, and 2-8 in the GMC Blue American Division. Allen’s teams never won more than six games in a season, and were 20-88 over his five-year run leading the program. The last time they won at least ten games in a season was an excellent 2019 campaign, going 20-8 (10-2 in the GMC White Division) that season. While they were a one-and-done in the GMC Tournament, New Brunswick, they reached the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group 4 state playoffs, falling 77-72 to Marlboro, after picking up wins over West Windsor-Plainsboro South in the first round and Montgomery in the quarters.