Category: Notebook

by Mike Pavlichko

Early look at Big Central Football 2026: Sayreville, St. Thomas Aquinas to duke it out in National Silver, while Edison, Franklin, North Brunswick hope to make strides

The National Silver may no longer feature the team with the longest Big Central win streak – a distinction that now belongs to Bernards – but St. Thomas Aquinas should be right up there with Sayreville in challenging for the division title in 2026.

The Bombers showed big improvement in Year Two under alum Mark Poore, who went from 4-6 to 9-2 in 2025, falling by one to Old Bridge in the Central Jersey Group 5 semifinals. But the Trojans also should be improved with more continuity under second-year head coach Shamir Bearfield. Franklin has boosted its coaching staff and should present a real challenge in the division, while Edison and North Brunswick are looking for bounceback years.

Here are the preliminary schedules for the National Silver Division teams – in order of 2025 finish – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publication, along with a few notes on each squad. Division games are starred.

Sayreville Bombers (9-2, 4-0, National Sliver Division Champions)
Head Coach: Mark Poore, 3rd season (13-8)

  • Week 0: Plainfield
  • Week 1: Ridge
  • Week 2: Edison*
  • Week 3: Franklin*
  • Week 4: at St. Thomas Aquinas*
  • Week 5: Old Bridge
  • Week 6: at Somerville
  • Week 7: at North Brunswick*
  • Week 8: Piscataway

Like Old Bridge – which the Bombers lost to in the Central Jersey Group 5 semifinals last season – Sayreville had just one regular season loss, and that came 43-15 to Montgomery after a 7-0 start. But they will have much to replace this season, including senior runningback Shaun Jackson, who finished his career just 23 yards shy of a two-thousand yard rushing campaign in 2025. Poore will look to rising junior Sherwin Appiah (401 yards, 8 TDs) and rising sophomore Dion Osae (534 yards, 3 TD) to fill the gap for a squad that carried it to the tune of 3,335 yards and 40 scores on the ground last season. And tough standouts like DL Julian Perez (5 1/3 sacks, 1 FR) and Adrian Ciesla (3 1/2 sacks) there are some young-uns who contributed last year on defense expected to be back, like risking juniors Kellan Bowers, Grady Walsh and Christian Woodard, each of whom recorded two sacks last season, with Woodard also recovering two fumbles.

St. Thomas Aquinas Trojans (5-6, 3-1, 2nd place National Silver)
Head Coach: Shamir Bearfield, 2nd season (5-6)

  • Week 0:  at Sheepshead Bay (Brooklyn)
  • Week 1: Westfield
  • Week 2: at Franklin*
  • Week 3: at Old Bridge
  • Week 4: Sayreville*
  • Week 5: at Somerville
  • Week 6: North Brunswick*
  • Week 7: at Edison*
  • Week 8: St. Joseph-Metuchen
  • Week 9: OPEN

Shamir Bearfield didn’t get hired until May after a period of turmoil for the Trojan program where Tarig Holman was not retained, and STA’s initial hire changed his mind. So last year’s 5-6 record comes with a little bit of an asterisk. But there’s no doubt Aquinas has the talent to compete again the way they did when they won 32 Big Central Conference games in a row, starting with the late Brian Meeney as head coach with the last win of the COVID season in 20210. Just start with quarterback Zymere Weaver, a sophomore who threw for 2,236 yards and 24 TDs – with just three picks – last year. But while he hit five difference receivers for over 300 yards apiece last year, only one – junior Tristan Bester (338 yards, 4 TDs) will be back, the rest having graduated. The defense returns a ton, including five of the eight players who logged sacks and all four players who totalled five interceptions as a group last year, though the loss of top tackler and linebacker Anwar Witherspoon will be tough to replace with just one person.

Franklin Warriors (4-6, 1-3, 3rd place National Silver)
Head Coach: Blair Wilson, 5th season (11-28)

  • Week 0: Ewing
  • Week 1: Colonia
  • Week 2: St. Thomas Aquinas*
  • Week 3: at Sayreville*
  • Week 4: North Brunswick*
  • Week 5: at Piscataway
  • Week 6: Edison*
  • Week 7: at South Brunswick
  • Week 8: at Woodbridge

It’s a challenging schedule for the Warriors, who opened last year 3-0, but only won one of their final seven games. Wilson has beefed up the coaching staff, bringing on two former head coaches: Derrick Eatman from North Plainfield, and Ibrahim Halsey from South Brunswick, who will coach against his former Vikings in Week Seven. The talent is there to make the push, too, with sophomore QB Jah’naad Cady throwing for 1,040 yards and 13 TDs last year. And on the ground, only one runningback last year – who had two carries – graduates from a group that ran for 1,420 yards last season. He’ll have plenty of targets to throw to as well. A host of solid defensive players should be back, too; freshman Jaden Dublin impressed last year with three sacks and four TFLs, along with a fumble and an INT, while top tackler Maurice Langford registered 62 (23 solo) along with a sack and a fumble recovery.

Edison Eagles (2-8, 1-3, 4th place National Silver)
Head Coach: Matt Yascko, 4th season (10-20)

  • Week 0: Union
  • Week 1: Woodbridge
  • Week 2: at Sayreville*
  • Week 3: North Brunswick
  • Week 4: at Summit
  • Week 5: East Brunswick
  • Week 6: at Franklin*
  • Week 7: St. Thomas Aquinas*
  • Week 8: at Rahway

The Eagles were in a lot of games last year, but just couldn’t get over the hump, or close them out, including a dramatic 33-28 home loss to Franklin where the Warriors scored at the final horn, and two late-season losses right before the cutoff, by one at South Brunswick and two at Paterson Eastside. Flip a few of those this year, and it’s a different season for Edison, whose schedule is manageable. Top rusher Shaun Garland, who had 555 yards and seven TDs (and can also catch the ball) is back for a team that rushed for over 1,700 yards as a group, and has four starters back up front. Garland should also be a big factor defensively, after racking up four sacks, eight TFLs and a forced fumble last season. Other, younger players, however, will have to step up into key roles.

North Brunswick (0-9, 0-4, 5th place National Gold)
Head Coach: Mike Cipot, 10th season (58-32)

  • Week 0: Snyder
  • Week 1: at South Brunswick
  • Week 2: Monroe
  • Week 3: at Edison*
  • Week 4: at Franklin*
  • Week 5: Carteret
  • Week 6: at St. Thomas Aquinas*
  • Week 7: Sayreville*
  • Week 8: East Brunswick

After a 4-6 season that was a downturn for North Brunswick after six straight seasons of seven or more wins, The Raiders went winless last season. But that’s where the program came from when head coach Mike Cipot resurrected it nearly a decade ago, so he’ll be looking to do that again; such is they cyclical nature of high school sports. But he’ll have to find a new quarterback after his nephew, Zach, threw for over a thousand yards last year. The top three receivers – junior Sal Fama-Linn (625 yards, 2 TD), sophomore Kaji Brown (286 yards, 1 TD) and junior Jayvon Dozier (176 yards, 2 TD) should all return for whoever is throwing it to them; sophomore Jasiah Hogans had the most QB experience behind Cipot last year, going 19-of-32 for 234 yards. Brown also had two forced fumbles at defensive back, and linebacker Alie Sakoh (1 fumble recovery, 1 INT) should be among key returnees.

by Mike Pavlichko

Early look at Big Central Football 2026: Old Bridge, Piscataway will try to hold off South Brunswick, East Brunswick, Monroe in National Gold

The Big Central Conference realignment in the off season didn’t touch the two big school “GMC” (sort of) Divisions, with no changes made to the National Gold and Silver Divisions for the next two season. (We say “sort of,” of course, because all but one of the ten teams in those divisions are from Middlesex County, the only outlier being Franklin, which at one point years ago attempted to defect from the Skyland Conference to the GMC.)

That said, in the National Gold, 2025 champion Piscataway and runner-up Old Bridge both should be in the running for another division title. The Chiefs bring a lot back, while the Knights will have to figure some things out after the graduation of Central Jersey Sports Radio Offensive Player of the Year Brody Nugent. South Brunswick has a new coach, while East Brunswick’s newest mentor is in his second season, and it’ll be Year Three for Nick Isola in Monroe; all will look to make inroads this season, and all have the potential to do it.

Here are the preliminary schedules for the National Gold Division teams – in order of 2025 finish – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publication, along with a few notes on each squad. Division games are starred.

Piscataway Chiefs (8-3, 4-0, National Gold Division Champions)
Head Coach: Dan Higgins, 23rd season (181-61)

  • Week 0: East Orange (Jim Grasso Classic at Northern Highlands)
  • Week 1: Somerville
  • Week 2: at East Brunswick*
  • Week 3: South Brunswick*
  • Week 4: at Old Bridge*
  • Week 5: Franklin
  • Week 6: St. Joseph-Metuchen
  • Week 7: at Monroe*
  • Week 8: at Sayreville

The Chiefs will open against the Jaguars up at Northern Highlands, a team that went 9-2 last season, but was knocked out of the playoffs in the sectional semifinals by eventual Group 5 finalist Passaic Tech, and they’ll close the regular season at rival Sayreville, with a lot of tough games in between. Fortunately, Piscataway has two senior linemen back, plus QB Landon Pernell for his final year, after an excellent 2026 in which he threw for 1,382 yards and 14 TDs, and just three picks. Top rusher Zaire Young went for 758 yards and seven scores in his junior campaign last year. The defense should have some key returnees back as well, and this veteran coaching staff led by Higgins knows what they’re doing.

Old Bridge (10-2, 3-1, 2nd place National Gold)
Head Coach: Matt Donaghue, 5th season (25-17)

  • Week 0: Shawnee (Battle At The Beach at Ocean City)
  • Week 1: at Montgomery
  • Week 2: at South Brunswick*
  • Week 3: St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Week 4: Piscataway*
  • Week 5: at Sayreville
  • Week 6: at Monroe*
  • Week 7: East Brunswick*
  • Week 8: at Ridge

This won’t be an easy schedule for Old Bridge, then again they did go down and beat Cedar Creek last year in the Battle of the Beach; this year, they open with Shanwee in the same event, but back in Ocean City this year after being at Rowan in 2025 due to a once-every-few-years scheduling conflict. The Knights’ only regular season loss last year came at Piscataway, before they fell to Washington Township in the “Central Jersey” Group 5 final. But the big task will be replacing Brody Nugent, who threw for 2,276 yards and rushed for 1,262 on the season, accounting for more than 3,500 yards of offense in 2025. His backup, Aiden Rios, a sophomore last season, only three three passes last year, completing two for 33 yards, while mostly playing receiver and grabbing 13 catches for 268 yards and three TDs. Much of the receiving corps is back, but the defense will have some spots to fill, though rising senior Justin Barkaszi (7.5 sacks, 3 blocked kicks, 1 fumble recovery) and Latrell Alexander (2 1/2 sacks) should return on the defensive line.

South Brunswick Vikings (4-6, 2-2, 3rd place National Gold)
Head Coach: Mike Gerst, 1st season

  • Week 0:  Watchung Hills
  • Week 1: North Brunswick
  • Week 2: Old Bridge*
  • Week 3: at Piscataway*
  • Week 4: Monroe*
  • Week 5: at Rahway
  • Week 6: at East Brunswick
  • Week 7: Franklin
  • Week 8: at Colonia

The Vikings got off to a 2-1 start last season, but faltered as the schedule got tougher and lost four straight in the second half of September and first half of October to miss the playoffs. Now, Ibrahim Halsey is out after two seasons (and has joined Derrick Eatman as an assistant at Franklin under Blair Wilson) and Mike Gerst steps in from Fort Lee, whose team went 9-0 last year playing in the Super Football Conference Ivy Red Division, meant for rebuilding programs, and who are not eligible for the postseason. It was the Bridgemen’s first 9-0 season in over 100 years of football. But against this competition, it’ll be much more of a challenge. He’ll likely have a returning starting quarterback in Brenden Shearstone, who threw for 675 yards and seven touchdowns last season, while top runningback Oscar Duran rushed for 642 yards and three scores, while fellow junior Kamari Toney went for 606 and five touchdowns. A very senior-laded defense, though, will need to be retooled.

East Brunswick Bears (3-7, 1-3, 4th place National Gold)
Head Coach: Zach Gega, 2nd season (3-7)

  • Week 0: JFK
  • Week 1: North Hunterdon
  • Week 2: Piscataway*
  • Week 3: at Monroe*
  • Week 4: Voorhees
  • Week 5: at Edison
  • Week 6: South Brunswick*
  • Week 7: at Old Bridge*
  • Week 8: at North Brunswick

One thing Zach Gega won’t need to worry about in his second season as the head coach is qho will be the quarterback, as junior Sean Christie returns off a season where he threw for 1,257 yards and six TDs, but he’ll need to cut back on the interceptions. He also ran it for nearly 500 yards, but the only other back to crack 100 was senior Nathan Charleston, who’s now graduated. Tight end Noah DeJesus, Christie’s favorite target, also is gone. And he led the defense with 8 1/2 sacks, too, so the defense will need some figuring out as well. The schedule isn’t easy, but manageable for the Bears.

Monroe Falcons (1-8, 0-4, 5th place National Gold)
Head Coach: Nick Isola, 4th season (10-20)

  • Week 0: at Perth Amboy
  • Week 1: Governor Livingston
  • Week 2: at North Brunswick
  • Week 3: East Brunswick*
  • Week 4: at South Brunswick*
  • Week 5: at North Hunterdon
  • Week 6: Old Bridge*
  • Week 7: Piscataway*
  • Week 8: at Carteret

The Falcons won just their opener last season, a 41-0 victory at West Windsor-Plainsboro, then lost their last eight to end the season, and didn’t play a “crossover” – what the NJSIAA now calls consolation games, which are up to leagues and teams to schedule. But they were only shutout twice and could put up some points. Junior QB Ghayoor Abbas was a thousand-yard passer last year and is expected to be back for his senior year, while top rusher Julian Hughes (492 yards, 4 TD) was just a sophomore. Jayden Badillo – a junior with two sacks and eight TFLs – will be counted on over on the defensive side of the ball.

by Mike Pavlichko

Early look at Big Central Football 2026: American Silver is one team smaller, but no easier for those who remain

When the Big Central Conference did its realignment this off-season, part of a two-year cycle, it pulled Hunterdon Central from the American Silver Division and put them with smaller schools in the Liberty Silver, including Somerville and Montgomery, among others.

But that won’t make life any easier for the teams left in the American Silver, as Ridge, Bridgewater-Raritan, Hillsborough and Phillipsburg still get the Red Devils as a crossover – and, of course, still have to play each other. The Stateliners moved up to the North Group 5 supersection due to its new success formula, but that doesn’t affect the BCC. And besides, there were in Group 5 in 2022 and 2023 before moving down to four the last two seasons.

And just as an example of how brutal this division can be, both Phillipsburg and Bridgewater-Raritan, 4-0 and 1-3 in the division, respectively, won state sectional titles last season.

Here are the preliminary schedules for the American Silver Division teams – in order of 2025 finish – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publication, along with a few notes on each squad. Division games are starred.

Phillipsburg Stateliners (10-3, 4-0, American Silver Division Champions)
Head Coach: Frank Duffy, 11th season (85-27)

  • Week 0: Parkland (PA)
  • Week 1: at Emmaus (PA)
  • Week 2: at Freedom (PA)
  • Week 3: Hillsborough*
  • Week 4: at St. Joseph-Metuchen
  • Week 5: at Ridge*
  • Week 6: BYE
  • Week 7: Bridgewater-Raritan*
  • Week 8: Hunterdon Central
  • Thanksgiving: Easton (at Lafayette College)

Due to the NJSIAA’s new success formula, since the Stateliners can pull kids from other districts, and won North 2, Group 4, advancing to the state semifinals last year, they are now up in Group 5 as far as the playoffs concerned. But no matter: Phillipsburg has made the last four sectional finals – twice in Group 5 then twice in Group 4, winning trophies each of the last two seasons. And while they will lose senior runningback Sam Dech – who had a team-leading 1,530 yards on the ground last year and 23 touchdowns – sophomore QB Dominic Bracco is back. All that remains to be seen is which has more juice, the run game or the pass game, and how P’burg will adapt, because one thing is for sure: the Stateliners always have talent. But they will take a big hit defensively from the loss of senior Aeden Hywell, the reigning Central Jersey Sports Radio Defensive Player of the Year, who finished the season with 17 1/2 sacks and 27 TFLs, leading a defense that allowed just 12.4 points per game.

Ridge Red Devils (5-4, 3-1, 2nd place American Silver)
Head Coach: Jeff Sutherland, 2nd season (5-4)

  • Week 0: OPEN
  • Week 1: at Sayreville
  • Week 2: at Hunterdon Central
  • Week 3: at Bridgewater-Raritan*
  • Week 4: Elizabeth
  • Week 5: Phillipsburg*
  • Week 6: Westfield
  • Week 7: at Hillsborough*
  • Week 8: Old Bridge

Second-year head coach Jeff Sutherland has some work to do in finding some key offensive replacements. Senior QB Sawyer Paul graduated, as did top runningback Nick Pfennig (129 carries for 692 yards), along with tight end and top receiver Toby Nicholson, but close No. 2 runningback C.J. Griffith (688 yards, 4 TDs) is back for his junior year, and could be a focal point moving forward, while senior Tristan Frank likely is a top candidate under center. Senior defensive lineman Anthony Valera (4 1/2 sacks) will be missed, as will Nicholson (3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 INT), among others, but rising senior DE Greg Brown (3 1/2 sacks, 6 TFL) will be back. Ridge will crossover with two Middlesex County schools this year, Sayreville and Old Bridge, both of whom – if the NJSIAA ran football playoffs like every other sport – should have both been Central Jersey Group 5 finalists last season (instead, they met in the semis due to snaking).

Hillsborough Raiders (4-6, 2-2, 3rd place American Silver)
Head Coach: Kevin Carty, Jr., 15th season (92-64)

  • Week 0: at Manalapan
  • Week 1: Hunterdon Central
  • Week 2: at Bridgewater-Raritan*
  • Week 3: at Phillipsburg*
  • Week 4: Union
  • Week 5: Colonia
  • Week 6: at Elizabeth
  • Week 7: Ridge*
  • Week 8: at Montgomery

It’s a unique schedule for the Raiders, who will visit Shore opponent Manalapan opening weekend and close on Cutoff Weekend with the Carty Bowl, coaching against his brother, Sean, now in his second year as head coach at Montgomery. (They coached against each other in the COVID year when then-head coach Zoran Milich had to miss the game for a medical situation – and famously were not permitted to “shake hands” after the game, per NJSIAA COVID policy.) Gone are twins Devon Khurana (QB with 1,125 yards passing) and Shane (WR with 30 catches for 537 yards and 3 TDs), but sophomore Cooper Wright got some experience last year, and should be the leading candidate to take over at quarterback. Carty also will have to replace top RB Andrew Schwarz, who rushed for 1,114 yards and 12 scores last season. Watch Logan Jankowicz, younger brother of Jackson, whose senior season was 2004 and twice rushed for over a thousand yards. The defense will look at guys like Jamie Piccirillo (3 sacks, 3 1/2 TFLs as a freshman) and rising junior LB Tyler Zysk (1 1/2 sacks, TFLs) to hold down the unit.

Bridgewater-Raritan Panthers (9-4, 1-3, 4th place American Silver)
Head Coach: DJ Catalano, 4th season (16-18)

  • Week 0: at Woodbridge
  • Week 1: at St. Joseph-Metuchen
  • Week 2: Hillsborough*
  • Week 3: Ridge*
  • Week 4: at Westfield
  • Week 5: Hunterdon Central
  • Week 6: at Union
  • Week 7: at Phillipsburg*
  • Week 8: Watchung Hills

The defending North 2, Group 5 champions will likely look to Evan Woodring as the leading starting QB candidate, with the graduation of Declan Kurdyla (1,371 yards, 13 TD), just as they did when Kurdyla was missed a couple of games last season. But they’ll have top runningback Jahmier Black for his senior season; Black ran for 978 yards and seven touchdowns last season, which also catching nine passes for 187 yards. Defensive end Jamelle Jones (8 sacks, 12 TFLs) is the most disruptive player returning from what was a very senior-led defense in 2025. The Panthers open with two tough crossover tests against Middlesex County foes Woodbridge and St. Joseph-Metuchen, both of whom won eight games last season.

by Mike Pavlichko

Early look at Big Central Football 2026: St. Joseph still team to beat in American Gold Division, but has a lot to replace

Having swept the Big Central Conference’s American Gold Division each of the last two seasons, one would have to consider St. Joseph-Metuchen a team that will at least be right back in the thick of things in 2026, but there will be work to be done for Bill Tracy and his program, with some key talent lost to graduation.

Their next best competition could very well be Elizabeth, with senior QB Arique Fleming back for his fourth year as the starting signal-caller for the Minutemen. Westfield – coming off a 4-6 season under first-year head coach Matt Andzel – also will look to make strides, as will Union, which went 3-8 last year with a very young club under Barris Grant, who left Hillside for the job.

Here are the preliminary schedules for the American Gold Division teams – in order of 2025 finish – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publication, along with a few notes on each squad. Division games are starred.

St. Joseph-Metuchen Falcons (8-2, 3-0, American Gold Division Champions)
Head Coach: Bill Tracy, 5th season (25-15)

  • Week 0: bye
  • Week 1: Bridgewater-Raritan
  • Week 2: at Westfield*
  • Week 3: at Elizabeth*
  • Week 4: Phillipsburg
  • Week 5: at Delbarton
  • Week 6: at Piscataway
  • Week 7: Union*
  • Week 8: at St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Week 9: Donovan Catholic

St. Joseph put up big numbers last year, but some key players who posted those numbers are gone. Senior dual threat quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo threw for 1,212 yards and 12 touchdowns – with just one pick – while leading the team in rushing with 580 yards, while senior wideout Reggie Bropleh had a team-best 522 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. Only 70 of 1,604 rushing yards are back, and 206 of 1,215 receiving. And while they’ll lose senior Michael Wellett III (5 sacks), Tommy Kwiatkowski (4 sacks) and Jason Gross (team-best 8 sacks) on defense, others like Jack Cummings (3 1/2 sacks) will be counted on. Always strong coaching when Bill Tracy is running the show, and that helps.

Elizabeth Minutemen (5-5, 2-1, 2nd place American Gold)
Head Coach: Eugene Kline, 2nd full season (9-9)

  • Week 0: at Edison
  • Week 1: at Watchung Hills
  • Week 2: Elizabeth*
  • Week 3: Westfield*
  • Week 4: at Hillsborough
  • Week 5: Plainfield
  • Week 6: Bridgewater-Raritan
  • Week 7: at St. Joseph-Metuchen*
  • Week 8: at Linden

It’ll be one last go-round for Arique Fleming, a true team leader who has been the starting quarterback and matured in leaps and bounds since his very first start in the 2023 season opener as a freshman. He tossed for 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns a season ago, while also leading the team with 551 rushing yards. And with four of the five receivers who each caught at least 200 yards’ worth of passes last season coming back, Fleming will have plenty of options. The defense should be solid, too, with key players like defensive back Eric Cespedes (2 INTs) and and linebacker Isaiah Butler back as well.

Westfield Blue Devils (4-6, 1-2, 3rd place American Gold)
Head Coach: Matt Andzel, 3rd season (9-12)

  • Week 0: Scotch Plains-Fanwood
  • Week 1: at St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Week 2: St. Joseph-Metuchen*
  • Week 3: at Union*
  • Week 4: Bridgewater-Raritan
  • Week 5: at Woodbridge
  • Week 6: at Ridge
  • Week 7: Elizabeth*
  • Week 8: Plainfield

Matt Andzel embarks on his third season as head coach, and gets a tough schedule out of the gate with the two non-publics – St. Thomas Aquinas and division foe St. Joseph – back to back in Weeks One and Two. And the crossover slate doesn’t get any easier with North 2, Group 4 champion Bridgewater-Raritan and a trip to Ridge also on the slate. QB Cole Weidler returns; he began 2025 as the starting quarterback but was replaced by Jordan Walsh when top receiver Ezno Ferrera went down to injury, and the team began to run the ball more.

Union Farmers (3-8, 0-3, 4th place American Gold)
Head Coach: Barris Grant, 2nd season

  • Week 0: at Edison
  • Week 1: at Watchung Hills
  • Week 2: Elizabeth*
  • Week 3: Westfield*
  • Week 4: at Hillsborough
  • Week 5: at Plainfield
  • Week 6: Bridgewater-Raritan
  • Week 7: at St. Joseph-Metuchen*
  • Week 8: at Linden

Barris Grant’s first season resulted in an immediate boost of one win for the very young Farmers, but they are poised to take the next step this season. Take their starting quarterback, for example. Elijah Bryant was just a sophomore, but threw for 1,259 yards and five touchdowns, though he’ll want to cut down on the turnovers this season. The top runningback was a junior; Jamir Hall finished just shy of 1,100 yards and scored 12 touchdowns. The defense was a little more veteran, as seven seniors will graduate, but not all of them starters.

by Mike Pavlichko

Big Central Conference coaching updates: What’s left to fill with less than two months before camp opens?

It was another year of coaching turnover in the Big Central Conference, whether by coaches not being retained, or stepping down on their own.

Of the 59 schools in the league, 12 will have new head coaches for the upcoming 2026 season. That’s 25 coaching changes in the past two seasons – nearly half the league – after 13 new coaches were hired following the 2024 campaign.

The latest hire was Steven Brown at North Plainfield, whose appointment was approved Monday night by the Board of Education. He’s been the defensive coordinator at Verona for the last two seasons, and also at Elizabeth for girls’ flag football, a Big Central playoff finalist each of the last two seasons.

And that leaves just one position open in the BCC, in Perth Amboy, where William Clark will not be retained after seven seasons as the Panthers’ head coach. His teams were 12-52 in that span, never winning more than three in a season; they went 3-7 in 2021.

Once that hiring is complete, the entire Patriot Silver Division – Amboy, New Providence, AL Johnson, Spotswood, Roselle and Metuchen – will have new head coaches, and be responsible for half the new mentors in the BCC this season.

Here’s a look at the rest of the Big Central Conference schools with new coaches in 2026:

  • JFK: One of the early hires, the Mustangs will be led by Anthony Nyers, a Woodbridge grad from across town who was appointed in late February. He most recently was the wide receivers coach and Offensive Coordinator at Westfield under Matt Andzel, and had spent the previous season with Al Chiola at Linden.
  • Johnson: Athletic Director Gus Kalikas ran the show last season, and the Crusaders went 7-2 with his son, Jack, at starting quarterback. But this year, the job was given to Mike Ryan, who was approved in late May by the Board of Education, and promoted after spending two years with the Crusaders as an assistant. Ryan has been a head coach at JP Stevens in the past, and was on the Edison staff of Matt Fulham when they won the Central Jersey Group 5 title in 2022.
  • Metuchen: Alum Jordan Leitner is gone after going 21-20 in four seasons, including a solid 7-4 campaign in 2024. In steps Middlesex County veteran Joe Riggi, who was a defensive coordinator at JFK in the mid 2010s, sandwiched by a pair of stints as the head coach at JP Stevens, from 2007 to 2009, and again from 2015 to 2019.
  • New Providence: The Pioneers kept it in-house after Chert Parlavecchio, Jr., stepped down to take an assistant coaching position at his alma mater, Delbarton. They went with Anthony Conzentino, who played scholastically at Livingston – starring on a 2008 squad then led by current St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Bill Tracy – and coached running backs, linebackers and special teams the past five years at New Providence.
  • Roselle: Tyrone Turner is out after two seasons – and was quickly snapped up by Steven Brown at North Plainfield – and James Roach is in. He’s been director of the Union County Vipers youth football and mentoring organization since 2011 and is a local outreach coordinator, according to his LinkedIn bio.
  • South Brunswick: Mike Gerst will now lead the Viking program, coming to Middlesex County after two seasons up at Fort Lee, his first-ever head coaching job. He replaces Ibrahim Halsey, who was 7-12 in two seasons (and now is an assistant at Franklin) while Gerst’s teams went 16-3 in that span an the Super Football Conference’s “Ivy Red” Division, one in which teams aren’t eligible for the playoffs by playing a “relief” schedule aimed at rebuilding. That included a 9-0 campaign last year, the first in over 100 years of Fort Lee football.

by Mike Pavlichko

Steven Brown approved by North Plainfield Board of Ed as next Canuck football coach

The coaching vacancies in the Big Central Conference are filling up, with Steven Brown being officially hired as the new football coach at North Plainfield, Athletic Director Sean Dowling has confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The Board of Education approved the hiring at its regular meeting Monday night, along with the hiring of five assistant coaches.

Brown has been the defensive coordinator at Verona for the last two seasons; the Hillbillies were 2-7 last year, but 7-4 in 2024. He’s also been the defensive coordinator for girls’ flag football coach at Elizabeth the past two seasons. This year, they went 11-5, following a 14-2-1 program debut in 2024; they reached the Big Central Conference title game each of the last two seasons. (Flag football will be an official NJSIAA sanctioned sport in 2027, including state playoffs, after a two-year pilot program.)

Brown also has experience on the other side of the ball, previously serving as Offensive Coordinator at Columbia (Maplewood-South Orange).

He’s a 2000 Rahway alum who was a three-year varsity player for the Indians, and the starting quarterback on the 1999 team that went to the North 2, Group 3 championship game, falling to then-powerhouse Morristown at Giants Stadium. (The win was the Colonial’s 30th straight at the time.)

Brown replaces Derrick Eatman, who stepped down in the off-season after four years leading the program. The Canucks went 3-6 each of the last two seasons, and were 8-31 over that four-year span. Eatman is now an assistant at Franklin under Blair Wilson.

The five Canuck assistant coaches approved Monday night by the Board of Ed include Defensive Coordinator Jameel Drummond, defensive line coach Emanuel Weaver, linebackers coach Damien Torres, and defensive backs coach Jah-Quinn Wembley, all of whom were announced on Instagram by Brown.

Tyrone Turner, who spent the last two seasons at Roselle, also was hired and will serve as Offensive Coordinator. Turner was 6-16 in two campaigns with the Rams, and 13-23 in the four seasons prior as head coach at Shabazz in Newark.

James Roach was appointed in May as Roselle’s new head coach.

Click below to hear new North Plainfield head coach Steven Brown talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

As Blackwell steps down from Ridge, here are the winningest coaches in the GMC, Somerset County, and who will move into the top ten

Ridge baseball coach Tom Blackwell told his players last week, and announced publicly Tuesday that he was stepping down as the Red Devils’ skipper, with just a couple of years left before he completely retires from teaching.

Blackwell will hang ’em up as one of the winningest active coaches in the Central Jersey Sports Radio Coverage area, entering and finishing the year in the top ten.

Here’s a look at the rest of the group in the Greater Middlesex Conference and Somerset County. We’re counting all wins, even at other, out-of-area schools, as long as those coaches are still in the CJSR area.

  1. Dennis McCaffery, St. Joseph-Metuchen (533-178): The vast majority of those wins came in 25 years as the head coach at Cranford, where he was 511-154 from 1999 through 2024. He came to the Falcons last season when Mike Murray stepped down, and went 16-7, winning the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament on four straight walk-off wins, including a grand slam in the final off the bat of senior JP Zayle. This year was a rebuilding year, as the team went 6-17 after graduating a slew of seniors.
  2. Lou Urbano, South Brunswick (337-289): Urbano made his return to coaching this year at South Brunswick, after spending much of his career in the northern end of Middlesex County, where he coached at all three Woodbridge schools – JFK (1987-1989), Colonia (1994-1995) and Woodbridge (2008-2017) – as well as at St. Joseph-Metuchen (1997-2006). This year’s team turned a 4-20 record into a 12-12 mark, a formidable achievement considering Urbano said there were only 20 kids in the program when he took it over.
  3. Larry Santowasso, Rutgers Prep (370-298-1): The Argonauts are always in the thick of things in Somerset County, even winning the county tournament as a 12-seed in 2023, a year they just got off to a slow start, just 2-6 when the SCT began. But they came on strong to go 12-9 the rest of the way, with berths in the Prep B and Non-Public North B sectional finals. This year’s team went 17-8.
  4. Glenny Fredricks, Spotswood (359-207-2): Glenny started his career at Freehold Boro, spending a year there in 2003, then was an assistant in New Brunswick before coming to the Chargers in 2005. Two years later, he became just the second coach in GMC history to win a division title, the GMC Tournament, a sectional title, and a state title (Group 2). The other? The legend himself, Jim Muldowney, with Edison in 1993.
  5. Vinnie Abene, Edison (334-269): The Eagles helped Abene flip-flop with Mike Lepore, Jr., of South River, as he trailed the Rams’ head coach by one win, and now is in front of him by one. Edison went 19-8 this year, with injuries at various points to their top three starting pitchers – all going to play D1 in college – derailing what could have been a really special season.
  6. Mike Lepore, Jr., South River (333-340-2): It was another solid season for the Rams, who went 17-10 this year. Lepore – whose dad also was a legendary baseball coach and won 291 games at South River, Cedar Ridge and Madison Central, while also coaching the Ram football program, and baseball at Middlesex County College – is a lifer, and next season will be his 30th at the school.
  7. Tom Blackwell, Ridge (328-211): In a year where everyone seemed to beat everyone – Immaculata won the Skyland Conference Delaware Division, Watchung Hills won the Somerset County Tournament – Blackwell went out a North 2 Group 4 champion with a gritty group that, win or lose, played from start to finish. They finished 19-11 this season and won the North 2 Group 4 title over a Watchung Hills team they lost to in the SCT semis. While his program has had numerous 20-win seasons, it’s ironic that his two sectional titles came in seasons where they did not reach that mark.
  8. Pete Mueller, Montgomery (312-291): While the Cougars went just 9-18 this year, Mueller is one of six coaches on this list – four of which are from Somerset County – who have been with one school their entire head coaching careers.
  9. Max Newill, Bridgewater-Raritan (271-221): The Panthers bounced back from a seven-win season in 2025 with a 13-17 campaign this year, including trips to the Somerset County Tournament and North 2, Group 4 semifinals. And in 2024, Bridgewater pulled the same trick Fredricks and Muldowney of the GMC did: they won the Skyland Delaware – also going undefeated in league play overall – then won the Somerset County Tournament, the North 2, Group 4 title, and the state Group 4 championship, setting a new program record for wins as they went 30-3.
  10. Chris Banos, Somerville (236-149): Banos has been the Pioneers’ mentor since 2015, and he’s won everywhere he’s been. As a player for Jim Muldowney at Edison, he went to the 1995 Group 5 final. As an assistant at JFK under Jerry Smith, the Mustangs won the Group 3 title in 2009. And after a few years as head coach at Dunellen, he landed in Somerville, winning the Group 3 state championship over Allentown.

So, when we start the 2027 in about nine months, who will be in that tenth spot with Blackwell retired and Mueller, Newill and Banos move up a spot? That would be Leo Danik, who coached at South Brunswick, Dunellen and JP Stevens before landing in Metuchen in 2015, where he’s been ever since. After a 19-8 season, he’s now 212-154.

The next winningest coach in Somerset County is Watchung Hills’ Joe Tremarco, Central Jersey Sports Radio’s 2026 Somerset Coach of the Year. The Warriors were 18-9 this season and won the Somerset County Tournament, setting him up bat 172-148 heading into 2027.

These win-loss records were compiled from multiple sources. If you believe any of these are in error, please email us at mike@cjsportsradio.com.

Woodbridge shortstop Gavin Slicner (6) hits a ball.
by Alec Crouthamel

Woodbridge’s Gavin Slicner is Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC Player of the Year after star-studded senior season

Sometimes in high school baseball, you see a stat that makes you rub your eyes to make sure you read it right.

Woodbridge shortstop Gavin Slicner could’ve wrote a whole book of those in his senior year.

The Barrons’ leadoff batter put up a stellar senior campaign and is the winner of the 2026 Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC Player of the Year.

Slicner had already put up a solid junior campaign, but came into his senior year with a determination to build and get even better for his follow-up.

The shortstop put up eye-popping offensive numbers as a senior, batting .517 on the year (including a .966 slugging percentage), with 12 extra-base hits and nine home runs, all team-highs. And even after doing the damage with his bat, Slicner was still a threat on the basepaths with 26 stolen bases to lead Woodbridge.

And the numbers weren’t of the empty kind at all. Slicner came through in countless big spots as a clutch hitter, with plenty of his 32 RBIs playing big roles in Barrons victories.

Comparing his junior and senior seasons, he raised his batting average – already at a solid .400 mark – by over 100 points, added 14 more RBIs, and hit six more home runs.

And while this is print, what we can’t show you is all the defensive gems he turned in at shortstop.

Slicner played a big role leading a veteran-laden Woodbridge squad, with an extremely strong senior class, flanked by standouts such as Xavier Diaz, Kevin Arroyo, Michael Gurovich, and Billy Mansfield. It was a tight-knit group, one that had played alongside each other since their younger days in Little League, and they helped the Barrons win plenty of games.

They made the North 2, Group 4 semifinals twice and the quarterfinals once, and two GMC Tournament quarterfinals. That included a sectional quarterfinal appearance this year, where tenth-seeded Woodbridge knocked off seven-seed Scotch Plains-Fanwood, and nearly took down second-seeded Bayonne on the road.

And the Barrons relied on Slicner plenty in that first-round win over Raiders, as he clubbed an insurance home run in the seventh as part of a three-hit, three-RBI day.

In the end, Slicner and his fellow veteran teammates put together a strong run of Woodbridge baseball to look back fondly on.

The righty shortstop won’t be veering too far away for his next step, either. Slicner will head to Edison to play baseball at Middlesex College after graduation. The Colts finished off a strong 38-17 year, making it to the NJCAA Region 19 / District Final Four Series.

They also featured two former Barrons, as well, in pitchers Drew Lukachyk and Eddy Nunez, as all three played together in 2023. Middlesex boasted 15 former GMC players on its 2026 roster, and will bring in the best of the conference this upcoming season.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel talk with CJSR GMC Player of the Year Gavin Slicner from Woodbridge

HONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Connor Murphy, Edison: The Monmouth-bound senior had an ERA you’d need a microscope to see: 0.54, while going 5-1 on the season, including a no-hitter on April 14 against St. Joseph-Metuchen. He fanned 83 this year, after striking out 82 last year, and graduates with 207 career whiffs, and an ERA of just 2.05 for his four varsity seasons.
  • Grant Lorentzen, JFK: This kid does it all, and not just in baseball. While he was 4-5 as a pitcher despite a 1.97 ERA, he also hit .472 this season. He finished his career with 220 strikeouts and a 1.81 ERA over four seasons, while also logging 102 hits at the plate. And as an impressive side note, he was also a thousand-point scorer in basketball – finishing with 1,246 points – and finished his football career as a two-thousand yard receiver, with 2,470 yards and 34 touchdowns. He had 1,221 this past season along with 22 TD catches, one of the top single-season totals all-time in New Jersey. He’ll play baseball and football at TCNJ.
  • Chris Kozak, Middlesex: While Kozak and junior Dominic Long were really starters 1a and 1b this year – and the difference may at times have been microscopic, the senior Kozak gets the nod here. We saw him get his 200th strikeout late in the season against St. Joseph-Metuchen. Kozak was 6-2 this season with a 1.98 ERA, and fanned 76 hitters, a career high.
  • Ben Faigin, Monroe: Just a junior, Faigin – who’s committed to Rutgers – was 7-1 this season, winning three GMC Tournament games while allowing just four total hits, including a 9-2 first-round win over Colonia in which he threw an immaculate inning. He also got a 1-0 win over South Plainfield in the semis, and led the 9th-seeded Falcons to a 7-0 victory over Old Bridge in the GMC final; both were one-hit, complete-game efforts.
  • Matt Chin, Old Bridge: The senior hit .407 with 22 RBI and two home runs to pace the Knights’ offense this year, helping his team gain a berth in the GMC Tournament and Central Jersey Group 4 finals. He’s also an excellent and smart center fielder.
  • Aiden McCarthy, South Plainfield: “The Bull” is a Rutgers commit, and tough as they come. He was 8-2 this past season, always giving his team a chance to win the big game, including an upset of top-seed Chatham in the opening round of the North 2, Group 3 playoffs. McCarthy struck out 74 this season, and had an even 2.00 ERA, while also getting it done at the dish, where he hit .367 – the best of his career – with 28 RBI, ten doubles, and two home runs. He also no-hit Old Bridge in a 4-1 win on April 21.
  • Louis Rizzolo, St. Thomas Aquinas: The senior and Marist commit was 8-0 this season, with a 0.90 ERA, and also got it done at the plate, batting .382 with 12 RBI and three home runs. In the state playoffs, he hit a big, early three-run home run at Rutgers Prep in the Non-Public North B semifinals, en route to a 7-3 win and berth in the championship game against St. Mary-Rutherford. A four-year varsity player, he never had an ERA over 1.74 in his final three seasons, and finished with a career 1.49 ERA.

by Mike Pavlichko

Karl-Anthony Towns’ historic NBA title with Knicks brings us back to his last ultimate championship: St. Joe’s TOC win in 2014

Karl-Anthony Towns has had a fantastic basketball career, whether it’s been with the Knicks, the Timberwolves, Kentucky, or in high school at St. Joseph-Metuchen.

The one-time Falcons star played in the Tournament of Champions all three years when he was in high school (he reclassified and graduated early) and won it all in 2014 with a core trio that also included Wade Baldwin (Memphis, Portland in the NBA, now in Europe) and Marques Townes (also now playing in Europe).

After a year at Kentucky playing for John Calipari – where the Wildcats went 38-1, won the SEC Tournament, but lost their lone game in the national semifinals to Wisconsin – Towns went pro.

He was the first overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft that year, chosen by the Timberwolves, and was Rookie of the Year in 2016. He’s been a six-time NBA All-Star, and was traded to the Knicks in October of 2024 as part of a three-team deal.

Now, in his second season in New York, he’s an NBA Champion – his first “overall” championship since that Tournament of Champions win in 2014, crowned the best high school team in New Jersey.

And so, we decided to take a look back at that title. This reporter broadcast that game live on WCTC in March of 2014, and interviewed KAT courtside after the game. Click below to listen!

by Mike Pavlichko

Ridge seniors Callanan, Nicholson and head coach Tom Blackwell talk CJSR Team of the Year honors, as veteran skipper also announces retirement

What a whirlwind year for the Ridge Red Devils baseball team.

They began the year 11-1, with an Opening Day win at West Morris bringing the program its 1,000th victory all-time. Then injuries hit, and they lost five straight in late April. After getting knocked out of the Somerset County Tournament in the semifinals by eventual champion Watchung Hills, they regrouped and rebounded to beat the Warriors in the NJSIAA North 2, Group 4 championship game.

They would fall in the state semifinals, 8-7, on a walk-off home run in extra innings at Ridgewood, but earn the final No. 1 ranking in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten.

After which, head coach Tom Blackwell told his team last week, after 21 years and 20 seasons as the Red Devils’ skipper, he would be retiring. Blackwell went 328-211 from 2006 through 2026 (there was no high school baseball in the COVID year) with his teams winning two Somerset County Titles (2011 and 2022) and two North 2, Group 4 titles in the state tournament (2021 and 2026).

It was the perfect way to end a coaching career, but so much more than that for Blackwell, a Ridge alum who played for the legendary Pete Hall, the namesake of the Red Devils’ baseball field.

In a rollercoaster of a season, Ridge is the 2026 Central Jersey Sports Radio Team of the Year.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Ridge seniors Kieran Callanan and Toby Nicholson, as well as retiring head coach Tom Blackwell:

The Ridge Red Devils: NJSIAA North 2, Group 4 sectional champions for 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)