Category: Football

by Mike Pavlichko

Bernknopf tosses five first-half TD passes to power Dayton past Bound Brook, 43-12

Dayton senior quarterback Adrian Bernknopf had himself quite the night, and the game was only half over.

Bernknopf threw five touchdown passes before the break to four different receivers, and by the time Bound Brook got on the board, the Bulldogs already had staked themselves to a 43-0 lead.

All that led to a running clock in a fast second half in Springfield Thursday night, as the Bulldogs (1-1) picked up their first win of the season 43-12 over visiting Bound Brook.

Bernknopf opened the scoring 2:03 into the game with a four-yard touchdown pass to James Babiarz. Then, after the defense came out and Dominic Pintado returned an interception 68-yards for six, he hit Babiarz again to make it 22-0 with 3:22 left in the first quarter.

The senior QB would hit for one more score late in the first – 48 yards to Kevin Paiva to make it 29-0 – then toss a 21-yard TD strike to Kevin Lunch with 9:08 to go before the half, and another 13 yards to Aiden Delpeche to make it 43-0.

Bound Brook (0-2) would get on the board with a six-yard touchdown run before the half. The PAT was blocked, and Dayton went into the home locker room with a 43-6 lead, kicking off a running clock to start the second half.

With that, and the jayvee in, Bound Brook added one more score, on a 16-yard run by sophomore Guy Pugh.

Click below for postgame reaction from Dayton head coach Nick Iannacone and senior quarterback Adrian Bernknopf, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!

by Mike Pavlichko

Thursday Night Big Central Roundup: Hillsborough defense holds off Hunterdon Central; Dayton pours it on; Delaware Valley, Belvidere eke out wins

It was a rare busy Thursday night in the Big Central Conference, with eight games on the slate, highlighted by some great games.

Hillsborough beat Hunterdon Central, 24-21, in a game where all the offense came in the first half, and the game was essentially sealed on a pass break-up on fourth down near the goal line, while Belvidere and Delaware Valley both eked out one-point wins. And Dayton got five first-half touchdown passes from senior Adrian Bernknopf an route to a home blowout of Bound Brook.

Scroll through more details, all of Thursday’s scores, links to individual game stories, and the Big Central schedule for the remainder of Labor Day Weekend.

County Seaters get past Roselle Park…

Belvidere scored the first touchdown of the game, and the last, to come up with a 28-27 road win in Union County Thursday night. Elijah White’s 47-yard touchdown catch from QB Jake Enderley got the Seaters on the board first with 1:43 to go in the first quarter, but the Panthers tied it on a 52-yard touchdown run from Maxwell Griffin down the left sideline as time expired in the period..

They went up 13-7 on Nick Salas’ 52-yard touchdown run, but missed an extra point that turned out to be critical, and led 13-7 early in the second, before Belvidere scored twice before the half – on a Kaiden Drake three-yard run and another touchdown catch, this one five yards, by White – to take a 21-13 lead into the break.

Roselle Park got a 53-yard run for a touchdown by Nasir Cheston in the third quarter to open the second-half scoring, and Salas ran in a two-point conversion to knot the game at 21. Then, in the fourth, Cheston scored from 17 yards out, but again, the Panthers missed the PAT, leaving them up by six.

Kaiden Drake’s 53-yard touchdown on a screen pass from Jake Enderly then knotted the game, and White’s PAT gave Belvidere a 28-27 lead with 5:29 to go.

THURSDAY SCORES:

  • Hillsborough 21, Hunterdon Central 14 (Recap w/ Audio)
  • Dayton 43, Bound Brook 12 (Coverage from Marcus Borden)
  • Woodbridge 14, Edison 8
  • Belvidere 28, Roselle Park 27
  • Delaware Valley 34, Johnson 33
  • New Providence 27, Voorhees 7
  • Carteret 26, Perth Amboy 20
  • Linden 34, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 6

FRIDAY SCHEDULE:

  • #5 Somerville at #3 Piscataway, 6 pm (LIVE on CJSR)
  • #4 Old Bridge at Montgomery, 6 pm
  • #8 Summit at Rahway, 6 pm
  • #9 Elizabeth at Plainfield, 6 pm
  • Westfield at #10 St. Thomas Aquinas, 6 pm
  • Colonia at Franklin, 6 pm
  • Union at Watchung Hills, 6 pm
  • Governor Livingston at Monroe, 6 pm (Follow Marcus Borden on Twitter for updates)
  • New Brunswick at Metuchen, 6 pm
  • Spotswood at JFK, 6 pm
  • North Hunterdon at East Brunswick, 6 pm
  • Manville at Brearley, 6 pm
  • South Brunswick at North Brunswick, 6 pm
  • #1 Phillipsburg at Emmaus (PA), 7 pm
  • Ridge at #7 Sayreville, 7 pm
  • South River at South Hunterdon, 7 pm
  • Middlesex at Highland Park, 7 pm
  • Dunellen at JP Stevens, 7 pm
  • Cranford at Bernards, 7 pm
  • South Plainfield at North Plainfield, 7 pm

SATURDAY SCHEDULE

  • #6 Bridgewater-Raritan at #2 St. Joseph-Metuchen, 1 pm (Follow Marcus Borden on Twitter for updates)
  • Roselle at Hillside, 1 pm

by Mike Pavlichko

Hillsborough bounces back with stellar passing game, lock down defense in second half to get by Hunterdon Central, 21-14

The Hillsborough football team will pass the ball more this year, something head coach Kevin Carty, Jr., admits his family will love to see, thanks to some excellent targets and a solid QB in junior Cooper Wright.

That – and a stout defense that came up with a huge fourth-down stop late – were all instrumental as the Raiders beat Hunterdon Central at home Thursday night, 21-14.

All the offense came in the first half. After the Red Devils (0-2) punted on their first possession, Hillsborough (1-1) capped a methodical but always forward-moving first drive of ten plays, 93 yards with a 21-yard touchdown catch by Logan Jankowicz.

Central countered with a 13-play drive of its own covering 70 yards, punctuated with a one-yard TD push by Jayden Cozze at 7:34 of the second quarter to tie the game at seven.

And the scoring was off and running, with three more TDs in the last two-and-a-half minutes before the break.

Hillsborough similarly went 13 plays on its next drive, with Lavecchia scoring on a two-yard run at the 2:20 mark to take a 14-7 lead. But Central moved qucily on the ensuing possession, going 66 yards in six plays and 1:23 to knot the score at 14 on a 20-yard touchdown catch by Aaron Erb with 57 seconds left before halftime.

And the scoring still wasn’t done. Hillsborough took its third lead of the game on a six-play, 55-yard drive in just 49 seconds, finished off by a 13-yard strike from Wright to Logan Jankowicz, whose brother Jackson previously starred for the Raiders.

That came with eight seconds to go, and Central got one more play off, a Hail Mary down the right sideline, but Hillsborough picked off the toss-up, and went into the locker room up one score.

The second half belonged to the defenses. Hillsborough punted twice. Central had a turnover on downs, but off a fumble by the Raiders at the Red Devil 30, Central would get one last possession.

Hillsborough hosts Hunterdon Central in a Big Central Conference crossover game on September 3, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

And it looked like they might score, especially after back-to-back pass interference calls on Hillsborough. But despite allowing 30 yards on those two scores, on fourth-and-eight from the Boro 38, QB Odin Potinsky put one up down the right sideline which junior the defensive back Shawn Abline broke up, ultimately sealing the win.

With no time outs left for Central, the Raiders set up in victory formation, and took an all-important win with sixth-ranked Bridgewater-Raritan visiting next Friday for the Battle of Route 206.

Click below for postgame reaction, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Hillsborough QB Cooper Wright
Hillsborough head coach Kevin Carty, Jr.
by Mike Pavlichko

Gameday with Marcus Borden: Week 1

The 2026 high school football season is underway, with Week Zero in the books, and it’s time to talk about it all with Central Jersey Sports Radio high school football analyst with Marcus Borden!

We open the show looking back at last week’s games, including Coach Borden’s visit to Alexandria to see Delaware Valley and North Hunterdon, and our Bellamy & Son Paving Game of the Week, Bridgewater-Raritan at Woodbridge. They also talked about big opening weekend wins by Piscataway and Summit.

After an engaging discussion on Week Zero, and whether we’re starting football too early – or getting enough practice before the season starts – Mike and Marcus look at this weekend’s games, including Coach’s coverage of Bound Brook at Dayton Thursday, Governor Livingston at Monroe Friday, and Bridgewater-Raritan at St. Joseph-Metuchen Saturday afternoon, as well as our Game of the Week in Piscataway between the Chiefs and Somerville.

Click below to listen to the Week One edition of “Gameday with Marcus Borden”:

Note: This podcast was recorded before some football games – including the ones mentioned in the show – were rescheduled to Friday. For a complete list of Thursday’s postponements, updated as more come in, click here.

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 3 Piscataway looks to fix mistakes, but keep the big plays when No. 5 Somerville comes to town for first tussle in nearly 40 years

Very few high school football teams play a perfect game in Week Zero, but somebody has to win. 

Usually.

Neither Piscataway nor East Orange were perfect Saturday afternoon at Robeson Stadium in Essex County, but the Chiefs came up with the bigger plays at key times en route to a 26-20 win.

So, for head coach Dan Higgins, he takes the win and hopes his team both cleans up the mistakes this week, but still makes the big plays, all of which No. 3 Piscataway will need when the Chiefs host No. 5 Somerville (1-0) Friday night at Kenny Armwood Stadium.

That’s the Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Game of the Week on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with kickoff set for 6 pm and pregame at 5:40.  Mike Pavlichko and Nick Hart will call all the action.  Click here to listen.

A couple of the mistakes:  Piscataway had a bad snap on a punt that sailed 40 yards back toward their own end zone, and gave up a long touchdown pass for a score and another big play that set up first and goal with under a minute to play.  They also couldn’t corral a bad bounce on an onside kick in the final few minutes.

But they also recovered with some big-time plays.

On the punt, kicker Patrick Novak was able to recover it inside the five and somehow boot it away to keep the Jaguars from recovering mere yards from the goal line. 

And after East Orange recovered their onside kick and got down to the two, defensive lineman Donald Young was instrumental in the first stop at the one, and in the second by helping drive the ball carrier into the backfield.  With no timeouts, the Jags ran out of time to get to the line, spike it, and run one more play.

And the Chiefs escaped.

Oh, and there were other big plays, too, that stood on their own, like the 23-yard pick-six Cody Hardy had in the first half when East Orange was pinned back inside their own five.  A safety was a real possibility, but Piscataway came away with seven points instead of two.

One of the biggest challenges prepping for Somerville will be the Pioneers’ speed, but not just of their individual players.  They run tempo, often go no huddle, and keep defenses on their heels.

But Piscataway should have an offense to counter.  Senior Landon Pernell became the school’s all-time leading passer during the East Orange game – now at 3,736 yards – taking over the top spot from Chet Trechok, whose record has stood for 43 years.  And Zaire Young is a bruising back, who’s not easy to bring down.

Click below to hear veteran Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins talk about the Chiefs and their Week One matchup against Somerville with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Here are projected SI values for Week 1 Out-of-State Opponents based on state formula

While the entire NJISAA UPR playoff formula is very complicated, with caveats seemingly at every turn, the actual calculation of a team’s Strength Index – which helps determine the OSI for playoff qualification – is actually very simple.

You find the difference between the two teams’ ratings before the play, compare that to the difference in the final score, then divide that difference by five. That’s how much one team goes up and the other goes down.

But what do you use for an out-of-state or non-NJSIAA member, where the SI is not regularly calculated?

That’s our cue to give you a quick crash course.

According to the NJSIAA football regulations for 2026, with NJ.com now doing the official calculations instead of the now-defunct Gridiron New Jersey: “In order to assign a Strength Index value to an out of state/non-member opponent, NJ.com will consult MaxPreps national rankings. NJ.com will identify the closest NJSIAA member school, per the rating column, both ABOVE and BELOW the out of state/non-member opponent. The Strength Index for these two NJSIAA member schools will be averaged – the average Strength Index will be the value assigned to the out of state/non-member opponent.”

This week, there are 13 New Jersey NJSIAA-member schools playing out-of-state competition. So, let’s just take Phillipsburg as an example.

The Stateliners play Emmaus (pronounced “em-AY-us”) of Pennsylvania, the second of three PA opponents they will start the season with before getting into the Big Central slate. Emmaus has a 50.7 MaxPreps rating as of Wednesday, September 2nd.

So now, we go to the New Jersey rankings and find the two teams closest to them, above and below. That’s Southern, with a MaxPreps rating of 50.79, while Bridgewater-Raritan is right below them at 50.54 on MaxPreps and a 76.63 SI value. (Yes, one is higher than the other, depending on which system you use, but that’s another discussion for another time.)

The last step is to average the two SI ratings, which gives us a 76.30 Strength Index rating for Emmaus. Phillipsburg has a 77.17 SI rating, meaning the formula considers this a toss-up game: the Stateliners are considered 0.87 points “better” than Emmaus. Essentially, the winner will increase, the loser will decrease.

But, that won’t affect Phillipsburg either way, because teams qualify for the playoffs and are seeded based, in part, on OSI, not SI. And as for Emmaus? Their SI won’t be calculated each week, but the week before the cutoff, their SI will be figured again by the same process, using the MaxPreps rankings.

That said, here’s a look at this week’s out-of-state games involving NJSIAA-member schools, and the SI of their opponents:

  • Bergen Catholic: Our Lady of Good Counsel (MD), 78.91
  • Don Bosco Prep: Roman Catholic (PA), 85.35
  • Delbarton: Erasmus Hall (NY), 67.14
  • Immaculata: St. Joseph-by-the-Sea (NY), 67.84
  • Morristown-Beard: Christ the King (NY), 43.98
  • Paramus Catholic: St. James (VA), 61.59
  • Phillipsburg: Emmaus (PA), 76.30
  • Pope John: Cardinal Hayes (NY), 75.65
  • Ramsey: Suffern (NY), 50.98
  • Red Bank Catholic: St. Anthony Melville (NY), 80.25
  • Southern: Belmont Charter (PA), 67.84
  • St. Joseph-Montvale: Creekside (GA), 92.08
  • St. Peter’s Prep: St. Thomas More (CT), 48.81

NJ.com is expected to release “starting” SI numbers for all out-of-state opponents, per the NJSIAA regs, upon conclusion of Week 2. Those numbers will not adjust each week of the season as SI traditionally does, but using the same MaxPreps search, will be updated again after Week 5, and one more time on October 20th in advance of Cutoff Weekend, which is when all the New Jersey teams have their SI’s locked for playoff qualification.

So, for example, the SI value for Emmaus will be whatever MaxPreps turns up after Week 2. That will be used for the Week 3, 4 and 5 standings, with a new SI revealed after Week 5 to be used for standings in Weeks 6 and 7. The values searched on MaxPreps after Week 7 are what will be used for Cutoff Weekend, as well as the SI of New Jersey teams after Week 7. SI will not change – at least not for playoff calculation – after Week 8/Cutoff Weekend games.

Those are the numbers NJ.com will be using in its official calculations, and we will use in our own unofficial calculations as well.

It should be noted, however, that SI calculations are still run behind the scenes for all games – playoffs and what used to be known as “consolations” – through the end of the year to determine the most accurate starting numbers for 2027.

by Mike Pavlichko

“The Big Central in 2 Minutes” – Week 1

The 2026 season is underway for the vast majority of teams in New Jersey – including all but a handful in our coverage area – which means it’s time for Mike Pavlichko to take a closer look in this year’s debut of of “The Big Central in 2 Minutes!”

On this week’s episode, Mike looks back at Summit’s wild win against Colonia Friday, Del Val’s state-best ten-year streak of victorious openers, Highland Park’s first shutout in a while, and recognizes the four Big Central coaches who picked up their first “dubs” with their current teams.

All on this week’s edition of “The Big Central in Two Minutes!

Click below to listen to the 2026 Week 1 edition of “The Big Central in Two Minutes”:

by Mike Pavlichko

Top two hold, but others make some jumps in Big Central Power Rankings after opening weekend

Phillipsburg and Bridgewater-Raritan remain Nos. 1 and 2 in the Week 1 Big Central power rankings, but there was some movement behind them.

With a season-opening home win over South Plainfield, Somerville vaulted from five to three, jumping New Providence and St. Joseph-Metuchen, though neither team opened their season last week and will kickoff 2026 this weekend. And the Falcons will have a big game at home against Bridgewater-Raritan, a top five matchup.

The power rankings are simply based on the state’s Strength Index formula, which helps determine a team’s OSI, and is 60% of the UPR playoff formula. SI values and will change each week as games are played. See the methodology at the bottom of this page.

St. Thomas Aquinas took a big jump up from 17 to six, helped by their season-opening win over Frank J. Macchiarola (NY) in Brooklyn as well as losses by teams ahead of them like Old Bridge, Bernards and Woodbridge. Manville also benefitted from those defeats, and a blowout of Keansburg, jumping from 14 to seven. Sayreville dropped two spots to eight, while Rahway was up three places to nine and Piscataway edged up one spot to round out the Top Ten.

Statewide, there are still no Big Central teams in the Top 25, but Phillipsburg checks in at 30 (up from 35), while Bridgewater-Raritan is two spots behind, up 12 spots from 46 after a season-opening win at Woodbridge.

No. 1 Winslow extended its lead a bit over No. 2 Don Bosco Prep, but a loss by Bergen Catholic dropped them from three to eight, while Glassboro took the Crusaders’ place at No. 3. Meanwhile, Brick Memorial shot up from 12 to four, and Paramus Catholic soared into the five spot from 14, as Washington Twp. dropped from five to 11 despite a win over Pope John in the Battle at the Beach.

Strength Index Methodology: Team A and Team B are compared to find the difference between their rankings, which provides the Expected Result. The margin of the final score is figured in positive or negative terms compared to the Expected Result. The difference is divided by five, and the teams increase or decrease by the resulting number.

Example #1: Team A has an SI value of 80, while Team B has an SI value of 60. The Expected Result is +20 for Team A. When the game is played, Team A wins by 30. That is 10 points higher than the expected result. Than number is divided by 5, meaning Team A increases by 2 (Team A now has an SI of 82) while Team B decreases by 2 (Team B now has an SI of 58).

Example #2: In the same scenario, Team A defeats Team B by 20. That is the same as the Expected Result, no there is no change. Team A remains with an SI value of 80, while Team B retains its 60 SI value.

Example #2: Team A defeats Team B by 10. That is 10 points fewer than the expected result. Divide by 5 to get 2, but in this case, Team A drops by 2 points to 78 (because Team A “underperformed”) while Team B increases by 2 points to 62.

Out-of-State Opponent SI: Strength Index ratings for non-New Jersey teams are calculated by finding their MaxPreps national ranking, then averaging the SI ratings of the next New Jersey team above and below them in the MaxPreps rankings.

by Mike Pavlichko

Summit’s Jackson Marx bookends season-opening win with two amazing plays to nab first Bellamy & Son Paving Player of the Week honor in 2026

There’s a proud tradition around the Summit football program, whether it’s one of their championship seasons or not.

Coming off a North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 finals appearance in 2025, this year’s Hilltoppers – who will now be playing in Group 4 thanks to the recent NJSIAA reclassification – are looking to finish the job.

And right off the bat in 2026, things looked good. Friday afternoon, senior Jackson Marx returned the opening kickoff from Colonia 96 yards for a score to put his team up 6-0 before the Patriots even got the ball in their hands.

Things snowballed from there, with Summit taking a 23-0 lead in the second quarter on a 32-yard field goal from Marx, and touchdown runs from Matt McKeever and Gavin Schnall.

And then the pendulum swung. Colonia cut it to 23-7 by halftime. They got a third quarter touchdown to pull within eight. Then, with a few minutes to go in regulation, Colonia looked poised to send the game to OT after a 10-yard touchdown run by Kyle Bell. Going for two to tie, Jackson Marx got in front of a receiver along the right sideline, inside the five, and picked off the pass to preserve the two-point lead.

The only way it could have been dramatic was if it were the last play of the game. It wasn’t, as Summit got the ball back and was forced to punt, but Colonia couldn’t make any headway on the ensuing possession, and the Hilltoppers escaped with a two-point W, 23-21.

For his efforts, Jackson Marx is the first Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Player of the Week, for Week Zero, in 2026.

Logo of Bellamy & Son Paving highlighting the Big Central Player of the Week.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko with Week Zero Bellamy & Son Paving Player of the Week Jackson Marx of Summit:

The Bellamy & Son Paving Player of the Week is chosen from nominees by Big Central coaches. At the end of the season, one player will be chosen to receive a $500 scholarship courtesy of Bellamy & Son Paving. As always, we will recognize selected “Honorable Mentions,” and recognize all other all nominees in our weekly story.

Honorable Mentions:

  • Elijah Garcia, Governor Livingston: Though they never trailed in their season opener at home against Dayton, the Highlanders needed all of the junior’s 195 yards (on 30 carries with one touchdown) to keep the Bulldogs at bay in a 40-27 win. Garcia – who ran for 806 yards last year, is almost a quarter of the way there, looking to make a bid to become just the eighth Governor Livingston back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. (Jack Dally was the most recent, going for 1,195 in 2024
  • Anthony Costello, North Plainfield: Talk about timing, the junior scored the game-winning touchdown – the only score of the game – with 12 seconds left, powering North Plainfield to a 7-0 victory, and back-to-back season-opening wins the last two seasons. Costello, a receiver, had eight catches for 77 yards. He also had an interception on defense, where he plays defensive back, and returned three punts for 46 yards on special teams.
  • Amauris Peguero, Perth Amboy: The senior quarterback was instrumental in a 33-28 win against Monroe Friday night. He carried 22 times for 122 yards, rushing for three touchdowns in the game as well as a two-point conversion, while also passing for 81 yards and another score. It was also the first-ever win as a head coach for new Panthers’ mentor Evan Baubles.
  • Donald Young, Piscataway: The senior two-way lineman played a huge role in the final minute of the game, turning what could have been a disastrous loss – the Chiefs led 26-14 with under four minutes left – into one of the program’s most thrilling wins, a 26-20 win at East Orange. On a Jaguars’ first and goal at the two with 22 seconds left, Young turned aside a block to help stop the ball at the one. After an East Orange time out, their last of the game, he shot through the “A” gap and stopped the runner behind the line of scrimmage, leaving the Jaguars no time to stop the clock with a spike. And the Chiefs survived!
  • Jaylen Eastman, Rahway: The senior came up big in a wild 30-28 win at Willingboro Thursday night. From defensive end, he recovered a fumble in the end zone for the first Indians’ score, then had 49- and 15-yard catch-and-run touchdowns on offense. On D, he finished with five solo tackles, four assists, three TFLs and two QB hurries.

Other Notable Performances:

  • Zach Favreau, Bernards: In a 26-20 loss to Rutherford on Friday, the senior defensive back played nearly every snap of the game. And he was busy, recording 13 tackles, six solo, and two pass breakups. On offense, he caught two passes for 54 yards and had a 37-yard touchdown catch, while also returning three kicks for 102 yards.
  • Nehmiah DeLeon, Brearley: The senior running back set the tone early in a 33-0 win at Wallington on a rainy Thursday evening – one of the few games to be played that day – with a 51-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. He finished with 22 carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns. A third score from 55-yards out was negated by a penalty. He also had two tackles at DB on defense.
  • Sean Christie, East Brunswick: In a 41-0 win over JFK on Friday – the Bears’ largest margin of victory since Andy Steinfeld’s squad went 8-2 in 2021 – the senior signal threw one touchdown pass and ran for three, of 60, 12 and eight yards. At defensive back, he also recorded five tackles in the Bears’ first meeting with the Mustangs since 1981.
  • Jeff Progin, Hillsborough: The senior had six catches for 86 yards and a touchdown in a 41-25 loss at Manalapan on Friday – after the Raiders took the trip down Thursday, when the game was initially scheduled, only to turn back due to the weather. His TD came early, cutting a 12-0 deficit in half, though Hillsborough would lose the game in the end.
  • Travis Miles, Hillside: The senior scored half of his team’s six touchdowns in a 41-0 victory at Columbia in Maplewood Friday night. He had two on the receiving end on offense – of 29 and 11 yards – while also scoring on a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown.
  • Lamar Grant, JP Stevens: Just a sophomore, the defensive end had nine total tackles, including three for a loss and a sack as the defense pitched a shutout in a 21-6 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro, whose own score came on a pick-six on defense.
  • Aidan Johnson, Manville: The junior carried 11 times for 67 yards and two touchdowns in a 56-18 win at host Keansburg in the “Battle of the Bridge” Saturday morning. BUt he also plays free safety, and his interception in the first quarter killed the Titans’ second drive of the game as they were nearing Manville territory.
  • Sal Fama-Linn, North Brunswick: In a 39-8 home win against Snyder out of Jersey City, the senior helped the Raiders snap a nine-game losing streak (all of last season) with a big night in all three phases. At free safety, he had four tackles and a TFL. As a receiver, he had four catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns, while he also had two rushed for 3 years and a touchdown. And he even had a kick return for 24 yards and a punt for 32 yards.
  • Shane Moore, Phillipsburg: The senior ran for 135 yards and a touchdown in a season-opening 28-21 win over Parkland (PA) at Maloney Stadium. That was the first of three straight Pennsylvania foes on the schedule for the two-time defending NJSIAA sectional champions before they hit the Big Central slate.
  • Dylan Boehm, Somerville: The sophomore – who we’ll see this Friday night when the Pioneers visit Piscataway in a top ten matchup on Central Jersey Sports Radio – was 19-of-33 for 323 yards and touchdown passes for 36 and 87 yards in a 40-21 win over South Plainfield at Brooks Field. He also ran for a five-yard touchdown as their fourth straight season opener, all under head coach Matt Bloom.
  • Robert Lobozzo, Watchung Hills: The junior was critical in handing new Watchung Hills head coach Joe Ascolese his first victory since taking over from Rich Seubert in the off-season. He scored on a five-yard TD catch right after a 32-yard interception return by Bennett Dealaman. He also had 22 yards rushing, and a pick of his own on defense from the secondary.

scientific calculator on wooden surface
by Mike Pavlichko

Exclusive: Here’s a look at unofficial updated Strength Index numbers for all NJ Football teams following Week Zero play

With the shutdown of Gridiron New Jersey over the summer – and the job of calculating the NJSIAA’s complication playoff formula moving to NJ.com, Central Jersey Sports Radio will continue to run its own unofficial numbers all year, and that includes the Strength Index calculations, which are critical to figuring out a team’s OSI (Opponent Strength Index), which is 60 percent of the playoff formula.

Unlike Gridiron, at least for now, it doesn’t appear NJ.com will be publishing the Strength Index numbers on a weekly basis. While the playoff standings are expected to debut after a couple of weeks – most likely after Week 2 play, since early season standings are often misleading when some teams have only played one game – Gridiron had always updated each team’s page with their current SI value. We would run our own numbers to compare with Gridiron the first few weeks, but no such mechanism currently exists.

So, we’ve run our own numbers, and are publishing today the season’s first unofficial updated Strength Index values.

We’re confident in about 95% of our numbers, but a little less about the rest. Why? Because out-of-state opponents are tricky. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Each week, SI values change based on the final score and the rating of the two teams that played. Here’s an example. SI goes up or down depending on how a team did compared to the difference between the two teams. If Team A (80 SI) plays Team B (60 SI) and Team A wins by 20, there’s no change. If Team A wins by 10, they underperformed by 10 points, and Team B overperformed by 10 points. Team B increases by 2 points to become a 62, and Team A drops to a 78. Team A then gets the full value of Team B for its OSI (62) while Team B gets half the value of Team A (39).

In a real life example this week, let’s take Piscataway and East Orange, a game played on Saturday. Piscataway had a preseason SI or 68.34, and East Orange had a 66.91 SI value. Piscataway is considered 1.43 points stronger, but won the game 26-20, a six-point win. In that sense, the Chiefs overperformed, and would rise, while the Jaguars would go down. By how much?

Piscataway “beat” the expected result by 4.57 points. The formula says “divide by 5,” so we get 0.91 out of that. Add that to Piscataway’s number and we get 69.25. Subtract that from East Orange and we get 66 even. Those are the new SI numbers.

When it comes to SI, Piscataway won, so they get all 66 points. Since East Orange lost, they get half of Piscataway’s 69.25, or 34.63 OSI points.

Here are Central Jersey Sports Radio’s UNOFFICIAL Strength Index values after Week Zero play:

2026 Strength Index (Unofficial) after Week 0Download

Now, back to the out-of-state opponent issue.

Some of the teams who played non-NJ opponents in Week Zero may be slightly skewed. The issue is, we need to come up with an SI value for the out-of-state team, but they are not part of the New Jersey formula.

NJSIAA rules are this: Find the out-of-state team’s rating on MaxPreps. Then find the two closest New Jersey teams to that rating number (the first one above and the first one below). Then we take the SI of those two teams and average them.

But MaxPreps ratings are sometimes updated multiple times a week, and also depend on other games being played, whereas SI is only dependent on the two teams that play a game, and OSI can go up or down in a given week, depending on how past opponents play. MaxPreps essentially rolls that all into one.

For CJSR, we found the SI values of the out-of-state opponents Big Central teams play this year (just Phillipsburg – which has three – South Hunterdon and St. Thomas Aquinas) a few weeks ago when we did our “projections” for the playoffs, because we needed the SI of all opponents. However, we neglected to to that for the entire state, and there were 17 other teams that played out-of-state opponents this week.

And we can’t use the MaxPreps ratings as of today, because they have already been updated based on Week Zero results. So we had to reconstruct what we think are the correct numbers based on Google searches. If the adjusted SI numbers for New Jersey schools are off, they are not by much.

NJ.com should be calculating all of this in the background for Week Zero, so we trust they did this research. (If not, it is tricky to go back and fix it, for the reasons we mentioned above, but it needs to be done; if the SI numbers are off after Week Zero, that affects Week 1 games, then the number of teams wrong grows exponentially.)

That said, here’s a real life example. Rumson-Fair Haven played Tottenville (NY) from Staten Island this weekend. We determined that Tottenville’s preseason MaxPreps rating was 61.08. So, we then looked at who the closest New Jersey schools were. St. Joseph-Hammonton was the closest above at 64.4, while Seneca has a 60.82 MaxPreps rating, the closest below. Now we find their SI values (57.24 for St. Joe’s and 74.98 for Seneca) and average: we get 66.11. That’s the SI we use for Tottenville in the game vs. Rumson, which had a 73.05 SI coming in. Since the Bulldogs “underpeformed” in the game – winning by one when they were “expected” to win by 6.94. Rumson, as a result, saw its SI fall to 71.86 this week.

One other note… the formulas are not the same, and we believe some other option should be considered in the future. Look back at how we found the MaxPreps ratings. St. Joe’s-Hammonton was almost four points higher in the MaxPreps numbers, but Seneca was more than 17 points higher in the SI value. So, it’s not an entirely accurate way to determine out-of-state SI, but for now, it’s all we have.