Category: Notebook

by Mike Pavlichko

A long trip well worth it for Belvidere, as County Seaters pound Dunellen, 42-2

Belvidere’s fifth-year head coach Jordon Schreffler has seen the County Seaters improve a great deal since his debut season, when the team went 0-9.

They went from 3-7 the following year to 8-2 in 2024 before dipping to .500, going 5-5 last season. But with players like senior Elijah White returning and junior Jake Enderley running the offense for a second year after getting the keys to the bus as a sophomore, the start to 2026 has gone mostly well.

After a season-opening loss to rival Hackettsown, Belvidere is now 2-1 overall and unbeaten in Big Central Conference play after winning its Freedom Silver Division opener Friday night, 42-2 over Dunellen at Columbia Park.

They got started right on their first possession, after forcing a Dunellen punt, with Enderley hitting White for a 48-yard touchdown pass with 8:50 to go in the first, making it 7-0. After an interception on their next possession, their third resulted in another score, a 33-yard pitch play from Enderley to Kaiden Drake for a 33-yard touchdown run just 1:53 into the second quarter.

A Kayden Thorpe interception led to another Seater touchdown 5:32 before the half, as Enderley ran one in from 23-yards out to make it 21-0. Dunellen would get its only points in the final minute, with Belvidere pinned back in its own end, as Enderley had a snap sail over his head into the end zone, where he eventually fell on it.

Dunellen would put together a good late third-quarter drive and threaten, but it stalled out with a turnover on downs at the one. After another touchdown made it 28-2, Enderley threw a 90-yard strike to White with 40 seconds left in the period to make it 35-2, and with a running clock in play, Thorpe picked off his second pass of the day, this time bringing it 60 yards to the house to provide the final 40-point margin.

Dunellen dropped to 0-2 with the loss, its 22nd straight dating back to an opening round playoff loss in 2023, when the Destroyers finished 5-4.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Marcus Borden with Belvidere head coach Jordon Schreffler, senior Elijah White and junior Jake Enderley, presented by Sportsplex at Metcuhen!

by Mike Pavlichko

Manville takes out arch-rival Bound Brook, 35-0 as Gosk runs for two, tossed two touchdowns

It may have been a little sloppy on both sides of the ball Friday night at Ned Panfile Stadium in Manville, but the home Mustangs got two touchdown runs and two touchdown passes from Jonathan Gosk to help beat arch-rival Bound Brook 35-7 in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Manville led 21-0 at the half thanks to three touchdowns Gosk was involved in.

The first capped the longest scoring drive of any of the five in the game, an eight-play, 74-yard march on the opening possession, capped by Gosk’s one-yard run, with 6:28 to go in the first.

Just 13 seconds into the second quarter, he hit Mohamed Abdelmageed for a 46-yard strike on the first play of that drive, then Aiden Johnson bookended the period with a five-yard touchdown catch just 16 seconds before the half.

In between, Bound Brook’s athletes proved they could move the ball, but penalties and a fumble, the first of two on the game, kept them off the board.

Their lone touchdown came on the second half kickoff, when Zahmir Moore took the boot 78 yards to the house to slash the deficit to 21-7. But Elijah Bennett scored with 3:13 to go in the quarter, and Gosk ran one in from 21 yards out midway through the fourth to provide the final score.

Manville has won two straight to improve to 2-1, with a second home game in a row coming up next week against Dunellen, while Bound Brook drops to 0-3 with a home game against South Hunterdon next week.

Click below for postgame reaction from Manville head coach Dave Markowitch and senior QB Jonathan Gosk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!

by Mike Pavlichko

Highland Park shuts out first three opponents; it’s been a while since that’s happened for Owls

The Highland Park football team looks very good in 2026.

After snapping a 51-game losing streak – the longest active in New Jersey at the time – in their 2023 finale with a last-minute add on game at Point Pleasant Beach, the Owls won six games in 2024, just four last year, but this year are 3-0 to start the season for the second time in three years.

And there should be some more wins on the schedule, too, considering the way they are playing: they have shutout their first three opponents, outscoring New Brunswick, Metuchen and JP Stevens by a combined total of 99-0.

So that brings us to the question: When was the last time that happened?

We pored through years of records. It hasn’t happened recently. So we dove back into the 1980s, then the 1970s, and then into the 1960s.

In 1964, Highland Park was led by star quarterback Rich Policastro, the younger brother of Joe Policastro, who was the Big Man On Campus in in the mid- and late 1950s with the Owls. Rich also went on to star at Rutgers, after transferring in from VMI.

In his first season on the banks, Policastro set six passing records. Then, in 1969, Rich Policastro was chosen first team All-East, throwing 14 touchdown passes that year, and delivering the Knights a 29-0 victory over Princeton in the nationally-televised Centennial Game, celebrating the 100th anniversary of football. He also threw a record five touchdown strikes in a game against Colgate that year. (He now is tied for third on that list with Mike McMahon (Villanova, 2000) and two separate games with Gary Nova (Arkansas 2012, Fresno State 2013), while the top two spots are owned by Mike Teel (six against Pittsburgh, and seven against Louisville in 2008).

A year earlier, in his first season after transferring from VMI, Policastro established six passing marks – 15 touchdown passes, 994 yards, four TD passes in a game, 17 completions and 30 pass attempts in a game, and 309 yards in a game. In 1969, the Highland Park native threw a record five TD passes against Colgate.

But back to the three shutouts.

While there were numerous instances of back-to-back shutouts, the first time we found at least three in a row came in 1964, and amazingly they not only had three, nor four, nor five, but seven shutouts that year, all in a row. The run started after a season-opening non-shutout win, 19-14, over South Plainfield.

  • October 3: South River, 13-0
  • October 10: North Hunterdon, 27-0
  • October 17: Piscataway, 40-0
  • October 24: Carteret, 20-0
  • October 30: Sayreville, 27-0
  • November 7: St. Peter’s, 39-0
  • November 14: Clifford Scott, 33-0

The Owls finished 9-0 in 1964, capping the season with an 18-4 win on Thanksgiving over arch-rival Metuchen, and they were Central Jersey Group 2 champions, ten years before New Jersey would usher in the playoff era in 1974.

by Mike Pavlichko

Coming off first undefeated season since 1968, Manville still has work to do as new leaders emerge with rival Bound Brook coming to town

Taking an encore after a season like Manville had last year isn’t always easy.

After all, the Mustangs had a season for the ages last year, going 9-0 in the regular season – their first undefeated campaign since 1968 – and winning their first playoff game in school history, coming over Asbury Park in the first round of the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs.

Repeating is never easy, but it’s especially difficult when 95 percent of the team’s offense has graduated.

They’ve got some players, but head coach Dave Markowitch is still figuring out how it will all come together, as new leaders emerge in 2026. At 1-1 thus far – with a season-opening blowout win at Keansburg and a narrow loss to Brearley that we’ll get to in a moment, their next test comes Friday night when arch-rival Bound Brook comes to town.

That’s our Friday night Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Game of the Week, and you can hear it live on Central Jersey Sports Radio beginning with pregame at 6:45 pm. Kickoff is at 7, with Mike Pavlichko and Vin Ebenau on the call; click here to listen.

Certainly, Manville is at no loss for talent. Senior QB Jonathan Gosk – though they don’t throw the ball a lot – has tossed for 136 yards, connecting on 6-of-12 passing for 136 yards and two touchdowns in his first year in the starting role, but perhaps more importantly, no interceptions. And three backs – Cassius Carter, Matty Gorbatuck and Aidan Johnson – all have upwards of 100 yards rushing across two games, while the Mustangs as a team have averaged 300 yards a game in the first two.

But there have been some other mistakes, namely in the special teams department. Last week, in a 21-18 loss at Brearley, the Mustangs missed two PATs, and a two-point try on their third and final touchdown of the game also failed.

And not directly related to Xs and Os, there’s the Jimmies and the Joes: Manville has seniors, and has leaders, but head coach Dave Markowitch says they’re still working on communications, having those leaders assert themselves, while holding each other accountable.

Surely, they’ll work through it, but against Bound Brook (0-2) Friday night, a team Markowitch knows has athletes, it’ll be yet another early season test for the Mustangs.

Click below to hear Manville head coach Dave Markowitch talk about the Bound Brook game with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Thursday Night Big Central Roundup: No. 4 Piscataway, Cranford, Highland Park, Spotswood, Somerville pour on the points in wins; No. 9 Ridge wins see-saw battle in Flemington in Battle of the Red Devils

With Friday being the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there was a heavier Thursday night slate in the Big Central Conference than usual, and some teams put up some exceptionally big numbers in wins, some of them blowouts.

No. 4 Piscataway dropped 42 points on East Brunswick in a 35-point win to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2019; Cranford blew out Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 40-14, at home, to improve to 2-0; Bernards won a little closer, beating Governor Livingston at Olcott Field, 49-29, to get into the win column for the first time this season; and Highland Park blanked JP Stevens, 43-0, in a rare meeting when both teams were 2-0 coming in. That’s the first time both had that kind of a start in the same season since 2002. And Spotswood dropped 47 on Metuchen Thursday night as well.

Scroll through for recaps, scores, interviews, and the rest of the weekend schedule in the Big Central!

No. 9 Ridge survives road test in Flemington in Battle of the Red Devils…

One team are the Red Devils in Red, the other the Red Devils in Green. Thursday night, the ones in green (Ridge, 2-0) topped the ones in red (Hunterdon Central, 0-3), 23-17 on a late touchdown and a big defensive stand.

But those records weren’t a good indicator for how hard-fought and close this game would be.

Ridge took a 7-0 lead on a Jack Donley 34-yard touchdown pass from Tristan Frank in the first quarter, but a 51-yard touchdown catch by Jason Cebula and a 24-yard field goal by Gavin Conway in the second gave Central a 10-7 lead. Ridge, however, would answer, with a C.J. Griffith two-yard wun and a 32-yard field goal by Herik Villalba-Ozuna to give the guys in green a 17-0 lead at the break.

Reggie Osae-Aye’s 72-yard touchdown catch tied the game at 17-all in the third, but Elijah Thomas scored on a 58-yard touchdown run with under eight minutes to go to put Ridge back on top. And a big defensive stand late helped seal the win.

Click here to listen to Ridge head coach Jeff Sutherland talk about Thursday night’s win over Hunterdon Central with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko!

While Ridge ran for 248 yards and had 369 yards of total offense, Central QB Odin Potynsky made some big plays, and wound up throwing for 324 yards and two touchdowns.

Now 0-3, Hunterdon Central has lost those three games by a grand total of 16 points, including a three-point loss to Eastern in Week Zero and a seven-point loss at Hillsborough a week ago tonight.

Notes and Nuggets…

  • Bernards’ win over Governor Livingston got the Mountaineers in the win column, after starting the season 0-2, with a road loss at Rutherford in the opener and a home loss to Cranford last week. Both came by six points. Bernards had not started a season 0-2 since 2017 – almost a decade ago – when they lost their first four games (to Shabazz, Roselle, Johnson and Hillside) and finished 3-7.
  • Spotswood’s 47 points against Metuchen were the most the Chargers have scored against the Bulldogs in 23 years, since a 52-3 win in 2003. It’s also the second highest point total they’ve ever put up against their counterparts from the Brainy Boro.
  • Highland Park has now outscored its first three opponents 99-0, with a 29-0 season-opening win over New Brunswick, a 27-0 home win over Middlesex last week, and tonight’s 43-0 win at JP Stevens. The last time they scored that many points was in that 46-29 win at Point Pleasant Beach in the 2023 season finale that ended their 51-game losing streak. Their last 43-point win was at Dunellen, on October 16, 2015, a 59-16 victory. Now the question is, when was they last time they shutout three straight teams? We’re going to have to dig into the history books. The next question is, will Joe Policastro, their intrepid assistant, former head coach and star quarterback find it first? Stay tuned!

THURSDAY SCORES:

  • #3 Piscataway 42, East Brunswick 7
  • #4 Old Bridge 21, South Brunswick 0 (RECAP w/ AUDIO)
  • #6 Somerville 54, North Hunterdon 6
  • #9 Ridge 23, Hunterdon Central 17
  • Highland Park 43, JP Stevens 0 (Coverage from Marcus Borden)
  • South Hunterdon 21, Middlesex 15
  • New Providence 27, Johnson 20
  • Cranford 40, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 14
  • Voorhees 14, North Plainfield 7
  • Bernards 49, Governor Livingston 29
  • Montgomery 32, Watchung Hills 14
  • Spotswood 47, Metuchen 14

FRIDAY SCHEDULE:

  • #2 St. Joseph-Metuchen at Westfield, 4 pm
  • Hillsborough at #5 Bridgewater-Raritan, 4 pm
  • Carteret at Summit, 4 pm
  • #8 St. Thomas Aquinas at Franklin, 6 pm
  • #10 Rahway at Woodbridge, 6 pm
  • Monroe at North Brunswick, 6 pm
  • Plainfield at Colonia, 6 pm
  • Roselle at Perth Amboy, 6 pm
  • JFK at South Plainfield, 6 pm
  • Dayton at Brearley, 6 pm
  • #1 Phillipsburg at Freedom (PA), 7 pm
  • Bound Brook at Manville, 7 pm (LISTEN LIVE on CJSR)
  • Belvidere at Dunellen, 7 pm (Follow Marcus Borden on Twitter for updates)
  • New Brunswick at Linden, 7 pm
  • Edison at Sayreville, 7 pm
  • Elizabeth at Union, 7 pm

SATURDAY SCHEDULE

  • Roselle Park at South River, 1 pm
  • Delaware Valley at Hillside, 1 pm

by Mike Pavlichko

Highland Park routs JP Stevens, 43-0, for Owls second 3-0 start in three seasons

There were two things certain coming into Thursday night’s game in North Edison between Highland Park and JP Stevens.

First, both teams were off to 2-0 starts in the same season for the first time since 2002. Second, one of those teams would remain undefeated at 3-0.

The Owls (3-0) left no doubt it would be them almost right from the get-go, as senior quarterback Marcus Smith rushed for a 48-yard touchdown after a fake handoff for the first score of the game.

And from there, it was all Owls. They would score twice more in the opening quarter – on a 46-yard touchdown run by Ziquan Grier and a ten-yard run by Jacob Quiros to take a 20-0 lead – then add two more scores in the second period, courtesy of a 40-yard pick-six from Grier, and a 23-yard touchdown pass from Smith to A.J. Lee, making it 36-0 at the break.

That kicked off a running clock in the second half, where Bryce Morales scored on a 13-yard touchdown run with 1:26 left in the third to make it 43-6.

JP Stevens fell to 2-1 with the loss, after starting the season 2-0 for the first time since 2003, when Frank Zarro was head coach.

For Highland Park, it’s their second 3-0 start in the last three seasons. The year after snapping a 54-game losing streak, the Owls started 3-0 in 2024 – with a four-game win streak stretching back to the last game of 2023 – and finished 6-3.

They’ll look to extend their current streak to four when they visit Roselle Park next Friday night.

Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden with Highland Park head coach Shawn Harrison and senior QB/LB Marcus Smith, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!

by Mike Pavlichko

Rizzo, big plays key No. 4 Old Bridge past South Brunswick, 21-0, in BCC National Gold opener

After averaging 42 points a game in their first two contests, the Old Bridge offense was held in check save for a couple of big plays Friday night in Monmouth Junction.

But those big plays were enough to power the fourth-ranked Knights to a 21-0 win at South Brunswick in the Big Central National Gold Division opener for both schools, on the Bellamy & Son Paving Game of the Week heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The first big play came on the second play from scrimmage. After a six-yard run by Chase Rizzo, he hauled in a touchdown pass going 57 yards to open the scoring and give the Knights a 7-0 lead just 12 seconds in.

South Brunswick put together a five minute drive and moved the ball, but had a field goal blocked to end it, a microcosm of what their night would be like.

But their defense held firm for a while. They held Old Bridge to a turnover on downs, then had a nearly six-minute drive, but also turned it over on downs, and Old Bridge did the same on their end.

In the closing minutes of the first half, with a fourth-and-20 at the South Brunswick 39, Griffin Nugent came on to punt, but it was a fake, and a completed pass set up the Knights near the goal line, where Rizzo ran it in for his second score of the game with 1:05 left before the break, to make it 14-0 at halftime.

In the second half, it was much of the same: long drives by the Vikings, and an inability to score, but on defense, they again held firm, keeping Old Bridge to a pair of three-and-outs by early in the fourth quarter.

More late chances led to missed opportunities, including two more interceptions by South Brunswick QB Brendan Shearstone, and Old Bridge punched in one more score – on another big play, a 59-yard touchdown run by Rizzo – to provide the final margin.

For Old Bridge, they were also without the services of starting QB Aiden Rios for a bit of the first half and the entire second. The coaching staff told Central Jersey Sports Radio after the game that he banged up his non-throwing shoulder. And his status for a home game next Friday against No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas is unknown.

Click below for postgame reaction from Old Bridge head coach Matt Donaghue, junior Chase Rizzo and senior Griffin Nugent, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Bound Brook looks to get in the win column in ’26 with Friday visit to arch-rival Manville

In rivalry games, anything can happen, and it often does when Bound Brook and Manville get together regardless of the sport.

That said, while the Crusader football team went 5-5 last season and made the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs, they have had struggled against the Mustangs – who have had some of their best years of late – in their last couple of meetings.

Last year, it was a 49-7 defeat on Cutoff Weekend, and 42-3 Manville the year before. But the Crusaders took their 2023 meeting, winning 25-15.

In 2026, it’s been tough sledding out of the gates for Bound Brook in more ways than one. The defense has given up 75 points in the first couple weeks while only scoring a pair of touchdowns adding up to 12 points overall on offense.

But Manville had some issues last week, too, after a season-opening blowout at Keansburg. They missed two extra points and a two-point conversion on their three touchdowns, and wound up losing 21-18 at Brearley last Friday night.

So maybe Friday night’s meeting between the two arch-rivals is anyone’s guess. Either way, you can hear it on Central Jersey Sports Radio on our Big Central Game of the Week presented by Bellamy & Son Paving. Kickoff is at 7 pm with Mike Pavlichko and Vin Ebenau calling all the action. Pregame is at 6:45; click here to listen.

Moving forward, seventh-year head coach Dave LePoidevin says Bound Brook also needs to clean up the penalties on offense.

“We have to eliminate them and we have to do a much better job with that, something we try to work on everyday at practice,” LePoidevin said. 

On the positive side, their running game led by senior Amero Diaz is something to keep an eye on moving forward.

“We thought we’d rely more heavily on the pass but we’re seeing that we’ve been doing a much better job with the run, so we’re looking to really build on that and watch it grow,” LePoidevin said.

Click below to hear Bound Brook head coach Dave LePoidevin talk about the Manville game with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Vin Ebenau:

by Alec Crouthamel

No. 4 Old Bridge travels to South Brunswick looking to limit mistakes, continue growth

Even with similar scores, it’s been a tale of two games for Old Bridge football in 2026, particularly on one side of the ball.

The No. 4 Knights (1-1) have two high-scoring games under their belt, both flipped by special teams.

In a 43-35 loss to Shawnee in the Battle at the Beach in Ocean City, two kick return touchdowns propelled the Renegades to the opening-week victory, even after a fierce fourth-quarter comeback attempt by Old Bridge.

In Week One’s 49-21 victory over Montgomery, Old Bridge made the big special teams play, a blocked punt taken back for a score in the third quarter, breaking a 21-21 halftime tie and giving the Knights a lead it would not relinquish.

Sixth-year head coach Matt Donaghue has preached eliminating the mistakes, especially considering how explosive Old Bridge’s offense is on a weekly basis.

The Knights will take that growth away from home for the third straight week, heading to South Brunswick on Thursday for a 6 pm game that’s the BCC National Gold Division opener for both teams. You can hear it live as one of two Bellamy & Son Paving Games of the Week this week, with pregame at 5:45. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel are on the call; click here to listen.

Gone is star quarterback Brody Nugent — the 2025 Central Jersey Sports Radio Offensive Player of the Year — along with his 3,538 yards and 39 touchdowns of offense. He’s now a first-year wide receiver at Monmouth at the FCS level.

But much of the core that led Old Bridge to its first sectional final appearance in a decade last year is back and off to a fast start.

Junior Aiden Rios made the move to quarterback after starting at wide receiver for his first two years, going from one of Nugent’s top targets to his replacement. He’s started well, throwing for over 200 yards and multiple scores in both games, while completing 70 percent of his passes through two games.

Senior Chase Rizzo also returns for his senior season at running back for his fourth year on varsity, rushing for 101 yards in each of the first two games. Junior Amari Alsbrook remains the top receiver in the passing game, after recording 923 yards and ten scores in 2025. He’s also started fast, with 91 yards in the season opener, and 109 yards with a touchdown against Montgomery last week.

All in all, the Knights’ high-powered offensive attack hasn’t missed much of a beat through two games, despite losing one of the Big Central’s top players. It’s a tip of the cap to the development and returning production already in place, with a mix of returning veterans and exciting youngsters getting some of their first taste of varsity action.

On the defensive side, a similar mix of youth and experience comes into the fold, with some timely playmaking involved as well.

They’ll have another tough task at hand facing off against a spread-out, receiver-heavy offensive attack, similar to Old Bridge’s own.

First-year coach Mike Gerst, coming from Fort Lee, also has his team at 1-1, coming off a rivalry win over North Brunswick in Week One.

But as any coach will say — Donoghue included — it’s all about shoring up everything within

Click below to hear Old Bridge football head coach Matt Donaghue talk about the Knights’ season so far and upcoming matchup against South Brunswck, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel:

by Mike Pavlichko

Gameday with Marcus Borden: Week 2

The high school football season is now in full swing as we enter Week Two, 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 trips to see Bound Brook at Dayton, Governor Livingston at Monroe, and Saturday’s huge clash between St. Joseph-Metuchen and Bridgewater-Raritan, while also delving into Piscataway’s solid defensive effort – and Zaire Young’s big rushing performance – in a Top Ten win over Somerville Thursday heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Then we look at this week’s destinations for Coach Borden. That includes an intriguing matchup Thursday night between JP Stevens and Highland Park – both 2-0 for the first time in the same season since 2002 – as well as Friday’s Belvidere-Dunellen tussle.

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