Friday night’s Big Central Game of the Week features the Bound Brook and the Voorhees, in a battle of 1-1 teams.

The Big Central Game of the Week is sponsored locally by RCM Automotive and Hagan-Chamberlain Funeral Home, both in Bound Brook.

The Crusaders are coming off a 29-25 loss at Delaware Valley, a much larger school under normal circumstances. But Bound Brook is more depleted than usual due to COVID forcing some team members not to play our of concern for their family, while others have had to get after-school jobs to support their families.

READ MORE: Depth a concern for Bound Brook due to fallout from COVID, not illness

The Brook is led by junior quarterback Patrick LePoidevin, the son of the new first-year head coach Dave LePoidevin. No stranger to Bound Brook, he’s been their offensive coordinator for the past four years. His boss, Dom Longo, remains on the staff as a special teams coach.

READ MORE: Voorhees looks to build on offensive output when it visits The Brook.

The Vikings, meanwhile, picked up their first win of the season last week with a 44-14 win over Manville Friday night, in which five different players scored.

The teams have had one common opponent so far this season: Delaware Valley. While the Crusaders only lost by four on the road to the Terriers, the Voos lost 24-2 at home to Del Val in Week One.

The game can be heard starting at 6:50 pm with Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino live from LaMonte Field in Bound Brook. Kickoff is at 7 pm. Listen live by clicking here.

Parents, friends and family can give a shoutout to their favorite football player, cheerleader or band member by clicking here. Mike and Dom will read your message on the air. Half the proceeds go back to your designated high school!

by Mike Pavlichko

One JFK football game against an in-town rival already has been cancelled – and another is a big question mark – due to COVID-19.

In an email to the media, Big Central athletic directors, and others, Kennedy AD Warren Rotella said, “Due to a COVID-19 related issue, John F. Kennedy Memorial High School Athletics are cancelled through October 28th. We hope to resume on October 29, 2020.”

Reached by email Thursday morning, Rotella could not specify whether there were any cases on the football team of if they were in the high school population at large.

However, as it relates to football, it means the Mustangs’ game this Friday against in-town rival Colonia is cancelled, as well as next week’s game against Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

As with many COVID situations across the state, positive cases have had a cascade effect throughout the schedule. Earlier this fall, patch.com initially reported that two cases in the Scotch Plains-Fanwood district caused the football team there to shut down. That affected A.L. Johnson – which had scrimmaged the Raiders – and caused them to quarantine, scrubbing their season-opener against Roselle. Colonia had been scheduled to play at SPF in the Raiders’ first-ever home night game, but that also got cancelled. The Patriots eventually found a make-up game at Clifton.

JFK’s game at Woodbridge on Friday, October 30th – scheduled to be broadcast on Central Jersey Sports Radio – also is in jeopardy. Assuming a return to practice on Thursday, October 29th, that doesn’t leave the Mustangs much time to prepare for a visit to play the Barrons, an in-town rival, and one of the top teams in the Big Central.