Shaun O’Hara Senior Bowl is off in 2026, victim of low participation, but could come back next year
After two years, the Shaun O’Hara Senior Bowl won’t be played this year, but not for a lack of trying. Though the game was a fun – and one last opportunity to take the high school field for dozens of student-athletes – Hillsborough head coach Kevin Carty, Jr., who organized the game with now-former Watchung Hills head coach Rich Seubert – told Central Jersey Sports Radio Wednesday that the game will not be held this year because they don’t have enough players to participate. The Shaun O’Hara Senior Bowl – an all-star senior game featuring mainly players from Somerset County,…
South Brunswick hires Mike Gerst away from Fort Lee to lead Viking football program
The South Brunswick football program has a new head coach, as Mike Gerst has been hired to take over the Vikings for the 2026 season. The hire was approved by the Board of Education last Thursday evening, according to Athletic Director Edward Knapp. The 32-year-old Gerst comes to the Monmouth Junction school from Fort Lee, where he spent the last two years in his first head coaching job. The Bridgemen were 16-3 under Gert’s leadership, going 7-3 in his inaugural season, and 9-0 last year, including 7-0 in the Super Football Conference’s Ivy Red Division. Ivy Divisions are meant for…
Shot clock is coming to New Jersey high school basketball, as NJSIAA measure for HS basketball passes narrowly
A well-coordinated effort to bring the shot clock to high school basketball in New Jersey just barely made it to the finish line Monday, winning approval by a slim margin in a vote of the full NJSIAA membership during a meeting at the Pines Manor in Edison. The basketball proposal passed 170-166, and the shot clock will begin when the 2027-28 season tips off. Use of the shot clock will be mandatory for all varsity games, but optional for JV and freshman contests. A similar shot clock measure in lacrosse was defeated however, by a 166-149 margin, with 21 abstentions,…
Watchung Hills veteran Joe Ascolese promoted from OC to head coach of Warrior football program after departure of Rich Seubert
Joe Ascolese, the Watchung Hills football team’s Offensive Coordinator who has spent nearly two decades on the program’s staff over two stints, has been named the Warrriors’ new head coach, following the recent departure of Rich Suebert. The move was approved Tuesday night by the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education, according to Athletic Director Dan Root. The 45-year-old Ascolese has been the team’s OC since 2019, and also was with the program as an assistant from 2005 through 2015. In between, he coached split ends, tight ends and defensive backs at A.L. Johnson in Clark. He has…
Edison native, JP Stevens alum Dylan Brett gets call of a lifetime with Hofstra basketball’s run to the Big Dance
It all started for Dylan Brett when he was nine years old. Edison Pop Warner couldn’t find anyone to do the public address during a game. Someone asked him. He wound up calling every play, like it was on the radio, not just announcing who carried the ball or made the tackle. It wasn’t quite the assignment, but the parents loved it, and it stuck. Fast forward more than a decade, and the JP Stevens grad is at Hofstra University’s student radio station WRHU, one of the top college radio stations in the nation. How it started, and how it’s…
Watchung Hills football coach Rich Seubert steps down after a decade leading the Warriors
After retiring from football with the New York Giants in his mid-30s with a Super Bowl ring on his finger, Wisconsin native Rich Seubert and his family moved to California for a few years, where he coached a little football at the high school level. But eventually, he came back to the East Coast, returning to New Jersey, and started coaching the offensive line at Watchung Hills. One year later, in the summer of 2016, he was promoted to head coach. Now, after ten years, Seubert has stepped down as the program’s mentor. Seubert said in a text message to…
55th annual Bill Denny awards dinner honors local football standouts, coaches, and more
More than three dozen high school football players from Middlesex and Somerset Counties, along with several coaches, administrators, educators and officials were honored Sunday at the 55th annual awards dinner of the Bill Denny/Rutgers Football Letterwinners Chapter of the National Football/College Hall of Fame at the Pines Manor in Edison. The local chapter also awarded several scholarships, now having given out more than $380,000 in funds to deserving Middlesex and Somerset County Scholar-Athletes, over a span of nearly six decades. The ceremony was presided over by Fred Roselli, chapter president, with awards presented by Tom Bara and Frank Noppenberger. Read…
South Hunterdon Board of Ed approves assistant coach, alum Kyle Hart’s promotion to become Eagles’ next football coach
South Hunterdon assistant football coach Kyle Hart has been promoted to become the next head coach of the Eagles football program, with his hire approved by the local Board of Education Monday night. Hart is a “hometown” name, growing up playing youth football for the Lambertville Raiders. He played fullback and linebacker for the Eagles in high school in the mid/late-2000s, graduating from South Hunterdon High School in 2009. He went on to play collegiately at William Paterson University, where he played in ten games and rushed 26 times for 85 yards and a touchdown. He had been serving as…
Woodbridge alum Anthony Nyers leaves Westfield to become new JFK football coach
Former Woodbridge standout Anthony Nyers is the new head coach of the JFK football program, after his hire was approved by the Woodbridge Board of Education last Thursday night. The Woodbridge Board of Ed oversees all three district high schools, including Kennedy, Colonia, and Woodbridge. Nyers had spent the past year working as the wide receivers’ coach and Offensive Coordinator at Westfield under Matt Andzel, who just wrapped up his second season as the successor to Jim DeSarno. He held the same positions on the staff of Al Chiola for the 2024 season, and came to Westfield after Chiola stepped…
OPINION: When will we get stability – and common sense – in high school football? Don’t count on it any time soon.
High school football is at it again. According to a report out Thursday from Shore Sports Insider (formerly Shore Sports Network), the NJSIAA’s Leagues and Conferences committee has recommended that the NJSIAA move back to snaking playoff brackets in each section, rather than splitting them up geographically. Snaked brackets are intended to “balance” them. In that process, when the top 16 in North and South in each group are determined, teams are placed into sections with, for example, the top overall seed in Central, then seeds 2 and 3 in South, then 4 and 5 in Central, 6 and 7…
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