Tag: Big Central

by Mike Pavlichko

Phillipsburg, Elizabeth hold top two spots in Big Central Power Rankings as Sayreville, Cranford skyrocket; Don Bosco, Glassboro remain 1-2 in NJ

It’s yet another week for Phillipsburg at No. 1 in the Big Central Power rankings, but Elizabeth has closed the gap a little from the No. 2 position.

The Stateliners held on to the top spot with a 42-31 win over St. Joseph-Metuchen Monday, in a game rescheduled from Saturday due to the weekend Nor’easter. The Week Five numbers saw Sayreville climb up from No. 9 into the top five after beating St. Thomas Aquinas Friday, moving all the way up to third, as Rahway fell from third to seventh after Friday’s loss to Cranford. Bridgewater-Raritan climbs two spots from six to four after a shutout win at Westfield Saturday afternoon.

No. 5 Piscataway edges down one spot this week to six after Friday’s 27-26 loss at Old Bridge, with the Knights climbing from ten to eight. And Cranford’s win over Rahway Friday raised the Cougars three spots into the nine spot, while Bernards’ win at Delaware Valley Friday put then in the ten-spot.

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.

Rounding out the top ten, it’s New Providence up two spots to No. 8, Sayreville up two to nine, and Old Bridge falling one spot to No. 10. St. Joseph-Metuchen fell out of the top ten with its loss at Elizabeth Friday night.

Statewide, Don Bosco Prep and Glassboro remain Nos. 1 and 2, while Donovan Catholic edged up from six to three, and Red Bank Catholic climbed from nine to four, with Bergen Catholic staying put to round out the Top Five.

Again, no Big Central teams made the Top 25, but Phillipsburg – which last was in three weeks ago before a loss at Freedom (PA) of Bethlehem – climbed even closer. After going from 33 to 29 last week, the Stateliners climbed another five spots this week to 28 – just three spots from cracking the Top 25.

Here are other Big Central teams in the state Top 50:

  • Elizabeth dropped one place from 35 to 34.
  • Sayreville shot up from 65 to 36.
  • Bridgewater-Raritan rose from 16 to 42.
  • Piscataway fell from 39 to 47.

Rahway dropped out, falling from 37 to 54, and Somerville fell from 41 to 71 after a loss to Montgomery. That leaves five BCC teams in the Top 50, compared with six last week.

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 Marcus Borden

No. 1 Phillipsburg still at top of Marcus Borden’s Week 5 Big Central Top Ten with Sayreville making its debut … plus rankings for BCC West, Middlesex and Union Counties

My Friday night game in Rahway at Madden Field was everything you would want in a battle of unbeaten teams as the Indians hosted the Cranford Cougars in a thriller if you like games that come down to the wire!

Cranford would win the toss and defer the choice to the second half. Rahway would be forced to punt on their first series as the Cougar defense was up to the challenge early in the first quarter.

The Cougar offense would run inside and outside while Senior Gabe Worrell burst a down the visitor sideline for a 27-yard touchdown and 7-0 lead at the 6:09 mark of the first quarter.

The Cougars would come up short two more times in the red zone turning the ball over on downs while keeping Rahway off balanced with their shifting defense. Cranford would take a 7-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The visitors would start the second half mixing the inside and outside run while methodically keeping the ball out of the hands of Rahway’s explosive offense. Worrell would cap a nearly 10 minute drive with a 5-yard burst up the middle of the Indians defense and a 14-0 lead.

WATCH: Postgame reaction from Marcus Borden’s coverage of Cranford-Rahway

Rahway would get back in the game quickly as the Robinson to Robertson toss throwback to the quarterback at 11:11 in the fourth quarter made the score 14-7.

Cranford would be forced to punt and then lose Worrell to a leg injury with about five minutes remaining in the game. They would then stop a Rahway threat with an interception however they would have to punt on their ensuing drive.

Rahway would get to the Cougars 5-yard line with 5 seconds remaining on the clock. The sprint pass and throw from Robinson to Jaylen Eastman was out of bounds with :00.3 seconds on the home score board. The officials concurred that the game was over and that time had expired with Cranford hanging on to win 14-7.

Monday I was at St. Joseph’s Brenner Family Field for a 3:00 pm make-up game with Phillipsburg, which was postponed due to the Nor’easter which began late Friday and ended Monday around 1 pm. Needless to say the crowd was not as large as it could have been if the game was played on Saturday.

Phillipsburg would get on the board first as Junior LB David Pacewicz intercepted a pass and returned it for a 46-yard touchdown at the 8:28 mark in the first quarter. The Falcons would respond with a 5-yard Julian Colon run knotting the score at 7-7 with 35 seconds in the initial stanza.

Both teams traded punches on their next series until St, Joseph’s QB Cole Seyler hit WR Dillon Diaz on a 47-yard quick screen and a 14-7 lead with 7:10 remaining in the second quarter.

Phillipsburg’s RB Shane Moore would tie the game at 14-14 with his 45-yard burst to pay dirt with 2:36 before halftime. Both teams would trade punts on their next series while the Falcons ran a hurry-up after a Stateliner punt with 1:30 still on the clock.

Seyler would find a leaping Diaz for an 8-yard fade pattern as time expired giving St. Joseph a 21-14 lead at the half.

Phillipsburg would take the 2nd half kickoff and march down the field running the football when RB Xavier Campbell-Graham hit inside run for 29-yards tying the game at 21-21 at 6:38 in the third quarter.

Placekicker Austin Loreti would give the Falcons a 24-21 lead on a 22-yard FG however that was short-lived as Markus Jordan would take the ensuing kickoff 90 yards giving the Stateliners la 28-24 lead going into the fourth quarter.

WATCH: Postgame reaction from Marcus Borden’s coverage of Phillipsburg-St. Joseph

St. Joseph would punt on their next series whereas Phillipsburg would add to their lead with a 2-yard Vincent Berger touchdown run at 7:30 remaining in the game.

Cole Seyler would score on a 1-yard plunge with 5:55 remaining on the game clock cutting the deficit to 35-31. Xavier Campbell-Graham would add his second score on a 14-yard jaunt to the end zone and a 42-31 lead with 1:37 remaining in the game.

St. Joseph would turn it over on downs as Phillipsburg took a knee in Victory formation while improving to 4-1 on the season.

Here are my Week 5 Top Tens for the entire Big Central Conference, plus the BCC West, Middlesex County and Union County:

by Mike Pavlichko

As six ranked teams fall, one new team joins, another re-enters, but Phillipsburg still atop Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten for Week Five

Week Four was nothing but more chaos in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, but in the end, Phillipsburg remains at the top of the heap in the Week Five rankings. Previous No. 2 Piscataway lost to No. 4 Old Bridge, the No. 1 Stateliners held off No. 5 St. Joseph of Metuchen, and teams seven through ten – Somerville, Rahway, St. Thomas Aquinas and Ridge – all lost as well. Still, there was only room enough for two new teams to join the rankings.

This week’s rankings are a day late because of the Falcons game against Phillipsburg, which was moved to Monday due to rough weather Saturday from the Nor’easter that gripped New Jersey all weekend. But the Stateliners improved to 4-1 with a 42-31 win over the Falcons. It’ll be a quick turnaround for P’burg, which will visit No. 10 Ridge Friday night.

Elizabeth (5-0) moves up to No. 2, after a 28-23 win at Ridge last Friday. The Minutemen – looking for their first 6-0 start since 2012, a year they went undefeated and won the first-ever North 2, Group 5 state title – host neighbor Linden this Friday night.

Old Bridge (4-1) edges up one spot from four to three, after coming back from a 26-0 halftime deficit with 27 unanswered points to beat then-No. 2 Piscataway, 27-26. The Chiefs dropped from second to fourth with the loss. Old Bridge will host Sayreville (4-1) Friday night at 6 in a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, while Piscataway renews its rivalry with longtime Thanksgiving foe Franklin (1-4) after a two year hiatus. The Warriors got their first win of the season Monday, in another rescheduled game from the weekend, beating North Brunswick at home, 55-21.

In fifth is St. Joseph-Metuchen (2-2), which stays put after going toe-to-toe with – but losing to – No. 1 Phillipsburg Monday, 42-31. The Falcons have less of a quick turnaround – but a turnaround nonetheless – as they visit Delbarton Saturday afternoon for a non-league game.

A sign featuring the text 'BELLAMY & SON PAVING' in bold red and yellow letters, highlighting residential and commercial paving services.

Also holding at six is Bridgewater-Raritan (4-1). The Panthers blanked Westfield Saturday afternoon – the only Big Central teams the play – 20-0, and this week host Hunterdon Central on Friday night at Basilone Field.

Undefeated Cranford (4-0) makes its season debut in the rankings at No. 7, after a 14-7 win over then-No. 8 Rahway Friday night. The Cougars are back in action Friday night against Montgomery, which knocked off previous No. 8 Somerville last week for the second year in a row.

Sayreville (4-1) rejoins the rankings after being knocked out in Week Two. The Bombers had an impressive win over No. 9 St. Thomas Aquinas last Friday, 37-21, and will travel to No. 3 Old Bridge Friday night at 6:00 for a game you can listen to on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The last two spots remain the same as last week, as St. Thomas Aquinas (3-2) holds the ninth position, despite the loss to Sayreville; they play Friday night at Somerville. Ridge (2-2) remains at No. 10, and this Friday will host top-ranked Phillipsburg.

After no one dropped out either of the last two weeks, Somerville (3-2) falls out of the rankings, as does No. 8 Rahway (4-1).

Below is the complete 2026 Week Five Bellamy & Son Paving High School Football Top Ten:

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 1 Phillipsburg slugs one out, outlasts No. 5 St. Joseph, 42-31 in Monday Metuchen matinee

Everyone had to wait a couple of extra days for one of the marquee Big Central Conference matchups of the year, as the big Nor’easter that parked itself over the Garden State for the entire weekend forced No. 1 Phillipsburg and No. 5 St. Joseph-Metuchen to reschedule their game for Monday afternoon.

And no matter what rush-hour traffic they may have faced heading back out on Route 78 to Warren County, it’s guaranteed the Stateliners didn’t care, as they came away with a 42-31 win over the Falcons at Brenner Family Field, a win that will surely help them keep their top ranking in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten for at least one more week..

The Stateliners (4-1) got the opening score on a 47-yard pick-six from David Pacewicz, but then trailed three times – rallying on each occasion, with the difference being back-to-back touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters.

Julian Colon tied the game for St. Joe’s (2-2) in the first quarter with a four-yard touchdown run, and in the second, Dillon Diaz caught a 47-yard pass from junior quarterback Cole Seyler to give the Falcons their first lead of the game.

That set a back-and-forth in motion for the rest of the contest. Phillipsburg senior runningback Shane Moore scored from 44 yards out to the the game at 14, while St. Joseph answered back with another eight-yard touchdown catch by Diaz, giving his team a 21-14 lead at the break.

In the third, Phillipsburg tied it at 21-all with a 29-yard touchdown run by Xavier Campbell-Graham, but St. Joe’s again took the lead on a 22-yard field goal by Austin Loreti.

Then, Phillipsburg put together back-to-back scores for the first time in the game, giving them their first lead since the opening interception return by Pacewicz. Marcus Jordan brought the fireworks with a 94-yard kick return for a score – breaking multiple tackles on the left sideline all the way – to make it 28-24 ‘Liners. Then, in the fourth, Vincent Berger put his team up by eleven with a one-yard touchdown run.

That insurance was much-needed, as Seyler engineered a fourth-quarter scoring drive that culminated in his own one-yard touchdown run with 5:55 left, getting Joe’s to within four. But again, P’burg answered, as Campbell-Graham punched one in from 14 yards out with 1:37 to go. S

St. Joseph – with time outs – got as far as the P’burg 25 before turning it over on downs, and the Stateliners kneeled to take the W.

Next up, both teams have a quick turnaround: Phillipsburg will travel to Ridge (2-2) Friday night, while the Falcons travel to Delbarton (2-3) for a non-league contest.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Marcus Borden with Phillipsburg senior runningback Shane Moore and head coach Frank Duffy, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

When was the last time?  This question has sent us down more than a few rabbit holes for teams like Highland Park, Elizabeth, Perth Amboy

You might be sick of hearing about some of the Big Central Conference teams that have been doing particularly well this year, after years (for some of them) of not doing so well.

But we’re not. 

While it’s always fun to follow the powerhouses like Phillipsburg, Piscataway, or Sayreville – football programs that are more often than not in contention for state titles – it’s always good to see some new blood.

Highland Park hasn’t had a season like this in ages.  Perth Amboy even longer.  Elizabeth has seen success a little more recently, and more consistently, but their story right now is that they are in another stratosphere completely than they have been since their last title.

All this has left us having to dig deeper, deeper and still deeper into not only our records, but also internet archives.

It’s easy to find team results over the last decade and a half; NJ.com has team results back to 2010, though details diminish as you work your way to the earlier years. MaxPreps has team results back to 2004, but some game results occasionally are missing.

And the Dr. Roger Saylor Collection at the Penn State Libraries has results from 2010 going back to the dawn of high school football in New Jersey – yes, even into the 1800s! – but they are chronological by year, and not within a given season.  We can tell, for example, how many .500 seasons a team had in a row, but not if they started the season 5-0, or so play alternated between wins and losses all year.

So, we’ve had to dig deep this year, perhaps more than in any other.

Elizabeth (5-0):

This was the easiest one, as the Minutemen always are competitive, and their last state title came not too long ago. The last time they were 5-0 was in 2014, back when John Quinn – who won two state titles at New Brunswick – was the head coach. Elizabeth beat Watchung Hills, Hunterdon Central, Franklin, Union and Bridgewater-Raritan, but then dropped back-to-back games against Phillipsburg (19-6) and Hillsborough (31-28), both at home. They won their last two regular season games against Plainfield and Linden, then beat Barringer and Piscataway at home in the North 2, Group 5 state tournament, before falling to Linden, 27-20, in the final at Met Life Stadium.

Ironically, they have Linden (2-2) on the road this week, as they look to 6-0. And when was the last time that happened?

It was 2012, and we’re not going to have to go any further back for the “last time” after this. That’s because the Minutemen went 11-0 that season and won the North 2, Group 5 title, as future Temple standout P.J. Walker engineered a last-minute scoring drive to beat Piscataway, 37-33, up at Kean University in Union.

Technically, they were 11-0-1, as that was the year Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey and wiped out a full weekend of action, which left their game with Plainfield deemed a “tie” for power points purposes. However, most – including us – don’t consider that a tie in the record since it was awarded, rather than played on the field.

Here are the 2012 schedule and results for Elizabeth:

  • Westfield: 45-6 W
  • Union: 42-7 W
  • at Hunterdon Central: 24-17 W
  • Hillsborough: 41-7 W
  • Franklin: 49-13 W
  • at Bridgewater-Raritan: 39-0 W
  • at Linden: 42-0 W
  • Phillipsburg: 54-26 W
  • Plainfield: declared tie for power points purposes
  • N2G5 1st Round – Edison: 41-18 W
  • N2G5 Semifinals – Franklin: 24-7 W
  • N2G5 Finals (at Kean Univ.) – Piscataway: 37-33 W

Highland Park (5-0):

We have a ways to go before we have to check the Owls again, even if they keep winning. That’s because they last time they started a season 5-0, they won their first seven games of 2007. Under Rich McGlynn, Highland Park didn’t lose that season until a late-October non-conference game against Robbinsville, then dropped another one to Brearley on Cutoff Weekend, the week before the playoffs.

While they won their first-round game at Freehold Township, 20-17, they lost at Keansburg in the Central Jersey Group 1 semifinals, 53-30, finishing the season at 8-3.

They actually had a better overall season two years later, in 2009. That year, the Owls went 8-4, but they split their first two games. They wound up reaching the Central Jersey Group 1 title game, where they lost 44-6 to Asbury Park – coached at that time by Don Sofilkanich, who had previously been on John Quinn’s staff for his two titles at New Brunswick – at Kean University in Union.

Here are the 2007 schedule and results for Highland Park:

  • at Dayton: 40-13 W
  • at Cardinal McCarrick: 35-21 W
  • Roselle Park: 27-7 W
  • Metuchen: 27-0 W
  • Dunellen: 21-6 W
  • at Middlesex: 25-14 W
  • at Pennington: 28-7 W
  • Robbinsville: 19-12 L
  • Brearley: 20-0 L
  • CJ1 First Round – at Freehold Twp.: 20-17 W
  • CJ1 Semifinals – at Keansburg: 53-30 W

Perth Amboy (4-1):

The Panthers aren’t undefeated, but they have been having one of their best seasons in ages. Last week, we knew if Amboy went to 4-1, it would have been a while since the last time. Our research got to 2004, and we held off to see how they would do this week.

Turns out they got there, winning their second straight road game, beating Metuchen 40-0. The Panthers have allowed just 13 points in the last three games: six against Roselle, seven against Spotswood, and a whitewash against the Bulldogs.

There haven’t been a lot of winning seasons in Perth Amboy’s recent history, so we had to dig deep, but not every year. In 1998, for example, they were 5-5, but started 2-1 before taking another loss. We found 1995 as the last time they started a season 4-1, but they would lose their next game, win another, then drop their last two and finished 5-4, without a trip to the playoffs, which were only four-team brackets at the time. (The eight-team field didn’t get introduced until 1998, a push championed by none other than CJSR analyst Marcus Borden, who was the coach at East Brunswick at the time.)

There were only four other possible seasons in the playoff era we could look at:

  • 1989: Amboy went 6-3, but was just 2-3 through their first five games, before winning their final four contests.
  • 1987: In another 6-3 season, the Panthers got off to a 3-0 start, but lost their next two games to go 3-2 through their first five.
  • 1985: Going 5-4, the Panthers began the year at 2-1, but lost their next two to go 2-3 through their first five.
  • 1979: In another 5-4 campaign, Amboy started 2-3 through their first five.

So, we dug a little further, and found a four-year stretch where the Panthers had done a lot of winning. That was the Brian Taylor era, where Perth Amboy Amboy went 27-5-4 over four seasons from 1964-1967, including an 8-0-1 campaign in 1965 where they didn’t win a state championship. But did secure their first undefeated season since going 8-0 in 1933. (They weren’t state champs that year either, but won the next year, in 1934, going 6-0-1.)

But we did find that the Panthers started 1967 with a 4-1 record, before bouncing back and not losing another game the rest of the year. So that would be the last time they went 6-1, going 6-1-1 before they beat Carteret at The Pit in their Thanksgiving Day game, played on the Saturday after due to bad weather on Turkey Day.

Here are the 1967 schedule and results for Perth Amboy:

  • Trenton: 37-6 W
  • at Sayreville: 25-13 W
  • Princeton: 21-0 W
  • Woodbridge: 28-13 W
  • at East Brunswick: 18-13 L
  • Madison Twp. (Old Bridge): 28-7 W
  • at New Brunswick: 26-14 W
  • South River: 14-14 T
  • at Carteret: 26-8 W

Meanwhile, Union (4-1) and Hillside (5-0) are having some big turnaround years, but they’ve also had some highly successful campaigns in recent seasons.

The last time the Farmers had a five-win season was in 2023, when they went 5-6, but the last time they started 5-1 was in 2021, a season that ended with tremendous disappointment. Union put together an 8-1 regular season, led by star Davison Igbinosun, and were 9-1 after a first round playoff win, heading into a sectional semifinal matchup with Paterson Eastside. But eight hours before kickoff, due to four positive COVID tests among team members, the district cancelled the game, effectively ending the season. They would officially finish 9-2 on the year.

The Comets, meanwhile, went all the way in 2019, going 12-0 under Barris Grant – ironically, now at Union. Hillside put together an 8-0 regular season, then won the South Jersey Group 2 title over West Deptford, 14-6. (We know, Hillside isn’t in South Jersey – go ask the NJSIAA why.) Then, they won the South Jersey Group 2 Regional Championship, defeating Central Jersey Group 2 champ (We know, we know, it makes no sense!) Cedar Creek, 25-3, at Rutgers.

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY:  South Plainfield 14, Carteret 6

Jayden Brown scored on a 53-yard touchdown run just two plays into the game, then added a 13-yard scoring run in the third quarter for insurance, as South Plainfield won at Carteret, 14-6, in a Big Central Conference crossover game.

Logo for Bellamy & Son Paving, promoting the Big Central Game of the Week, featuring bold text in red and yellow colors.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Nick Hart call all the play-by-play live from Walt Overholt Stadium in Carteret, NJ, on September 25, 2026:

1st Half
2nd Half

by Mike Pavlichko

Saturday Big Central Roundup: No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan wins lone league game, with two others now on Monday; controversial ending at Cranford-Rahway tilt

The Saturday schedule in the Big Central Conference already was light, with just three games on tap, but the forecast for the big Nor’easter barreling up the East Coast slashed that number by two thirds.

That will leave two games – and four teams – playing on Monday, with all four having to come back on quick rest to play Friday. The lone game of the day say No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan pick up a shutout win at Westfield.

And an already wild Friday night around the league got even wilder following a controversial call at the final horn in the Cranford-Rahway game.

Panthers roll at Westfield, 20-0…

All in all, it’s very likely all three Big Central games could have been played Saturday, as the weather seemed to calm just in time for No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan to play its 1:00 game at Kehler Stadium in Westfield against the Blue Devils. (The others were North Brunswick at Franklin and Phillipsburg at St. Joseph, which have been moved to 6 pm and 3 pm Monday, respectively.)

And the wind wasn’t terribly bad either, which was good news for Panthers’ sophomore quarterback J.B. Baxter, who went 8-of-14 passing for 80 yards, while Jahmier Black led with 78 rushing yards and a touchdown on 17 carries in a 20-0 road victory.

But perhaps more impressive was the Bridgewater defense. The Panthers (4-1) held Westfield (1-4) to just nine yards on the ground, and taking out their quarterback, two of the other three ball carriers in the game had negative yardage. Charlie Young was the leading rusher with seven carries for 31 yards.

Jon Okolo had just five carries for 17 yards for Bridgewater-Raritan, but made them count, scoring two touchdowns. Senior defensive lineman Trent Levash also had a fumble recovery off a blocked punt.

The win makes it victories in back-to-back games in back-to-back years over Westfield for the first time since 2009 and 2010, with a slight asterisk. They beat Westfield in the regular season in 2019, then lost to them in the playoffs, and won again in 2020. But that had a postseason loss in between, and the 2020 season was the COVID-year, in which Westfield only managed to play two games, both losses to the Panthers and St. Joseph-Metuchen.

Bridgewater visits Hunterdon Central (1-4) next Friday night, while the Blue Devils travel to Woodbridge (3-2).

Let’s go to the videotape…

There is no video review in high school football in New Jersey – at least, not anymore. (A short-lived attempt a few years ago was ditched when two video reviews in state finals were botched and the NJSIAA decided to do away with it.)

But there often are multiple photographers and cameras on site at every high school football game, and Friday’s game between Rahway and Cranford at Madden Field was no exception.

Rahway was down 14-7 and had a chance near the goal line with five seconds to play. Jaquan Robinson threw to Jaylen Eastman, who caught the ball in the air across the goal line, but he landed out of bounds. That much is not in dispute.

Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden was in the back of the end zone, shooting video of the play. His video appears to show anywhere between :00.5 and :00.7 seconds on the clock at the time Eastman’s cleats touch the turf, at which point the clock would stop.

Watch the video below, which also appears to show the clock stutter, never showing :00.6 or :00.5 but jumping right to :00.4, although it appears those are also the correct times. The clock may not display the missing two-tenths in between, but appears to be counting them nonetheless.

CJSR analyst Marcus Borden’s video of the ending of the Cranford-Rahway game at Madden Field on September 25, 2026. (Video: Marcus Borden)

Rahway argued there should still be time on the clock, and from this vantage point that makes sense.

However, NJ.com reporter Steven Bassin has video that shows the start of the play with the scoreboard on the other side of the field in the frame.

In Borden’s video, pre-snap, his play-by-play account indicates five seconds are on the clock. But from Bassin’s point of view, the video starts after the snap, the clock is still at :05, and a little over one full second into the video – with players already moving – the clock remains at five seconds even.

After the play, the clock appears frozen at :00.3, then after several seconds winds down to zero.

But remember, there is no video review in high school football in New Jersey. But officials can get together to discuss, and they did. After meeting on the field, the officials held up the football to show the game was over.

So what really happened?

That’s anyone’s guess, since no one besides the officials are privy to their conversation. But in any case, officials can meet to discuss what each person saw. It’s very likely they saw the three-tenths of a second on the clock after the play, but not at the time the catch was made and the ball was out of bounds. But if the officials did notice – and there’s a better chance of this – that the clock did not start on time, and was more than a second late in starting, that they decided time should have run out and the game was over.

What’s notable here is the scoreboard and clock locations at Madden Field – yes, plural. While many high school stadiums have one scoreboard in the back of one of the end zones, Madden has two scoreboards, one along each sideline. So it’s very possible the line judge and head linesman – who are stationed on opposite sidelines on the line of scrimmage, watching for false starts and off-sides penalties – saw the clock failed to start and relayed that to the group as they met to discuss.

Without having talked to the officials – who reportedly left the field with no explanation to either coach – we’ll never know, but based on the video evidence, this would seem to be the only explanation, and – we think – the right call.

SATURDAY SCOREBOARD

  • No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan 20, Westfield 0

FRIDAY SCOREBOARD

  • No. 4 Old Bridge 27, No. 2 Piscataway 26 (Game story with audio)
  • No. 3 Elizabeth 28, No. 10 Ridge 23
  • Montgomery 38, No. 7 Somerville 35
  • Cranford 14, No. 8 Rahway 7 (Recap with video via Marcus Borden)
  • Sayreville 37, No. 9 St. Thomas Aquinas 21
  • South Plainfield 14, Carteret 6 (Game story with audio)
  • Brearley 33, JP Stevens 0
  • Union 42, Hillsborough 13
  • Dayton 40, Roselle Park 35
  • New Providence 48, Roselle 0
  • East Brunswick 34, Voorhees 7
  • Woodbridge 28, Colonia 21
  • Perth Amboy 40, Metuchen 0
  • North Plainfield 41, JFK 7
  • Watchung Hills 21, Hunterdon Central 19
  • Johnson 21, Spotswood 6
  • Bernards 28, Delaware Valley 0
  • Middlesex 21, Dunellen 0
  • Highland Park 47, South River 0
  • Belvidere 35, Bound Brook 0
  • Scotch Plains-Fanwood 33, North Hunterdon 22
  • Plainfield 37, Linden 14
  • Manville 42, South Hunterdon 8
  • Hillside 44, New Brunswick 0
  • South Brunswick 38, Monroe 14

THURSDAY SCORES

MONDAY SCHEDULE

  • No. 1 Phillipsburg at No. 5 St. Joseph-Metuchen, 3 pm
  • North Brunswick at Franklin, 6 pm

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY:  Summit 20, Edison 0

Senior QB Matt McKeever threw for 115 yards and a touchdown while senior runningback Gavin Schnall ran for 103 yards and a score to help Summit beat Edison, 20-0, in a Big Central Conference crossover game. Jackson Marx matched a season-high with a 37-yard field goal, going two-for-two with another 30-yarder as well.

Logo for Bellamy & Son Paving, promoting the Big Central Game of the Week, featuring bold text in red and yellow colors.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas call all the play-by-play live from Investors Bank Stadium at Tatlock Field in Summit, NJ, on September 24, 2026:

1st Half
2nd Half
by Mike Pavlichko

South Plainfield grinds one out, hangs on to beat Carteret on windy night at “The Pit”

South Plainfield got 114 yards rushing and a touchdown on just nine carries by Jayden Jones, but it helped make the difference as the Tigers ran the ball almost exclusively in a 14-6 road win over Carteret Friday night in the Big Central Game of the Week presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The Tigers attempted just three passes in the game, all going incomplete, while Christian Brown ran it 17 times for 62 yards and a score.

When Jones broke free on the second play from scrimmage in the game to score a touchdown just 55-seconds in, it looked like a battle of two teams with solid ground games might turn into a foot race. But it was not to be, as that was the only score of the first half. Both squads could move the ball, but no one else seemed to be able to get into the end zone.

With 8:55 left in the third, South Plainfield (3-2) got a 13-yard run from Brown to make it 14-0. That was another short drive, too, taking just three plays to go 25 yards after Carteret had turned it over on downs following a failed fourth-down conversion attempt.

Truly, this game belonged to the defenses, both of whom played very well, though penalties and mistakes seemed to plague Carteret, who had at least three bad snaps that resulted in significant losses of yardage, three for 30 yards in the first half alone. Starting center Brandon Byron broke his leg on the second play of last week’s game loss to Scotch Plains-Fanwood, a repeat injury after doing the same against Hillside last year.

Carteret looked done for in the fourth quarter until the Ramblers (3-2) got on the board with 2:47 to play, on a 13-yard touchdown run by Al-Naiquan Boseman. An onside kick was expected, but a line drive kick went well over ten yards, pinning South Plainfield back inside its own five, but they were able to ice the game anyway.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart with South Plainfield head coach Bill Hamilton and senior running back Jayden Jones, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Cranford remains unbeaten as Worrell’s two TDs sink No. 10 Rahway, Cougars net 14-7 road win

A pair of touchdowns from senior runningback Gabe Worrell gave Cranford all the cushion it would need to survive a fourth quarter Rahway touchdown, keeping the Cougars undefeated with a 14-7 road win in a Big Central Conference crossover game at Madden Field Friday night.

Worrell scored on a 27-yard run in the opening quarter, and that was all anyone would get in the first half.

He added a five-yard touchdown on the ground in the third quarter to put his team up 14-0, and it was enough insurance to withstand a 16-yard touchdown pass from Rahway QB Jaquan Robinson to Anthony Robertson in the fourth quarter, giving the Cougars the win.

Worrell finished the night with 22 carries for 148 yards, with his first quarter TD the longest run by any player on the night.

No. 10 Rahway suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 4-1.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Marcus Borden, with head coach Erik Rosenmeier and senior RB Gabe Worrell, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: