Tag: Bill Hamilton

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 Nick Hart

South Plainfield looks to improve road record with with trip to Carteret Friday

With four games already in the rearview mirror for South Plainfield, it has been an up-and-down start to the 2026 campaign. The Tigers (2-2, 1-1 BCC United Silver) sit at .500 on the season, and the story has been quite the same for each of their wins and for each of their losses.

South Plainfield has been stellar in its wins this season, with both victories coming in double-digit fashion: a 20-10 win over North Plainfield and a 35-0 win over JFK. Similarly to their wins, the Tigers’ losses have both been by double digits as well: a 40-21 loss to start the season against Somerville and a 34-14 loss to Bernards this past week.   

The Tigers look to change their fortunes on the road Friday night against Carteret in the Big Central Game of the Week presented by Bellamy and Son Paving. Mike Pavlichko and Nick Hart are on the call with pregame at 6:45 pm and kickoff at 7. Click here to listen.

The Tigers handily won their last matchup in the series, 40-7, back in 2023. The Ramblers (2-2, 1-1 BCC United Gold) have had the slight upper hand in the matchup, being the victors in three of the last five contests against South Plainfield.

When it comes to the offense, sophomore signal caller Lucas Habe has led the way, sporting a 66.7% completion percentage for 414 yards and four touchdowns on the season. On the receiving end of Habe’s passes has been a slew of different receivers. 

Senior tight end Aiden Noblecilla leads South Plainfield with eight receptions for 140 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Upperclassmen Micah Anderson, seven receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown, and Nick France, five receptions for 81 yards and a touchdown, have also been big producers for the Tigers. 

As far as the running back room goes for South Plainfield, 10 different players have a rushing attempt this season, four of which have double-digit attempts on the year.

Senior Christian Brown has taken most of the workload, however, tallying 53 of the Tigers’ 112 rushing attempts on the year and accounting for 414 of 743 rushing yards for his squad. Jaydon Jones has been a nice complement to Brown in the backfield, tallying 20 carries, 13 yards and a touchdown on the season. 

Defensively, South Plainfield is anchored by its stout defensive front, which consists of a trio of seniors and an underclassman who are no strangers to getting off the line quickly. Aiden Noblecilla has had a standout start to the season, leading South Plainfield with five sacks, 17 tackles for a loss, and 46 total tackles. 

Karl Josephis the lone underclassman on the line and despite being in just his second year of high school football, has produced at the level of a seasoned veteran. Joseph is second on his squad with 2.5 sacks on the season and second in tackles for a loss with seven so far. 

Click below to hear South Plainfield head coach Bill Hamilton talk about the Tigers’ season so far and Friday night’s matchup at Carteret with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart:

by Mike Pavlichko

Marcus Borden’s 2024 GMC/BCC Camp Caravan: South Plainfield seniors are ready to rock

It was a special weekend visit by Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden to finish up Week One of his 2024 GMC/Big Central Conference Camp Caravan, stopping by South Plainfield on a cloudy, but cooler, Saturday morning.

Watch Borden’s full coverage below, including clips from camp, and interviews with head coach Bill Hamilton, along with seniors Ryan Balent (QB/S), A.J. Perales (DE/TE), Jack Jones (LB), Ryan Rizk (C) and Evan Brown (RT/DT).

You can now watch all the 2024 Camp Caravan videos on YouTube by clicking this link!

by Mike Pavlichko

South Plainfield wants to keep it going after Tigers’ first-ever divisional title

As if South Plainfield’s first divisional title wasn’t enough, the 2022 edition of the Tigers football also brought the program’s first undefeated regular season (8-0) since 1965.

While they might have had an underdog mentality before, that mindset changes a bit this season, with everyone in the United Silver Division of the Big Central Conference gunning for them.

Carteret wasn’t happy with that loss last year. North Plainfield is their big, old Thanksgiving Day rival anyway. And Governor Livingston and JP Stevens will be looking to make statements, too.

“Eleven as one,” is the saying this year, and the Tigers have a lot coming back. The focus of the offense returns in the name of runningback Patrick Smith, after a junior year in which he ran for 786 yards and 11 touchdowns, while also catching eleven passes out of the backfield.

by Mike Pavlichko

Senior leadership, perseverance, powers South Plainfield past Carteret

To say South Plainfield had a few heartbreaking losses in 2021 would be putting it mildly.

But to put a finer point on it, this year’s team has already matched last year’s win total, just two games into the season.

The Tigers improved to 2-0 with a 13-12 win over Carteret (1-2), outscoring the Ramblers 13-6 in the final quarter. Carteret missed an extra point, and failed on a two-point try on their second score.

Michael Green scored both touchdowns for South Plainfield, on a 76-yard run to open the fourth quarter scoring. After Carteret answered, he hauled in a 45-yard touchdown pass from Joe Moroney to put the Tigers’ up for good with about seven minutes to go in the game.

Last year’s South Plainfield squad went 2-8, losing four of those games by eight or fewer points. This year’s 2-0 start is their best since 2017, when the team went 4-6. Next week when they visit North Plainfield, they’ll look to go 3-0 for the first time since 2016, when the Tigers were 8-4 and lost to Tumson-Fair Haven 27-22 in the Central Jersey Group 3 final at Rutgers; they started 4-0 that year.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with South Plainfield coach Bill Hamilton about the win over Carteret:

by Mike Pavlichko

Smith, South Plainfield ground game tame South River, 35-14

South Plainfield managed just one win a year ago in what turned out to be a COVID-shortened five-game season.

Enter a brand-new head coach, Tigers alum Bill Hamilton, and they’re 1-0 out of the box.

Sophomore Patrick Smith was the hot hand for South Plainfield, rushing for 201 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, part of a ground game that rolled off 387 yards, en route to a 35-14 Week Zero win over South River at historic Bill Denny Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Smith had touchdown runs of 83 and 54 yards, while senior Jalen Russell added a 61-yard score, and Tyler DelVecchio rushed for a 40-yard touchdown.

Because of the big plays, South Plainfield dominated, despite never running a single play from scrimmage inside the red zone; the closest they got was the South River 37 yard line, but it didn’t matter.

The Tigers also had a defensive touchdown, a 35-yard scoop and score by senior defensive end Gregorio Zambrana on a bad handoff by South River in their own end.

After coming out of the half down 21-0, then falling behind 28-0 on Zambrana’s score, South River senior quarterback Ryan Kurtz briefly brought the Rams alive. He threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to senior Jeffrey Ferriera (they botched the extra point), then after the Tigers scored again to make it 35-6, he threw a 13-yard pass to senior Marcus Granadiero to set up a two-yard TD run by De’Andre Morris, who ran in a two-point conversion to make it 35-14 with 1:32 to play in the third.

But then it started to rain, grounding the Rams’ air game, and that would be the final score.

Click below for postgame reaction:

South Plainfield sophomore RB Patrick Smith:

South Plainfield head coach Bill Hamilton:

by Mike Pavlichko

South Plainfield alum Hamilton entering Year One as head coach of his alma mater

Bill Hamilton has coached at South Plainfield in the past, both serving as an assistant under Phlip McGuane, and as an assistant wrestling coach.

He’s also been an assistant other places, most recently Sayreville, helping the Bombers win two championships under Chris Beagan.

Now, he’s off on his own, at the place it all began: South Plainfield, where he was a standout student-athlete in the mid-’80s.

He takes over for Gary Cassio, who left at the end of the 2020 season.

READ MORE: Cassio steps down as head coach of South Plainfield football

The Tigers get the season started early, with a Week Zero game Saturday afternoon at noon on the road against South River at Bill Denny Stadium.

Click below to hear Bill Hamilton discuss his upcoming first season as South Plainfield football coach with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: