We’re back with our Week Three episode of “The Big Central in Two Minutes,” as veteran CJSR sportscaster Mike Pavlichko shares notes, stats, and observations on area high school football.
This week, a look at all 15 unbeatean teams in the league, Carteret’s historic start to the season, Highland Park’s scoring outburst, and lightning ends a Saturday game.
Click below to listen to the Week Three edition of “The Big Central in Two Minutes”:
The third season under head coach Kevin Freeman – a Carteret alum – is paying dividends for the Rambler football team.
With a 40-7 win over South Plainfield Friday night at The Pit, Carteret is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2016, when the team started 5-0 en route to a 6-4 season under Matt Yascko.
Jahad Thompson figured large for the Ramblers; he had a punt return for a touchdown and a long interception return that set up another score.
The 40 points scored by Carteret also make it three games in a row the Ramblers have scored 40-plus points, something they haven’t done since at least the turn of the century, in the last 23 seasons. The last time they scored 40-plus points three times in a season also was 2016, and they turned the trick five times in 2012, when the Ramblers went undefeated – 12-0 – and won the Central Jersey Group 2 title.
Carteret has outscored its first three opponents this season – St. Joe’s-Hammonton, Perth Amboy, and South Plainfield (1-2) – by a 124-26 margin.
Click below to hear Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman talk about Friday’s win over South Plainfield and the Ramblers’ 3-0 start to the season:
We’re back with another episode of “The Big Central in Two Minutes,” as veteran CJSR sportscaster Mike Pavlichko shares notes, stats, and observations on area high school football.
This week, a look at Hunterdon Central’s first-ever appearance in our polls, Big Central win streaks, and the early dominance of Carteret.
Click below to listen to the Week Two edition of “The Big Central in Two Minutes”:
That’s right, it’s Season Two of “The Big Central in Two Minutes,” and veteran CJSR sportscaster Mike Pavlichko is back with his thoughts and observations on area high school football.
In our first edition of this 2023 season, Mike Pavlichko gives plaudits to the two coaches who got their first wins at their schools this past weekend, two big wins for Carteret and St. Thomas Aquinas over South Jersey parochial powers, a coach’s take on JP Stevens, and cramping issues.
Click below to listen to the Week Zero edition of “The Big Central in Two Minutes”:
On Friday night, the opening night of the 2023 high school football season for a growing number of teams now beginning play in Week Zero, Carteret pulled off a nice win at The Pit.
They topped St. Joe’s of Hammonton by a decisive 42-14 score, behind two touchdowns from Jahad Thompson. The theme for the Ramblers was “score early and often,” jumping out to a 28-0 lead at the end of the first 12 minutes.
Then, Saturday afternoon in the Battle at the Beach at Ocean City’s Carey Stadium, St. Thomas Aquinas proved that even graduation can’t tame the Trojans, as they beat Paul VI handily, 42-7. In the first half, STA’s stingy defense allowed just 15 yards of offense, and not a single first down.
Click below to hear Marcus Borden with postgame reaction from Ocean City as St. Thomas Aquinas beat Paul VI in the Battle at the Beach:
Aquinas has a new defensive coordinator, but their defense has been very good the last couple of years, tying a modern-era Middlesex County shutout record with seven two seasons ago.
Click below for bonus coverage of St. Thomas Aquinas’ win over Paul VI; Marcus Borden talks to Zacai Manigo and Chase Young:
Neither Joe’s nor Paul VI are Don Bosco or Bergen Catholic at the moment, but both are South Jersey parochial schools that have had a great deal of success over the years. St. Joe’s-Hammonton in particular is a multiplier teams in the NJSIAA’s power point part of the UPR formula.
The win by Carteret, in particular, is of note: it was the first for a current Big Central public school over an out-of-area multiplier since Somerville – then in the Mid-State Conference – beat Delbarton in 2018, the third year of the multiplier formula.
Last year, St. Thomas Aquinas beat multiplier St. John Vianney 27-14 in the last week before the non-public playoffs.
A number of GMC teams – and later, BCC – beat St. Joseph-Metuchen when they were a multiplier from 2018-2021 (2020 was not included because there were no playoffs due to the COIVD-19 pandemic).
Linden beat Donovan Catholic in 2019, and St. Joseph-Metuchen did the same in 2017, but the Griffins – who became a multiplier last year, were not a multiplier team in those seasons:
Current Big Central team wins over out-of-area multipliers:
Note: This article was corrected, having originally stated Paul VI was a multiplier team. They are not, but a are a notable South Jersey parochial school.
Can South Plainfield repeat again as division champions? The Tigers won their first-ever division title in football in 2022, but should get a game challenge from a veteran Carteret team led by third-year head coach and Rambler alum Kevin Freeman, along with several D1 recruits, such as Sir Hezekiah Ragland.
The question here is what other teams will step up and challenge those two?
Newer coaches abound. Behind Carteret and South Plainfield last year were Governor Livingston and North Plainfield, both of whom have second-year coaches who were hired late in the previous off-season, so the Highlanders’ Pete Ramiccio and the Canucks’ Derrick Eatman actually got full summers this year with their squads.
The newest coach to the mix is Jason Goerge, son of the legendary Joe Goerge, who is in his first head coaching job at JP Stevens. The Hawks will look to snap the state’s second-longest active losing streak – 31 games, behind only Highland Park at 42.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko’s preview of the United Silver Division from the Big Central Conference’s inaugural Media Days:
South River, Metuchen, Piscataway and Carteret all won opening round games Saturday afternoon the the GMC Tournament, part of the pilot program format that expanded the Championship field to 20 teams this season. All will go on to play Monday at higher-seeded teams – the top four – that had first round byes.
(16) South River 4, (17) Colonia 3
The 16th-seed, South River, had perhaps the most dramatic win of the day, a 4-3 walk-off at Grekoski part against 17th-seed Colonia. The Rams trailed 3-0 heading into the sixth inning, but scored twice in the bottom half on a Julius Rosado home to pull within a run, then twice more in the bottom of the seventh for the victory.
The Rams (10-4) move on to play at top-seed North Brunswick (11-5) on Monday at 4pm at Community Park.
(19) Metuchen 4, (14) JFK 2
It was an all-Blue Division opening round game, as 19th-seed Metuchen also had to rally for a 4-2 first-round win, coming back from down 2-0 heading into the top of the seventh. Kennedy – the 14th-seed and home team – scored in each of the first two innings, and held that lead until the seventh when Metuchen got all four of its runs, on RBIs from Marcus Malamug, Daniel Cordes, Lucas Weiss and Simon Rosal.
JFK fell to 9-8 with the loss.
Metuchen (7-8) won’t have to go far for its second round game on Monday, visiting 3rd-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen for a 4 pm first pitch.
(15) Carteret 2, (16) JP Stevens 1
The 15th-seeded Ramblers – the GMC Gold Division champion – fell behind in the fourth, but took the lead in the fifth and hung on for a 2-1 win over 16-seed JP Stevens (3-14).
The game didn’t see much offensive action, with the teams combining for just ten hits, and the only two extra base hits – doubles – coming from the Hawks’ lineup. They scored a run in the top of the fourth, but Carteret took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth, and got solid pitching from the combo of starter Nick Kee and reliever Justin Santana. Kee allowed just a run on four hits in 5 and 2/3 innings, while Santana threw an inning-and-a-third of no-hit, shutout ball to earn the save.
The Ramblers (14-2) will visit second-seed Old Bridge (13-6) at Fred Cole Field, Monday at 4 pm.
(20) Piscataway 7, (13) St. Thomas Aquinas, 4
The higher-seed Trojans (No. 13) never got a chance to lead in the game, as the 20th-seed Piscataway led 6-0 before Aquinas could get on the board with a run in the bottom of the second. The Chiefs scored a run in the first, then had a five-run outburst in the top of the second.
They added another insurance run in the third.
Troy Hutchinson and Jason Hoffman each had two RBI’s in the game, with Hutchinson’s coming on a pair of walks. Terrance Bell, Jr., was 4-for-5 with an RBI while Piscataway starting pitcher Jaden Peace went the distance to get the win, throwing seven innings, scattering six hits and allowing just one unearned run.
The Chiefs (5-12) now move on to play at 4-seed Monroe Monday afternoon at 4:00 in the second round.
With Cutoff Weekend just a couple of days away, Central Jersey Sports Radio is taking a look at every team in the Big Central to see where we think they’ll land in the playoffs.
We’re not looking at too many tiebreakers just yet, and even adding the few residuals to be had can make for infinitely more possibilities – although there are none up for grabs from any Big Central opponents at this point – so we’re not doing those either. But we are looking at where we think teams will fall in the top 16. Tune in to our Playoff Projection show Saturday at 6 pm on Central Jersey Sports Radio for all our unofficial pairings.
Below is our analysis, with each team’s current ranking in the UPR standings noted.
(Click here for official standings on Gridiron New Jersey)
Top Seeds: We’re projecting Delsea will be the overall top seed. Why? Even if they lose this weekend, it’ll be to St. Joseph-Hammonton, a multiplier. So, they’ll get massive points. Behind them is up for grabs, however, and we project the top seed could be anyone of four teams, with varyig degrees of likelihood: Seneca, Camden, Ocean Township or Hopewell Valley.
#10 South Plainfield: If the Tigers beat Monroe and complete the undefeated regular season 8-0 – which would be their first since their 9-0 state championship year in 1965 – they could finish as high as No. 7 and earn at least a first-round home game. They would need a lot to go right, like Timber Creek, Highland Regional, Manasquan, Cedar Creek and Camden Eastside to lose as well. They may not need all of that to get in the top eight. The most likely scenario is a No. 9 or No. 10 finish, though. And with a loss, they could go as low as No. 12 if everything breaks the wrong way.
#15 Carteret and #16 Somerville: We think the Ramblers get in with a win, and the lowest they could finish in that case – if they beat Hillside Saturday on the road – is eleventh. The Pioneers also would get in if they win at South Brunswick Friday night in a game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio with kickoff at 6:30 (click here to listen), but still could finish as low as 16. We think Carteret can get as high as No. 8 and Somerville No. 13 if both win, possibly higher if one or the other wins, but a win by either doesn’t necessarily automatically eliminate the other. Hillside would be a significant win for Carteret due to their success, as would South Brunswick for Somerville considering they’re a Group 5 school. If they lose? It becomes a little more tricky. Both teams would need help, though Somerville might need a little more. It’s possible though. We’ll have a much better idea once we see how Friday shakes out. And while the Pioneers are just 3-5, it’s a shame Carteret is in this situation at 6-2. Their downfall is they lost to perhaps the best two teams on their schedule to date: South Plainfield and Rahway. The last time they were 6-2 was at the cutoff in 2013, when they lost in the second round of the playoffs, and beat Perth Amboy on Thanksgiving to finish 8-3 under Matt Yascko.
Somerville’s huge upset win over Hillsborough Friday night all of a sudden has them in the thick of the playoff race. Here’s a look at Central Jersey Sports Radio’s unofficial playoff standing update for Group 3’s North and South supersections:
West Morris and Old Tappan hang on to the No. 1 and No. 2 spots they each had last week, though Old Tappan slipped from a solid 2 to a 2.4 UPR.
Hillside and Cranford flipped this week, even though the Comets haven’t played yet. They go from fourth to third, while the Cougars slipped from third to fourth due to the OSI factor of Friday night’s win over Linden. Hillside plays Delaware Valley at home Saturday, and the question is: Can they move into second with a win?
This is where the system gets complicated. Because even though Hillside is third in UPR, they have limited room to rise, even though they’re just 0.2 UPR behind Old Tappan.
Teams can’t rise in UPR directly. They have to do it through power point rank or OSI rank. Every position up a team goes in power point rank is worth 0.4 UPR points shaved off, yielding a better UPR. So an increase in power point average rank of one spot would do the trick. But Hillside is second in that category overall, and Old Tappan is third. So even though Old Tappan is ahead of them in UPR, that’s not the team they’re chasing in power points. And West Morris (No. 1 in power points) is 5 points ahead of them.
Del Val is a 23 point game, but that still would only get Hillside to 18, well behind West Morris’ 21.5 average.
For OSI, Old Tappan and West Morris are ahead of them, and while a win Saturday vs. Del Val would increase Hillside’s OSI by about 3, they’re still two behind Old Tappan. But a win is still important to avoid falling back to fourth, where they could lose that spot next week.
Summit dropped two places – they play Colonia today – but still has had a meteoric rise from 24th to 7th (after last week) after starting the year 0-3 but winning its next three games. Huge chance against the Patriots Saturday, as a win could get them as high as 6th.
Bottom Line: Hillside and Cranford both need to win next week to lock up home field through at least the semifinals, assuming no one passes them otherwise with “stronger” wins. A win over Colonia might solidify at least a first-round home game for Summit.
South 3 is where it starts to get interesting. We’ll begin with the easy one, South Plainfield, which, despite a win Friday night over a “weak” Perth Amboy team, dropped a spot to 8th. The Tigers are in the playoffs, no doubt, but they’d love a first-round home game.
The next two Big Central teams are tied at the cutoff line.
Carteret – despite losing to Rahway Friday night – holds in 16th.
But Somerville, in desperation mode to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2015 – when Jeff Vanderbeek was “co-head coach” – came up with a massive and convincing win over Hillsborough Friday night to improve to 3-5, and get back in the heat of the race. The Pioneers jumped from No. 21 to tie the Ramblers for 16th, with another must-win looming at South Brunswick next week. But if they could beat the Raiders, why not the Vikings?
One interesting thing to note here: Wall is in 15th, aided on the power point side by multiplier losses to Red Bank Catholic and Donovan Catholic. But with zero wins, and the NJSIAA making two wins the minimum this year, they’re essentially eliminated. Which means, as of this moment, Carteret and Somerville would be in.
Bottom Line: South Plainfield is in, but may need a win next week to guarantee a first-round home game. It looks like Carteret and Somerville both have must-win games next week to get in, but with losses by teams behind them, may be able to sneak in. The Ramblers may be able to better suffer a loss, considering their opponent is Hillside. Just know this: it’ll be an exciting Cutoff Weekend!
There are just three weeks to go before the state playoff cutoff for public schools in New Jersey, so we at Central Jersey Sports Radio will continue to dig deeper into the numbers to look at each team’s prospects:
NORTH 3 (Click here for official standings)
West Morris (6-0) – the defending North 3 regional champ – and Old Tappan (5-0) are the top two teams in this supersection, with UPRs of 1 and 2 respectively. It’s a jumble behind them, with Cranford next up at 3-2, with a 4 UPR. Not far behind them is Hillside (4-1, 4.2 UPR) in fourth place and Sparta (3-2, 4.6 UPR) in fifth. The Comets are down a spot after suffering their first loss of the season, a defeat last Friday night at the hands of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Cougars – defending North 2, Group 3 champs – improved to 3-2 with a 35-0 win over Rahway, leaping Hillside in the process, coming all the way up from 7th place into third.
It might be difficult for Cranford or Hillside to gain a top seed here, because the teams above them are so far ahead in both power point average and OSI. With UPRs of 1 and 2, that means West Morris is first in both categories, and Old Tappan in second. and it’s not that close. In power point average, it’s West Morris 17, Old Tappan 15.4, Hillside 14 and Cranford 12. In OSI, it’s West Morris 65.77, Old Tappan 63.02, Sparta at 56.28, Cranford at 54.2 and Hillside at 53.02. Two factors are in play here: First, there are not many places to climb in either ranking to make up the difference in UPR. Second, the gap to jump a space or two is fairly wide.
But a good consolation prize is to finish in the top four, at least earning a home field advantage guarantee through the sectional semifinals, wherever they land. Both have a good shot at that if they can keep Sparta at bay.
After that, scroll all the way down to 13th place to find Summit, which has now won two straight to get to 2-3 on the season, with a 12.6 UPR. They’re not solidly in yet, but if they can continue their resurgence, there’s a good shot they’re in the playoffs. The schedule is difficult, but it’s been that way all season. We’ve seen them in person, and the Hilltoppers are better after Week Five than the team that lost at Woodbridge by a touchdown on September 2.
We think they’ll make it; the schedule the rest of the way features a road game at Linden this Friday night, then home games against Colonia and St. Joseph-Metuchen.
SOUTH 3 (Click here for official standings)
Delsea is the top team here, with a 1 UPR, meaning they are tops in both power point average and OSI, and without the benefit of a multiplier – yet. They play St. Joe’s-Hammonton on Cutoff Weekend at Rowan. So, they’re a lock for No. 1. (Should it really be this way, thanks to multipliers? Ah, another argument for another time.) Camden is second, followed by Seneca and Hopewell Valley.
The first Big Central team here appears at No. 9, where South Plainfield (5-0) is at No. 9, with a UPR of 10. They are on the bubble for the top eight, which guarantees a first-round home playoff game. There are six undefeated teams in this section, in addition to the top four already mentioned and Ocean Township at No. 6. The Tigers have the weaker schedule, to be sure, and probably deserving of where they are.
It’s too close to call on where they end up considering the teams bunched around them. Just 0.2 points ahead of them in eighth is Highland regional, and Burlington Township is 1.2 UPR ahead in seventh. Nottingham is right behind at 10.2, and Matawan is 11.8. Bottom line is they should be a top eight team if they win out, with a road game at Voorhees this Friday, followed by Perth Amboy at home next Friday, and at Monroe on Friday night of Cutoff Wekeend.
Carteret (5-1, 15 UPR) is in 15th, with a similar schedule to the Tigers, but one loss – to South Plainfield. There are four teams behind them in striking distance: Allentown (15.6 UPR), Triton (16.6) and Camden Eastside (formerly Woodrow Wilson, 16.8). The Ramblers have a super tough schedule the final three weeks of the regular season: Governor Livingston this Friday night at The Pit, then at Rahway and at Hillside.
This might be tough.
Somerville (2-4) is another story. Note that Gridiron has them 3-3, but our numbers match up, after that season-opening forfeit against Mastery Charter for using an ineligible player. They are 3.4 UPR points out of the playoffs, which is a lot of ground to make up. And it’s a good news/bad news situation. They have Westfield and Hillsborough at Brooks Field this week and next week, then are at South Brunswick on the Friday night of Cutoff Weekend.
So, the schedule is conducive to picking up a lot of ground; the trick is they have to WIN those games. They’re 2-3 minus the forfeit, but those two wins are not nearly against the caliber of opponent they’ll face the next three weeks.