Tag: Chris Meagher

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood seeks first 3-0 start since 2016 when Brearley visits Saturday

Spotswood found good success in the mid-2010s under Andy Cammarano, now his successor is building something similar off Summerhill Road.

After a couple of rough seasons that also coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic – and Cammarano departing after that 2020 season, third-year head coach Chris Meagher took the Chargers from 2-5 his debut season of 2021 to 7-3 last season.

This year, the club is off to a 2-0 start.

A big key has been senior quarterback Trey Lazar, who has thrown for 133 yards his first two games, while rushing for 190 yards and two touchdowns. He’s also found six different receivers already through just two games.

Saturday, they host Brearley in a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio, starting with pregame at 1:45 and kickoff at 12 noon – moved up from the original 1:00 start time due to lightning in the forecast. Mike Pavlichko will call all the play-by-play, with Max Scheiner serving as analyst. Click here to listen.

Brearley has won the last three in the series, but they’ve only played twice recently. The Bears won 36-0 last year and 32-0 two years ago. The other three meetings all precede even the Greater Middlesex Conference. Brearly beat Spotswood 20-14 in 1981, but Spotswood won the first two meetings of the series: 22-7 in 1980 and 30-28 in their first meeting in 1979, just the fourth year of existence for Spotswood High School.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko talk with Spotswood head coach Chris Meagher about the program’s trajectory and Saturday’s game against Brearley:

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood has unfinished business to take care of in 2023, seeking first playoff berth since ’15

In 2021, Manville had six wins at the cutoff and didn’t make the playoffs. They scheduled a good out-of-conference opponent in Keyport for Week Zero in 2022, beat them, had another solid year, and qualified for the postseason.

That’s part of the model for Spotswood, which had the same thing happen to them last year: six wins at the cutoff, but a snub by the NJSIAA’s playoff formula.

Head coach Chris Meagher dropped Bishop Eustace from the schedule, took on Bordentown, and the Chargers beat the Scotties 14-0 on the road last Friday night to open the season.

Now, if they can put together a solid year like they did last season, they just might make the playoffs this year. It would be the Chargers’ first berth since 2015.

Click below to hear Chris Meagher and Trey Lazar talk about Spotswood’s prospects for the 2023 season at Big Central Media Days with CJSR’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood edges arch-rival South River behind Lazar, Christian’s two TDs each

After a scoreless first quarter, Spotswood got things going with a bang and never trailed, hanging on for a 28-14 win over arch-rival South River at Chargers Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The win has Spotswood 4-1, their best mark since starting the 2016 season 5-0. They went 6-4 that year under Andy Cammarano, with a first round playoff loss to Delaware Valley.

Anthony Christian got Spotswood on the board first with a 20-yard pick six to put the Chargers up 7-0, but the Rams got the equalizer on a 62-yard touchdown pass from Parker Lane to Joseph Lepore.

Tied entering the second half, Spotswood got the next three scores, and they would need all of them. Christian took one into the end zone from 31 yard out in the third, then in the fourth, Trey Lazar scored on a one-yard run and a 55-yard pass from Christian.

That 28-7 lead helped the Chargers hold off a furious rally from South River, who used two TD passes from Lane to Mikael Jaynes – of 30- and 28-yards – to close to within a touchdown. But they couldn’t get any closer.

South River falls to 2-2.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Spotswood coach Chris Meagher about the win:

by Mike Pavlichko

New Spotswood coach Meagher excited to lead Chargers

Following the 2019 season, North Brunswick head coach Mike Cipot lost one of his assistants to South Brunswick, which plucked from his staff John Viotto – a Vikings alum – to take over for the retired Joe Goerge.

Two years later, another Cipot assistant will take a head coaching job in Middlesex County.

When preseason camp opens today for Spotswood, former Edison standout Chris Meagher will be at the helm.

Though the Chargers have had a rough last couple of seasons, Meagher will have big shoes to fill.

Andy Cammarano left Spotswood as the Chargers’ longest-tenured football coach ever, going 61-76 over 14 seasons. His program peaked from 2013 to 2016, winning six games twice and seven games twice, going a combined 26-14 with a couple of Blue Division titles and a handful of playoff appearances mixed in as well.

Meagher recently spoke with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko about the upcoming season. Click below to listen: