Tag: Dan Higgins

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 6 Piscataway looks to keep things rolling against battle-tested Bridgewater-Raritan

The Piscataway football program is one defined by champions. It’s been a while since they’ve won one, but they’ve come a long way since not playing the entire 2020 season – while nearly everyone else did – during he COVID-19 pandemic.

But with little change otherwise around the program – including Dan Higgins as head coach, a position he’s held since 2003 – and stability on the rest of the coaching staff – the Chiefs have their eye on a championship again.

One game at a time, mind you, but there’s always that goal. And it seems more realistic this year than it has since their last title, which came back in 2018.

As always, the Chiefs have much talent at the skill positions, but as Higgins often says, it all comes down to line play. And that line play is what has gotten his juices flowing here in 2024, early as it may be.

Friday night, No. 6 Piscataway – coming off a 21-11 season-opening win against Manalapan – will be back at Kenny Armwood Stadium taking on Bridgewater-Raritan, which lost its opener to Notre Dame down inn Lawrenceville last week, 40-38.

You can hear the game on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame at 5:45 pm, and kickoff at 6:00, as Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the action. Click here to listen.

Higgins knows Bridgewater will be a challenge. Though just 3-7 last year, the Panthers made the playoffs, and their American Silver Division in the Big Central – one of the toughest in the state, with Ridge, Hunterdon Central, Phillipsburg and Hillsborough rounding out the group – is the only one in the league to have all five teams make the playoffs each of the last two seasons.

Click below to hear Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins talk about the Chiefs, and Friday night’s matchup against Bridgewater-Raritan, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Dan Higgins has Piscataway right where he wants it: ready to compete for a championship

The last time the Piscataway football team won a state sectional title was in a tremendous, undefeated, 13-0 season in 2018, when they beat Union City for the North 2, Group 5 title, then took out Ridgewood at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands in the North Group 5 “regional championship.”

Since then, Piscataway – as a school – sat out the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has slowly built itself back into championship form.

It may have been the most difficult task since Dan Higgins took over the program from Joe Kuronyi – under whom he worked as an assistant – in 2003, a year in which the Chiefs also won a state championship.

This year may be the closest they’ve been, and they haven’t played a game yet.

As they say, Piscataway is loaded. They return Landon Pernell and Elan McCrorey at quarterback – the two combined for 1,353 yards, 17 touchdowns and just three interceptions last year – along with top receiver Jahai Johnson, now a senior, who caught 22 passes for just under 400 yards last year, and top back James Bodley, also now a senior, who scampered for 460 yards last season.

And most of their young defense is back, too, including guys like linebacker Riley Wingate, lineman Horace Thompson and linebacker Joshua Stephens, who were all juniors last year.

Yes, this may be the Piscataway football team we have come to know and love over the years. And no one could be more excited than Higgins.

Click below to hear from Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins and senior receiver Jahai Johnson at Big Central Media Day:

by Mike Pavlichko

Playoff chase continues for Piscataway with matchup against longtime rival Sayreville

The first meeting was in 1966, won by Piscataway. Their last meeting was last year, also won by Piscataway.

But in between there have been some instant classics between the Chiefs and Sayreville – including two overtime wins – in a series that has been almost as even as you can get over the years: 19-18, Piscataway leads.

The 37th meeting between the schools (the Chiefs got a forfeit win in 2014) takes place Friday night at Kenny Armwood Stadium, at 6 pm, and you can hear it on the Big Central Game of the Week on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen will call all the action, with postgame and highlights during the game from Marcus Borden on Twitter. Pregame starts at 5:45. Click here to listen to the live broadcast.

The Chiefs are in a situation where they may need to win out their final two games to get in the playoffs. Currently in 15th place, after the 10th-ranked Bombers Friday night, they visit Memorial Stadium to take on winless New Brunswick. So a win Friday is paramount due to P’way’s precarious bubble situation.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins about the matchup:

by Mike Pavlichko

Piscataway perfect in first half of 54-14 win over East Brunswick on Senior Night

Piscataway had the ball seven times in the first half of their Big Central National Gold Division game against East Brunswick.

They scored eight times.

The Chiefs got seven touchdowns on offense – plus a big punt return for a score – and about the only thing they didn’t get right was a missed extra point on the first TD of the game in a 54-14 win over the Bears as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

James Bodley got the scoring started on a 54-yard touchdown run with 9:36 to go in the first. After a 3-and-out, DeShaun Stephens returned the Bears’ punt 70-yards for a score, then on the next possession, Kiandre Dato-Snead caught a 48-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-0 less than five minutes in.

The Piscataway-East Brunswick game is sponsored by Piscataway Township and Mayor Brian Wahler.

Jahai Johnson kicked in a five-yard TD haul on the next possession, then Dato-Snead ran one in from tne yards out on the next possession from the wildcat formation, Kenley Candil took a run 27-yards to paydirt, and then fullback Horace Thompson got into the act with a 2-yard TD run, making it 48-0 at the half.

With a running clock, EB got two second half TD passes from backup QB Landon Pernell – starter Elan McCrorey hurt his ankle in the middle of the first half. They sandwiched another kick return by Stephens for Piscataway, who brought the kick back 90 yards after that first EB score.

The Chiefs improve to 4-3, while East Brunswick falls to 0-6.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Piscataway QB Landon Pernell
Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins
by Mike Pavlichko

It’s already the playoffs for Piscatway: Chiefs need to keep winning; next up East Brunswick

They say the only sure things in life are death and taxes.

Making the playoffs in high school football isn’t anywhere near the list.

That being said, Piscataway (3-3) has a chance to take care of business over the next three weeks that can get them in the postseason, starting with a Friday night matchup against East Brunswick (0-6) in a Big Central Conference National Gold Division game that can be heard right here on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with kickoff set for 6 pm at Kenny Armwood Stadium.

Pregame is at 5:45 with Alec Crouthamel and Mike Pavlichko on the call. Click here to listen.

The Chiefs are a young bunch, with only four seniors who see significant playing time. The better news is that their quarterback, Elan McCrorey, and top runningback, James Bodely, are both juniors. Their offensive line will graduate just one senior, and will bring back three of them, along with a sophomore, while eight of 11 defensive starters also will return.

Still, Piscataway is focused on doing something good this season, too. Their first two losses – to Long Branch and Hunterdon Central – came by a combined three points, with the Red Devils needing overtime to beat the Chiefs. They could just as well by 5-1 right now.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins about the 2023 Chiefs and Friday night’s matchup with East Brunswick:

by Mike Pavlichko

Piscataway handles Old Bridge in the rain with 2 TDs each from Stephens, Thompson

Football coaches love a kid who can score many different ways.

De’shaun Stephens scored twice, both in different ways, Friday night in the rain for Piscataway.

The Chiefs got a two rushing touchdowns from Horace Thompson, and two more from Stephens – a receiving touchdown and a pick six – to help seal the deal.

But it didn’t start the way Piscataway (3-3) wanted. Old Bridge (1-5) got on the board first on a Jaden Griffiths touchdown after the Knights’ recovered a Chiefs’ fumble.

But Thompson scored twice in the second quarter to give Piscataway the lead for good, en route to 28 unanswered points the rest of the way.

Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Coming off COVID shutdown and winless season, Piscataway earns CJSR’s “Turnaround Team of the Year” honors in ’22

The fall of 2020 was not an easy one for Dan Higgins, or his players. When the district shut down the fall sports season due to the COVID-19 pandemic – one of two districts to do so in the Big Central Conference that year, the other being Carteret – Higgins all of a sudden had no team to coach.

And it wasn’t just the fact there were no games. There were no practices, no weight room, no film study, no team meals. Nothing.

Some players even moved on to other schools.

To return in 2021 made things normal in a way, but not in another, as the program – no doubt hurt by a year away from football – struggled mightily. Seniors had not played since their sophomore year. Young contributors, normally key to the Chiefs’ success, saw their football IQ stunted. And the varsity went 0-8, its first winless season since 1968.

After a loss in the opener to Hunterdon Central, one could be forgiven if Piscataway hung its collective head. Instead, they went 6-2 to the rest of the way, to finish 6-3, with a berth in the state playoffs, just three seasons removed from becoming the first Middlesex County school to go 13-0 when they won the inaugural North Group 5 “bowl” game at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko talk with Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins:

Honorable Mentions:

The Spotswood Chargers had a remarkable turnaround in 2022 under second-year head coach Chris Meagher. After winning seven games in Andy Cammarano’s final three seasons before stepping down, Meagher’s team struggled mightily in 2021, going 1-8 and getting shut out five times in the process, scoring under six points a game. This year, they went 7-3 – amazingly missing the playoffs, another story for another time. They improved to 19 points per game on the offensive side, while pitching one shutout and holding four teams to single digits on the scoreboard.

Another great turnaround happened in South Plainfield, where the Tigers rebounded from a 2-8 season in 2021 – where they lost half of those games by eight points or less – to run the table in the 2022 regular season, winning their first-ever division title, taking the Big Central’s United Silver Division crown. They went 8-0 before falling in the playoffs at home to Camden Eastside, their first loss of the season.

by Mike Pavlichko

Piscataway notches huge win, 14-8 at No. 6 Sayreville behind Sitkowski, Hilliard

The Piscataway football team has now won five games this season, after going 0-8 last year following a DNP in the 2020 COVID season.

But this… this one may have been the victory to put Piscataway Chiefs football back on the map, as they beat No. 6 Sayreville 14-8 at War Memorial Stadium Friday night, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Piscataway carried a 7-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, thanks to a 64-yard touchdown run by tight end-turned-tackle-turned fullback Ossie Hilliard.

Sayreville got it back in the third quarter on a two-yard touchdown run by Caidan Holmes, and he ran it it for two to give the Bombers an 8-7 lead.

But Piscataway answered right back, capping off a nice drive with a one-yard Run by Antonio Rivera to go up 14-7, and the defense held the rest of the way in another P’way-Sayreville instant classic in one of Middlesex County’s great rivalries.

So, yes, this may be the one that restores the lustre to the Piscataway program.

Sitkowski finished 10-for-14 passing for 137 yards, while Hilliard had two carries for 64 yards and the touchdown as Piscataway improved to 5-2 on the season, while Sayreville fell to 4-3.

Click below to hear postgame reaction from Piscataway quarterback Aleks Sitkowski, fullback Ossie Hilliard, and head coach Dan Higgins:

by Mike Pavlichko

Chiefs seek first win in three years when Piscataway opens ’22 season against Hunterdon Central

Ask head coach Dan Higgins how he’s doing these days.

“We’re playing football, and we played last year. I’m good!”

And that about sums it up.

2020 was a tough year for Higgins and the Piscataway football program, which had to sit the COVID-shortened year out after the district cancelled fall sports, one of two in the Big Central Conference – Carteret being the other – to do so.

2021 might have actually been tougher. There was an entire missed season of practices, games, film study and strength and conditioning. And it no doubt impacted the program, which went winless the entire year, something the program hadn’t done since 1968.

This year, everyone has a year under their belt. Everyone has been through strength and conditioning, as well as a baptism by fire. This year, the conventional wisdom says Piscataway football will be on the rise.

That wisdon gets put to its first test Friday night when the Chiefs take on Hunterdon Central (0-1) – one of their long time rivals, with many great playoff matchups in the history books – in the Big Central Game of the Week on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Mike Pavlichko and Max Scheiner will call all the action from Kenny Armwood Stadium in Piscataway, with kickoff slated for 6. Pregame is at 5:45. Click here to listen live.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins:

by Mike Pavlichko

This Week in the Big Central – Episode 2: The Sitkowskis

Week Zero is in the books, and the bulk of the Big Central opens up this weekend on Week One, unless Ida’s aftermath has anything to say about it.

Either way, it’s time for Episode 2 of “This Week in the Big Central,” driven by Mark Montenero and his team at the world-famous Autoland.

This Week on TWiBC, Mike Pavlichko talks to former Rutgers and Old Bridge quarterback Art Sitkowski, who came off the bench to rally Illinois to a season-opening win over Nebraska.

Then, he’s joined by NJSIAA Executive Director Colleen Maguire to talk about her first year at the helm as we head into 2021-22.

Finally, it’s a look at the official NJSIAA football classifications, released Wednesday, and a peek ahead at the weekend’s games.