Dayton got tow touchdown passes and a touchdown run from senior quarterback Adrian Bernknopf en route to a 28-20 win over visiting Highland Park that gave the Bulldogs the Freedom Gold Division title, their first division title in any league since 2009.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play live from Springfield, NJ, on October 16, 2026:
In the Highland Park football team’s first seven games of the season, they never trailed. Not for a second.
But that all changed Friday night in Springfield, as Dayton got on the board first just 2:35 into the game, and never trailed the rest of the way securing a 28-20 victory that gave them the Big Central Conference Freedom Gold Division title.
That first touchdown came from the Bulldogs’ top runningback, Tyler Fuscaldo, who – after an incomplete pass on first down – rumbled 33 yards to put Dayton up 7-0 with the extra point.
And Dayton (6-2, 5-0 BCC Freedom Gold) would get the next two touchdowns as well, building a 21-0 lead on a ten-yard run from Adrian Bernknopf with 11:08 to go in the first half, and a 39-yard touchdown catch by top receiver Jackson Babiarz with 25 seconds to go in the half.
That could have left Highland Park (7-1, 4-1) down for the count, knowing the Bulldogs would get the ball to start the second half, but the Owls responded, scoring in two plays after starting their drive on the 50, courtesy of a 14-yard catch by Luca Belbhar, who freed himself in the right corner of the end zone as he saw quarterback Marcus Smith scrambling to avoid a sack as time expired on the first half.
After a scoreless third, Highland Park would get within a score on a four-yard touchdown run by Smith, capping a seven-play, 55-yard drive that ate 6:17 off the clock. But the kick was blocked, and they still trailed by eight, 21-13.
Just over five minutes later, with Tyler Fuscaldo banged up, Dominic Pintado scored on a 21-yard touchdown run to put Dayton up 28-13 with 4:07 left, but Highland Park wasn’t done yet. The Owls put together a 59-yard, seven play drive and got an eight-yard run from Smith that made it 28-20 with the PAT.
Rather than a typical onside kick, after a Dayton time out, they tried a sky kick that Dayton recovered, got a first down loss and allowed a small gain before the Bulldogs eventually got a first down near midfield and were able to kneel out the clock the rest of the way for the win.
Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel with Dayton head coach Nick Iannacone, and seniors Jackson Babiarz and Adrian Bernknopf:
It’s been a long time, in more ways than one.
There are many similarities between the Highland Park and Dayton football programs.
For starters, they are among the older programs in the league, with Jonathan Dayton playing its first game in 1907, while Highland Park has been playing football since 1937. In fact, the two met that year, and the Owls won 7-6 before the Bulldogs returned the favor in 1938 with a 23-0 victory.
In the present day, they both have a lot of different way to beat you on offense.
And it’s also been 17 years since both teams last won a division title.
For Dayton, that came in 2009 under then-head coach Joe Goerge (now at Woodbridge) as part of the Mid-State 39 Conference (which later became the 38, then the 37), winning the Union Division. And they almost won it again in 2010 in a 10-2 season, had it not been for a season-opening loss to division for New Providence.
For Highland Park, it was the GMC Blue Division in ’09, with Rich McGlynn as head coach. Current coach Shawn Harrison was his successor, rejuvenating the program to the point where the Owls have now won at least six games in two of their last three seasons.
Friday night, they meet in Springfield, both 4-0 in their division, playing for the Freedom Gold Division title.
You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, our Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Game of the Week, with kickoff set for 7:00, and pregame at 6:45, with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel on the call. Click here to listen.
The Owls (7-0, 4-0 BCC Freedom Gold) are led offensively by mobile senior quarterback Marcus Smith, the team’s No. 2 rusher with 457 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 44 carries, averaging more than a first down every time he touches the ball; he’s also thrown for 715 yards and eight touchdowns with just one pick. Senior runningback Jacob Quiros has rushed 108 times for 639 yards and seven TDs.
But most impressive has been their defense, which has allowed just six points all year, on a touchdown and missed extra point by Roselle Park. Bound Brook scored a touchdown against the Owls, too, but that was came on defense, via an interception return for a score. They are averaging nearly five sacks a game, with 32 through their first seven contests, along with 65 tackles for loss.
The Bulldogs (5-2, 4-0) have a big three-headed monster. It starts with senior QB Adrian Bernknopf, who has passed for 1,238 yards and 19 touchdowns, with three picks. His favorite target has been fellow senior Jackson Babiarz, with 22 catches for 550 yards and eight scores, while a third senior, Tyler Fuscaldo – a Springfield kid who played his first two years at Seton Hall Prep, and saw limited action as a sophomore – has rushed 85 times for 594 yards and eight touchdowns.
Defensively, Dominic Pintado and Isaiah Rivas – a defensive back and defensive lineman, respectively – each have 2 1/2 sacks, while as a team, the Bulldogs have recovered nine fumbles, two for touchdowns, have blocked two kicks, and a pick six from Pintado as well.
Click below top hear preview interviews with both head coaches!
We’re down to the last two weeks of the high school football regular season, with this also being the final week of divisional play in the Big Central Conference, and there are still a number of division titles up for grabs.
Some already have been decided, so we decided to take a look at who’s already been crowned, and which ones still are up for grabs.
Divisional Champs…
Eight of the 12 Big Central Divisions already have been decided, with two outright: Belvidere and Hillside. The other six are decided due to tiebreakers between the division leaders and the next team back. Here’s a closer look.
Still to be decided…
That leaves four divisions whose champions are yet to be determined, and will be decided this week. Here’s a closer look at the potential scenarios, with one potential three-way tie.
There was a lot to talk about Friday night in the Big Central Conference, besides No. 3 Piscataway shutting down a very good Somerville offense in a big 28-14 home win over the No. 5 Pioneers, in the Bellamy & Son Paving Game of the Week.
Two of the three longest active league win streaks came to an end, Rahway had a big upset of No. 8 Summit at home, and JP Stevens is 2-0 for the first time in a long time.
Read on for game recaps and notes, audio, and links to other coverage, as well as the full slate of Friday night scores, plus Saturday’s games and coverage plans.
Rahway gets big win at No. 8 Summit…
After winning a wild opening game down at Willingboro in Week Zero, including lightning delays, things didn’t look to get any easier for Rahway in Game Two with eighth-ranked Summit coming to town.
But that didn’t daunt the Indians, who jumped out to a 14-0 lead, saw that advantage shrink to four, then pulled away for a 21-0 win over the Hilltoppers with an excellent defensive effort at Madden Field.
The win leaves Rahway 2-0 for the second time in three seasons as head coach Brian Russo returns to his old stomping grounds next Friday when the Indians take on Woodbridge (1-1), which rebounded off a season-opening home loss to Bridgewater-Raritan last Friday (heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio) with a 14-8 road win at Edison Thursday night.
They’ll be looking to avenge a 21-7 loss in the first round of last year’s North 2, Group 4 playoffs. Before that, Rahway had been 4-0 against the Barrons in three meetings from 1927 to 1929 and in 1915.
Click below for postgame reaction from Rahway head coach Brian Russo and Defensive Coordinator Troy Eastman:
Bernards, Manville see Big Central win streaks end…
It had been straight 32 Big Central wins for the Bernards football program heading into Friday night’s home game at Olcott Field against Cranford, and the visiting Cougars made sure that streak went no farther.
In the season opener for the Cougars, Aidan Capizzi threw touchdown passes to Luke Owens and John Fiore, Jr., to help power Cranford to a 31-24 win.
After a 24-7 lead shrunk to 24-21 in the third following a 15-yard Bernards TD catch by Sean Arcelay, and a 35-yard pick-six by Luke Bubnowski, Logan Murray’s 45-yard TD run for Cranford in the fourth gave them enough cushion to survive late field goal.
Bernards was within three victories of tying the league record for most consecutive BCC wins of 35, held by St. Thomas Aquinas. That streak ended last year.
The Mountaineers’ last Big Central loss had come on September 2, 2022, to Hillside, 35-20.
But that wasn’t the only one that ended Friday night.
Manville – which had won 12 in a row against BCC competition, including its last five in 2024 and all seven last season – fell Friday night at Brearley, 21-18.
That leaves New Providence with the league’s top active win streak against BCC opponents. The Pioneers have won 14 Big Central games in a row, including their last five in 2024, all eight last season, and Thursday night’s league opener against Voorhees, 27-7.
Now, the second longest league win streak belongs to St. Joseph-Metuchen. The No. 2 Falcons host No. 6 St. Joseph-Metuchen at 1 pm Saturday. Follow Marcus Borden on Twitter for live coverage, with a recap and postgame reaction to follow later on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Stevens in uncharted recent territory…
When the final horn sounded in North Edison Friday night, JP Stevens did two things it hasn’t done in a very long time: start a season 2-0, and win back-to-back regular season games.
To start, it’s the Hawks’ first 2-0 start since Frank Zarro was the head coach in 2003. That team beat North Brunswick, 14-7, in the season opener on September 12th, a date which seems quaint these days, with the season now starting in late August. they followed it up with a 35-7 win over Perth Amboy the following week. The started that season 3-0, and finished 6-4, with a North 2, Group 4 first-round playoff loss to Union, which lost to Piscataway in the finals at Giants’ Stadium, earning Dan Higgins his first of seven state titles.
Secondly – no pun intended – the 2-0 start gives JP its first back-to-back regular season wins since that same stretch in 2003. The Hawks have won consecutive games in a season only three times since – in 2006, 2009 and 2012, but all three included a “postseason” consolation game win.
Notes and Nuggets…
FRIDAY SCORES:
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
THURSDAY SCORES:
Dayton senior quarterback Adrian Bernknopf had himself quite the night, and the game was only half over.
Bernknopf threw five touchdown passes before the break to four different receivers, and by the time Bound Brook got on the board, the Bulldogs already had staked themselves to a 43-0 lead.
All that led to a running clock in a fast second half in Springfield Thursday night, as the Bulldogs (1-1) picked up their first win of the season 43-12 over visiting Bound Brook.
Bernknopf opened the scoring 2:03 into the game with a four-yard touchdown pass to James Babiarz. Then, after the defense came out and Dominic Pintado returned an interception 68-yards for six, he hit Babiarz again to make it 22-0 with 3:22 left in the first quarter.
The senior QB would hit for one more score late in the first – 48 yards to Kevin Paiva to make it 29-0 – then toss a 21-yard TD strike to Kevin Lunch with 9:08 to go before the half, and another 13 yards to Aiden Delpeche to make it 43-0.
Bound Brook (0-2) would get on the board with a six-yard touchdown run before the half. The PAT was blocked, and Dayton went into the home locker room with a 43-6 lead, kicking off a running clock to start the second half.
With that, and the jayvee in, Bound Brook added one more score, on a 16-yard run by sophomore Guy Pugh.
Click below for postgame reaction from Dayton head coach Nick Iannacone and senior quarterback Adrian Bernknopf, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!
It was a rare busy Thursday night in the Big Central Conference, with eight games on the slate, highlighted by some great games.
Hillsborough beat Hunterdon Central, 24-21, in a game where all the offense came in the first half, and the game was essentially sealed on a pass break-up on fourth down near the goal line, while Belvidere and Delaware Valley both eked out one-point wins. And Dayton got five first-half touchdown passes from senior Adrian Bernknopf an route to a home blowout of Bound Brook.
Scroll through more details, all of Thursday’s scores, links to individual game stories, and the Big Central schedule for the remainder of Labor Day Weekend.
County Seaters get past Roselle Park…
Belvidere scored the first touchdown of the game, and the last, to come up with a 28-27 road win in Union County Thursday night. Elijah White’s 47-yard touchdown catch from QB Jake Enderley got the Seaters on the board first with 1:43 to go in the first quarter, but the Panthers tied it on a 52-yard touchdown run from Maxwell Griffin down the left sideline as time expired in the period..
They went up 13-7 on Nick Salas’ 52-yard touchdown run, but missed an extra point that turned out to be critical, and led 13-7 early in the second, before Belvidere scored twice before the half – on a Kaiden Drake three-yard run and another touchdown catch, this one five yards, by White – to take a 21-13 lead into the break.
Roselle Park got a 53-yard run for a touchdown by Nasir Cheston in the third quarter to open the second-half scoring, and Salas ran in a two-point conversion to knot the game at 21. Then, in the fourth, Cheston scored from 17 yards out, but again, the Panthers missed the PAT, leaving them up by six.
Kaiden Drake’s 53-yard touchdown on a screen pass from Jake Enderly then knotted the game, and White’s PAT gave Belvidere a 28-27 lead with 5:29 to go.
THURSDAY SCORES:
FRIDAY SCHEDULE:
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
Little change was made to the Big Central Conference’s Freedom Gold Division in the off-season, but with 2025 champion Spotswood moving up and out in the most recent realignment, the top three remaining teams – Brearley, Dayton and Roselle Park – will likely battle it out for the title in 2026. All three were .500 or better, with Brearley having tied the Chargers with a 4-1 division mark, but Spotswood winning last year’s head-to-head. Highland Park will deal with some losses, South River will look to improve, and JP Stevens moves into a division that could help them be more competitive.
Here are the preliminary schedules for the Freedom Gold Division teams – in order of 2025 finish – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publication, along with a few notes on each squad. Division games are starred.
Brearley Bears (5-5, 4-1, 2nd place Freedom Gold)
Head Coach: Elliot Platt, 2nd season (5-5)
The Bears were a run-first team last year, as senior Matthew Resende rushed for 1,284 yards. They’re going to miss that, with only two other backs – one a senior, quarterback Joe Squillaro – totalling around 200 yards. Monroe Passmore ran for 206 yards on 26 carries with two touchdowns as a sophomore last season. Their strength could be the defense this year, as sophomore lineman Rocco Federico (14 1/2 sacks, 4 forced fumbles) should be back, while Passmore had two sacks and 6 1/2 TFLs from his linebacker spot. Adding JP Stevens as a division-mate with Spotswood gone could make it harder to qualify for the playoffs, or at least to get a good seed. Brearley made it last year, but ended up as the eight seed and had to play top-seed Mountain Lakes on the road, taking a first round loss.
Dayton Bulldogs (7-2, 3-2, 3rd place Freedom Gold)
Head Coach: Nick Iannacone, 5th season (18-20)
The Bulldogs could be the best of the bunch this year. In 2025, they knocked off division champ Spotswood, 20-19, in a game that ended up costing the Chargers (8-1 at the cutoff) a playoff spot in favor of 3-5 Camden Eastside. In 2026, their QB and top running back and receiver all are back. As juniors, quarterback Adrian Bernkopf threw for 1,270 yards and 14 TDs, while runningback Tyler Fuscaldo carried 119 times for 749 yards and nine scores (Bernkopf ran for the other eight), while Jackson Babiarz caught 21 passes for 479 yards and seven touchdowns. And there are others in the unit who are back and can contribute as well, like rising junior Kevin Lynch (16 receptions, 240 yards, 1 TD). Many key defensive players are back, too, like rising junior DB Dominic Pintado (2 sacks, 5 TFLs), ad rising senior DL Isaiah Rivas (3 TFLs, 2 fumble recoveries for TDs) and Babiarz, who had four of the team’s eight picks last year to lead the team. This could be Dayton’s year.
Roselle Park Panthers (6-4, 2-3, 4th place Freedom Gold)
Head Coach: Greg Dunkerton, 7th season (23-35)
The Panthers were impressive when we saw them in early October at Highland Park, coming out with a 35-12 win. They ran the rock to the tune of 2,509 yards last season, led by Nick Salas with 146 carries, 946 yards and 14 touchdowns; he’ll be back this year. So will No. 3 rusher Maxwell Griffin (398 yards, 5 TD), and he’ll be a senior. Salas also caught eleven passes out of the backfield for 165 yards and three scores, but his QB has graduated; Anthony Damiano threw for 485 yards. Roselle Park will lose a little more on the defensive side, with veterans like linemen Lorby Castelly (7 sacks, 1 TFL, 1 fumble recovery) and Jose Candelaria (4 sacks, 2 TFLs, 1 blocked kick) gone to graduation. Bot with that offense, they should be able to give Dayton and Brearley a run for their money.
Highland Park Owls (3-6, 2-3, 5th place Freedom Gold)
Head Coach: Shawn Harrison, 6th season (10-35)
The Owls snapped that long losing streak in their final game of 2023, then went 6-3 the next year before falling to 3-6 last season after senior QB Markos Hantsoulis graduated. Now, the other two of the clan – Kosta and Stamatis also are gone, and head coach Shawn Harrison may have to lean a little more on QB Marcus Smith to step up as a senior. He threw for 866 yards and eight touchdowns last season, and top runningback Jacob Quiros also should be back for his senior year, after rushing for 459 yards and five scores a season ago. The defense will have to replace defensive back Matthew Adamczyk-Zapor, who had three sacks and seven tackles for loss last year.
South River Rams (1-9, 0-5, 6th place Freedom Gold)
Head Coach: Rich Marchesi, 40th season (229-158)
Though the Rams have struggled mightily in the last few seasons – a mixture of personnel and injuries – Rich Marchesi is the longest-tenured head coach in the Big Central Conference for a reason; he’ll find a way to give whoever he has the best chance to win. The likely candidate to take over under center is Julien Borusevic, who has quite the arm: he was 5-4 with a 2.45 ERA for the Rams’ baseball team this spring. He got some snaps last year behind Orion Familia, going 11-of-28 for 52 yards and a touchdown in parts of six games last season. The good news is Kah’mori Cotto was just a junior last year when he ran for 920 yards and seven touchdowns, and three receivers are back as well. The defense was a relatively young group last year as well, so if they can stick together, the Rams should see improvement in ’26.
JP Stevens Hawks (0-10, 0-3, 5th place in Patriot Gold Division)
Head Coach: David Kunyz, 2nd season (0-10)
This is more the Hawks’ speed than a division with Bernards, Voorhees and Delaware Valley, and that could help a lot. Senior QB Shamar Burch (847 yards, 4 TDs) struggled with the turnovers last year, but Khawaja Muawiyah got in some good action as a junior, and started late in the season, ultimately going 46-97 for 530 yards and 5 TDs, and if he can improve and also cut down on the interceptions, that will help. Zamarr Raiford was the leading rusher on a team that almost exclusively threw the ball (1,397 pass yards, 122 rushing) last season, as he went for 717 yards and seven touchdowns on 48 catches. No. 2 receiver Jream Sorrell was just a freshman, but still had 22 catches for 185 yards and a score. On defense, 38 different players logged stats last season, so the numbers are there; head coach David Kunyz will have to figure which parts give them the best eleven on the field.
None of the members of the Spotswood baseball team played in high school with Matthew Carlson, but they all know his name, and pay tribute to him every home game by going out to touch third base – his position – after they break their team huddle.
On Saturday, they will honor him again – and raise money for a scholarship that goes to an SHS student in his name – as part of the second annual E4M Showcase at the place Charger fans affectionately call “The Swamp.”
“E4M” means “Everything for Matt.” Carlson was just 16 years old when he was tragically killed in an ATV crash down in Georgia on Thanksgiving in 2022. A sophomore at the time, he had already lettered in baseball, and also played basketball. Steve Mate’s Chargers put his jersey on the end of the bench at every home game that season.
Carlson would have graduated last year.
The event is a jumping off point to raise money for a scholarship that’s given out to a Spotswood High School senior. Donations can be made through Venmo to the account @E4Mscholarshipfund.
And the event is a pretty good one, too.
In the 10 am opener, Spotswood (8-9) will look to get back to .500 after taking a 6-0 loss at the hands of Brearley Friday when they host another Union County school, Jonathan Dayton (5-10) out of Springfield.
The 1 pm game will feature Mainland (10-3) out of the Cape-Atlantic League taking on St. Peter’s Prep (11-6) out of Jersey City, while the 4 pm finale will feature No. 1 Immaculata (11-3) taking on 8th-ranked Old Bridge (9-7).
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Spotswood head coach Glenny Fredricks:
First round matchups with high seeds aren’t always tight matchups.
The 15th-seeded Dayton girls’ basketball team is young, with a new coach, with Marissa Liberato promoted from her assistant post in the off-season, in her first year leading a program. And they play in a brutally tough division in the Union Conference with the likes of Linden and Elizbaeth.
On the other side, second-seed Bound Brook is led by veteran coach Jen Derevjanik, who has a solid core and an uber-freshman in Peytan Pugh, an excellent scorer averaging 18.5 points per game, but also leading the state with over 200 steals.
And so it was Thursday night, when the Crusaders rolled past Dayton in the opening round of play in the NJSIAA state tournament in Central Jersey Group 1, 54-26 behind 21 points from Pugh, and another dozen from senior Ti’asjah Ferguson. Lauren Polakiewiz added nine for the Crusaders, all on three from beyond the arc.
Bound Brook was in control from the opening tip, starting the game on a 17-0 run. And after they took the foot off the gas a bit in the second, the game opened up in the third, with sophomore Maggie Hildebrand connecting twice from beyond the arc. The sophomore was the top scorer in the game for Dayton (3-21) with 13 points, including three triples.
The Crusaders (22-3) will move on to the sectional quarterfinals Monday at home against the winner of Friday evening’s first round game 7th-seed Thrive Charter out of Trenton and 10th-seed Manville.
Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with Bound Brook senior Ti’asjah Ferguson and freshman Peytan Pugh:
