Junior quarterback Nolan Walsh rushed for two touchdowns and threw three more in a 43-7 home victory for Bernards over Delaware Valley in the Big Central Conference Patriot Gold Division opener for both schools.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play live from Olcott Field in Bernardsville, NJ, on September 12, 2025:
If anyone had any questions about Bernards after a state sectional title in 2023, and a trip to the finals in 2024, they may have been answered Friday night at Olcott Field in Bernardsville.
The fourth-ranked Mountaineers came out and were aggressive from the get-go, scoring thee first quarter touchdowns, en route to a 43-7 win over visiting Delaware Valley in a battle of unbeaten teams on the Big Central Game of the Week presented by Bellamy & Son Paving on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Bernards won the toss, took the ball, and on the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Nolan Walsh pitched it out to Sean Arcelay, who then hooked up with Ricky Giebel for a 40-yard completion, and they were off and running. Patrick Carlisle took it to the end zone from 21 yards out just six plays later to open the scoring.
After a three-and-out, Logan Stevens capped a three-play drive taking it seven yards to the end zone, and Nolan Walsh made it three-for-three when he scored from one-yard out after the Mountaineers recovered a fumble at the Del Val 35. Bernards ran for two, and got it to make it 22-0.
In the second quarter, Westin Lukes caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Walsh to make it 29-0, a score that held into the break.
The Terriers would get on the board on their first drive of the half, but that would be all they’d get, on a 30-yard TD pass from Kelton Ibach to Brayden Costello.
Bernards finished the game off with two more scores, a seven-yard TD reception from Ricky Giebel, and a one-yard push from Walsh.
Bernards improves to 3-0 with the win, and extends two long win streaks in the process. they have the state’s top active regular season win streak at 28 games, and have won 26 straight in Big Cenrtral play, second only to the 31 of St. Thomas Aquinas heading into Friday’s home game against North Brunswick. the Mountaineers visit Voorhees next week.
Del Val falls to 2-1 and travels to JP Stevens next Friday.
The game was the Big Central Patriot Gold Division opener for both teams.
But the night was not a perfect one for Bernards. Senior defensive end Thomas Diemar – who set the school’s all-time sack record last year, finishing with 20 – went down with an apparent leg injury in the first half and did not return. His status remained unclear after the game.
Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
Through two games in head coach Ben Ibach’s third season as the head coach of Delaware Valley, the two victories have served as solid building ground for a relatively young team.
Now for the third week, comes an even bigger test.
The Terriers (2-0) travel east to face off against fellow unbeaten, No. 4 Bernards.
A heralded senior group has graduated, leaving behind plenty of sophomores and juniors getting ready for some of their first varsity action. Ibach’s message?
Embrace the challenge, and continue to improve daily.
The biggest challenge for Friday, not only a rivalry game, but the Mountaineers (2-0) have plenty on the line as well, with a state-leading 27-game regular season winning streak in the balance.
Delaware Valley, on its side, is up to the task.
The two teams face off in the Big Central Game of the Week, presented by Bellamy & Son Paving. You can hear Friday night’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame at 6:45 and kickoff at 7 pm. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel have the call; click here to listen.
Junior Kelton Ibach returns for his second year as the starting quarterback, and he has become the leader of the offense after learning from the senior-laden offense a year ago.
Surrounding him are several players who saw time on the defensive end, but are still getting their feet wet as the prime offensive targets. Seniors Dylan Rasimowicz and Vinny Casagrande are the elder statesmen in the wide receiver room, with junior Brayden Costello – a do-it-all threat in all three phases of the game – and sophomore Chase Kraucheunas around them.
In the run game, junior Ben Culberson and sophomore Gabe Miller, as well as leading rusher Jayden Brown, carry the load. The trio is helped by an offensive line that returns multiple starters.
The Terriers maintain a strong defensive front, one that lost plenty of production like the offense, but has more experience returning. Several starters on offense play defense as well, with Casagrande serving as the leading returning tackler from 2024.
The defense has continued its opportunistic ways, following up a 15-turnover 2024 season with six forced already through two games, including two interceptions from junior defensive back Lhiam Murphy.
In a Friday night rivalry game, two teams with a full head of steam are looking to take the edge in their respective seasons in the Big Central Patriot Gold Division.
Click below to hear Delaware Valley head coach Ben Ibach talk about the Terriers’ season so far and preview the game against Bernards:
There will be a lot going on at Olcott Field in Bernardsville Friday night, where No. 4 Bernards will host Delaware Valley in the Big Central Game of the Week, presented by Bellamy & Son Paving.
To begin with, it’s a battle of 2-0 teams, with the Mountaineers having beaten Cranford and Hillside, the Terriers having beaten Metuchen and South Plainfield.
You can add in a big rivalry game between the schools, rejuvenated in the Big Central, and also Bernards’ 27-game regular season win streak, which is the longest such active streak in the state right now.
But don’t ask a single player about either.
It’s not about that, they’ll say. It’s just about getting better every day, and building depth in a program that has always had great numbers, but saw a little dip due to the smaller-than-usual size of the school’s sophomore class.
But many key players are back, including sack-machine Thomas Diemar at defensive end, and major contributors on offense like returning quarterback Nolan Walsh, receiver Sean Arcelay and runinngback Logan Stevens, only the last of which is a senior.
You can hear Friday night’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame at 6:45 and kickoff at 7 pm. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel have the call; click here to listen.
Now that high school football is in full swing, things are really starting to heat up in the Big Central and around the state, so let’s talk about it all with Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden!
Mike and Marcus look back at the week gone by, including Aidan Vesuvio-Bush and Somerville’s win over Cranford, Bernards’ two-day win at Hillside, and then look ahead to this week’s matchups, which sees the fourth-ranked Mountaineers face Delaware Valley in a battle of 2-0 teams in the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving. Then, Marcus will be at another big clash in Flemington between unbeatens Hunterdon Central and Phillipsburg, before traveling to Metuchen Saturday for a small-school meeting between the Bulldogs and Roselle.
Also on the show, Mike and Marcus discuss similarities between the Week 0 and Week 1 “Bellamy & Son Paving Players of the Week,” the mindset of kickers who also play on offense, and the most scenic high school football stadium in the Big Central!
Click below to listen to the Week Two edition of “Gameday with Marcus Borden”:
With only four teams in the Patriot Gold Division – and one that’s been among the best in the Big Central Conference for most of its existence – the other three will be chasing Bernards again in 2025.
While the Mountaineers lose a significant amount of talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball, they also return a good deal of experience, and will be the team to beat, having won 23 straight games against Big Central competition.
Right behind them last year was Delaware Valley, who went 6-3 in head coach Ben Ibach’s second season, and Voorhees, who for a second straight year had a very solid run game.
The final team in the division last year was JP Stevens, which won two games last year after having lost more than 40 in a row. That was a big step, and with a new coach in David Kunyz – who already was in the program as defensive coordinator – the consistency mixed with some new ideas could help them improve even further.
Click below to hear our preview of the Patriot Gold Division from Big Central Conference Media Day:
Forget school size, for a second. The Bernards football program is one of the most solid in the entire Big Central Conference. It doesn’t matter that they’re a Group 2 school; they get a ton of kids in the program and they stick with it. These are kids who mainly could afford to go anywhere they want, but choose to stay at Bernards.
And how have they been rewarded? In the past two seasons, the Mountaineers are 23-2, have won 23 straight games against Big Central opponents dating back to an early 2022 loss to Hillside (second only to St. Thomas Aquinas at 31), 30 regular season games overall dating back to that same loss (longest in the BCC), and have a sectional title and two sectional finals berths to their credit. Whether they can repeat that in 2025 is another question, but that’s why they play the games.
With head coach Jon Simoneau the veteran coach in this division – now going into his 18th season – the rest of the Patriot Gold has some newer coaches who should see their teams improve with another year in the system under their belts. That includes Ben Ibach in his third season at Delaware Valley, John Hack in his second at Voorhees, and David Kunyz being elevated from defensive coordinator to head coach at JP Stevens.
Here are the preliminary schedules for the Patriot Gold Division teams – in alphabetical order – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge. Please note game dates and times may be changed without notice as the season approaches. Division games marked with an asterisk (*).
Bernards Mountaineers (11-1, 3-0, Patriot Gold Division champs in ’24)
Head Coach: Jon Simoneau (121-57, 18th season)
Offensively, the Mountaineers saw sophomore Nolan Walsh throw for nearly 2,000 yards last season – he was 49 shy – and 18 touchdowns. The fact he’s got two more seasons running the offense bodes well for Bernards, plus another soph coming back in runningback Patrick Carlisle, who went for 762 yards and ten touchdowns last season, plus rising senior Logan Stevens and his 606 yards and ten touchdowns. Solid receivers Sean Arcelay (17 catches, 266 yards, 2 TDs) returns, while Stevens also caught 21 passes for 315 yards and two scores. Defensively, the team’s top tackler in Terrence Hanratty (132 total, 2 sacks, 6 TFLs) has graduated, but active linebacker Thomas Diemar will be the anchor. Last year, he finished with ten sacks, 18.5 TFLs, and had one force fumble/recovery. Teagun Hartnett had two picks last year as a junior.
Delaware Valley Terriers (6-3, 2-1, 2nd place in ’24)
Head Coach: Ben Ibach (11-7, 3rd season)
Kelton Ibach returns for the Terriers, after throwing for 1,211 yards and 16 touchdowns a season ago in his junior campaign, but he’ll need some new targets, as all six players to catch passes last year were seniors. The runningback room was also senior heavy, but Del Val didn’t run as much, only going for 704 yards last season. Still, just 137 of that returns, and 72 came from Ibach himself. There will be key guys to replace on defense, too, like senior LB Patrick O’Boyle (2 sacks, 1 forced fumble) and DB Eric Klemmer (2 INT, 2 TFLs). After a 5-4 debut season for head coach Ben Ibach, last year’s squad went 6-4. Some newcomers here could determine if they’ll improve upon that at all.
JP Stevens Hawks (2-7, 0-3, 4th place in ’24)
Head Coach: David Kunyz (1st season)
Jason George did a fine job in two seasons as head coach, developing the Hawks in his first season, and delivering them their first win since 2018 in his second, snapping a 31-game skid that was the longest in the state at the time. But he’s left to be an assistant with his father at Woodbridge, and now defensive coordinator David Kunyz takes the reins. So, yes, it’s a coaching change, but there will still be some consistency, a good thing for the program which has struggled mightily with numbers in recent years. He’ll face the challenge of finding a replacement for senior quarterback Marquise Webb (616 yards, 2 TD) and top rusher Quadir Johnson (321 yards, 3 TDs). The defense saw some underclassmen make play, like sophomore Joshua Collins and junior Elijah Hollman (1 sack, 1 TFL each).
Voorhees Vikings (3-6, 1-2, 3rd place in ’24)
Head Coach: John Hack (3-6, 2nd season)
The crossover schedule won’t be an easy one, but there are some key players back that could help the Vikings take a step up in Year Two under head coach John Hack. Among them is rising senior Matteo Tramutola, who rushed for 1,258 yards last year and scored 17 touchdowns, while QB Sam Meekings threw for 1,327 yards and 16 scores as a junior in 2024. Some younger backs will round out that room, while five receivers who went for at least 125 yards each and ten touchdowns overall should be back, led by senior Ryan Benitez, who had nine catches for 182 yards and three scores last season.
With the high school football playoffs beginning this week, it’s time for one of our most popular stories of the year: a look at who will be sitting on a bus for a long ride down to South Jersey. But, hey, we’re not just looking at our Big Central teams’ gas money here; some deep South Jersey teams have to come up here, too!
This didn’t happen much pre-2019, when the NJSIAA had teams in geographical sections, but when the UPR formula was instituted and the state was split into North and South supersections in each group, and teams assigned to sections based on seed rather than location. (Actually, the changes began in 2018, but that first year, teams were slotted by Northing number.)
And travel is more of an issue in the southern part of the state than in North Jersey. If you split the state in the middle, the North would have many more teams, but in the interest of balance, the line shifts higher, meaning the Central and South playoff sections have the same number of teams, but cover a wider geographical area.
These trips may not be long enough to watch “Gone With the Wind” – with a three hour, 58 minute running time – but with traffic, they’ll take a while. We looked at each trip on Google Maps at 10 am, when traffic is generally light, so expect to add some more time for those Friday afternoon trips!
Hunterdon Central at Washington Twp, 6 pm Friday (1 hour, 29 minutes, 75.8 miles): This is the longest trip for a Big Central team in terms of time, but still six minutes less than last year’s longest first-round Big Central trip, which saw Johnson with a one-hour, 33-minute trip to Pleasantville, near Atlantic City. The Red Devils would take Route 31 down to I-295 to the Philly area, then cut further south. They can shave five minutes off by cutting through Pennsylvania on I-95, but at rush hour? Not advisable. And who’s paying the EZ Pass to cross the bridge at Yardley?
Manville at Paulsboro, 11 am Saturday (1 hour, 23 minutes – 72.7 miles): The Mustangs will be at their school at 7 am to board the bus for this one; that’s an early wake-up call on SAT day, where many teams are playing at 2 pm. This is a trip down I-295 to play Paulsboro, which is just south of Philadephia. It’s the second-longest Big Central trip in terms of time.
Hillside at Haddonfield, 7 pm Friday (1 hour, 17 minutes – 79 miles): A bit shorter than Manville’s sojourn to Paulsboro, this is the longest trip by miles for a Big Central team, taking the Turnpike town to play the Bulldawgs. But let’s ask an honest question: how is the second-northernmost Big Central school in South Jersey? The answer, of course, is there are way more Group 2 schools up North than down South, so there’s a big skew. For comparison’s sake, Summit – the northernmost school in the BCC – is in the North. (More on them in a bit.)
The rest of the Big Central teams on the road all generally have travel times of about an hour or less, but some teams coming up to this neck of the woods have long rides, too.
Absegami at Somerville, 7 pm Friday (1 hour, 37 minutes – 107 miles): This looks like the longest trip in the state to us: Absegami will be riding 107 miles up the Parkway to I-287 to play at Brooks Field, a ride that, in rush-hour on a Friday, is more likely to take two hours. The 14 miles they’ll have to travel on 287 might take a half-hour alone at that point. The Pioneers had one of the longest trips in the league last year, going down to Seneca for a first round game that was “only” 64.6 miles away, but an hour-and-33 minutes. This time, they get to roll in from home.
And who’s got the shortest trip?
Summit at Cranford, 7 pm Friday (22 minutes – 8 miles): It’s a hop-skip-and-a-jump for Summit as the Hilltoppers and Cranford rematch their regular season contest, which Summit won 21-7 at home back on September 28th. Doesn’t everyone wish they could be this close? Montclair visits neighboring East Orange Campus, just 4.3 miles apart, but that’s not even the closest trip. In North 2, Group 1, Wood-Ridge could easily walk the 1.5 miles to Hasbrouck Heights!!
Senior quarterback TJ Munn’s one-yard touchdown run with 2:02 to go in the third quarter gave New Providence the insurance they needed to hang on for a 28-21 Cutoff Weekend win over visiting Delaware Valley Friday night.
After a scoreless first quarter, Del Val got on the board first, but New Providence answered back. A.J. Whitehead have the Pioneers the lead with a 51-yard touchdown run with 4:24 to go before the half, but the Terriers answered this time with a 27-yard pass play from Kelton Ibach to Will Weckesser to even things at 14.
With 21 seconds left before the break, quarterback TJ Munn hit Jack Fitzgerald from 40-yards out to make it 21-14. The insurance came on Munn’s one-yard run late in the third, and it helped stave off Del Val, which got within a score at 8:00 of the fourth quarter on another Ibach TD pass, this one to Eric Klemmer, and they hung on to win.
New Providence ends the regular seaosn on a two-game winning streak, improving to 7-2. They should have wrapped up at least a first-round home game with the win.
Del Val drops to 6-2, with its five-game winning streak – including a forfeit win over Roselle – snapped. The Terriers will likely open the playoffs on the road, probably finishing in the bottom eight in South 2.
Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden in Union County, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
Thanks to our newest sponsor, Chris’ Auto Body of Lambertville and New Hope, we have a new segment this football season on Central Jersey Sports Radio: “The Chris’ Auto Body Drive of the Week.”
Each week, we’ll pick the best drive from the previous weekend’s games, as shot by our high school football analyst Marcus Borden. And you’ll be able to watch the drive right here on cjsportsradio.com.
This week, it’s Somerville, which scored early and often in a 41-0 win over Summit in a battle of undefeated teams on Friday, October 4th at Brooks Field in Somerville. The long drive had two big run plays, the first from QB Brenden Pacheco to set up a Terrell Mitchell touchdown run to open the scoring.
Click below to watch the “Chris’ Auto Body Drive of the Week” for Week Five:
