Tag: Derrick Eatman

by Mike Pavlichko

Tall task ahead for North Plainfield girls, as Canucks take on powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in GMCT semifinals

The St. Thomas Aquinas girls basketball team is the No. 1 seed in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament for a reason, and it’s not just because they were the first place team in the Red Division.

They were, of course. They were the best team in the league by far all year, defeating fellow Red Division foes by an average of 45 points in 14 games, winning all of them. In fact, the Trojans haven’t lost to a GMC foe from any division since January 2022, a string of 65 straight games.

Now, it’s up to anyone to prove them wrong.

That’s the job that awaits North Plainfield Tuesday night, when the 13th-seeded Canucks (8-16, 4-10 in GMC Red, 7th place) take on Aquinas (20-6, 14-0, GMC Red Champs) in the second of two GMC Tournament semifinals at 7 pm.

You can hear the game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – presented by the George Street Playhouse in downtown New Brunswick – with Mike Pavlichko and Vin Ebenau on the call, immediately following the 5 pm game between second-seed Monroe and third-seed Middlesex. Click here to listen.

North Plainfield’s big star is Layla Gutierrez, who’s averaging 14.8 points per game and leads the team in assists with 74. But there’s an up-and-comer right behind her in freshman Jordyn Patrick, who’s scoring 13.7 points per game, averaging 6.5 rebounds, and has a team best 74 steals.

But they’ve also had their share of injuries, leaving them without Amaliyah Jean-Louis, a 5′ 10″ sophomore averaging almost six rebounds per game, out for the rest of the year with a knee injury. And the status of Liaha Paynter (5.5 ppg) is also in question for the remainder of the season, though she won’t suit up Tuesday night either.

That’s not great news considering how deep St. Thomas is. The Trojans have won the last five county tournaments, and while they’ve done it as a young group in the past, they have even more experience now.

One big addition had been a subtraction the year before: Leah Crosby, who transferred after he sophomore year to Rutgers Prep, is back in North Edison, and leading the team with 16.5 points per game and 7.9 rebounds.

The rest reads like a laundry list of stars: Junior Trista Whitney (12.4 ppg), senior Gianna Chuffo (10.3 ppg, team-best 47 treys), and Jordan Barnes (9.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg). And there are four more players averaging at least five points a game.

North Plainfield coach Derek Eatman – in his third season, coinciding with the arrival of Gutierrez and the school’s move from the Skyland Conference to the GMC in 2022-23 – says defense will be the key, limiting STA’s possessions, if they can. They want to keep the score down.

Easier said than done, but that’s why they play the games.

The Canucks will be playing for their first-ever trip to a county final. Besides their first two years in the GMC, they never made the Somerset County Tournament final since the event moved to one tournament in the late ’80s.

Click below to hear previews with both head coaches:

St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Tim Corrigan
North Plainfield head coach Derrick Eatman

by Mike Pavlichko

North Plainfield – now ranked – getting it done with balanced offense, aggressive defense

With more wins than any other girls’ basketball team in the Middlesex or Somerset Counties heading into the Christmas break – other than Gill St. Bernard’s, which is also 5-0 – North Plainfield is having a banner start to 2023.

It’s easily their best in well over a decade, although last season, their second under Derrick Eatman – who’s also the football coach – they did manage to start 2-0 and win five of their first six games.

This year, though, feels a little different.

For one, they have been solid defensively, allowing the opposition only single digit scoring in 14 of the 16 quarters for which box scores are publicly available, and likely not many more in that fifth game.

They’ve also piled up 93 steals in five games. You read that right: 93. That’s 18.6 steals per game!

They just knocked off the last unbeaten from the Red Division, too. That’s Monroe, and a win that will look very good come GMC Tournament seeding time on the Lady Canucks’ resume. Playing tougher out-of-conference foes was a point of emphasis in 2023-24 for Eatman.

And while there’s no one close to leading the county on the team in scoring at 18 or 20 points a game, they are balanced. 

Sophomore Layla Gutierrez is averaging 11.8 a contest to lead North Plainfield, followed by seniors Saionni Patrick (9.2) and Avani Jones (9), then another sophomore, Kaelyn Hester, with 7.4 points per game.

With all that, they’re ranked No. 4 this week in the Bellamy & Son Paving Week 2 Girls’ Basketball Top Ten. They head into the West Orange Holiday Showcase on Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 against Teaneck, then will play either Paterson Eastside or host West Orange Friday, with the consolation game is at 1 pm, the title game at 3 pm.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with North Plainfield girls’ basketball coach Derrick Eatman:

by Mike Pavlichko

Eatman looks to increase numbers to bring winning culture back to North Plainfield

For the North Plainfield football team, it isn’t all about the wins and losses. Not yet.

Of course, they want to win football games, so eventually it will be. But the goal for second-year head coach Derrick Eatman is to increase the number of kids in his program. That will lead to more talent, a deeper team, and – eventually, the hope is – more wins.

Coming off a 1-9 season in his first year with the Canucks, Derrick Eatman will be relying on this year’s team to be the second building block in the house that is North Plainfield football.

Tyrell King and Anthony Penaranda are both wide receivers/d-backs and, more importantly, both juniors, who will be there this year and next to help build the program. Senior Kellan Aurielen will be their mentor, and so on, and so on.

Despite a 34-6 loss at Manchester Township to open the season, there’s still reason to be optimistic for North Plainfield. Voorhees and Governor Livingston are on the schedule before a visit to archrivak South Plainfield on September 15th.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko with North Plainfield head coach Derrick Eatman and junior Anthony Penaranda