Tag: GMC

by Mike Pavlichko

It’s official: St. Joseph-Metuchen names Tim Corrigan new boys’ basketball coach in wake of Mark Taylor’s resignation

In 1993, St. Joseph-Metuchen won its first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament boys’ basketball title, with a young man named Tim Corrigan on the squad.

Now, 33 years later, he is the program’s new head coach, it was announced Wednesday afternoon by the school in a press release. He replaces fellow alum Mark Taylor, who resigned last Friday.

Corrigan signed a contract with St. Joe’s Wednesday morning, and is working on assembling a coaching staff for the upcoming season, which gets underway with practices in less than two months – on November 30th – while the season can officially start as early as December 7th.

“Tim Corrigan is a developer of players and a developer of men,” new Athletic Director Carl Porambo said in the release. “He dominated the Greater Middlesex Conference since 2022, winning four championships for the girls’ team at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Edison and we fully expect him to bring that same success and passion to the boys’ team here.”

The first of those four titles came as an assistant under Joe Whalen, who stepped down as he battled with MS at the end of that championship run. Corrigan had been the head coach the last three years, never losing a single GMC game out of 68 league games played in that span.

But back on September 25th, Corrigan stepped down from is post at Aquinas – as first reported by Simeon Pincus of MyCentralJersey.com – agreeing to become an assistant under Taylor.

By the following Monday, however, word had been spreading in coaching circles and among fans at the St. Joe’s football home game against Phillipsburg – rescheduled from Saturday due to a Nor’easter – that Taylor would not be coaching the team this season. And St. Joseph officially made the announcement last Friday, October 2nd.

Now, less than a week later, St. Joseph has a new man in place, capping a whirlwind couple of weeks intertwining the only two non-public high schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference.

Corrigan went on from St. Joseph to play college ball at Kean University in Union. The then played professionally overseas, getting into coaching while in Norway, then came back and was an assistant at Kean for two seasons. He is the owner of the New Jersey Celtics AAU basketball program for grades three through eleven, and has run the Holy Trinity/NJ Celtics Basketball camp since 2017.

“St. Joe’s didn’t just get a new coach, we got the coach,” Porambo added in the press release. “We can’t wait to watch Coach Corrigan develop our players over the coming season, as we eagerly anticipate the latest chapter in his success.”

Before joining St. Thomas Aquinas under Whalen, Corrigan had been the head coach of the Watchung Hills’ girls program for two years, going 7-8 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and 22-6 the following year before heading down the mountain to North Edison.

St. Thomas Aquinas beat East Brunswick 62-41 to win the 2026 GMC Tournament championship, its record seventh in a row. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Whalen’s team went 22-7 that year, his final season before Corrigan took the reins, who went 69-22 as head coach during his tenure, winning no fewer than 22 games in any of those three seasons, and winning all three GMC Tournament titles, going 12-0 in tournament play.

The Aquinas girls have won the last seven GMC Tournament titles, a record streak for either a boys’ or girls’ team.

Click below to hear new St. Joseph-Metuchen basketball coach Tim Corrigan’s one-on-one with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

With Taylor gone from St. Joseph, Corrigan leaving Aquinas, where does it leave them, and GMC boys’ and girls’ basketball? 

The first announcement was enough to send some shockwaves through the girls’ basketball community in Middlesex county, and came out on a football Friday in the fall, rather than in the Spring or Summer:  third-year St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball coach Tim Corrigan was leaving to become as assistant at his alma mater, St. Joseph of Metuchen, in the boys’ side.

This is the same Trojan program that has won seven straight GMC Tournament championships with very talented players, over three coaches and two school names: the first under Brittney Griffin as Bishop Ahr, the next three under Joe Whalen under original name St. Thomas Aquinas, and the last three under Corrigan.  All have been characterized as a physical, dominating style of play that has led them to unprecedented heights, winning GMC Red Division games by an average 40-plus points.

When the news broke last week via Simeon Pincus of MyCentralJersey.com, the move was a surprise to many, even though Corrigan had taken that track before.  He left his post as head girls’ basketball coach at Watching Hills to join Whalen’s staff at STA, then eventually took over once Whalen stepped down as he dealt with MS.

St. Thomas Aquinas and East Brunswick play in the 40th GMC Tournament Championship Game at Monroe Twp. H.S. on February 20, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

The first question became: what would happen at St. Thomas, where two of their top returning players had transferred out – guards Lauryn Downing to Blair Academy and bug Leah Kearney to CAPS a ademy of Boston, where she’ll be joined by Aleah Sunkins of Franklin, another big loss of star power in New Jersey – and Jordan Barnes graduated and is now playing at Rider.  Numbers have been an issue, and the program had no JV team last season.

St. Thomas has been the dominant program in GMC girls’ hoops for the better part of a decade.  They have not lost a league game since January of 2022 at Monroe, winning 80 straight since, including the regular season and GMCT.  Will there be a vacuum?

At first glance: yes. And every single one of those opponents wants the first crack at them.

Or will they find someone internally or look outside to boost the numbers and keep the streak and dominance alive? Time will tell, but there’s not much time at all, with the season’s first practice less than two months away.

Meanwhile, Corrigan has wanted to coach on the boys’ side for some time now.  He was put his name in the hat, and was very much in the running for the St. Joe’s job the first time around, two years ago, when the Falcons unceremoniously dumped Jan Cocoziello, whose only crime appeared to be not being a part of a decade-long GMC tournament run where the Falcons and won nine of ten championships under Dave Turco and Mike Thompson.

But they were a solid contender year after year, and there was stability.

Enter Karl Towns, the father of one of the school’s most celebrated student-athletes of all-time, Karl-Anthony Towns, who won a Tournament of Champions in 2014, played a year at Kentucky under John Calipari then went to the NBA.  It was a big splash and also brought KAT back into the fold, after he’d all bust disowned the place when they let go of his head coach, Dave Turco in 2017.

But when Karl-Anthony was traded to the Knicks in September 2024, things changed.  His father would be seen often courtside at Madison Square Garden, and St. Joe’s seemed to take a backseat.  His assistants not only were running practices but taking the lead in games.  Eventually, the school and Towns parted ways as the program foundered, punctuated by an early exit from the GMC Tournament.

And so, the school was looking for a new coach again, and again, Corrigan was in the mix.  But when they looked back to the past glories 1983 alum Mark Taylor brought them, both as a player and coach, he became the home run choice.  He mentored Jay Williams and Andrew Bynum, among a host of other major D1 recruits.  He later did the same at St. Benedict’s and even turned around Ridge in Somerset County.  The move seemed like a great fit.  No way Taylor was coming here to lose.

He brought in three high-profile transfers, raising eyebrows across the state.  Aiden Carter was coming in from right down the road at St. Thomas, big man Andrew Kretkowski shuffled over from Rutgers Prep, and Ghana native Joel Patrick signed on as well.  The three helped lead the Falcons to the 2026 GMC Tournament championship – its first in seven years since that nine-in-ten run from 2010 to 2019 – and a 29-2 record.  They were the Central Jersey Sports Radio Boys’ Basketball Team of the Year, too.

St. Joseph’s Andrew Kretkowski (in white) plays defense on Piscataway’s Josh Lima in a GMC Red American Division game in Piscataway on January 3, 2025. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

But then, one by one, they transferred out during the summer: Carter to an academy in Kansas, Kretkowski to a brand-new one in Massachusetts, and Patrick to Montverde in Florida.

And now, whatever brought it about, Taylor is gone, too.

So where does that leave St. Joe’s, besides entering its third coaching search in as many years, and being a program now that will have had four different head coaches in four seasons once 2026-27 tips off?

Again, it’s getting late early to find a new coach. They’ve got one if they want one, in Tim Corrigan, who’s currently in a state of not-his-fault limbo.

To add to it, leadership at the Metuchen school changed over the summer.  President John Nolan retired, and Stephen Balog (Class of ’73) is the interim president.  Football coach Bill Tracy is no longer doubling as Athletic Director, the school also confirmed this week, though he is still listed on the St. Joseph website as such.  (But one can also be relatively certain the Towns and Taylor hirings were not his doing; at least Towns very likely came from above, as the school long wanted to heal the wounds left with his son.) 

One would not have assumed Taylor was going to stay at St. Joseph forever.  Many, when they heard the Corrigan story, figured he might be in line for the job some day (though not today) and it probably sounded like a great opportunity to at least get back in the door of the school he once attended, after coming oh-so-close to landing the head job in 2024 and 2025.  How could it hurt?

At the end of the day, the best course of action very well might be for St. joseph to hand the keys to Corrigan after all. And not just because of the time crunch, and certainly not to settle. In fact, maybe he should have gotten the job three years ago?

Jan Cocoziello’s tenure was the last time St. Joseph had stability.  The Towns hire made headlines, and the kids were surely excited figuring they’d see KAT around more, but the year was pure chaos.  Taylor brought instant success, but even if he’d stayed as coach, he’d have to replace his three biggest stars; would he be able to turn the same trick again so quickly?  The point is moot, though, and now, he’s gone, too.

Then-St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Jan Cocozziello talks to Central Jersey Sports Radio after a 46-42 win at Montgomery on February 22, 2021. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Corrigan has proven to be a very good coach.  He’s an alum.  He has connections that can bring in and develop freshmen.  St. Joe’s has an academic eighth grade “Bridge Program” that can work as a feeder.  They’ve got the infrastructure and the history, and Corrigan is a part of that history.  He was on the very first St. Joe’s team to win the GMC Tournament, in 1993, with Joe Koslick as head coach and one of the greats in John Somogyi also on the staff.

But most importantly, Corrigan’s even-keeled demeanor, the way he runs a program?  He’d be the ideal fit and bring much-needed stability to a program that has always been a winner.  He’s been in the running before, now should be his chance.

Despite a GMC championship last year, the way it all ended, that’s a swing and a miss on the last two hires. St. Joe’s isn’t looking to strike out.

As for the rest of the league, the boys’ coaches wait with baited breath, too. Joe’s may not dominate, at least right away, but they will compete. Face it, the Falcons would have been the odds on favorite to repeat as GMC champions had Taylor, Carter, Kretkowski and Patrick stayed on. But now none are there, and GMC boys’ hoops this year could look more like 2024-25, when it was a wide-open tournament.

You don’t always need a home run to win the game.

by Mike Pavlichko

After just one year in second run, Mark Taylor is out as St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach

When former St. Joseph-Metuchen standout Mark Taylor – Class of 1983 – was hired for a second go ’round with the Falcons back in April of 2025, the news was a big splash in the world of high school basketball in New Jersey.

A standout in the ’80s, he later coached the school in the 90s, responsible for several D1 college players, most notably Jay Williams.

And after a year with Karl Towns, Sr., the father of the school’s biggest name since Williams, Karl-Anthony Towns, leading the program to disastrous effect – the team floundered as he often missed games to watch his son play in at Madison Square Garden, after he was traded from Minnesota to the Knicks, much closer to home – the move seemed like a slam dunk.

But now it’s over, as Taylor – who orchestrated a major turnaround last season, bringing in some high profile transfers like Andrew Kretkowski from Rutgers Prep and Aiden Carter from St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as Joel Patrick from Ghana – has stepped down, school officials confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio Friday afternoon.

Taylor did not immediately return a message from Central Jersey Sports Radio seeking comment.

In a press release posted on the schools’s website issued soon after Central Jersey Sports Radio broke the story, the school said it “wishes Mark Taylor ’83 well following his decision to resign as head basketball coach.”

It also contained a quote from Taylor, saying “Today I am stepping down as head basketball coach of St. Joseph High School to pursue other professional opportunities.  I am grateful to my alma mater for the impact it has had on my life and for the opportunity to coach such fine young men.  I wish Saint Joe’s nothing but the way in the future.”

What’s notable is that all three of his standout transfers from last season had already transferred out over the last few months.  Kretkowski is now at the brand-new Masters Academy International in Massachusetts; Carter is at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas, and Patrick is now at national powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida.

News broke last week, first reported by Simeon Pincus at MyCentralJersey.com, that St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball coach Tim Corrigan had left the Trojan program to join Taylor as an assistant; Corrigan is a St. Joseph alum as well.

School officials could not confirm Corrigan’s status on the record Friday afternoon, saying a search for a new head coach is underway. They would not say whether Corrigan would be in the running for the position. Corrigan says he’s still interested in coaching at St. Joseph, and in being the head coach, but could not comment further on whether he’s officially a candidate.

As a player, Taylor twice went to the Middlesex County Tournament finals – prior to the formation of the Greater Middlesex Conference – then played in College at Fordham. He also in the St. Joseph Athletics Hall of Fame.

He came back to coach at St. Joe’s for eleven seasons, breathing new life into the program, winning two GMCT crowns in six trips to the finals, as well as two state sectional titles and seven division championships.

After that, he went to Ridge, and revived that program as well, winning 94 games in five seasons from 2006 to 2011, more than any other Somerset County public school in that time frame, winning the Somerset County Tournament title in 2010, their first such trophy since 1977.

Taylor then moved to St. Benedict’s, and in 14 seasons, went 333-60, bringing his overall record – compiled from various sources – to 599-171 in 30 seasons overall at the scholastic and prep levels. Current UConn coach Danny Hurley had spent nine years there – with a down year in between – before Taylor arrived and rejuvenated the program.

Overall, he’s produced eight NBA draft picks and over a hundred Division I NCAA players.

by Mike Pavlichko

Dennis McNulty to take the reins at New Brunswick boys’ basketball

When Dennis McNulty stepped down as the boys’ basketball coach at Timothy Christian in Piscataway after six seasons and unprecedented success, the next question was “Where would he land?”

The short answer was at Rutgers Prep, where he signed on as an assistant this past season for Matt Bloom, who’d also been having a successful run as head coach.

But back in mid-August, Bloom also left – not long after Mary Klinger retired was head coach of the girls’ program – and now McNulty is back in the head coaching game, just not with the Argonauts.

The New Brunswick boys’ basketball program announced on Twitter Thursday morning that Dennis McNulty will be its new head coach.

McNulty spent six season as the head coach at Timothy Christian, and was quite successful. The Tigers reached double digit wins each season, even in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign, with standouts like Jalen Fleming – the school’s all-time leading scorer – and big man Chukwudi Raphael Mamah.

In his first season as head coach, he took a 5-19 squad in 2019 and went 15-10 with a third place finish in the GMC Gold Division at 13-5.

His teams were 88-58 overall, and 66-16 in divisional play in the GMC. They shared or won outright three division titles, sharing the 2021-22 Gold Division title with Wardlaw-Hartridge, the 2023-24 Blue Division title with Spotswod, and winning this past season’s Blue title outright, with a 9-1 record.

The Tigers – who were the ten-seed in the 2023 GMC Tournament – also knocked off seventh-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen in the opening round, with a 56-53 road win.

New Brunswick is likely banking on McNulty’s work to turn around Timothy Christian in the hopes he can do the same with the Zebra program, which has struggled in recent years.

New Brunswick was 6-19 last season under Antoine Allen, and 2-8 in the GMC Blue American Division. Allen’s teams never won more than six games in a season, and were 20-88 over his five-year run leading the program. The last time they won at least ten games in a season was an excellent 2019 campaign, going 20-8 (10-2 in the GMC White Division) that season. While they were a one-and-done in the GMC Tournament, New Brunswick, they reached the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group 4 state playoffs, falling 77-72 to Marlboro, after picking up wins over West Windsor-Plainsboro South in the first round and Montgomery in the quarters.

by Marcus Borden

Phillipsburg still #1 in Marcus Borden’s Week 3 Top Ten… plus rankings for BCC West, Middlesex and Union Counties

Thursday night’s matchup between the JP Stevens Hawks and Highland Park Owls was between two proud programs that have struggled in recent years trying to overcome extended losing streaks which in turn caused rosters to be depleted.

Highland Park ended a 51-game losing streak in their final game on November 2, 2023, defeating Point Pleasant Beach, 46-29, whereas Stevens buried their 42-game losing skid in an overtime thriller on September 6, 2024, taking down Bound Brook, 22-21.

I was in attendance for both of those games and I can tell you that the weight of the world was off their shoulders as they were leaping for joy and hugging everyone in sight as tears streamed down their smiling faces!

Kudos to the Big Central Conference braintrust for scheduling these two rebuilding teams to face each other as they continue to bring their programs back to competiveness and respectability.

The visiting Owls wasted little time making their presence known as Senior quarterback Marcus Smith would score on their 3rd play from scrimmage going 48 yards to paydirt. The defense led by Smith, Jacob Quiros, Duan Fleming, Ziquan Grier and a host of others would stifle the Hawks offense as their own would put up 36 first half points forcing a running clock for the 2nd half. Bryce Morales would make the final score 43-0 on a 13-yard scamper late in the 3rd quarter.

Friday nigh,t I was at Columbia Park in Dunellen, as the Destroyers hosted Belvidere in white uniforms as their new, navy jerseys have yet to arrive.

Belvidere would win the toss and defer the choice until the 2nd half. The Seaters would stop the Destroyers new spread offense on their first series and proceed to score quickly with Junior quarterback Jake Enderley finding his elusive wide receiver Elijah White – a four-year starter for the Seaters – and the early 7-0 lead.

Enderley would execute a perfect option pitch to Kaiden Drake for a 33-yard score in the second quarter, followed by his own 23-yard cutback run for a 21-0 lead late in the second quarter.

Dunellen would muster a drive toward the scoreboard end of the field coming up short on a 4th down play to the Seaters 2-yard line with 1:23 before halftime. They would be rewarded a safety as they tackled the ball carrier as they snap sailed over the quarterback’s head. The halftime score would stand at 21-2

The combination of Enderley to White would account for a 55-yard score on the first play of the third quarter and a 97-yard hitch pass down the visitor’s sideline for a 35-2 lead with 40 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter which meant there would be a running clock for the remainder of the game.

Senior linebacker Kayden Thorpe would cap the scoring with a 60-yard interception return making the final score 42-2 as the Belvidere improved their record to 2-1. Dunellen would fall to 0-2.

Here are my Week 3 Top Tens for the entire Big Central Conference, plus the BCC West, Middlesex County and Union Count

by Marcus Borden

Piscataway moves up; Rahway, Union join Marcus Borden’s Week 2 Top Ten… plus rankings for BCC West, Middlesex and Union Counties

We are fully underway in the Big Central, with every team playing in Week One, as ten teams who did not start the season in Week Zero made their debut.

This past Thursday, I was in Springfield for Jonathan Dayton’s home opener versus Bound Brook on their newly refurbished stadium turf field.

The Bulldogs scored early and often as Senior quarterback Adrian Bernknopf’s dominant first half passing performance of 11 completions in 14 attempts for 160 yards and five touchdowns to four different receivers made it an early night for the starters on offense and defense as Dayton’s 43-6 halftime lead meant the Junior Varsity would play the second half with a running clock.

Senior RB/LB Tyler Fuscaldo was a physically dominant performer on both sides of the ball as well as WR/DB Jackson Babiarz who had 2 receiving touchdowns while Junior Dominic Pintado who returned an interception 61 yards, led the defense with eight tackles.

Friday night I made my way to Hugh P. Walsh Field in Monroe as the Falcons hosted Governor Livingston in their new blackout uniforms before a raucous student section which was entirely blacked out as well.

Sophomore Xavier Wilson would break off an 85-yard touchdown run showing his shiftiness and speed late in the first quarter putting the home team up 7-0.

The Highlanders and Falcons traded punches with Monroe containing GL’s running game and and putting plenty of pressure on their sophomore quarterback. Neither team would score in the second quarter.

Monroe would punt on its first possession of the third quarter and then stop the visitors on 4th down. On their very next possession Senior Ghayoor Abbas finds fellow classmate Logan Richter on a 35-yard fourth down pass for a 14-0 lead heading into the final stanza.

“Mr. 4th down” would strike again as Richter would take the handoff from Abbas on a jet sweep barreling through defenders for a 3-yard TD and a 21-0 lead with 7:28 remaining in the game

The Highlanders would get to within 21-7 when Colin Hughes hit Parker Chatfield for a 6-yard TD at 3:44 remaining in the game.

Monroe’s Wilson would go 80-yards bouncing off would-be-tacklers down the home sideline making the final score 28-7 giving the Falcons their first win of the young season.

On Saturday, St. Joseph faced visiting Bridgewater in a much anticipated heavy-weight battle between two highly successful programs.

Both teams would shake off the jitters turning the ball over in their early possessions as two sophomore signal callers found out what it was like to be in a “playoff atmosphere” in just the 2nd week of the season!

The Falcons would strike first as Cole Seyler would find paydirt first late in the first quarter on a 13-yard run. Bridgewater end up punting with 15 seconds to end the quarter down 7-0.

Seyler would waste little time giving Joes a 14-0 at the 9:31 mark in the second quarter with a 39-yard pass to Maddox Mingucci down the middle of the field.

The Panthers would rely on the power of their 210 lb. feature back Jahmier Black who would score on a 1-yard plunge followed by a 2-point swinging gate conversion making it 14-8.

Joes would methodically march down the field and score on a 9-yard Seyler to Noonan corner route making it 21-8 as the first half came to a close.

Both teams would trade punts and turn the ball over before Dominic Rodriguez busted a 59-yard run down the home sideline for a 28-8 lead at 6:26 in the third quarter.

Bridgwater would follow that with their own drive as Jonathan Okolo would score on a 2-yard at 3:46 while drawing to within 28-15.

In the 4th quarter Bridgewater would put the ball into the hands of their powerful back as Black would score from 9-yards and 26-yards bringing the Panthers into the lead 29-28 with 9:59 remaining in the game.

Nick Trust would score on a 7-yard pass from Seyler at 8:05 in the 4th quarter regaining the lead at 35-29.

Both teams would turn the ball over before Seyler finds Dillon Diaz for a 28-yard score and a 43-29 lead with 5:39 remaining in the game.

Bridgewater would close the gap to 43-36 on a 1-yard Black touchdown with 2:47 remaining in the contest. The ensuing insides was recovered by the visitors, however the Falcons defense was able to put the finishing touches on a hard-fought battle between two teams that laid it all on the line in this early season matchup!

Here are my Week 2 Top Tens for the entire Big Central Conference, plus the BCC West, Middlesex County and Union County:

by Marcus Borden

Marcus Borden unveils Big Central Week 1 Top Ten, debuts Union, Middlesex and BCC West Rankings

Thursday’s opening slate of games had to be rescheduled as Mother Nature did not cooperate with severe thunderstorms ravaging the Garden State.

This forced me to adjust my coverage plans which meant I would head west to Delaware Valley who was hosting neighboring North Hunterdon at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

Unfortunately I would not be able to attend Old Bridge’s game in Ocean City as they were taking on Shawnee H.S. in the Battle at the Beach. Their game was delayed over an hour as the Southern half of the state was under a severe weather alert.

The Terriers led by QB/LB Junior Chase Kraucheunas, WR/LB Brayden Picardo-Leask, RB/LB Ben Culberson, G/LB Marcus Gary, Brayden Costello WR/DB/PK and a host of underclassmen blanked the visiting Lions 17-0 in front of a raucous and packed Stadium on Senator Stout Rd. in Frenchtown, NJ.

If you have never been at Delaware Valley H.S. for a football game, I recommend you take the trip in October when the fall foliage is in full bloom!

Here are my Week 1 Top Tens for the entire BCC, BCC West, BCC Middlesex and BCC Union.

by Mike Pavlichko

Greater Middlesex Conference releases new alignments for 2027 baseball season with few changes

The Greater Middlesex Conference opted to make very few changes when it released its baseball alignments for the 2027 season last week.

But perhaps the biggest move was one that did not happen.

Middlesex – coming off a GMC White Division championship – did not move up from to the Red Division, despite the Blue Jays’ division title, and the fact that “moving up” division winners has become more and more common in the GMC and other leagues, as they tend to veer away from using mainly school size as a determining factor.

White Division champs have moved to the Red for each of the past two seasons, as the trend started to take hold around the state.

St. Thomas Aquinas won the GMC White Division in 2024, then moved up to the Red for 2025. The year before, in a five-division alignment for 2023 that was short-lived – for just two seasons, the first in 2022 – Woodbridge won the White Division, and moved up to the Red for 2024, and stayed there in 2026. Sayreville won the White in 2022, but stayed in the division for 2023 and has remained there since.

But a move for Middlesex would have been unprecedented for the GMC, which traditionally has included the largest schools in the county, generally Group 4 schools; the Blue Jays are in Group 1, which includes the state’s smallest.

Ultimately, there are only four teams who will find new homes next season.

  • JFK: The Mustangs finished last in the White Division in 2026, and move down one to the Blue Division for 2027.
  • Piscataway Magnet: The Gold Division champions had a magical year, setting a program record with 25 wins, winning their first 18 games, earned their first-ever state tournament win and reached the Central Jersey Group 1 semifinals. The Raiders move up to the Blue Division for 2027.
  • East Brunswick Magnet, New Brunswick: Coming off a head-to-head matchup in the Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational in 2025 – won by the Zebras – they finished seventh and eighth in the eight-team Blue Division last season, and move down to the Gold for 2027.

The 2027 GMC Baseball divisions are as follows:

  • Red:  East Brunswick, Edison, Monroe, Old Bridge, St. Joseph,  St. Thomas Aquinas, South Plainfield, Woodbridge
  • White:  Colonia, Middlesex, Metuchen, Perth Amboy, Sayreville, South Brunswick, Spotswood
  • Blue:  Carteret, JFK, JP Stevens, North Brunswick, North Plainfield, Piscataway, Piscataway Magnet, South River
  • Gold:  Dunellen, East Brunswick Magnet, Highland Park, New Brunswick, Perth Amboy Magnet, South Amboy, Somerset Tech, Timothy Christian
by Mike Pavlichko

After nearly a decade, and a half-million dollars donated, Marisa Tufaro Foundation wraps up its charitable mission

Ten years would have been a nice round number.

But so is a half-million dollars.

That’s what the Marisa Tufaro Foundation has donated has donated to families and pediatric patients, charitable organizations and scholarship efforts around the state since its founding nine years ago, on July 30, 2017.

But all good things must come to an end, and the group’s founders have announced the end of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s charitable mission.

It was created by longtime Home News Tribune/MyCentralJersey sportswriter Greg Tufaro and his wife, Cyndi, in memory of their daughter, Marisa, who tragically passed away in January of 2017, on what would have been her 14th birthday.

Born with a cardiac defect, she survived six open heart surgeries and a heart transplant, but ultimately and heartbreakingly lost a valiant battle against a rare form of cancer.

Marisa Tufaro. (Photo courtesy Greg Tufaro)

Marisa had been hospitalized for more than two years, and yet was still able to be an honor roll student in Edison public schools and lived a “vibrant life that inspired,” the Tufaros said in a press release.

“We are eternally grateful and appreciative beyond words to all who have donated, volunteered, or hosted a charity event for our nonprofit, which has immensely benefited from the extraordinary kindness of thousands of supporters,” the Tufaros said in the release. “Through the remarkable generosity of others, we have been blessed and privileged to make a profound impact on countless lives. We have also been able to keep alive Marisa’s indomitable spirit and allow her legacy to be one of helping children in need.”

In all that time, there were toy collections, food collections, winter coat collections. There were school and baby supplies, children’s books, and many other physical donations that aren’t even included among the $500,000 raised and distributed.

Fundraisers included the large and small, from lemonade stands to GMC all-star games, and the Marisa Rose Bowl.

Greg Tufaro, who co-founded the Marisa Tufaro Foundation with his wife Cyndi, talks to Team Marisa and Team Rose after the inaugural Marisa Rose Bowl in 2022. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Over the nine years of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation’s existence, nearly 60 high school seniors received $41,500 in scholarship money, and dozens more were able to spend a week at a summer art camp at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers in New Brunswick.

And the foundation gave back to many of the hospitals that treated Marisa, from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and more.

At home with Marisa Tufaro and the Tufaro family pup, Duncan. (Photo courtesy Greg Tufaro)

The foundation also was recognized as the Edison Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 “Organization of the Year,” was named a “Community Champion” in 2023 by the Metuchen/Edison/Woodbridge/South Amboy YMCA, and was a Hands of Hope Tee Off Against Hunger honoree in 2024 for “dedicated efforts in fostering positive change within the community.”

by Mike Pavlichko

Revisiting the matching of a playoff-era Middlesex County shutout record: another Aquinas team had a similar season before Piscataway

With the closure of Gridiron New Jersey, our work to publish the entire collection of NJSIAA playoff brackets from 1974 to the present left us a lot of research to be done. But we learned a lot about the history of the playoffs in the process. And one of them pertained to an incredible feat by the St. Thomas Aquinas football team in 2021 under the late Brian Meeney.

That much we knew already.

It was the first full year of Big Central Conference play, which should have been 2020 except for a global pandemic. And STA matched a feat many thought they wouldn’t see challenged for a while.

The Trojansset a new school record with seven shutouts, and nearly went the whole regular season without giving up a single point. That tied the mark of seven Piscataway had in its 2004 season, the second under Dan Higgins, who’s now in his 22nd season as the Chiefs’ head coach, second only to Rich Marchesi of South River, entering his 39th year.

We knew that, too.

Not counting a forfeit win over South River, St. Thomas started with a modest 6-0 win over Woodstown in its September 3 opener. Then then blew out Roselle, Spotswood and Johnson by a combined 148-0. And after South River had to give up their October second game against Aquinas, they pitched three more shutouts, 51-0 over Belvidere, 41-0 over Middlesex and 59-0 over Governor Livingston before picking up a 12-9 win over Delaware Valley in their regular season finale, allowing their first points of the season on a second quarter touchdown.

While it wasn’t the same level of competition, Piscataway had seven shutouts on its ledger in 2024, a team that had some tremendous players, and that’s an understatement. That Chiefs’ team went 12-0, won the Central Jersey Group 4 title, and had future NFL first round draft picks Kyle Wilson, Malcolm Jenkins and Anthony Davis.

And while seven other Middlesex County teams had seven shutouts in a season – all before the playoff era – we also noticed that St. Thomas – then known as Bishop Ahr – had a six-shutout season in the 1980s.

In fact, it was 1984, and their sixth shutout came in the Parochial South A title game, as the fourth-seeded Trojans upset second-seed Holy Cross of Delran, 12-0. That title was their first of three straight, the only ones the program has won in the history of the North Edison parochial school.

That game saw a scoreless first half until Ahr broke through, with the help of its defense – which held Notre Dame in the previous round to six first downs – and just three in the first three quarters. Head coach Tony Aschettino said he was “confident our defense would hold up and (I) told myself we’d get a break or two.”

That they did, as junior defensive back Tom Simon recovered a fumble on the Holy Cross 28, and the ensuing offensive possession got a 38-yard field goal from Tom Withke. Pressure defense on a punt resulted in great field position, and a 42-yard touchdown drive capped by a three-yard run by Joe McLaughlin. And a third score came from Alexis Greaves on a 19-yard run after Ahr got the ball of a Simon interception at the Holy Cross 47.

That team could run the ball, as Graves led the team with 1,121 yards and McLaughlin chipped in 1,005, the first time the Trojan program had two thousand-yard rushers in a single season.

That team finished 10-1, with five regular season shutouts, along with both playoff victories. While we don’t have the chronological order, the ranks of the whitewashed included:

  • Carteret, 35-0
  • North Brunswick, 28-0
  • South Brunswick, 21-0
  • Newark-West Side, 24-0
  • Notre Dame, 30-0 (Parochial South A First Round/Semifinals)
  • Holy Cross, 17-0 (Parochial South A Final)