Getting 21 points from sophomore Tyler VanLeeuwen and 18 more from senior Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage, Spotswood pulled away after a tight first half to a 78-43 win in a Greater Middlesex Conference crossover game at Highland Park.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen call all the play-by-play from Highland Park High School on January 20, 2026.
Last season, Spotswood head coach Steve Mate called newcomer Tyler VanLeeuwen a freshman sensation.
“I see big things for him,” said veteran head coach Steve Mate.
His sophomore year? He’s even better, and what’s best is he knows there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
VanLeeuwen scored 21 points Tuesday night – ten above his average and five shy of a career high he just set Saturday against JFK – in a 78-43 road win over Highland Park in a GMC crossover game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
And he did it almost entirely on two-point field goals, with one three, and a trio of foul shots.
The game was tight early, with two lead changes in the first half, and Highland Park had a three-point lead as they bombed away from three. Evangelinos Kambitsis had 12 first-half points, all from downtown, and of their eight first-half field goals, seven were from beyond the arc, many from two or more feet behind the line.
But Spotswood took an 18 point lead into halftime, 48-30, and never looked back, clamping down on defense in the second half. The Owls only had three triples the rest of the way as the Chargers extended their defense.
Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage finished with 18 and Leo Carone added 15, including three treys. Spotswood (8-6) now has won four straight, their best stretch of the year as they jockey for position in the Central Jersey Group 2 power point standings.
Kambitsis was high scorer for the Owls (4-12) with 16, while Cooper Ballentine added 11, chipping in three treys himself.
While the two former GMC Blue Division rivals hadn’t played in four years, it was the Chargers’ eleventh straight win against Highland Park, dating back to January of 2012.
The victory also was the 494th of Steve Mate’s 35-year coaching career. He was 34-49 in four years at Verona before landing in Spotswood for the 1995-96 season, amassing a 460-335 record. The Dean of GMC coaches is now 494-384 overall.
Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with head coach Steve Mate and sophomore Tyler VanLeeuwen, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!
Just about everything about Tuesday night’s Greater Middlesex Conference crossover meeting between Spotswood and Highland Park will have an old-school feel to it.
The two are longtime GMC Blue Division rivals. You know, before teams started going in every different division, moving up or down based on their recent success. But they haven’t played each other in four years.
The Chargers are coached by Steve Mate, who’s just seven wins away from 500 for his career, and his been at Spotswood for 31 of his 35 years as a head coach, the first four coming at Verona.
And the game – which can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – will tip-off at 7 pm. That’s when everyone played “back in the day,” until participation numbers dwindled to the point where some schools don’t even have JV programs.
So, yes, Tuesday night should be a fun one.
You can hear it live from Highland Park with pregame at 6:45, and Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen on the call. Click here to listen.
It could also be an intense one. Spotswood comes in at 7-6 with a very young team; the starting lineup consists of one senior – Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage – along with just one junior, a sophomore, and two freshmen. Mate is high on the group, but knows it may take some time before they get close to scratching the surface of their full potential.
And they’ll be looking to make a run and improve their 11th place standing in the Central Jersey Group 2 power point standings.
Highland Park sits at No. 21 in Central Jersey Group 1, but everyone between then and the top 16 – and a few in it – are below .500, so the question becomes, “Why not them?” A few wins strung together could really turn the tide, and catapult them up the standings.
They are more of a senior-laden group, led by Evangelos Kambitsis, scoring 11.7 points a game. Assistant Coach Matt DeCeglie – who’s filling in while head coach Colin Copperthwaite is on leave following the birth of his first child, a daughter named Kennedy – says he’s “as tough as they come.”
Two teams in search of some wins have all the makings of an old-time rivalry, renewed.
Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:
After a big 15-0 run to break a 26-all tie and end the third quarter, Manville had to sweat one out, as the Mustangs hung on to beat Highland Park 48-46 in the opener of their own holiday tournament Friday afternoon.
Manville (3-2) got 12 points apiece from junior Jonathon Gosk and sophomore Owen Kenyon, the second of whom scored six straight points in that third-quarter run, with and and-one followed by a triple.
The teams played a tight first quarter, with the Owls (2-4) taking a 2-0 lead, but ending the first eight minutes down 12-8. The second quarter saw Highland Park close on a 13-4 run to make it a tie game at 22 at the break.
The second half was back-and-forth early, with the teams trading buckets, and they were knotted up at 26.
Owls head coach Colin Copperthwaite called a time out at that point, with 4:55 to go in the third, just to settle things down a little. But over the next three minutes, the Mustangs went on a 12-0 run to take a 38-26 lead, forcing Highland Park to call another time out. Manville finished the half on a 15-0 run to take a 41-26 lead into the final period.
That’s when Evangelinos Kambitsis came alive, hitting a pair of threes early in the fourth. Cooper Ballentine scored a couple, and all of a sudden, the Owls were within nine. After a three by Ballantine, and another by Kambitsis, Manville’s lead was slashed to three. With the ball, and a minute to go, Highland Park again called time out.
They got a good look at a three but missed, and couldn’t convert on two putbacks. A foul put Manville at the line, where Collin Shimp missed a pair with 25.6 seconds left. The Owls got the rebound, but a pass up the floor went out of bounds on the sideline. Manville got fouled again with 13.4 to go, and this time Josh D’Ambrosio split a pair, making the second, putting them up by four.
But Highland Park couldn’t quickly get a good look, and settled for a late bucket to make it 48-46, as the clock ran out with just a few seconds left, and the Owls out of time outs.
The Manville Holiday Basketball Tournament resumes Tuesday for the boys, with the Consolation Game at 3 pm and the Championship at 7.
The Consolation will feature Dunellen (2-3) and Highland Park, while the Mustangs will meet North Plainfield (1-4). The Canucks got their first win of the season Friday, beating the Destroyers 56-32 behind a game-high 17 points from Cayden Prince. It was a solid defensive effort in the game from North Plainfield, which led 32-11 at the break; the Canucks also hit seven times from beyond the arc.
Click below to hear Manville head coach Bill Rooney talk about the Mustangs’ win over Highland Park with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
With Friday night’s Cutoff Weekend high school football games all in the books, Central Jersey Sports Radio is updating the unofficial NJSIAA playoff standings as we head into Saturday action.
We’ll have further analysis late morning into the afternoon Saturday, with our 2025 “Playoff Projection Show” scheduled for 6 pm where we give our bracket projections. The full tournament for the public schools will be unveiled on Sunday by the NJSIAA via Gridiron New Jersey. We’ll have them shortly after. The brackets become official at noon on Monday.
NORTH GROUP 1
SOUTH GROUP 1
It’s Cutoff Weekend in New Jersey high school football, and we’re taking a look at the playoff scenarios for every Big Central team in contention.
This week, Strength Index values are locked in, and out-of-state opponent SI values also have been updated by Gridiron New Jersey, which does all the official calculations of the NJ UPR formula for the NJSIAA. And we’ve double- and triple-checked our own standings to make sure they match with Gridiron’s.
We’ll have another update to the standings after Friday night’s games – yes, there are Thursday games, but none in the BCC, and we’ll only update if there are significant changes.
And, of course, Central Jersey Sports Radio will have its annual “Playoff Projection Show,” airing LIVE on Saturday at 6 pm. Mike Pavlichko hosts with analyst Marcus Borden, and they’ll run through all the projected brackets. Plus, you’ll hear from some of the league’s coaches as well.
Here’s our breakdown of the Group 1 supersections. We won’t be getting into how the brackets look just yet, but we’ll do that with our update after Friday night’s Week 8 action. Click the supersection header to see the official standings on Gridiron New Jersey.
In a Big Central Conference Freedom Gold Division matchup, Anthony Cianfrocca and Nasir Cheston each scored twice to power Roselle Park to a 35-12 road win over the Highland Park Owls.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Vin Ebenau call all the play-by-play live from Jay Dakelman Field at Joseph Policastro Stadium in Highland Park, NJ, October 10, 2025:
Two long drives told the story of this game, Roselle Park’s first of each half.
The Wing-T is difficult enough to defend, but when you have strong runningbacks that are tough to bring down, that makes it even tougher.
Three of those backs were on display Friday night for the Panthers in a 35-20 win at Highland Park, the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Nick Salas, Anthony Cianfrocca and Nasir Cheston routinely dragged defenders an extra five, ten, fifteen yards on play after play.
But those two drives.
The first took 7:38 off the clock in the first quarter, after the Owls failed to score on their first possession, It went eight plays for 82 yards and still took more than half the period. Cheston took his first touch of the game nine yards into the end zone to cap the drive.
The second came right after halftime. The Panthers took 15 plays this time, and 8:36 off the clock, finished off by quarterback Anthony Damiano, his first run of the game. He got a little push from behind on fourth-and-goal from less than a yard out, giving his team 28-12 lead with 3:02 left in the third.
Cianfrocca finished with 177 yards on 13 carries unofficially, with two touchdowns.
Roselle Park, now 4-2, still may not make the playoffs. They were 23rd in the North 1 supersection entering the weekend, and should tick up slightly. But with two of their four wins over winless teams in Dunellen and South River, and another coming up next week at JP Stevens, the odds are quite long, and they’d have to beat Spotswood – undefeated coming into the weekend – on Cutoff Weekend to have a prayer. It’s no fault of their own, just the schedule they’re dealt.
Highland Park drops to 2-4 after having started 2-0, and visits undefeated Manville (7-0) next Friday night.
Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen with senior runningback Anthony Cianfrocca and head coach Greg Dunkerton:
Friday night, when Roselle Park travels to Highland Park for a Big Central Conference Freedom Division game, both certainly need a win. But the effect on the playoff race for both teams will be markedly different.
Their records aren’t much different. The Owls are 2-3, with the Panthers are 3-2. But Roselle Park – despite the better record – is sitting at 24th place in the North Group 1 supersection, eight spots out of a playoff berth. Highland Park is in 14th in South Group 1.
It might not even be that one section is stronger than the other. Even though only seven teams in North Group 1 have an OSI over 40, and the first 14 are all 40 or higher in the North, Roselle Park would still be in a similar situation in the South.
Of Roselle Park’s three wins, two are over winless teams in South River and Dunellen, whose SI values average around 25. In fact, Dunellen is under 20, which kicks in the NJSIAA rule that – for OSI purposes – no team can be awarded fewer than 20 points for a win, and ten for a loss (Dunellen’s SI is calculated as 20 for playoff seeding purposes).
Fortunately, they have better competition this week. They’ll probably have to win at Spotswood to get in on Cutoff Weekend, but … one game at a time.
For the Owls, they also need wins. They finished 6-3 last season at the cutoff, but didn’t make it. If they keep winning, they should be able to fend off the teams behind them.
But Friday’s game – the first in a “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving twin-bill this week – is all that matters now. Both teams need to win.
The Owls have a new quarterback with the graduation of Markos Hantsoulis, but his cousins Kosta and Stamatis remain, and new QB Marcus Smith – a junior – has looked good, passing for 526 yards and five touchdowns through five games. Defensively, they have six sacks, led senior defensive end by Matthew Adamczyk-Zapor with two.
For Roselle Park, they’re more a run-heavy team, with three ball carriers in triple digits, led by junior Nick Salas (75 carries, 459 yards, and a team-best 17 touchdowns). Senior QB Anthony Damiano has thrown for 351 yards on the year and four TDs. He’s not turnover prone – with just one pick – but they just don’t throw it a lot. He’s only attempted 32 passes this season, and doesn’t run it a lot either. He lets the backs do that.
Defensively, though, they get after it. Damiano has two interceptions on the year, one for a touchdown, and is one of three players with two sacks apiece, while senior Jose Candelaria leads the Panthers with three.
You can hear Friday night’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Vin Ebenau on the call. Kickoff is at 7 pm, pregame at 6:45. Click here to listen.
Click below to hear preview interviews from both head coaches:
For as much as the NJSIAA’s playoff formula does its best to balance competing ideas – getting the best teams in, but cutting down on travel – the Big Central Conference has two unbeaten teams in Group 1, but they are in very different circumstances.
New Providence (5-0) is one of the two top seeds in the North supersection, but Manville (6-0) is eighth overall in the South.
Some of that has to do with strength of schedule, and some has to do with the South having very strong teams. Manville’s OSI is a 39.64, while New Providence is at 54.10. Manville is boosted by its power point average; at 9.50, it’s fifth best in the section, but their OSI is ninth.
New Providence is the only area team in the North, but they’re not guaranteed of anything yet. They’re just 2.4 points ahead of Kinnelon with three very winnable games, but none that should hurt them too much: Verona, Bound Brook and Delaware Valley. The fact that the Crusaders have been a pleasant surprise this year is a big boost, just as it’s been for Spotswood in Group 2.
On the South side of things, we’ve got three Big Central teams in the hunt right now. Manville – should the Mustangs win out – are very likely to hold on to a top four spot in Central Jersey Group 1, and being one of the Northernmost teams in the supersection, will stay there regardless of what happens. At seven and eight in Central Group 1 are Highland Park (2-3) and Bound Brook (4-2).
The Crusaders have a brutal schedule the rest of the way. After Middlesex this week, they have two teams that have yet to lose a game: New Providence and Manville. Then again, losses may not kill them, but they have to at least beat the Blue Jays this week and maybe win one of two against either the Pioneers or Mustangs.
As for Highland Park, they have a big one Friday night at home against Roselle Park. They missed the playoffs last year at 6-3, so they can’t take anything for granted. There are even some three-win teams out of the picture who could bump them if they slip, including Maple Shade and Gateway (both 3-3) and KIPP Cooper Norcross (3-2). And who knows, maybe Middlesex (10th, 3.2 UPR out of the playoffs) could make a run. Highland Park likely has to win one of the next two – they’re at Manville next week – to stay in, as even a win at South River (0-6, SI 30.34) on Cutoff Weekend may hurt them.
Middlesex closes with Bound Brook home, JFK on the road, and home to Belvidere on Cutoff Weekend.
