Tag: HS Football

by Mike Pavlichko

Shaun O’Hara Senior Bowl is off in 2026, victim of low participation, but could come back next year

After two years, the Shaun O’Hara Senior Bowl won’t be played this year, but not for a lack of trying.

Though the game was a fun – and one last opportunity to take the high school field for dozens of student-athletes – Hillsborough head coach Kevin Carty, Jr., who organized the game with now-former Watchung Hills head coach Rich Seubert – told Central Jersey Sports Radio Wednesday that the game will not be held this year because they don’t have enough players to participate.

The Shaun O’Hara Senior Bowl – an all-star senior game featuring mainly players from Somerset County, but also from the rest of the Skyland Conference teams that play in the Big Central for football – came about in 2023. It was the successor to the Basilone Bowl, which began in 2013 in conjunction with the Marine Corps, with the goal of raising money to help wounded soldiers.

But like everything else after the COVID-19 pandemic, things took a toll, and the game failed to make a profit in the 2022 edition, which led then-Montogmery head coach Zoran Milich – who was helping organize the game at that point – to announce it was going on hiatus to reorganize and focus its efforts on 2024.

With the involvement of Sean O’Hara – a standout at Hillsborough High School, with Rutgers, and the NFL’s New York Giants – and hos Shaun O’Hara Foundation, the game got new life in 2024, and was held at his alma mater that year and last June as well.

Carty says only 55 players had opted to participate, which would have meant about 22 per team, not counting the occasional drop-out from players, and that simply wouldn’t have been enough to hold practices or play the game.

Carty did say that there was the possibility the game could be revisited next year, if enough players opt-in.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Hillsborough head football coach Kevin Carty Jr. about the future of the Shaun O’Hara Senior Bowl:

PAST COVERAGE OF THE SHAUN O’HARA SENIOR BOWL:

by Mike Pavlichko

South Brunswick hires Mike Gerst away from Fort Lee to lead Viking football program

The South Brunswick football program has a new head coach, as Mike Gerst has been hired to take over the Vikings for the 2026 season.

The hire was approved by the Board of Education last Thursday evening, according to Athletic Director Edward Knapp.

The 32-year-old Gerst comes to the Monmouth Junction school from Fort Lee, where he spent the last two years in his first head coaching job.

The Bridgemen were 16-3 under Gert’s leadership, going 7-3 in his inaugural season, and 9-0 last year, including 7-0 in the Super Football Conference’s Ivy Red Division. Ivy Divisions are meant for smaller schools that are rebuilding, and are ineligible for the state playoffs. Fort Lee has won eleven straight games, going back to its last two contests of the 2024 season.

The 9-0 record was the first in over a hundred years of football at Fort Lee, Gerst told Central Jersey Sports Radio on Tuesday.

Gerst replaces Ibrahim Halsey, who had come to South Brunswick from Roselle in 2024, the same year Gerst landed the Fort Lee job. Halsey was 7-12 in two seasons, failing to make the playoffs either year. The Vikings last qualified for the postseason in 2023, in the final year under Joe Goerge, who left South Brunswick to take the head job at Woodbridge, replacing Joe LaSala, now the Offensive Coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Montclair State.

Former Fort Lee head coach Mike Gerst coaching up one his players. (Source: @mcgerst21 on Instagram)

A Bergen Catholic grad mentored for two years each by Fred Stengel, then Nunzio Campanile, Gerst played collegiately at Columbia, then Garden City Community College in Kansas, and later Division II football in Texas. Gerst previously was an assistant coach at Passiac Valley in 2017 under Chet Parlevecchio – the father of the former New Providence coach, Chet Parlevecchio, Jr. – and later spent three years as an offensive assistant at Wayne Valley.

Knapp says he’s “very happy” and “excited that Mike’s on board,” telling Central Jersey Sports Radio he believes he’s “going to do great things this season.”

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with new South Brunswick football head coach Mike Gerst:

by Mike Pavlichko

Watchung Hills veteran Joe Ascolese promoted from OC to head coach of Warrior football program after departure of Rich Seubert

Joe Ascolese, the Watchung Hills football team’s Offensive Coordinator who has spent nearly two decades on the program’s staff over two stints, has been named the Warrriors’ new head coach, following the recent departure of Rich Suebert.

The move was approved Tuesday night by the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education, according to Athletic Director Dan Root.

The 45-year-old Ascolese has been the team’s OC since 2019, and also was with the program as an assistant from 2005 through 2015. In between, he coached split ends, tight ends and defensive backs at A.L. Johnson in Clark.

He has also been a physical education and health teacher at Watchung Hills for more than two decades, and was named Watchung Hills Regional High School Educator of the Year in 2024.

This will be his first head coaching job.

Seubert stepped down in late March after a ten-year run leading the Warrior football program. He turned the program’s fortunes around in a few years, getting the team to .500 at 5-5 in 2019, and went 5-2 in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

The Warriors’ best two seasons under his tutelage came in 2022 and 2023. The first of those teams went 7-3, while the ’23 squad went 8-3, with an opening round playoff win over Bridgewater-Raritan, just the program’s second playoff win ever. In 2023, Seubert was named Somerset County Coach of the Year by the Bill Denny/Rutgers Football Letterwinners Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Seubert’s squads finished 41-57 over ten seasons, and Athletic Director Dan Root says Seubert’s impact was felt more than just in terms of wins and losses, and Xs and Os on the football field.

“We were very fortunate to have him as our head coach for as long as we did,” Root told CJSR Saturday morning via text message. “He gave so much to the program, the school and the community, and for that I am incredibly grateful. I know that ultimately whatever he decides to do, he will be successful.”

Suebert was a starter on the Giants’ offensive line in their Cinderella Super Bowl XLII run that culminated with a 17-14 win over New England, the David Tyree “Helmet Catch” game. According to the Giants website, he played in 104 games for Big Blue with 88 starts over nine seasons after joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2001.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Joe Ascolese about taking over the Watchung Hills football program:

by Mike Pavlichko

Watchung Hills football coach Rich Seubert steps down after a decade leading the Warriors

After retiring from football with the New York Giants in his mid-30s with a Super Bowl ring on his finger, Wisconsin native Rich Seubert and his family moved to California for a few years, where he coached a little football at the high school level.

But eventually, he came back to the East Coast, returning to New Jersey, and started coaching the offensive line at Watchung Hills. One year later, in the summer of 2016, he was promoted to head coach.

Now, after ten years, Seubert has stepped down as the program’s mentor. Seubert said in a text message to Central Jersey Sports Radio Saturday morning that it was “just time to move on,” but notes he “loved his time coaching” and said he would continue to be around the area, since his daughter is a freshman at Watchung Hills.

Seubert inherited a 4-6 program from 2015, but the Warriors struggled early on, going 2-8, 4-6, and 0-10 in his first three seasons. Then, things turned around, as Watchung Hills got to .500 at 5-5 in 2019, and went 5-2 in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

The Warriors’ best two seasons under his tutelage came in 2022 and 2023. The first of those teams went 7-3, while the ’23 squad went 8-3, with an opening round playoff win over Bridgewater-Raritan, just the program’s second playoff win ever.

In 2023, Seubert was named Somerset County Coach of the Year by the Bill Denny/Rutgers Football Letterwinners Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Seubert’s squads finished 41-57 over ten seasons, and Athletic Director Dan Root says Seubert’s impact was felt more than just in terms of wins and losses, and Xs and Os on the football field.

“We were very fortunate to have him as our head coach for as long as we did,” Root told CJSR Saturday morning via text message. “He gave so much to the program, the school and the community, and for that I am incredibly grateful. I know that ultimately whatever he decides to do, he will be successful.”

Suebert was a starter on the Giants’ offensive line in their Cinderella Super Bowl XLII run that culminated with a 17-14 win over New England, the David Tyree “Helmet Catch” game. According to the Giants website, he played in 104 games for Big Blue with 88 starts over nine seasons after joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2001.

by Mike Pavlichko

55th annual Bill Denny awards dinner honors local football standouts, coaches, and more

More than three dozen high school football players from Middlesex and Somerset Counties, along with several coaches, administrators, educators and officials were honored Sunday at the 55th annual awards dinner of the Bill Denny/Rutgers Football Letterwinners Chapter of the National Football/College Hall of Fame at the Pines Manor in Edison.

The local chapter also awarded several scholarships, now having given out more than $380,000 in funds to deserving Middlesex and Somerset County Scholar-Athletes, over a span of nearly six decades.

The ceremony was presided over by Fred Roselli, chapter president, with awards presented by Tom Bara and Frank Noppenberger.

Read on to learn more about all the honorees.

Distinguished American: This award went to South River’s Rich Marchesi, the longtime Rams’ skipper and alum who will be heading into his 39th season this fall. Marchesi’s record is 228-154, with four Central Jersey Group 1 titles, in 1991, 1995, 2000 and 2001. He also played with with future Penn State All-American and NFL standout Kenny Jackson on the vaunted 1979 undefeated team as a senior, which went undefeated and was a state champion, ending the season ranked No. 3 in New Jersey. A five-time Bill Denny Coach of the Year, he is the winningest coach in South River football history, eventually surpassing Denny. Marchesi was inducted in the the New Hersey Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001.

Edward “Red” Losiewicz Distinguished Official: Given to the official who has “demonstrated sportsmanship, integrity and character in interscholastic athletics,” Tim McDonald was this year’s recipient. An East Brunswick resident, he started officiating football in 1997, and also has been an official for lacrosse, softball and basketball.

Chester Zdrodowski Distinguished Educator (Middlesex): Old Bridge Athletic Director Dan DiMino was the recipient of this award, A Monroe resident, he was named AD in 2016 and has overseen an athletics program that was won 31 division titles, 26 conference championships, 14 NJSIAA sectional crowns, and nine New Jersey state titles. DiMino also is on the Greater Middlesex Conference Executive Committee, and manages scheduling for the entire league. Among several charitable endeavors, DiMino helps lead the Old Bridge Holiday Knight Toy Drive around the holidays, partnering with the Marisa Tufaro Foundation.

Chester Zdrodowski Distinguished Educator (Somerset): This one goes to Michael Hoppe, the Athletic Director at Bernards. Hoppe is a Mountaineer through and through, an alum who has been at his old stomping grounds since graduating from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) in 19984. Starting out as a teacher and coaching three sports, he has been the AD for the last 26 years.

Coach of the Year (Middlesex): Matt Donaghue just wrapped up his fourth season as the Old Bridge football coach, promoted to the head job after Anthony Lanzafama stepped down. At 25-17 in that span, this past fall was a breakout year, following a 6-4 campaign in 2024, as the Knights went all the way to the “Central Jersey” Group 5 final, where they fell to Washington Twp. out of South Jersey. Donaghue also is the head coach of the baseball team at Old Bridge, which won the Central Jersey Group 4 title in 2023, and was a finalist a year ago.

Coach of the Year (Somerset): Montgomery’s Sean Carty takes home the award in his first year on the job, after being promoted from Offensive Coordinator under Zoran Milich, who stepped down as the school’s first and only football coach after the 2024 campaign. The Cougars went 8-4 this past fall, with signature wins over Somerville and Sayreville, and went all the way to the North Jersey, Section 2 Group 4 title game – their first ever – where they fell to defending champion Phillipsburg. A Rutgers graduate and four-year letterwinner, he played for his father, Hall of Fame coach Kevin Carty, at Somerville. His brother, Kevin Jr., is the head coach at neighboring Hillsborough, with his other brother, Ryan, is the head coach at the University of Delaware.

Sporstmanship School of the Year: Highland Park, Bridgewater-Raritan

STUDENT-ATHLETE HONOREES:

Rutgers: Jai Patel (South Brunswick)

Middlesex County:

  • Jonathan Hughes, Carteret
  • Dylan Chiera, Colonia
  • Jackson Portik, Dunellen
  • Noah DeJesus, East Brunswick
  • Robert Roma, Jr., Edison
  • Stamatis Hantsoulis, Highland Park
  • Grant Lorentzen, JFK
  • Esteban Reyes, JP Stevens
  • A.J. Crisci, Metuchen
  • Sean Hughes, Middlesex
  • John Lawless, Monroe
  • Jeffren Paulino, New Brunswick
  • Zachary Cipot, North Brunswick
  • Mark Fultz, North Plainfield
  • Brody Nugent, Old Bridge
  • Sebastian Medina Moreno, Perth Amboy
  • Brady Gallogly, Piscataway
  • Joseph Curbelo, Sayreville
  • Jacob Walczyk, South Brunswick
  • Kenneth Young, South Plainfield
  • Filipe Granadiero, South River
  • Gavin Pereira, Spotswood
  • Tom Myers, St. Joseph-Metuchen
  • Anthony Perez, Jr., St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Josh Allen, Woodbridge

Somerset County:

  • Justin Simpson, Bernards
  • Moaaz Abdelmonem, Bound Brook
  • Stephen Pikulin, Bridgewater-Raritan
  • Francis Flores, Jr., Franklin
  • Shane Khurana, Hillsborough
  • Bo Almeida, Immaculata
  • Collin Shimp, Manville
  • Michael Bellamy, Montgomery
  • Ryan Moye, Pingry
  • Anthony Valera, Ridge
  • J. Griffin Kaye, Somerville
  • Jake Herring, Watchung Hills

Pop Warner (Middlesex): Daniel Crowley, Edison Jets

Pop Warner (Somerset): Vincent Sandomenico, Watchung Hills Wolverines

by Mike Pavlichko

South Hunterdon Board of Ed approves assistant coach, alum Kyle Hart’s promotion to become Eagles’ next football coach

South Hunterdon assistant football coach Kyle Hart has been promoted to become the next head coach of the Eagles football program, with his hire approved by the local Board of Education Monday night.

Hart is a “hometown” name, growing up playing youth football for the Lambertville Raiders. He played fullback and linebacker for the Eagles in high school in the mid/late-2000s, graduating from South Hunterdon High School in 2009. He went on to play collegiately at William Paterson University, where he played in ten games and rushed 26 times for 85 yards and a touchdown.

He had been serving as defensive coordinator and running backs/linebackers coach for the last several years under Toby Jefferis, who was not retained after the 2025 season following 16 years as the head coach. Jefferis was 73-81 in that span, with the team going 1-7 this past season, but dealing with low participation numbers in the program.

According to MyCentralJersey.com, the Eagles had just 22 players on the roster this fall, and one of Hart’s main jobs will be to increase numbers in the program.

The 35-year-old Hart also is a physical education teacher at South Hunterdon Regional High School, and was named Educator of the Year in 2025, according to a December Facebook post on the school’s page.

by Mike Pavlichko

Woodbridge alum Anthony Nyers leaves Westfield to become new JFK football coach

Former Woodbridge standout Anthony Nyers is the new head coach of the JFK football program, after his hire was approved by the Woodbridge Board of Education last Thursday night.

The Woodbridge Board of Ed oversees all three district high schools, including Kennedy, Colonia, and Woodbridge.

Nyers had spent the past year working as the wide receivers’ coach and Offensive Coordinator at Westfield under Matt Andzel, who just wrapped up his second season as the successor to Jim DeSarno. He held the same positions on the staff of Al Chiola for the 2024 season, and came to Westfield after Chiola stepped down at the end of that year.

This will be Nyers’ first head coaching job.

Nyers, who will turn 32 this May, was a high school standout in the GMC, playing for Woodbridge under Brian Russo. In his senior season of 2011, he had 30 catches for 546 yards and six touchdowns. He was a two-time All-State Group 3 selection, named to the second team as a junior, first-team as a senior.

He went on to play in college at East Stroudbsurg for a year, then spent two at Kean University in Union before suffering a knee injury that effectively ended his playing days. He eventually returned to Woodbridge to coach with his father, Bill Nyers’, in his second stint with the Barrons, while his younger brother, Nick, was also on the team.

Westfield head coach Matt Andzel says he’ll miss having Nyers on his staff. “Anthony came on board with us in the Spring of 2025,” Andzel told Central Jersey Sports Radio Monday.

“I knew him from coaching with his dad (Bill) a while back. Our players immediately gravitated towards him. He is going to put in the work to make his team the most prepared they can be. I can expect JFK to be a competitive program for as long as he’s their coach,” Andzel said.

“Anthony was a tough, talented, hard nosed player who loved his teammates and gave his all always,” said Brian Russo, who coached Nyers at Woodbridge and now is the head coach at Rahway.   “He has put his time in and I am sure he will do great things with the Kennedy football program.”

Nyers takes over for Mike Henderson, who stepped down after four seasons leading the Kennedy program.

Henderson had been an assistant since 2010, but took over as head coach in 2023, having not won more than two games in a season from 2017 through 2021, the COVID-shortened year.

His first season, the Mustangs went 2-8, then 1-8 the following year, but made improvement, jumping up to four wins in 2024, going 4-6. And this year’s squad went 6-4, with a 5-4 mark on Cutoff Weekend, though they missed the playoffs.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with new JFK Football Coach Anthony Nyers:

by Mike Pavlichko

John Hack approved as new football coach at Mendham, after stepping down from Voorhees

When John Hack took the head coaching job at Voorhees two years ago, he told his athletic director the only other job he’d ever take would be in the his own home district, where he and his family live, up at Mendham.

Two years later, that’s where he’s headed.

Hack was approved Monday night by the West Morris-Mendham Board of Education to be the new head football coach at Mendham, replacing Ethan Jeros, who was not brought back following a 4-6 season. He was 26-25 in five years leading the Minutemen, making the playoffs the last four seasons, with no playoffs in 2021 due to the COVID-shortened campaign.

Hack told Central Jersey Sports Radio that he resigned on January 12th at Voorhees, where he guided the Vikings to an 8-2 record this past season and a Central Jersey Group 2 playoff berth behind a stout rushing attack led by senior Matteo Tramutola, who carried for 1,338 yards and 17 touchdowns en route to a Central Jersey Group 2 playoff berth.

The air-game was excellent, too, as senior Sam Meekings threw for 1,560 yards and 19 touchdowns to a talented corps of receivers, including Rylan Benitez (39 catches, 775 yards, 11 TD) and Logan Direny (28 catches, 408 yards, 4 TD), as well as junior Toby Dorr (20 catches, 233 yards, 2 TDs).

Hack says besides the fact he lives in the West Morris-Mendham district, the move also will give him an opportunity – in a few years – to coach his only son, who’s currently in the fifth grade. That means he plans to stay at Mendham a while, as long as they’ll have him.

He also says he was blown away by the administration at Mendham, and as many coaches know, you’re only as good as the people supporting you.

Hack was contacted about the job before Thanksgiving after the departure of Jeros. Prior to his arrival, Mendham had not had a .500 season or better since 2014, but Jeros told the local Observer-Tribune earlier back in January that he felt his coaching and leadership of the program had suffered the past two seasons. He’s a guidance counselor in Manville, which kept him from building the kind of relationships he wanted to at Mendham.

Hack is an Immaculata grad, who returned under the late Pierce Frauenheim in 2004 to coach the defensive line. He succeeded the legendary coach – the school’s original football coach dating back to the 1960s – and spent two seasons there in 2013 and 2014, going 9-12 in that span – before heading to Morris Catholic and coaching there from 2015 through 2023.

He then spent the past two years leading the Vikings up in Glen Gardner.

Click below to listen to John Hack talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Gameday with Marcus Borden: Immaculata’s football hire

It may be January, with the high school football season two months in the rearview mirror already, but there was plenty to talk about this week, and we dive into it on a special “offseason” edition of Gameday with Marcus Borden.

On Thursday, February 5, Immaculata announced it was parting ways with head football coach Mike Columbo, and announced the hiring of alum Dallas Whitaker (IHS ’11), along with Jeff Vanderbeek as football program director. Vanderbeek resurrected the Somerville football program in the mid-2010s and handed the keys to Whitaker a few years later.

Whitaker stepped down in 2021 to spend more time starting a family and on his burgeoning real estate career, but says he “got the itch” again pretty quickly, and now, he’s leading his alma mater as the only the fifth coach in school history.

Mike and Marcus take a look at the hire from multiple angles, including what it’ll mean on the football field and off.

Click below to listen to the “off-season” edition of “Gameday with Marcus Borden”:

by Mike Pavlichko

Whitaker, Vanderbeek and Immaculata AD Gambino talk Spartans’ splash with new football leadership

By the time the Q&A session cleared out, there they were: in their best suits, ready to take Immaculata football by storm.

Dallas Whitaker, a 2011 graduate and two-time state champion playing for Peirce Frauenheim had already talked to the kids. “I chose you,” he told them.

While that’s very likely the case, it’s also a little for him. It’s always been his dream job.

Whitaker caught the coaching bug at Rutgers, where he was a walk-on for Kyle Flood, but self-admittedly was “one of the least talented players on the team.” Sometimes that’s how coaches get into the profession, that moment of realization.

(Sometimes, that’s also how broadcasters get into their profession.)

Jeff Vanderbeek, who hired Whitaker as his offensive coordinator, then handed the reins to him a few years later, was there, too. In a package deal, he was hired along with Whitaker as the Football Program Coordinator Thursday, an organizational role well-suited to his talents.

As for Whitaker? He may not have the college stats, but he has plenty of coaching success.

After serving under Vanderbeek as offensive coordinator, Vanderbeek handed Whitaker the keys and the team went 36-6 under his leadership, finishing with a No. 4 ranking in the state (7-0) in the COVID-shortened 2020 season with one of the highest-octane no-huddle offenses you’ll ever see at the high school level.

Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko got a chance to sit down one-on-one with Whitaker, Vanderbeek and Immaculata Athletic Director Tom Gambino after a meet-and-greet Q&A at the school Thursday afternoon. Click below to listen.

Immaculata Head Coach Dallas Whitaker and Football Program Director Jeff Vanderbeek
Immaculata Athletic Director Tom Gambino