Tag: JFK

by Mike Pavlichko

Early look at Big Central Football 2026: Bernards takes 32-game league win streak into United Silver, joining solid Governor Livingston, South Plainfield and JFK

The United Silver Division of the Big Central Conference looked like it would be a tight race last season, and it was indeed. This year, North Plainfield and New Brunswick move to smaller school divisions, while Patriot Gold champion Bernards takes a step up into the division. And that could make this fun to watch.

Governor Livingston went 5-5 overall, but won the division at 4-0, with South Plainfield and JFK both finishing the year two games over .500 overall. Now, add in the Mountaineers, who have won 32 straight BCC games, and are three away from the all-time mark held by St. Thomas Aquinas, which had its streak snapped last season in a loss to fellow non-public Big Central rival St. Joseph-Metuchen. And they very well could have the horses to do it.

And give credit where credit is due: The Highlanders were 4-5 at the cutoff, while lesser teams made the playoffs in other sections, but they didn’t – partly a product of their schedule. The Big Central moving Bernards in – and New Brunswick and Hillside out – will help, even if they end up with a similar record again. And the same goes for South Plainfield and JFK, both of which were 6-4 and also failed to make the playoffs. The stronger schedule, even if they end up 5-5, should be a boost.

Here are the preliminary schedules for the United Silver Division teams – in order of 2025 finish – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publication, along with a few notes on each squad. Division games are starred.

Governor Livingston Highlanders (5-5, 4-0, United Silver Division Champions)
Head Coach: Pete Ramiccio, 5th season (20-20)

  • Week 0: at Dayton
  • Week 1: at Monroe
  • Week 2: at Bernards*
  • Week 3: JFK*
    Week 4: at Lyndhurst
  • Week 5: Johnson
  • Week 6: Scotch Plains-Fanwood
  • Week 7: South Plainfield*
  • Week 8: at New Providence

Two tough season-opening losses last year were followed by three straight Division wins for the Highlanders, who were a young squad in 2025 and will come back with a ton of experience. Of their three biggest offensive players stat-wise, two were sophomores, and one was a freshman. The ninth-grader was QB Colin Hughes, who threw for 248 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore Mateo Liloia went for 216 yards and a touchdown. Their top receiver was a sophomore, Parker Chatfield, who caught 15 passes for 157 yards, but GL did most of its damage on the ground, to the tune of 1,755 yards, led by soph Elijah Garcia, who carried 130 times for 806 yards and eight scores. The pump for the offense should be primed this year – and next. Chatfield also had three picks on defense in the secondary, as did sophomore Connor Jakubowksi, accounting for six of the team’s seven interceptions. And every single return man was as sophomore last year.

South Plainfield Tigers (6-4, 3-1, 2nd place United Silver)
Head Coach: Bill Hamilton, 6th season (25-24)

  • Week 0: at Somerville
  • Week 1: at North Plainfield
  • Week 2: JFK*
  • Week 3: at Bernards*
  • Week 4: at Carteret
  • Week 5: Scotch Plains-Fanwood
  • Week 6: Cranford
  • Week 7: at Governor Livingston*
  • Week 8: Perth Amboy

The young man the Tigers will miss most is Dominic Massaro, not just for his 1,165 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns, but also his grittiness, physicality and leadership – the prototype South Plainfield football player. Freshman QB Lucas Habe didn’t have to do a lot last year, throwing for just 226 yards and 2 TDs, while the offense rolled off nearly 2,500 yards on the ground. And they have a defensive beast back in Aiden Noblecilla, who registered a whopping 16 sacks and 39 1/2 TFLs, as well as three forced fumbles and a recovery. Massaro’s six interceptions will be missed, but surely the Tigers will be solid on D. And they’ll have to fill Dom’s loss on special teams, where he returned six kickoffs for 161 yards and seven punts for over 300. The opener at Somerville will be a beast.

JFK Mustangs (6-4, 2-2, 3rd place United Silver)
Head Coach: Anthony Nyers, 1st season

  • Week 0: at East Brunswick
  • Week 1: Spotswood
  • Week 2: at South Plainfield*
  • Week 3: at Governor Livingston*
  • Week 4: North Plainfield
  • Week 5: at Metuchen
  • Week 6: Carteret
  • Week 8: Bernards*
  • Week 9: Johnson

Woodbridge alum Anthony Nyers leaders his Offensive Coordinator position at Westfield to take over the Mustangs program in his first head coaching job. But to listen to his former boss with the Blue Devils, he’s going to be just fine. “Our players immediately gravitated toward him,” Andzel told Central Jersey Sports Radio when he was hired in February. The Mustangs were a solid 6-4 last season, winning three games by shutout, splitting their four division games. But Nyers will have to find some key offensive replacements. All seniors, QB Richie Trotman threw for 1,387 yards, while Grant Lorentzen caught 55 passes for 1,221 yards and 22 touchdowns, and Fiheem Howell ran it 168 times for 1,058 yards. That was a shad under 80% of their offense, not counting other seniors who were in the mix. Rising senior Braylon Diaz will be a key part of the defense; he had four sacks, two forced fumbles and one recovery last season. But Lorentzen (3) and Howell (2) combined for five of the unit’s eight picks last season.

Bernards Mountaineers (9-1, 3-0, Patriot Gold Division Champions)
Head Coach: Jon Simoneau, 19th season (130-58)

  • Week 0: at Rutherford
  • Week 1: Cranford
  • Week 2: Governor Livingston*
  • Week 3: South Plainfield*
  • Week 4: at Delaware Valley
  • Week 5: at Hillside
  • Week 6: Voorhees
  • Week 7: at JFK*
  • Week 8: at Summit

Not only does Bernards bring in the second-longest win streak in the BCC at 32 games (the longest active streak), but the Mountaineers have won 34 straight regular season games. Their last defeat before either of those came on September 2, 2022 to Hillside, a 35-20 defeat. Since then, they have one sectional title (2024) in two trips to the finals (their second was last year.) And they should be loaded again, despite the loss of senior runningback Logan Stevens, who ran for 1,100 yards even last year and 14 touchdowns. But junior Patrick Carlisle (324 yards, 4 TDs) will be back to take the handoffs from returning QB Nolan Walks, who threw for 1,096 yards as a junior last season, while his favorite target, Sean Arcelay (25 catches, 470 yards, 5 TDs) also returns. Defense should be solid, too. Thomas Diemar – the school’s all-time sack leader with 22 – only played three games before a torn ACL ended his scholastic career, but others stepped up. Tyce Hanratty had two sacks and five TFLs as a junior, plus two picks, while junior Jordan Riley and sophomore Victor Nina combined for four sacks and 14 tackles for loss. No shortage of talent here, and few teams can match Bernards’ physicality.

by Mike Pavlichko

JFK’s Grant Lorentzen proves you can do it all, and be very good at it, too

Hitting a major milestone in any high school sport is a big deal.

Often, the game will stop, the ball will come out of play, and there are balloons and photo ops, then the game goes on.

For Grant Lorentzen, who’s just graduated from JFK in Iselin last week, he hit key milestones in not just one, nor two, but three high school sports.

  • In football, he was one of the top receivers in the state this year, with 55 catches for 1,221 yards, and 22 touchdowns, seven shy of the all-time state record. In three varsity seasons, he caught 149 passes for 2,470 yards and 34 scores.
  • In basketball, he became one of the few 1,000-point scorers in school history, finishing a four-year varsity career with 1,246 points, 78 from beyond the arc. And he was reasonably close to the program’s all-time leader, Jay Jorgenson (1974), who scored 1,403 in his career.
  • And in baseball, he finished his dual career as a pitcher and hitter, reaching the 100-hit and 200-strikeout plateaus. Lorentzen had 102 hits over four years on the varsity squad, while fanning 220 hitters across four varsity seasons.
JFK’s Grant Lorentzen (#11) scores on a punt return for a touchdown at Carteret on October 29, 2005. (Photo: Marcus Borden)

In an era where more and more student-athletes are specializing – playing just one sport, and then training the rest of the year in that sport – Lorentzen is a throwback, but also an example.

Lorentzen says his coaches always supported him playing multiple sports, so much so that he will even get to do it in college, where he’ll attend The College of New Jersey. First recruited by their baseball coach, he told them right from the get-go that he also wanted to play football. So, they worked out a schedule, and the rest is just future history.

Particularly with pitchers, many believe throwing year-round leaves a teenager more vulnerable to injury. A number of GMC hurlers didn’t make it through the entire 2026 season this spring. But Lorentzen managed to play eleven varsity seasons – and pitched – across four years and three sports at JFK.

Many coaches encourage the practice, and would rather see them play another sport at their school than be out of the building, playing travel ball.

And he still had the time to do some training in the off-season with Elite QB football training academy, under the tutelage of Matt Bastardi. He was often featured in Elite QB’s “Elite Performer of the Week” segment on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Lorentzen may not be a trailblazer. Many still play multiple sports. But he’s the perfect example of someone who not just played all three, but was damn good at all of them.

Click below to hear JFK grad Grant Lorentzen talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko about being a three-sport athlete, and his future at The College of New Jersey:

by Mike Pavlichko

Big Central Conference coaching updates: What’s left to fill with less than two months before camp opens?

It was another year of coaching turnover in the Big Central Conference, whether by coaches not being retained, or stepping down on their own.

Of the 59 schools in the league, 12 will have new head coaches for the upcoming 2026 season. That’s 25 coaching changes in the past two seasons – nearly half the league – after 13 new coaches were hired following the 2024 campaign.

The latest hire was Steven Brown at North Plainfield, whose appointment was approved Monday night by the Board of Education. He’s been the defensive coordinator at Verona for the last two seasons, and also at Elizabeth for girls’ flag football, a Big Central playoff finalist each of the last two seasons.

And that leaves just one position open in the BCC, in Perth Amboy, where William Clark will not be retained after seven seasons as the Panthers’ head coach. His teams were 12-52 in that span, never winning more than three in a season; they went 3-7 in 2021.

Once that hiring is complete, the entire Patriot Silver Division – Amboy, New Providence, AL Johnson, Spotswood, Roselle and Metuchen – will have new head coaches, and be responsible for half the new mentors in the BCC this season.

Here’s a look at the rest of the Big Central Conference schools with new coaches in 2026:

  • JFK: One of the early hires, the Mustangs will be led by Anthony Nyers, a Woodbridge grad from across town who was appointed in late February. He most recently was the wide receivers coach and Offensive Coordinator at Westfield under Matt Andzel, and had spent the previous season with Al Chiola at Linden.
  • Johnson: Athletic Director Gus Kalikas ran the show last season, and the Crusaders went 7-2 with his son, Jack, at starting quarterback. But this year, the job was given to Mike Ryan, who was approved in late May by the Board of Education, and promoted after spending two years with the Crusaders as an assistant. Ryan has been a head coach at JP Stevens in the past, and was on the Edison staff of Matt Fulham when they won the Central Jersey Group 5 title in 2022.
  • Metuchen: Alum Jordan Leitner is gone after going 21-20 in four seasons, including a solid 7-4 campaign in 2024. In steps Middlesex County veteran Joe Riggi, who was a defensive coordinator at JFK in the mid 2010s, sandwiched by a pair of stints as the head coach at JP Stevens, from 2007 to 2009, and again from 2015 to 2019.
  • New Providence: The Pioneers kept it in-house after Chert Parlavecchio, Jr., stepped down to take an assistant coaching position at his alma mater, Delbarton. They went with Anthony Conzentino, who played scholastically at Livingston – starring on a 2008 squad then led by current St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Bill Tracy – and coached running backs, linebackers and special teams the past five years at New Providence.
  • Roselle: Tyrone Turner is out after two seasons – and was quickly snapped up by Steven Brown at North Plainfield – and James Roach is in. He’s been director of the Union County Vipers youth football and mentoring organization since 2011 and is a local outreach coordinator, according to his LinkedIn bio.
  • South Brunswick: Mike Gerst will now lead the Viking program, coming to Middlesex County after two seasons up at Fort Lee, his first-ever head coaching job. He replaces Ibrahim Halsey, who was 7-12 in two seasons (and now is an assistant at Franklin) while Gerst’s teams went 16-3 in that span an the Super Football Conference’s “Ivy Red” Division, one in which teams aren’t eligible for the playoffs by playing a “relief” schedule aimed at rebuilding. That included a 9-0 campaign last year, the first in over 100 years of Fort Lee football.

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

JFK’s Lorentzen joins 1k point club, and it may not even be his best (or second best) sport

It’s a goal he says he had ever since he was a little kid, to be a thousand-point scorer in basketball.

Senior Grant Lorentzen of JFK achieved that milestone Tuesday night with a 22-point effort in a 73-46 win over Noor ul-Iman, on his sixth point of the evening.

But if you ask him where he’s going to school and what he’ll play, the answer is The College of New Jersey, but not basketball.

No, Lorentzen will be playing football and baseball.

A three-sport athlete at Kennedy, Lorentzen was a three-year starter on the football team, amassing 149 catches, 2,470 yards and 34 touchdowns, saving his biggest year for last. He caught 55 balls for 1,221 yards – only a few more catches than his junior and sophomore seasons, but almost double the yards of each.

He’s also trained under CJSR sponsor Elite QB with coach Matt Bastardi.

On the diamond, he’ll be playing his fourth year on varsity this spring, where last year on the mound he threw 54 innings, struck out 75, walked 19, and had a minuscule 0.77 ERA.

The Mustang basketball team, meanwhile, is 7-9, but currently on a three-game winning streak Lorentzen says he hopes is a sign of things to come, hunkering down for some late season success, and maybe a county and state tournament run.

We got a chance to talk with Grant after basketball practice Friday afternoon.

Click below to listen to the full interview:

by Mike Pavlichko

JFK football’s Mike Henderson steps down after four seasons leading Mustangs

After three seasons leading the JFK football program, Mike Henderson handed in his resignation on Monday to spend more time with his family.

Henderson confirmed the news to Central Jersey Sports Radio this week, saying it was a “difficult decision to make,” but says he has two young children at home – two years old and nine months – and says he “didn’t want to be absent for either responsibility,” family or coaching.

Henderson had been an assistant since 2010, but took over the program 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 before jumping up to four wins in 2024, going 4-6. But this year’s squad went 6-4, with a 5-4 mark on Cutoff Weekend, though they missed the playoffs.

Henderson said he enjoyed his time coaching the program, and is “proud of all the things our players have accomplished as a team. I made the decision that was best for my family, and hope for nothing but the best for the Mustangs.”

He will remain a physical education and health teacher at Kennedy.

Henderson is the second coach to step down following the 2025 season. Spotswood’s Chris Meagher (32-17 in five seasons) in left to take a physical education job at Edison, while Toby Jefferis was not brought back at South Hunterdon after going 1-7 this season, although the Eagles were 9-2 just two seasons ago.

This year’s coaching carousel has been a small one so far. There were 14 coaching changes last year in the 59-team Big Central Conference, and more than half the league has coaches who have come on board in just the last three years, with many of the others longtimers like Rich Marchesi at South River, Dan Higgins at Piscataway, Hillsborough’s Kevin Carty Jr., or Kevin Kostibos at Summit, to name a few.

by Mike Pavlichko

Cutoff Weekend Group 4 Playoff Update: Phillipsburg in play for a top-seed in North 2 section packed with Big Central squads; Rahway and Watchung Hills face “play-in” games

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 4 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.

NORTH GROUP 4

This is a very difficult supersection to nail down since there are a ton of Big Central teams here, just about every other team from three on down, with Phillipsburg there, Montgomery fifth, Woodbridge at seven, Ridge at nine, and Colonia 11th, with Westfield at 15 and Rahway at 16 heading into Cutoff Weekend. And the teams are tightly packed, too. There are so many ways this can go, with each team dependent on several others above and below them. We could very well end up with six or seven teams from the Big Central in North 2, Group 4, once it all shakes out by geography, so there’s a very good chance we get sectional champion here from the BCC.

  • Phillipsburg: Phillipsburg (6-1) has a tough one Friday night at Maloney as Bridgewater-Raritan (6-2) comes in, with Declan Kurdyla now playing his third game back at QB after suffering an injury earlier this season against Hunterdon Central. A win could get them the top seed if No. 2 Mount Olive loses, even if No. 1 Northern Highlands wins. But, they would not get it the other way around, with a win, a Highlands loss and a Mount Olive win. They need help to get there. And if both those teams above them lose, they could end up No. 1 overall with some other help. A loss, and the Stateliners dip to four, and could fall even further back if Montgomery wins at Rahway.
  • Montgomery: The Cougars (6-2) visit Rahway (5-3) in the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving Friday night at 7, with major playoff implications for both. If the Montgomery can win, and they get help from above, like losses from Phillipsburg and Ramapo, they can get as high as third overall, which would give them a two-seed in North 2, Group 4, guaranteeing home games for at least the first two rounds, into the semifinals. A loss could drop them to eight or lower overall, unless they get some help from the teams around them.
  • Woodbridge: With a win by the Barrons (7-1) at St. Joseph-Metuchen (7-0), Woodbridge could vault as high as fourth, but probably not any higher. But the Falcons are a multiplier, which is worth 70 percent of the SI value instead of 50 percent. That means a loss – on its own – keeps them at seven. We think, at the very least, Woodbridge is a two- or three-seed in North 2, Group 4.
  • Ridge: The Red Devils (5-2) are at Westfield (3-5) Saturday, and with the Blue Devils being a middle-of-the road team in terms of power points and SI, a win or loss doesn’t bump Ridge too far up or down. They should stay in the middle of the pack of 16 here, and likely begin the playoffs on the road; they’d have to pass Montgomery, but as we talked about, even a loss doesn’t kill the Cougars too much, so Ridge is a bit limited in where it can move. Should be a road team in the first round.
  • Colonia: The Patriots (6-2) should be in the playoffs regardless of what they do at Old Bridge (7-1) Friday night, since the Knights are a strong team SI-wise, and still give Colonia six power points even for a loss (their seventh win came in their eighth game, and only the first seven count for residuals). A win would be gargantuan, potentially moving them up to nine overall, and maybe higher if some things break their particular way, and they could even jump Ridge. With a loss, depending on the teams behind them, they likely won’t drop more than a spot or two, but even that might not move them in the North 2, Group 4 section.
  • Westfield: A loss to Ridge likely doesn’t hurt the Blue Devils too much, since the Red Devils are 5-2 and highly-rated in terms of SI. A win could pull them up to 12. We think they’re likely a seven seed – definitely a bottom four, first-round road team – in North 2 Group 4 unless some other games affect it.
  • Rahway: In the game we have on the air Friday night, the Indians (5-3) host Montgomery (6-2), and a win on its own gets them all the way up to 11th place. We don’t think there’s a way enough teams could pass them to knock them out, so we’ll call this a “play-in” for Rahway. But that also means if they lose, they’re probably out. They’d fall to 20 regardless of any other games, and would probably need a lot of help. It;s not impossible, they’d just need everything to break right ahead of them.
  • JFK: We tried a lot of numbers, but we think even if the Mustangs (6-2) beat South Plainfield (4-4) they can only get to 17 with a lot of help. It’s possible there’s a way, and it might be clearer after Friday night.
  • Watchung Hills: Don’t count out the Warriors (3-5), even though they start the weekend in 22nd place. Somerville is one of the top 35 SI teams in the state and has seven wins, so it’s a big jackpot if Watchung Hills can come up with a win. That may be easier said than done, but a victory could get them as high as 13 if things break right. We’re not sure if it’s a lock that they get in with a win, as they could still finish around 15 or 16, and if they finish 16 to Rahway’s 17, the Indians have the tiebreaker on head-to-head. But that’s if everything breaks wrong. Good chance they’re in with a win

by Mike Pavlichko

2025 Big Central Preview: United Silver Division

Just like the Patriot Silver Division – which we previewed yesterday – the United Silver Division of the Big Central Conference also was defined by parity in 2024, for the most part.

Three teams shared in the division title, going 3-1, led by Governor Livingston, which was 5-5 overall, and should be right in the mix again this year.

South Plainfield has a solid defense, and JFK loses a good deal on defense, but also has much experience back. North Plainfield is coming off a 3-6 season, but also expecting to improve.

New Brunswick is another story, having gone winless in each of the last two seasons. But they have a new coach in Geoffrey Chrisman who seems poised to at least bring a new culture to the program, that hasn’t existed in a long time. The results may or may not show up in wins and losses, but it will be interesting to watch.

Click below to hear our preview of the United Silver Division from Big Central Conference Media Day:

by Mike Pavlichko

Early look at Big Central Football 2025: Tight United Silver Division could be jam-packed again

Of the five United Gold Division teams in 2024, three of them finished 3-1 in divisional play, a symbol of parity in the group, even though North Plainfield and New Brunswick both struggled overall.

But it was a tight race between Governor Livingston, South Plainfield and JFK, as the three ended up tied for first, with the Highlanders beating the Tigers, the Tigers beating JFK and the Mustangs beating Governor Livingston. Are we having fun yet?

Here are the preliminary schedules for the Liberty Silver 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 (*).

Governor Livingston Highlanders (5-5, 3-1, tied for 1st with South Plainfield, JFK in ’24)
Head Coach: Pete Ramiccio (15-15, 4th season)

  • Week 0: Lakeland (Thurs, 4p)
  • Week 1: New Providence (Sat, 1p)
  • Week 2: at JFK* (6p)
  • Week 3: at North Plainfield* (Sat, 12p)
  • Week 4: South Plainfield* (Sat, 6p)
  • Week 5: at Johnson
  • Week 6: Voorhees (Sat, 1p)
  • Week 7: at Bernards
  • Week 8: New Brunswick (Sat, 12p)

It will be quite the challenge making up for some of the Highlanders who graduated this June, including starting QB Lucciano Santamaria (844 yards, 7 TD), runningback Jack Dally (1,195 yards, 15 TD) and their top three receivers, led by Ryan Honey (386 yards, 3 TDs). There’s a little more back on the defensive side, including junior two-way lineman David Dorsett, who logged three sacks and seven TFLs last season, along with two fumble recoveries. Linebacker Max DiDonatto and soph lineman Joey Switlyk could be players to watch as well for GL.

JFK Mustangs (4-6, 3-1, tied for 1st with Governor Livingston, South Plainfield in ’24)
Head Coach: Michael Henderson (7-22, 4th season)

  • Week 0: at Perth Amboy (6p)
  • Week 1: Voorhees (6p)
  • Week 2: Governor Licingston* (6p)
  • Week 3: at New Brunswick*
  • Week 4: Monroe (6p)
  • Week 5: at Scotch Plains-Fanwood
  • Week 6: at North Plainfield*
  • Week 7: Middlesex (6p)
  • Week 8: at South Plainfield* (6p)

Unlike Governor Livingston, the top three offensive returnees are all back for Mike Henderson, and that could make for a fun year in Iselin. QB Richie Trotman threw for 1,297 yards and 17 TDs last season as a junior – but will need to cut down on the picks this year – while top rusher Fieheem Howell, Jr., (1,307 yards, 12 TD) and No. 1 WR Grant Lorentzen (48 catches, 632 yards, 9 TD) also return, as do several key backups. There’s plenty to work with there, but the defense will lose big chunks of numbers, although Jamir Campbell (3.5 sacks, 4 TFLs, 1 INT) could be a big key on that side of the ball. Lorentzen is also a solid kick returner, averaging nearly 25 yards per return last season.

New Brunswick Zebras (0-9, 0-4, 5th place in ’24)
Head Coach: Geoffrey Chrisman (first season)

  • Week 0: bye
  • Week 1: at Plainfield
  • Week 2: at Scotch Plains-Fanwood
  • Week 3: JFK* (6p)
  • Week 4: North Plainfield* (6p)
  • Week 5: at Carteret
  • Week 6: South Plainfield* (6p)
  • Week 7: Rahway (Sat, 12p)
  • Week 8: at Governor Livingston* (Sat, 12p)

The results have not been good for Zebras football in many years, and in the last two seasons under Steve Gluchowski, scoring just 33 points in 2023, 32 last season, and going a combined 0-18. The program is lacking numbers, and now it’ll be Geoffrey Chrisman’s turn to try and fix it. Chrisman, whose joined the district as a teacher for 2024-25, but hasn’t coached football since 2019, when he was an assistant at North Hunterdon. His biggest job? Finding kids in the halls to play football for a Group 5 school whose numbers look more like a small Group 1.

North Plainfield Canucks (3-6, 1-3, 4th place in ’24)
Head Coach: Derrick Eatman (5-24, 4th season)

  • Week 0: bye
  • Week 1: Belvidere (6p)
  • Week 2: at South Plainfield*
  • Week 3: Governor Livingston* (Sat, 12p)
  • Week 4: at New Brunswick* (6p)
  • Week 5: at Voorhees (6p)
  • Week 6: JFK* (6p)
  • Week 7: Johnson
  • Week 8: at Metuchen

All three QBs the Canucks played last year are graduating, including Mohammad Ahsan, who threw for just under 600 yards. North Plainfield struggled to put up points against good teams last season, and they’ll do the same this year unless some new talent emerges. Senior RB Aaron Potts (913 yards, 14 TD) is gone to graduation, too. The defense will have to shore up as wel, allowing 35 points or more in five of their six losses.

South Plainfield Tigers (5-5, 3-4, tied for first with Governor Livingston, JFK)
Head Coach: Bill Hamilton (19-20), 5th season)

  • Week 0: at East Brunswick (Thurs, 6p)
  • Week 1: at Delaware Valley
  • Week 2: North Plainfield* (6p)
  • Week 3: at Cranford
  • Week 4: at Governor Livingston (Sat, 1p)
  • Week 5: Bernards (6p)
  • Week 6: at New Brunswick (6p)
  • Week 7: South River (Thurs, 6p)
  • Week 8: JFK* (6p)

If the Tigers can start 2025 the same way they finished 2024 – with four straight wins – or anything close to it, they’ll compete for a division title. Senior QB Ryan Balent is gone, and returnee Jordan Magazine only threw one pass last year as a sophomore. The good news is that he, or whoever else Coach Hamilton goes with, will have Dom Massarro back to run the ball; he went for 1,049 yards last year on 105 carries and scored nine touchdowns, while Jaydon Jones also returns after a sophomore year rushing for 543 yards and four scores, while junior King Hills went for 504 and two scores. That’s more than 2,000 rush yards back from a team that ran for over 2,700 last season. The defense has some standouts back, too. Massari had two INTs, one for a touchdown, while junior Erick Hernandez (4 TFLs, 1 fumble recovery) and Kaydin Daniel (4 TFLs) could be players to watch.

by Mike Pavlichko

GMC Jim Muldowney Tournament Play-In Round Preview: Four games on tap Saturday

With the Greater Middlesex Conference seeding the Jim Muldowney Championship and Ray Cipperly Invitational on Friday – with Woodbridge getting the overall top seed – the Championship tourney will get underway Saturday with the play-in round, while the Invitational will kick off on Tuesday.

Here’s a look at the four Saturday games in the Championship bracket, including a look ahead to who’s next. Scroll to the end for the first round Invitational matchups.

(17) South Brunswick (3-15) at (16) South River (12-5), 12 pm: This is the type of game that’s impossible to pick, a double-digit team from the Blue Division against a Red Division team with just three overall wins, and one in its own division. The Red has been competitive just about from top-to-bottom, with six of the eight teams cracking the ten-win mark, and besides South Brunswick, Monroe has eight victories. So, it’s tough to tell. Couple that with the fact that the Rams have one of the top pitchers in the league in Julius Rosado, who will be playing not far away at Rutgers next Spring. Does Mike Lepore throw him Saturday, since you have to win that game to advance? Does he save him for Monday’s first round against top-seed and GMC Red champion Woodbridge – in which he would give the South River a fighting chance – but risk not getting a win Saturday, leaving him on the table? Or does he start him, cap him at 50 pitches, allowing him to only take one-day rest, leaving him with 90 against the Barrons? Rosado has only thrown 90 or more pitches once this year, in a 4-3 win over JP Stevens on April 23rd, and he hasn’t thrown more than 25 in four appearances since. Maybe this is what they’ve been saving him for? The Vikings have struggled at the plate, hitting just .227 on the season, and only Timothy Christian (21) has scored fewer runs that South Brunswick, which has 49, as does North Brunswick (2-13). The winner travels to face the Barrons Monday.

(19) JFK (9-8) at (14) North Plainfield (10-5), 12 pm: Here’s two teams more on a par with each other in an all-Blue Division matchup. And this one could be a toss-up. Kennedy gotten some good pitching, but little run support. The workloads have gone to junior Myles Ulaky (1.83 ERA) and Grant Lorentzen, who has allowed just one earned run, four overall, all season in 36 1/3 innings pitched for a barely-noticeable 0.19 ERA. North Plainfield is on its first losing streak of the year – just two games – showing how solid a season they’ve had. The Canucks have gotten decent pitching – with a team ERA of just 2.23 – but they’re hitting just .204 on the year, with no single player batting better than .300 on the season. The winner goes to GMC White champ and third-seed St. Thomas Aquinas Monday.

(18) Carteret (8-8) at (15) Perth Amboy (4-10), 12 pm: Is the fact that the Panthers have just four wins in the white and the Ramblers eight wins in the Blue an equalizer? Sometimes, when comparing teams from different divisions, the GMC seeding committee considers what one team might do in the other division. Add in that this is a classic rivalry – their all-time football series having been the longest running in Middlesex County – and this should be a good one. Perth Amboy comes in strong. After a 3-10 start, the Panthers have won three straight: two over North Brunswick and one over South Brunswick. They scored just 12 runs on that eight game skid, but have scored an average of ten over the last three games, hitting .337 in that span. And it doesn’t matter the opponent, baseball people know hitting is contagious. Yet, the Ramblers will be a tougher opponent. Winners of five of their last seven, Carteret is hitting a healthy .283 and led by senior Eric Thompson, batting .370, while Joneil Martinez has knocked in a team-best 12 runs and is hitting .345 on the year. The winner goes to No. 2 South Plainfield Monday.

(20) South Amboy (5-11) at (13) Metuchen (13-6), 2 pm: It’s an all-Blue Division matchup between the sixth-place Governors and the pennant-winning Bulldogs. South Amboy is hitting .278 as a team, led by senior Benjamin Smith, batting .434, tied for a team-high in RBIs with Jeremy Vasquez, who also has five of the Guvs’ seven home runs. Pitching has been an issue, with a team ERA just over six, and no single pitcher lower than a 4.43 ERA. Metuchen is an interesting story. They were 11-2 before May first, but have lost four of their last five and three straight, although two of those losses came to Red Division foes in Edison (a 4-3 loss) and Monroe (a 7-2 defeat). Metuchen is the beat-hitting team of the eight in the play-in round (as well as the highest-seeded, so maybe they should be?) and has just a 2.62 team ERA, with a number of options to choose from on a staff that doesn’t have a single senior and is dominated by juniors. The winner gets four-seed East Brunswick on the road Monday.

GMC RAY CIPPERLY INVITATIONAL – 1st ROUND
TUESDAY, MAY 13

  • (9) Highland Park (3-13) at (8) Piscataway Magnet (8-8), 4 pm (Winner at (1) JP Stevens on Thursday)
  • (11) Timothy Christian (0-11) at (6) Dunellen (12-6), 4 pm (Winner at (3) East Brunswick Magnet on Thursday)
  • (10) Perth Amboy Magnet (3-11) at (7) Somerset Tech (7-6), 4 om (Winner at (2) North Brunswick on Thursday)