Tag: Joe Goerge

by Mike Pavlichko

South Brunswick hosts Somerville with playoff berth on the line

When Joe Goerge left South Brunswick in January 2019, the last game he coached for the Vikings was a playoff game, a windy affair at Mike Elko Field that saw Edison – on a great game by receiver Noah Stansbury – head back up Route One with a win.

After a couple of seasons on Staten Island, George is back in Monmouth Junction, and has a chance to do something that he did every year during his first go around: take the Vikings to the postseason.

Currently 3-4 and 15th in the South Group 5 United Power Rankings heading into Cutoff Weekend, South Brunswick hosts Somerville (3-5) Friday night in a unique “win and in” scenario. Should they come out on top on their home field, the playoffs await. Lose, and the Vikings will be forced to rely on outcomes across the state.

“I think now-a-days, these kids actually know the power points situation better than I do,” George said. “They’re on it. They were the first ones that said it’s coming down to this one game. You can’t phony up motivation. We approach it very honestly with them.”

Junior quarterback Braden Paulmenn made his first career start in last week’s loss to Edison and showed plenty of promise. He’ll be flanked in the backfield by two talented senior backs, Khiri Summers and Jacob Brokaw. Both have run for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns this season and will set the tone for the Vikings’ triple-option offense.

You can hear Friday night’s game with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe calling the play-by-play starting with pregame at 6:15, and kickoff at 6:30 pm from Mike Elko Field in Monmouth Junction. Click here to listen.

Click below to hear Justin Sontupe talk with South Brunswick head coach Joe Goerge:

by Mike Pavlichko

Legendary football coach Joe Goerge returns to South Brunswick, where he led Vikings to unprecedented success, and three state titles

Joe Goerge is back for a second run at South Brunswick.

The 67-year-old Goerge – who led the Vikings to unprecedented success in his seven-year tenure from 2012 to 2018, including a 63-17 record and the only three state titles in program history – was approved Thursday night by the South Brunswick Board of Education.

Goerge stepped away after the 2018 season. His sons Michael and Jason had been coaching with him for a decade-and-a-half, and their daily drive down during football season from their teaching jobs in Springfield and Elizabeth was getting to be too much.

At the time, the coach said he wasn’t retiring, and after a season as an assistant at Matawan with his sons, Goerge took the head coaching job at St. Joseph by the Sea in Staten Island. He began his coaching career in the early ’80s at Port Richmond on the Island, before coming to New Jersey and coaching at Franklin, where he won state titles in 1994 and 1996, presiding over a powerhouse that won titles before him with Len Rivers in 1984 and ’87, Charlie Weis in 1989, and Joe Stinson in 1990.

He later coached six years at Dayton, then came to South Brunswick, which hadn’t won a championship, but where Rick Mantz – who’d had great success at Hillsborough – began a rebuild that took the Vikings to their first playoff berth in 30 years in his debut season with a team that featured future Rutgers star and NFLer Mohamed Sanu.

Goerge arrived on the scene in 2012, and promptly won a sectional championship, winning two more in 2015 and 2017.

After a two-year run at Sea, Goerge has a career coaching mark of 226-146-4.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Joe Goerge about his return to South Brunswick:

by Mike Pavlichko

South Brunswick Board of Ed expected to approve Joe Goerge as Vikings next head coach

It appears, everything old is new again in South Brunswick. Just don’t call Joe Goerge old, okay?

It’s just that he’s already had a run – and a quite successful one – with the Vikings, including a 63-17 record over seven seasons, four trips to the sectional finals, and three crowns: in 2012, 2015 and 2017.

And yet, Thursday night, the Board of Education is expected to vote on his hiring. And if it ends up producing half the success it did the first time around, it’ll be a great hire.

Four years ago, Goerge left South Brunswick, saying he still had “a little bit left,” and knew he would coach again. Just where was the question.

He’d been coaching with his sons for a decade-and-a-half, and it was starting to be a long trek for them down to Monmouth Junction from their jobs up in Union County, where Michael taught in Springfield and Justin in worked in Elizabeth.

Ultimately, Goerge ended up coaching back in Staten Island, where he started his career before coming to New Jersey. He went 5-9 in two seasons at St. Joseph By the Sea.

Now, he’s poised to return to Middlesex County.

Goerge has a career coaching mark of 226-146-4, and has won five state titles overall, including 1994 and 1996 at Franklin, after a ten-year run at Port Richmond on Staten Island. After Franklin, he coached a from 2006 to 2011 at Dayton, before leaving for South Brunswick.