Tag: Johnson

by Mike Pavlichko

Group 2 playoff analysis: Bernards falls despite win, Del Val and New Providence make gains

Same result on the field, different directions in the playoff standings. That’s the upshot of Week 5 play when it comes to North and South Group 2, as we head into the final three weeks before Cutoff Weekend. Here’s a closer look at both supersections.

NORTH 2 (Click here for official standings)

It happened with power points too, so this in nothing unique to OSI or the whole UPR system, but despite a Bernards win last Friday night over North Plainfield, the Mountaineers dropped from third to seventh in the latest standings. Why? Despite a 5-1 record, that fifth win didn’t amount to much, since North Plainfield is 0-6. That was a 9-point value for power points.

And yet, with residuals from their other opponents they’ve beaten, Bernards actually rose in power points. It was North Plainfield’s OSI that killed them, falling from a 53.52 to a 50.8 as a result.

Otherwise, Westwood (5-0) sits atop the supersection at 5-0 with a UPR of 1, holding a decent lead over Caldwell and Rutherford (both also 5-0). Bernards is the only team in the supersection from the Big Central

SOUTH 3 (Click here for official standings)

Haddonfield and Rumson-Fair Haven are 1-2 in this section, with little separating them from each other (1.4 UPR vs. 1.6) but a decent distance to the third place team, Point Pleasant Boro (3.4 UPR). And Raritan (from the Shore Conference) is even further back at 5.4 UPR.

This week saw a big gain for Delaware Valley (4-1), as the Terriers picked up a 53-6 win at Bound Brook. The winless Crusaders – who have scored six points each in two games this year, and that’s all – didn’t help the cause, teams ahead of them – like Willingboro and Monmouth – both lost and helped make up for it. Ultimately, they went from tenth to seventh, while New Providence (3-3) with a win over Johnson (4-1) moved them from 14th to ninth. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, they dropped from 11th to 13th.

Del Val is a good bet for a top eight seed and first-round home game gauarantee with a UPR of 6.8 and the ninth place Pioneers holding a 10.4 UPR. That’s a lot of ground for them to make up, even with Bernards on the schedule – that’s a tall order.

Johnson, meanwhile wityh a 13.8 UPR and the 17th place team 4.8 UPR points behind them, looks to be in the playoffs if they get back on the winning track. A loss to Hillside at home Friday won’t hurt them, but dropping a game against Spotswood next week or at South River on the Friday of Cutoff Weekend will, severely.

Dayton, in 19th, is likely out of contention, even if not mathematically eliminated. With Spotswood and Metuchen on the schedule, it’s doubtful even a sweep of their last three games – South Hunterdon is sandwiched in between – could help make up enough ground.

by Mike Pavlichko

“The Big Central in 2 Minutes” – Week 5: Don’t sleep on the Lions, stingy North Brunswick “D”

On this week’s trek around “The Big Central in Two Minutes,” Mike Pavlichko comes away impressed with North Hunterdon’s ground game, and talks about North Brunswick’s season-long stingy defense. That and a whole lot more on this week’s edition!

Click below to listen to the Week Four edition of “The Big Central in 2 Minutes”:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rough night for (most of) the Big Central unbeatens, as four of seven playing Friday night go down

The Big Central Conference had eight teams boasting unblemished records heading into Week 5 of the high school football regular season.

Half those teams went down Friday night – Colonia, Hillside, Johnson and Montgomery – with one more still to play Saturday afternoon, when South Plainfield (4-0) visits Governor Livingston (3-2), winners of their last three games.

First, the good news: top-ranked Phillipsburg and No. 2 North Brunswick picked up convincing wins Friday night, while Brearley won as well.

Though they only led 7-0 at the half, Phillipsburg scored twice to take a 21-0 lead on Hunterdon Central, eventually winning 21-7 in Flemington. Xavier Moore opened the scoring and Jett Genovese threw a pair of touchdown passes to Matthew Scerbo, Jr. Now 5-0, the Stateliners host Bridgewater-Raritan at Maloney Stadium next Friday night.

North Brunswick allowed just its third and fourth touchdowns of the season in a 34-14 road win at Franklin. A fourth-quarter touchdown came when the game was out of hand. The Raiders are 5-0 as well, and take the short trip down Livingston Avenue to New Brunswick next Friday night.

Phillipsburg and North Brunswick both led their respective Group 5 playoff supersections – North and South 5 – heading into the weekend, but they won’t meet in the regular season. They could only play if they both reached the first-ever Group 5 state final this December at Rutgers.

As for Brearley, the Bears blanked South Hunterdon 14-0, their third shutout in five games this season. QB Matt Sims rushed for a three-yard touchdown in the second quarter, while Brendan Fitzsimmons scored on a nine-yard TD pass from Sims in the fourth quarter. The Bears are 5-0.

Now, to the downside, and the four teams that went down for the first time all season.

If it wasn’t the least surprising result, it might have been on paper, at least according to the Central Jersey Sports Radio Top Ten rankings. In a battle of ranked teams, 8th-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas edged out Hillside in North Edison, 17-7. The Comets fall to 4-1, while the Trojans are now 5-1, undefeated in Big Central play, with their only loss coming to Timber Creek of the West Jersey Football League in Week Zero. The highlight for Aquinas was a 100-yard pick six by Najee Lovejoy late in the first quarter.

Montgomery’s 5-0 season came to a crashing halt with a 33-0 home loss to Watchung Hills. The Cougars didn’t help their cause losing two fumbles. Click here for a recap and postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Chris Tsakonas.

In the Big Central Game of the Week on Central Jersey Sports Radio, No. 6 Colonia got dominated as well, as runningbacks Kente Edwards and Alex Urinyak combined for nearly 300 yards and three touchdowns in a 33-7 home win for No. 10 North Hunterdon over the Patriots in Annandale. Click here for a recap and postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko.

And Johnson, off a 4-0 start – its best start since a 5-0 mark to begin 2017 – suffered its first loss of the season, with a 27-14 loss at New Providence, which has won two straight to improve to 3-3 as they figure out life post-Charlie Barth. Ben Gullo led the way for the Pioneers with three touchdowns and 124 rushing yards. The Crusaders fall to 4-1.

by Mike Pavlichko

Group 2 playoff analysis: Bernards benefits from big win at Del Val, while Terriers drop

With high school football season at its midway point, it’s time to start taking a look at the playoff picture, with Cutoff Weekend just four weeks away. Here’s a look at Group 2 teams in the Big Central Conference, and where they stand:

NORTH (Click here for official standings)

The only Big Central team here is Bernards, whose game Friday night at Delaware Valley was billed as a boon for whoever won. It was the Mountaineers, 17-14, and they jumped from eighth place to third with the victory over the Terriers; it was a solid Strength Index and power points game. OSI went from 49.01 to 53.52, while power point average climbed from 10.75 to 12.80. That puts them behind leader Westwood (4-0, 1.6 UPR) and Caldwell, owner of the state’s longest winning streak, now at 19, dating back to their last three games of 2020.

Caldwell may not lose again this year, and the SI of their last four opponents are all 67 or higher. Bernards, on the other hand, has winless North Plainfield and Bound Brook, plus Governor Livingston and New Providence. The Highlanders have won three straight since starting 0-2. If they can continue that run, it’ll help the Mountaineers.

We don’t think they’re a solid top four team yet – which would mean they’d be a 2-seed in either section and guaranteed home field at least through the sectional semifinals – but if they run the table, they at least have a shot at it. It depends who can come up from behind on them. Bernards has a 3.6 UPR, but at 3.8, Ramsey (4-0) is right behind them. Rutherford, though, in fifth, is a healthy 2.8 UPR points behind Bernards.

SOUTH (Click here for official standings)

Little surprise here that Rumson-Fair Haven is in familiar territory, atop the supersection. It could be surprising when you look at their 2-2 record, until you realize one of those losses is to a multiplier, in Donovan Catholic. And since they also play Red Bank Catholic – another multiplier – on cutoff weekend, well, you can just sew it up right now for the Bulldogs. (Is that fair? Definitely not, but that’s a rant for another time.)

The highest-ranked team here is Delaware Valley, which dropped from third to tenth after Friday night’s home loss to Bernards, its first of the season, leaving them 3-1 on the year. And they’ve still got Hillside to go, with the Comets’ powerful run game. Likely bet that the Terriers will make the playoffs, barring a collapse, but they may be hard-pressed to get a first-round playoff game out of it – unless they can knock off Hillside, Saturday afternoon road game the week before Cutoff Weekend, October 15th.

Johnson is right behind Del Val, at 4-0, having a nice year so far, with a UPR of 11, one full point behind the Terriers, who have a 10 UPR. They’re at New Providence this Friday night, with the Pioneers in 14th with a UPR of 15. That’s a big game for either team, and a loss could relegate whoever’s on the short end of the stick to bubble status, though likely on the inside – and it’s more harmful to New Providence than the Crusaders.

Dayton is in a 16th place tie for the final playoff spot with Haddon Heights. The Bulldogs are 2-2, while the Garnets are 3-1, both with 16.6 UPRs. Dayton will need to keep winning, and have a middle of the road schedule the rest of the way.

They play their next three on the road, and the games get progressively tougher – at Highland Park this Friday night, at Spotswood the following Saturday, and at South Hunterdon on Friday, the 14th – before coming home to face Metuchen the Friday night of Cutoff Weekend. They might have to win out.

The next question is: What about Spotswood? The Chargers are 4-1, their best start since 2016. Can they pick up enough power points and OSI value to get in, even if they go 4-0? The jury is still out and it’s probably too early to tell. JP Stevens is their final opponent – yes, Group 5 JP Stevens – and that will at least soften the blow from the Hawks not having won a game yet this season. (They’ve lost 27 straight, in fact, the second longest streak in New Jersey at the moment.)

Will it be enough? Stay tuned.

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South River – despite a 2-2 mark – sits in 24th place, and would be hard-pressed to make a dent. Then again, their last three games are at Delaware Valley and Governor Livingston, then home to Johnson. Should they win at least two of those, maybe – maybe – they have a shot. Check back in a couple of weeks.

by Mike Pavlichko

“The Big Central in 2 Minutes” – Week 4: Liners stake their claim, and who had the biggest upset?

On this week’s trip through “The Big Central in Two Minutes,” Mike Pavlichko weighs in on Phillipsburg’s claim to the No. 1 ranking in the league, who had the biggest upset wins of Week Four, and whether Somerville should be in a division with Group 5 schools/

Click below to listen to the Week Four edition of “The Big Central in Two Minutes”:

by Mike Pavlichko

Wall to Wall Big Central Football will air Thanksgiving Weekend on Central Jersey Sports Radio

Did the high school football season end too soon for you? Not stuffed yet from Thanksgiving Dinner?

Have no fear.

Central Jersey Sports Radio begins a new tradition this year: We’ll air every single one of our high school football broadcasts back-to-back-to-back to…. (you get the idea) … to-back this Thanksgiving Weekend.

Buy a bigger belt!

That’s right: 3 days, 13 games, 20 teams, 30 hours of Big Central Conference Football, powered by Bellamy & Son Paving of Piscataway.

Simply go to our website and click the Listen Live button to tune in any time, morning, noon or night. We’ll be “on the air” practically from sunup to sundown – definitely after sundown!

Here’s the schedule for each day, with original air date, and approximate start time:

Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, November 26

  • Somerville vs. South Plainfield, October 2 – 8 am
  • St. Joseph-Metuchen vs. Elizabeth, October 3 – 9:45 am
  • Old Bridge vs. East Brunswick, October 9 – noon
  • South River vs. Spotswood, October 10 – 2 pm
  • Bernards vs. Johnson, October 12 – 4:30 pm
  • Bound Brook vs Voorhees, October 16 – 6:30 pm

Friday, November 27 (Now starts at 9 am instead of 8 am)

  • Edison vs. North Brunswick, October 23 – 8 am
  • Manville vs. Bound Brook, October 30 – 11 am
  • Ridge vs. Hillsborough, November 6 – 1:45 pm
  • St. Joseph-Metuchen vs. Woodbridge, November 7 – 4:15 pm
  • Metuchen vs. South Hunterdon – 6:30 pm

Saturday, November 28

  • Woodbridge vs. Somerville, November 13 – noon
  • Edison vs. Hillsborough, November 20 – 3 pm
by Mike Pavlichko

Bernards cruises past Johnson behind Gouldin, balanced attack

Bernards coach Jon Simoneau says senior quarterback Teddy Gouldin is the kind of kid where “you wouldn’t have a problem if he showed up to date your daughter.”

He definitely doesn’t have a problem with Gouldin running his offense.

The Mountaineers picked up their first win of the season, beating A.L. Johnson 39-14 on a drizzly senior night at Olcott Field.

Gouldin ran for the game’s first touchdown – 24 yards up the gut – then ran for another (3 yards) and threw for one to Gavin Chieff (45 yards), while the Mountaineers scored in all three phases. That included a fumble recovery in the end zone by Chieff, and a 28-yard field goal by Steven Lopez.

Hear the game audio below from Monday, October 12, 2020, with Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino on the call:

1st Half:

2nd Half:

by Mike Pavlichko

COVID takes some lustre off Big Central’s inaugural season

by Mike Pavlichko

There were supposed to be some highly intriguing matchups in 2020.

That was the promise of the Big Central Football Conference, the long awaited merger that follows the trend around the rest of the Garden State: large superconferences swallowing up smaller ones and encompassing large swaths of New Jersey.

The Big Central gives us 60 teams that used to be in the Greater Middlesex and Mid State Conferences.

The names had a nice ring to them. The GMC will survive in all sports besides football. The Mid-State also was a football-only league, as Hunterdon, Warren and Union Counties make up the Skyland Conference in other sports.

Continue reading “COVID takes some lustre off Big Central’s inaugural season” →