Tag: Jordan Leitner

October 4, 2024 by Mike Pavlichko

Metuchen looking to get back in win column when arch-rival Highland Park visits Brainy Boro

The last time the Metuchen and Highland Park football teams both had three wins before the calendar flipped to October was 2008.

And that’s really all you need to know about Saturday’s game, which will be played in Metuchen, and will be one of the most highly anticipated matchups between the two teams in quite some time.

Granted, last year’s game was as close as they’ve been in years. But Highland Park had a 51-game losing streak from the start of the 2017 season through the last game of last year, when they ended the skid with a win at Point Pleasant Beach. Metuchen has had its own dry spell over the years, as well.

So this one is going to have some extra juice.

And you can hear it Saturday afternoon in the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, with pregame set for 12:45 and kickoff at 1:00, with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas calling all the action. Click here to listen.

Both teams have some players.

On the Metuchen side, there’s a young quarterback who can put it in the air in Ryan Toth. The sophomore’s older brother – Evan, a senior, who missed last season due to injury – is running it well too: for 318 yards on 51 carries. That’s an average of about six yards per carry, along with five touchdowns.

Click below to hear Metuchen head coach Jordan Leitner talk about the Bulldogs and Saturday’s home matchup with Highland Park:

August 29, 2024 by Mike Pavlichko

Metuchen squeaks by Middlesex 14-6 in opener with two second-half touchdowns

A win is a win is a win, especially in the early part of the high school season, when most games tend to look like a late preseason camp scrimmage. You take the W and move on.

Metuchen needed two second-half touchdowns – one to take a 7-0 lead in the third quarter, and the other to give them some insurance after Middlesex got within a point at 7-6 – to come out with a 14-6 win over Middlesex in the opening game of the season for both schools.

After a scoreless first half, the Bulldogs scored on their first possession of the half. Switching to sophomore Ryan Toth at quarterback, he led a scoring drive that ended in a one-yard run by his brother, senior Evan Toth.

A couple possessions later, Jax Jarvis broke off a 43-yard touchdown run for the Blue Jays, but they went for two to take the lead and failed, leaving it 7-6 Metuchen.

In the fourth quarter, with Toth and the offense clicking a bit more, he put together another drive, and capped this one off himself with a two-yard run.

The win makes head coach Jordan Leitner 3-0 in season openers since he took over the Bulldog program in 2022.

Click below to hear Metuchen head coach Jordan Leitner talk about the season-opening win over Middlesex:

August 20, 2024February 20, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

Marcus Borden’s 2024 GMC/BCC Camp Caravan: Manville, Metuchen, Spotswood hit the Shore for quad scrimmage at Point Pleasant Beach

Central Jersey Sports Radio high school football analyst Marcus Borden took advantage of the beautiful weather Tuesday morning to catch Manville, Metuchen and Spotswood in a quad scrimmage down at Point Pleasant Beach, as he continues his Camp Caravan tour in the 2024 preseason.

You can find videos – including video highlights and interviews – from all three teams below.

Manville: Head Coach Dave Markowitch, senior Armondo Lazzeri (G/DE), and juniors Josh D’Ambrosio (QB/S) and Isaiah Bennett (RB/LB)

Metuchen: Head Coach Jordan Leitner, senior Evan Toth (RB/LB and juniors Kyle McPartlan (QB), Cam Hayes-Durina (WR/S) and Justus Leitner (WR/CB)

Spotswood: Head Coach Chris Meagher, seniors John Wallace (OT/DT), Sebastian “Seb” Saracino (RB/LB), Stephen Henits (WR/OLB) and junior Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage (QB/DE)

You can now watch all the 2024 Camp Caravan videos on YouTube by clicking this link!

August 27, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

Metuchen tops Highland Park for fourth straight Goal Post Trophy win; Leitner gets first coaching victory

On a hot, late-August day with the sun beating down, hobbling several players with cramps, Metuchen got touchdown scores from six different players as the Bulldogs beat arch-rival Highland Park 40-6 Saturday afternoon, in a Week Zero game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

It means Metuchen can keep the Goal Post Trophy another year; they’ve had it since 2017. It also extended Highland Park’s losing streak to 34 games, the longest active streak in New Jersey.

The Owls – with some of their best program numbers in years, over 30-players strong heading into the game – were still in it at halftime, down 14-0. Matt Flood’s four-yard touchdown run and Aiden O’Leary’s 43-yard touchdown catch-and-run both cam in the first quarter, and Highland Park wasn’t out of reach.

But two third-quarter TDs gave Metuchen some distance – a three-yard run by quarterback John Bolesta, a touchdown pass to Cody Cardillo from five yards out – until Highland Park threw some wrinkles in on offense, using wide receiver Markos Hantsoulis in the Wildcat, leading to a 24-yard touchdown run with under three minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs finally salted it with a one-yard run by Evan Toth and a 12-yard touchdown scamper by Daniel Ayala.

For the Owls, though, the loss showed some promise, and there are winnable games on the schedule. Their numbers finally allow third-year head coach Shawn Harrison – whose program didn’t field a varsity team in 2020, his first year – some flexibility on both sides of the ball.

Metuchen still trails in the overall series, despite having won four straight on the field, plus a 2019 forfeit. Not counting that decision, the Owls lead 61-24-1.

The win was the first for new Metuchen coach Jordan Leitner, a former star quarterback for the Bulldogs.

Click below for postgame reaction from Metuchen’s win over Highland Park: