Tag: Kevin Freeman

by Mike Pavlichko

Perth Amboy gives Carteret all it can handle, but Ramblers’ big third-quarter gives them fourth straight win over their arch-rivals

In the 98th meeting between rivals Perth Amboy and Carteret, it was the Panthers who dominated play in the first half. Miscues and penalties helped Amboy, no doubt, but they took advantage. Even if that advantage was just keeping the Ramblers off the scoreboard.

But in the end, a three-touchdown third quarter for Carteret was the difference in a 28-2 win over Perth Amboy heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, in the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving.

Perth Amboy had the only score of the first half. It came with 1:55 left in the opening quarter when Carteret went to punt from their own 20. The snap was high, and then bobbled by both teams in the end zone before it went out the back for a safety, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

Logo for Bellamy & Son Paving promoting the Big Central Game of the Week.

Amboy did a good job in the first half of squelching the Rambler offense, which also hurt itself with some penalties and other miscues. They got a pick, and even stopped them in the red zone to end the half.

But Carteret made some adjustments in the locker room. They came out on the opening possession in the wildcat and got a 10-yard touchdown run from Ronelle Nimneh-Gilbert to go up 7-2. Derrick Boakye then punched in a three-yard score to make it 14-2 after the Ramblers got the ball first-and-goal from the seven following a pick. And an 80-yard pick-six by Thomas Battle made it 21-2 with 4:15 to go in the third.

That was all they would need to swing the momentum. A third-quarter snowball for the Ramblers slowly built into an avalanche, to beat their arch-rivals. The Carteret defense held the rest of the way, holding Amboy to well under 100 yards of total offense, and no offensive points.

They added some insurance with six minutes to go in the game, a three-yard run by quarterback Danyun McKill, then blocked a punt with just under five to go.

The win was the fourth straight in the series for Carteret (1-0), but Perth Amboy (0-2) still lead the all-time series, 50-46 with two ties.

Click below for postgame reaction from Alec Crouthamel with Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman, Ronelle Nimneh-Gilbert, and Derrick Boakye presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!

MVPs: After the game, MVP trophies were awarded to both teams. Anthony Mejia-Puntel was named MVP from Perth Amboy, while Carteret’s Nimneh-Gilbert was named MVP from the Ramblers.

by Alec Crouthamel

Carteret seeking fourth straight win over rival Perth Amboy to kick off Ramblers’ 2025 season

Since Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman took over in 2021, the Ramblers have built themselves into a steady program, essentially from scratch, after a COVID-canceled 2020 season, including back-to-back seven-win seasons in 2022 and 2023.

Most importantly, however, Carteret has beaten its longtime rival Perth Amboy three consecutive times.

The Ramblers and Panthers face off for the latest edition of Middlesex County’s longest Thanksgiving rivalry – now played in September for the sixth straight year – with Carteret kicking off its season with the big-time matchup, while Perth Amboy looks to get back on track after a Week 0 loss to JFK.

The two teams will battle for the 98th time, with Perth Amboy leading the series 50-45-2. This year’s version serves as the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving.

You can hear Friday’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with kickoff time set for 6 pm at Perth Amboy’s Waters Stadium, with pregame set for 5:45. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel will call all the action; click here to listen.

The Ramblers do bring back four starters each on offense and defense, but they have a multitude of big shoes to fill. Carteret’s leading passer (Eric Thompson), rusher (Jakir Thomas), and receiver (Darius Armstrong) all graduated, leaving behind returning depth, but limited proven production.

Junior Danyun McKill – who did not play as a sophomore but was a part of the program as a freshman – takes over the reins at quarterback, while upperclassmen Al-Naiquan Boseman and Derrick Boakye return at running back. The former finished second on the team with 607 rushing yards and five touchdowns in 2024.

McKill will have his fair share of targets, led by senior Jeremiah Arrington – who also starred on the hardwood averaging a double-double – after a junior season that saw him finish second on the team with 134 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Thomas and Armstrong also graduated as two of the Rambler’s best players in the defensive backfield, grabbing all five of Carteret’s interceptions in 2024. Linebacker Chris Prosser and defensive lineman Jacob Bess also departed, taking their combined 113 tackles – 24 for loss – with them.

But in 2025, it’s a new season, with new standouts surely to come.

Senior Ronelle Nimneh-Gilbert returns after a strong season at linebacker, flanked by returning tackle leader Nick Gomm. Add in plenty of depth and experience along the defensive line – led by seniors Jonathan Hughes and Masihah Long – and the defense has all the makings of a unit built on principles Freeman preaches: be physical, disciplined, and stop the run.

Though Perth Amboy heads into this matchup at 0-1, as the old adage in sports goes, when it comes to heated rivalry games, throw all the records and stats out the window.

There is only one stat Freeman and the Ramblers will be looking for on Friday: Going 1-0 against the Panthers.

Click below to hear Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman talk about his team and the season-opening rivalry showdown with Perth Amboy:

by Mike Pavlichko

Carteret takes out Perth Amboy 27-7 in old Thanksgiving Day rivalry now played in September

The game may have lost a little juice, since – like many old Turkey Day rivalries in Central Jersey – the game is no longer played on Thanksgiving.

But it’s still the granddaddy of them all, the longest Thanksgiving rivalry in Middlesex County.

And Carteret extended its win streak over Perth Amboy Friday night with a 27-7 home victory against the Panthers, their third straight win in the series.

The Ramblers have now outscored the Panthers in those games 82-14, with one shutout.

It took Carteret a while to get going, as the teams were tied 7-7 at the half, but they finally figured it out after they came out of the lockerroom, as senior runningback Jakir Thomas – who already had a 55-yard touchdown run before the half – scored three more – of 35, 43 and four yards – to take the lead and put the game away.

Carteret improves to 1-1 and visits Cranford next week, while Perth Amboy fell to 1-1 and hosts Rahway next weekend.

Click below for postgame reaction from Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman:

by Mike Pavlichko

Marcus Borden’s 2024 GMC/BCC Camp Caravan: Night scrimmage features Carteret at Rahway

Central Jersey Sports Radio high school football analyst Marcus Borden finished off a double-dip of coverage Monday, catching Carteret and Rahway’s get together at Rahway River Park.

You can find videos – including video highlights and interviews – from both teams below

Rahway: Head Coach Brian Russo; seniors Malachi Lowe (DE/RT), Donae Fish (G/DT), and Kevin Taylor (DE/OT); and junior Andrew Avent (RB/LB)

Carteret: Head Coach Kevin Freeman and seniors Ja’Kir Thomas (RB/FS), Eric Thompson (QB/DB), Jacob Bess (G/DE) and Yari Miranda (C/DT)

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

by Mike Pavlichko

Thomas’ 4 TDs, perfect first half, proper Carteret to 46-7 win over JP Stevens

The night belonged to Jakir Thomas.

The Carteret junior runningback – already over 2,000 yards coming into the game for his career – scored four touchdowns in the first half – and the Ramblers scored the ball every time they touched it except for the final drive of the game where the clock ran out – en route to a 46-7 win over visiting JP Stevens Friday night, in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Thomas had TD runs of 29, 31, 11 and 35 yards, finishing with 10 carries for 154 yards.

Carteret’s game plan was to pound the rock, and they did; the Ramblers only attempted one pass all game, going for three yards to Sir Hezekiah Ragland.

It’s the fourth time this year Carteret scored 40 or more points in a game, one off the all-time school mark of five set during 2012’s undefeated state championship season, the last time the Ramblers won a title.

Carteret improves to 5-1, while JP Stevens drops to 0-5 and has now lost 37 straight games, the second longest active streak in New Jersey.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Carteret runningback Jakir Thomas
Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman
by Mike Pavlichko

Carteret back on track, looking to finish strong down the stretch as JP Stevens visits “The Pit”

To say Carteret came out to start the 2023 high school football season on fire would be disrespecting fire itself.

The Ramblers – who have played football since 1925 – did something they’ve never ever done in their history: score 40 or more points in three straight games.

Now, that run came to an end when they were held to a single touchdown in a 35-7 loss to much-improved Plainfield at Hub Stine Field two weeks ago, but they got right back on the horse and took it out on North Plainfield the following week, picking up a shutout win.

Now, a team led on offense by quarterback Tyrece Parrott and a disruptive defense led by Antwaun Jackson – a recent Bellamy & Son Paving Player of the Week honoree – is ready to keep it going in Week 5 as the Ramblers (4-1) take on JP Stevens (0-5) at The Pit Friday night.

It’s a game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio with pregame at 6:45 and kickoff at 7 as Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe call all the action. Click here to listen.

JP Stevens comes in with a 36-game losing streak that dates to 2018 and is the second longest such streak in the state – behind only Highland Park, currently at 46 games and counting. But that doesn’t mean Carteret will take them lightly.

“We’re not satisfied,” says head coach Kevin Freeman, who believes the Plainfield loss helped his team take more accountability for its mistakes.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman about the Ramblers’ season and the matchup with JP Stevens Friday night:

by Mike Pavlichko

Carteret routs South Plainfield; Ramblers 3-0 for first time since 2016

The third season under head coach Kevin Freeman – a Carteret alum – is paying dividends for the Rambler football team.

With a 40-7 win over South Plainfield Friday night at The Pit, Carteret is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2016, when the team started 5-0 en route to a 6-4 season under Matt Yascko.

Jahad Thompson figured large for the Ramblers; he had a punt return for a touchdown and a long interception return that set up another score.

The 40 points scored by Carteret also make it three games in a row the Ramblers have scored 40-plus points, something they haven’t done since at least the turn of the century, in the last 23 seasons. The last time they scored 40-plus points three times in a season also was 2016, and they turned the trick five times in 2012, when the Ramblers went undefeated – 12-0 – and won the Central Jersey Group 2 title.

Carteret has outscored its first three opponents this season – St. Joe’s-Hammonton, Perth Amboy, and South Plainfield (1-2) – by a 124-26 margin.

Click below to hear Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman talk about Friday’s win over South Plainfield and the Ramblers’ 3-0 start to the season:

by Mike Pavlichko

Carteret off to hot 2-0 start after 13-0 win over arch-rival Perth Amboy

The last time Carteret won its first two games of the year was also the last time it won back-to-back games: in 2018, when the team went 3-8.

But the way things are looking so far, they very well may surpass that win total.

On the job only a year-and-a-half, Kevin Freeman has his Ramblers off to a 2-0 start, thanks to a 13-0 win over Perth Amboy at The Pit Friday night.

After a scoreless first half, Tyrece Parrot ran in a seven-yard touchdown in the third quarter and an 18-yarder in the fourth, while the Carteret defense pitched a full, 48-minute shutout.

The win gets the Ramblers a bit closer in the all-time series between the two schools, once the longest Thanksgiving Day rivalry in Middlesex County. Perth Amboy leads 50-43-2, but the win snapped a three-game win streak in the series by the Panthers.

The Ramblers will visit South Plainfield next Friday night for their first road game of the season, as they look to go 3-0 for the first time since 2016.

Click below to heard Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman talk with CJSR’s Mike Pavlichko about Friday night’s win over Perth Amboy:

by Mike Pavlichko

New Carteret head coach will bring back old-style Carteret football

Run the ball, and stop the run.

It was a recipe for success for many years for successful Carteret coaches like Jeff Weiner, Bob Molarz and Matt Yascko.

So, while new Rambler head coach Kevin Freeman looks to the future, he’s also looking to the past, as part of an effort to keep things simple for a 2021 squad that will be his first as a head coach, and the first varsity season for virtually the entire team.

Click below to hear new Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman talk about how he got the job, and his plans for the Ramblers in 2021 and beyond:

Freeman’s hire was approved last week by the Board of Education.

No stranger to the Carteret program, Freeman was an all-state linebacker for Weiner in the 1990s, then played defensive end at West Virginia for Don Nehlen. He’s shown here in his playing days for the Mountaineers.

He was hired in 2019 by then-Carteret head coach Matt Yascko to coach the offensive line and linebackers.

Freeman will have a unique challenge, in that Carteret shut down all fall sports last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, any senior on the team would have only played in the Rambler program as a sophomore.

For now, Freeman’s emphasis is on the weight room, which he believes will be the great equalizer for Carteret in 2021. He’ll keep the game plan simple: run it, and stop the run on defense.

Freeman returns only two players with varsity experience.

Click below to hear Freeman talk about those two players: OL/DE Jehu Andrews and LB/FB Mark Gonzalez: