Tag: Marisa Rose Bowl

June 30, 2023July 13, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

Marcus Borden, Joe Bellamy and Greg Tufaro discuss the 2023 Marisa Rose Bowl

The total mount of money raised by the various iterations of what now is the Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl was at $736,000 and counting heading into Thursday night’s 2023 edition, and that number is sure to climb.

Scroll down for information on how to make a donation to support the Marisa Tufaro Foundation.

The effort is no small task. Even the day after, when coaches were taking a breather, and the football players and cheerleaders could focus 100% on leaving for college, game organizer Marcus Borden – who began the event in 1994 as the Snapple Bowl – could be found washing game-worn uniform pants, and dropping off other equipment at various locations throughout Middlesex County.

The efforts of Greg Tufaro and his wife Cyndi – who founded the Marisa Tufaro Foundation in 2017 after the passing of their daughter, Marisa, from a rare form of cancer after enduring several open-heart surgeries and a transplant – have been unmatchable in that time, including their involvement in the game, and all the other charitable endeavors they undertake.

Throw in the massive sponsorship support of Joe Bellamy, the owner of Bellamy & Son Paving – also a founding and continuous sponsor of Central Jersey Sports Radio since its inception in 2000 – and you have all the makings of a successful game like the one played Thursday night at Nicholas Priscoe Stadium in Woodbridge, in which Team Rose beat Team Marisa 37-15, behind the arm and legs of North Brunswick’s Frankie Garbolino – the game’s MVP – who threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more.

But it’s the kids who win. It’s the pediatric patients and families who benefit year-round from the Marisa Tufaro Foundation. It’s the kids at the Lakeview School in Edison, and the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick who will benefit from Thursday’s gate, and all the game’s sponsors. They’re the ones who win.

Click below to hear sideline reporter Korbid Thompson talk to game founder and organizer Marcus Borden, Joe Bellamy of Bellamy & Son Paving, and Greg Tufaro of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation at halftime of the 2023 Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl:

Click the image below to make a donation to the Marisa Tufaro Foundation:

June 30, 2023June 30, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY: 2023 Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl

Team Rose got two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns from Frankie Garbolino of North Brunwick – who was named Game MVP – in a 37-15 win over Team Marisa in the 2023 edition of the Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl.

Click below to listen to all the action from Nicholas Priscoe Stadium on June 29, 2023, with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe on the play-by-play, and Korbid Thompson reporting from the sidelines.

June 30, 2023June 30, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

WATCH: East Brunswick lineman Omar Rackley keeps pushing, pushing to score first-ever TD in Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl

Lincoln University in Missouri is getting a versatile offensive lineman who can score.

That’s something Omar Rackley, a 6-5, 370-pound offensive lineman from East Brunswick will never forget.

Mike Cipot of North Brunswick, the head coach for Team Rose in the 2023 Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl, decided he would utilize the kid’s big frame not just as a blocker, but as a runningback in short yardage situations. He wowed the crowd with a short run in the first quarter in a goal-line situation.

Presented with a similar spot in the third quarter, after a two-yard gain earlier on the drive, Rackley got the ball three yards from the end zone, and bullied his way across the goal line, inching defenders foward until he got six points for his side.

Rackley confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio Friday that It’s the first touchdown he’s ever scored in his career. It may also be his last, unless Lincoln head coach Jermaine Gailes watches this video.

Click below to watch Omar Rackley’s third quarter touchdown for Team Rose, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Justin Sontupe on the call:

June 29, 2023June 30, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

Garbolino powers Team Rose to 37-15 win in Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl

In the end, it’s all about the kids. Frankie Garbolino and the dozens of players, cheerleaders and coaches involved in the Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl know this.

But in his final game before heading to college in upstate New York, the just-graduated North Brunswick senior made it count, and used both his feet and arm to power Team Rose to a 35-17 win over Team Marisa in Thursday night’s Middlesex County senior all-star game to benefit the Marisa Tufaro Foundation, the Lakeview School in Edison, and the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick. The game was heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Garbolino threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 84 yards and two more scores on the ground. He was named the game’s MVP by the attending media.

Frankie got things started on the first play from scrimmage with a 43-yard pass completion to his Raider teammate Alani Ajigbotosho. The pair bookended the drive with an eight-yard hookup to grab a 7-0 lead just 3:35 into the game.

After a safety – a sack of Team Marisa QB Matt Yascko of Edison in the end zone – put Rose up 9-0, Marisa got within two at 9-7 with a touchdown one-yard touchdown catch by Piscataway’s Jalen Thomas. They started the drive just a yard form the end zone after a high snap on a Team Marisa punt.

But that was as close as Team Rose would get. Garbolino ran for another score, and Ajigbotosho caught another, to put Rose up 23-7 at the half.

In the second half, Team Rose – led by North Brunswick head coach Mike Cipot – would continue to empty the playbook. After taking a one-yard run in the first half near the goal line, 6-5, 370-pound lineman Omar Rackley of East Brunswick took his third carry of the game in a short yardage situation for his first-ever touchdown – at least since the start of high school.

Then Garbolino ran in another TD for a 37-7 lead before Team Marisa scored in the waning seconds, with Yascko hitting Eagle teammate Jon Baio for a touchdown to make it 37-13, with Yascko completing a pass to another fellow Eagle – Michael Strachan – for the two-point conversion.

The Marisa Rose Bowl is now in its second year, the continuation of the Snapple Bowl, started by then-East Brunswick head coach Marcus Borden in 1994. In the nearly three decades since, the game has raised $736,000 for local charities, with the list of beneficiaries increasing with the involvement of the Marisa Tufaro Foundation.

Click below for postgame reaction from the 2023 Marisa Rose Bowl:

2023 Marisa Rose Bowl MVP Frankie Garbolino of North Brunswick

Team Rose head coach Mike Cipot of North Brunswick

June 29, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

Game Preview: 2023 Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl

When graduated senior all-stars from Middlesex County take part in the Bellamy & Son Paving Marisa Rose Bowl Thursday night at Nicholas Priscoe Stadium, the main goal is to draw in the fans to raise money for the Marisa Tufaro Foundation, Lakeview School in Edison, and the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.

That’s never a given, considering the uncertainty in the world, but it’s a pretty good bet considering the game’s track record, which dates back to its inception as the Snapple Bowl in 1994, the brainchild of then-East Brunswick coach Marcus Borden.

Consider that the game has raised nearly $740,000 for charity in that time.

It’s a game that, historically, means nothing – there are no power points or home field playoff games or division titles at stake – but always ends up meaning something on the field.

You can hear tonight’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, beginning with pregame at 6:25, and kickoff at 7:00. Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe will provide the play-by-play, while Korbid Thompson will report from down on the field. Click here to listen live.

There have been wild plays, rallies, stadium lights turned out by broadcasters (whoops!) and more. Consider the 2023 version no different.

The game feature two of Middlesex County’s top quarterbacks for the past three years, with Edison’s Matt Yascko behind center for Team Marisa, while North Brunswick’s Frankie Garbolino will be the QB for Team Rose.

In a normal year, that would be enough of a storyline. But then you have to consider the history.

Yascko and Garbolino faced off against each other in 2020 and 2021, with the Frankie’s Raiders winning both teams. Yascko missed this year’s regular season meeting due to injury, which also was a loss for the Eagles, but played in their playoff matchup in the Central Jersey Group 5 semifinals, an Edison win for the ages. In it, the Eagles scored two touchdowns and a field goal in the closing minutes to stun North Brunswick, en route to Edison’s first sectional title in over three decades.

Marisa Tufaro Foundation founder Greg Tufaro (left) and game organizer Marcus Borden talk with then-North Brunswick rising senior QB Frankie Garbolino at halftime of the Marisa Rose Bowl on July 21, 2022. Garbolino will play in this year’s edition before heading off to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

But it’s not only those two, as both schools have some significant key contributors playing in the Marisa Rose Bowl.

For Edison, there’s Selbin Sabio, their top tackler at linebacker, who also is a pretty good kicker; he put a foot on two consecutive on-side kicks for the rally against North Brunswick, and kicked the go-ahead, game-winning field goal. There’s also receiver’s Michael Strachan and Jon Baio (6 TDs apiece in 2022), center Matt Beuno, defensive lineman Israel Rodriguez (9 TFLs), and disruptive defensive end Adekunle Shittu (4 sacks in ’22).

As for the Raiders, there’s Davidson-bound wide receiver Alani Ajigbotosho, a good target for Garbolino. There’s defensive end Amanuell Gray (7 TFLs, 2 sacks last year), lineman Isaiah Barnes (2 fumble recoveries in ’22), and linebacker Willie Wilson (1 INT, 3 TFLs last season). Two key pieces of the offensive line are playing, including Arnold Samuels and Katrell Periera.

That’s where the storylines deepen.

The game has special meaning for Pereira, whose older brother, Kahlil, suffered a traumatic brain injury during an automobile accident in 2013, and spent several months rehabilitating at Children’s Specialized in New Brunswick, one of the game’s beneficiaries.

Team Marisa also has Marcella Iverson of JP Stevens at wide receiver. She is an accomplished dancer, having trained at the Joffre Ballet School, but traded it in to play football, where last year she became the second female in New Jersey football history to score a two-point conversion.

Their head coach, Mike Cipot, just celebrated – somehow, amid Raiders’ practice and his own camp – his tenth wedding anniversary with his wife Lauren this Wednesday.

Yes, the storylines never end, and that’s just before the game. There may very well be more before the night is done.

BELLAMY & SON PAVING MARISA ROSE BOWL AT-A-GLANCE

Where: Nicholas A. Priscoe Stadium at Woodbridge High School
When: Thursday, June 29, 7:00 pm
Tickets: $10 at the door, benefitting the Marisa Tufaro Foundation, Lakeview School in Edison, PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.
Listen: Pregame starts at 6:25 pm. Click here to listen to all the play-by-play.
Announcers: Mike Pavlichko, Justin Sontupe (pxp); Korbid Thompson (sideline)
Team Rosters: Click here

2022 MARISA ROSE BOWL COVERAGE:

June 28, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

Marisa Rose Bowl participants throw “carnival” for PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital

There are practices, meetings, jersey distributions, but no gathering of participants in the Marisa Rose Bowl are more important – even the game itself – than two stops they will make that have nothing to do with football or cheerleading.

The first stop was the Lakeview School in Edison, and the second is the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick.

*JFK cheerleader Akiva Lewis-Allen plays a boardwalk-style game with a patient from the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick on June 22, 2023. (Photo: Greg Tufaro)*

There, just about a week ago, dozens of football players and cheerleaders put on a Boardwalk-themed carnival for the many pediatric patients who live or are otherwise treated at the Hub City facility.

It was a much-needed visit, something that hasn’t happened in several years due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Children’s Specialized Hospital isn’t an acute care facility, so it doesn’t deal with kids with broken legs, for example. The children there have much more serious health concerns, tough they have a wide range of out-patient, in-patient, and rehabilitation services.

**Please click the link above to make a donation to the Children’s Specialized Hospital Foundation, helping pediatric patients in need throughout New Jersey.**

And Marisa Rose Tufaro – the daughter of Greg and Cyndi Tufaro – spent time at Children’s Specialized as well, making the connection to her namesake bowl game even more special. Marisa survived six open-heart surgeries and a heart transplant before succumbing to a rare form of cancer at the age of 13, following a valiant battle against the disease.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Elena Herskowitz, Director of Individual Giving and Philanthropy, at the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital, about their involvement with the Marisa Rose Bowl:

June 26, 2023June 23, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

Marisa Rose Bowl still a win-win for Lakeview School in Edison after all these years

No matter what you call the Marisa Rose Bowl – even if you go back to the game’s inception in 1994 as the Snapple Bowl – it’s been a part of the fabric of the Lakeview School in Edison for three decades now.

In the beginning, Venus Majeski had her doubts.

“I’ll be honest, I was skeptical,” says Majeski, who is the Director of Development and Community Relations for the New Jersey Institute for Disabilities, working out of the Lakeview School in bucolic Roosevelt Park.

But the positivity and energy the game’s founder – then-East Brunswick coach Marcus Borden – brought to their initial meetings quickly turned her around.

Now, “pep rally day” – when players and cheerleaders visit – is a highlight of the year for the several hundred students who call Lakeview School home.

*Marisa Rose Bowl participants visit the Lakeview School in Edison, one of the game’s beneficiaries. (Photo montage: Marcus Borden)*

The game has raised over $736,000 for charity since it began, also benefitting the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick, and for the last couple of years, working in conjunction with the Marisa Tufaro Foundation.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko’s interview with Venus Majeski of the New Hersey Institute for Disabilities and the Lakeview School, including her story of how the game came to be in her meetings with founder Marcus Borden:

June 22, 2023June 23, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

Marisa Rose Bowl 2023: Who’s playing, cheering in the game? We have the full list!

When Team Marisa and Team Rose take the field next Thursday at Nicholas Priscoe Stadium at Woodbridge High School, the Marisa Rose Bowl promises to be bigger and better than ever, with seniors from Middlesex County playing in one last game, for a good cause.

The game began in 1994 as the Snapple Bowl but was rebranded last year featuring only players from Middlesex County, and will benefit The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, whose mission is to assist pediatric patients and other children in need throughout the greater Middlesex County area. The Foundation will give a share of the proceeds to PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital of New Brunswick and the Edison-based Lakeview School, a program of the New Jersey Institute for Disabilities.

Since its inception, the game as raised nearly $740,000 for charity.

Below are the representatives from each school, as well as the coaching staff and all cheerleaders who are participating in the game. Please note rosters may change between now and gameday without notice.

TEAM MARISA

Coaches: Matt Yascko, Mutt Fulham, Bob Molarz, Jim Cooper (Edison); Joe LaSala, Tracy Fudge (Woodbridge); Kevin Freeman (Carteret); Chris Meagher (Spotswood)

Players

Carteret: Cameron Browne, Napoleon Williams
Edison: Selbin Sabio, Matt Yascko, Michael Strachan, Jon Baio, Jameel Parrott, Adekunle Shittu, Matt Bueno, Israel Rodriguez
Monroe: Aidan Lane, Alex Moses, Chris Chaves, Varun Magadum, Tejman Singh
New Brunswick: Sanford James-Hill
Old Bridge: Brady Cavallaro, Dan Hennessey, Rob Orzol
Piscataway: Corey Stone, Keere Rawls, Ozzie Hilliard, Antonio Rivera, Malachi Wyatt, Jalen Thomas
St. Joseph-Metuchen: JoJo Huntley, Omari Jones, Rodney Fanning
South Brunswick: Khiri Summers, Darren Rodman, Damarion Potts
South River: Joseph Lepore, Joseph Lakatos
Spotswood: Patrick Petscavage, Connor Manacle, Brandon Bandoy
Woodbridge: Michael Darkwah, Milton Davis, Dennis Smith, Jr., Lazarus Lisojo, Julian Tavares, Kaelyb Barahona

Cheerleaders

Piscataway: Kyara Buckmire, Camran Lowery, Noel Lowery, Jade Mason
Edison: Mackenzie Caffrey, Allison Dima, Arionna Orozco, Madeline Taub, Milan Trapp
Spotswood: Laney Dwyer, Megan Perpente
Carteret: Leah Guevara, Adrianna Monforte
Woodbridge: Caroline Ruiz, Kaylee Russo

TEAM ROSE

Coaches: Mike Cipot, Danny Gorzynski, James Lopez (North Brunswick); Tarig Holman, Chris Olivieri, Dorryn Simmons (St. Thomas Aquinas), Keith Kapinos (South Plainfield), Tom Roarty (Colonia)

Players

East Brunswick: Tobias Neuberger, CJ Gardner, Kevin McMillion, Andrew Safara, Omar Rackley
Highland Park: Anthony Adeniji, Phillip Wilson
JFK: Evan Richardson, Gabe Perez, Angel Ruiz
JP Stevens: Marcella Iverson, Saket Pabba, Curtis Good
Metuchen: Connor Larson, Aidan O’Leary
Middlesex: Mekhi Parks, Jacob Platten, Jacob Santiago, Anthony Gonzalez
North Brunswick: Alani Ajigbotosho, Amanuell Gray, William Wilson, Frankie Garbolino, Isaiah Barnes, Katrell Pereira, Arnold Samuels
Perth Amboy: Xavier Frias, Naiel McCalla, Nathaniel Elizondo
Sayreville: Jesse Rosario, Drew Schabilon, Michael Pomykala
South Plainfield: Joseph Moroney

Cheerleaders

North Brunswick: Ariana Alvarado-Velasco, Nikki Neumann, Sydney Ward
Perth Amboy: Destiny Codrignton, Bianny Galan, Dominic Hilario, Nyron Odom
Middlesex: Jamie Gorel, Gabriella Maynard, Giana Staikopoulos, Karli Zamora
Sayreville: Emma Hochron, Mya Jackson, Kaylee Pesci
JFK: Laura Kozub, Akiva Lewis-Allen, Caitlin Ticas
South Plainfield: Harlee Laresen, Melissa Leon-Tamatra, Alexandra Sacco

CHEER COACHES: Colleen Meyers (Spotswood), Darlene Robinson (South Brunswick), Sara Yocum (Metuchen), Georgeann Larsen (South Plainfield), Courtney MacDonald (Middlesex)

July 22, 2022November 16, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

Full game replay of the Marisa Rose Bowl on CJSR

In the inaugural Marisa Rose Bowl presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, Monmouth-bound quarterback Christian Solino of St. Joseph-Metuchen threw for a touchdown and ran for another to lead Team Marisa to a 14-7 win over Team Rose.

Joe Bellamy scored the lone touchdown for Team Rose on an 11-yard run late in the first half.

Click below to listen to the entire game broadcast, with Mike Pavlichko and Korbid Thompson calling all the action live from Steve Libro Field at North Brunswick Township High School:

July 21, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

AUDIO RECAP: Listen to all the scoring in the Marisa Rose Bowl

In the first-ever version of the Marisa Rose Bowl, the all-Middlesex County high school football all-star game, St. Joseph-Metuchen product Christian Solino led Team Marisa to a 14-7 win over Team Rose, throwing a touchdown pass and running for another.