Tag: Matt Bloom

by Mike Pavlichko

Rematch between Rutgers Prep, Montgomery kicks off Somerset County Tournament semis at Franklin Saturday

Montgomery’s last win over Rutgers Prep in boys’ basketball came in the 2018-19 season, with the Cougars winning twice that year. Since then, the Argonauts have won ten straight, but the majority – especially in recent seasons – have been close, including a three-point loss in the 2024 Somerset County Tournament final.

This Saturday, the second-seeded Argonauts (15-8, No. 9 in New Jersey) and the third-seeded Cougars (20-3, No. 10 in NJ) will square off at 10 at Franklin High School to open a full day of basketball in the Somerset County Tournament Semifinals, with all four games on tap.

You can hear that opener as part of our doubleheader broadcast Saturday, starting with pregame at 9:45 am, and tip-off at 10. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas will call all the action, with the girls’ semifinal between top-seed Rutgers Prep and fourth-seed Bound Brook to follow. Click here to listen to both games.

Both teams have endured playing brutal scheduled. Prep has taken losses to the likes of Linden, St. Peter’s Prep and Gill St. Bernard’s, and even got knocked off by a pesky Pingry team in early January. Mongtomery had a particularly challenging three-game stretch around the same time with losses in three straight games to Linden, Prep and Gill St. Bernard’s.

The Argonauts lost to Linden by nine earlier in the season, while the Cougars fell by two a few weeks later.

And both have some great players.

Sophomore Will Brunson paces Rutgers Prep with 23.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game , with a team-best 27 blocks. But his 48 threes are just second on the team to the 65 Rocco Loomis has hit; he’s averaging 16.2 a game. And senior Nicholas Nsenkyrie is scoring almost 13, with 30 treys, on a team that has hit a whopping 245 times from beyond the arc. That’s tops in New Jersey.

Montgomery also has some young talent in the likes of Mike Simoborski – second in scoring at 17.9 – and lanky 6′ 9″ Shriyans Mallavarapu, who’s averaging seven boards a game and four blocks. Both are sophomores. Junior Connor Benedict had 46 triples to lead the Cougars – who still have 100 fewer than Prep as a team – and then there’s Ethan Lin.

The Penn-bound senior is the voice of experience, leading by example, and a settling influence if things seem like they’re getting out of hand. Besides his 19.9 points and four assists per game, it’s the intangibles that make him the player he is.

Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:

Rutgers Prep head coach Matt Bloom with Chris Tsakonas
Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy with Mike Pavlichko

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 7 Somerville wins home finale, 40-28 over Plainfield on near 300-yard rushing night from Aidan Vesuvio-Bush

A strong regular season finish into the playoffs continued Friday night at Brooks Field in Somerville, where the seventh-ranked Pioneers won a bit of a see-saw battle – at least in terms of momentum – with visiting Plainfield, 40-28, in the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The ‘Ville got a 288-yard rushing game from senior Aidan Vesuvio-Bush, who finished with three rushing touchdowns, and also added four catches for 76 yards.

The rest of the night went much better than his first touch, when Vesuvio-Bush fumbled on the first play from scrimmage trying to extend a long run. But Plainfield went three-and-out, and the Pioneers got the ball after a punt further up field than they had it on the prior possession.

Then the scoring began, as the teams totaled fifty first-half points.

The Pioneers got a 17-yard touchdown catch from Justin Bowen, but had the extra point blocked. Then Tylor Hunter caught a 17-yarder of his own, with a two-point conversion making it 8-6 Cardinals with 3:39 to go in the quarter. And Vesuvio-Bush answered on the next possession to make it 14-8, including a two-point conversion, with 40 seconds to go in the first.

On the ensuing kickoff, freshman Connor Kossowitz blooped one that was recovered about 20 yards downfield – in between two Plainfield players – by Shyheim Hobbs-Harris, setting up a drive that would end in a two-yard touchdown run by Bowen, making it 22-8 with another successful two-point try.

But Plainfield would get two of the next three scores, answering with a Kion Jones nine-yard TD catch, with Somerville busting off a 77-yard TD run out of a nothing play to keep it a two-score game 28-15. But the Cardinals got it right back with 61 seconds left in the half, on another nothing play run that turned out to be a 35-yard score on the ground by QB Devin Thomas. That left it 28-22 at the half.

After the break, Somerville slowed down its up-tempo, no-huddle offense, and that limited the possessions. They got a 34-yard touchdown catch by Justin Bowen – and a failed two-point run – to make it 34-22 with 9:22 to go in the quarter. Plainfield got it back – on a 16-yard strike from QB Devin Thomas to Tylor Hunter with 29 seconds left in the third, but they missed the extra point try with a bad snap, leaving it 34-28.

That’s when Somerville really ate the clock. They put together a 13-play, 5:16 long drive that only had to go 60-yards, with a steady diet of Vesuvio-Bush, who capped things with a one-yard touchdown run.

Somerville is now 7-1, winners of 5 straight heading into their regular season finale at Watchung Hills (3-5) next Friday night. Plainfield (3-5) will be at Linden, which was 2-5 heading into this weekend.

Click below to hear Justin Sontupe with postgame reaction from Somerville RB Aidan-Vesuvio Bush and head coach Matt Bloom, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Defending CJ3 champs, No. 7 Somerville, looking to close strong as Plainfield visits

Graduating a ton of talent as Somerville did last season, following a 12-1 campaign and a Central Jersey Group 3 championship, it would be easy to dismiss the Pioneers in 2025.

Their biggest offensive stars all finished high school. QB Brenden Pacheco threw for 1,742 yards and 27 touchdowns. Senior Terrell Mitchell tank for 1,306 and 18 scores. Senior receiver Josh Rodriguez and Brady Scheier combined for 73 catches, 1,165 yards and 15 touchdowns.

And on defense, they lost Spencer Carran and Mitchell, each with two interceptions, along with linebacker Max Nuzzi with his 3 1/2 sacks and 8 TFLs, and lineman Matthew Chubenko with four sacks and six tackles for loss.

But if you counted the Pioneers out, well, maybe you’ll want to stay away from the blackjack tables down in Atlantic City.

Because here they are, 6-1 in 2025 – their only loss coming to Montgomery – and in fourth place in the South Group 3 supersection, with a shot at a top-seed potentially still within their reach.

The names may change, but the results have been mostly the same. Their quarterback is a freshman, Dylan Boehm, and he’s already thrown for 874 yards this season along with seven touchdowns. The big damage on the ground has been done by Aidan Vesuvio-Bush, with 754 yards and eleven touchdowns. Five different receivers, led by junior Justin Bowen and sophomore James Hampton have at least 100 yards through the air.

And on the defensive side… senior linebacker Kieran McKenna already has three sacks, while senior Elijah Boyce has two, and Hampton in the secondary has five interceptions. Even more impressive, he’s brought two of those picks back for six.

With just two weeks left in the season, the Pioneers host Plainfield (3-4) Friday night in their final regular season home game of the season. Catch all the action of the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving at 6:30 pm, with pregame at 6:15. Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe have the call. Click here to listen.

Click below to hear Somerville head coach Matt Bloom talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 5 Somerville hands Summit first defeat as Pioneers get everyone into the act in 41-20 win

For much of Saturday’s game at Investors Bank Field at Tatlock Park, Summit and fourth-ranked Somerville were in a closer game than the final score would indicate.

The Hilltoppers scored first, on a 79-yard pick-six by Gavin Schnall. The Pioneers tied it on a 66-yard touchdown reception by Justin Bowen, then went ahead on a 52-yard TD catch by Dario Lozano from QB Dylan Bohem.

Then Summit tied it on a 12-yard run in the second quarter.

But from then on, it was nearly all Somerville, as the Pioneers would score the next four touchdowns – one in the second, two in the third, and one in the fourth – to take a 41-13 lead, ultimately winning 41-20 to hand Summit its first loss of the season.

Both teams are now 5-1.

Of the game’s nine combined touchdowns between the teams, all but two were plays longer than 30 yards. Somerville’s James Hampton had a 64-yard touchdown catch, Aidan Vesuvio-Bush had a 61-yard TD reception of his own, and he ran for a 45-yard score on the Pioneers’ final trip into the end zone.

Connor Gawronski also caught a 30-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

Somerville travels to North Hunterdon (1-5) Friday, after the Lions beat Monroe last night, 29-12, for their first win of the season. Summit will host Bernards in another battle of very good teams next Saturday afternoon.

Click below for postgame reaction from Somerville head coach Matt Bloom with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Cranford strikes first, but No. 2 Somerville finishes off Cougars, extending Pioneers’ regular season win streak to 12

Cranford may have gotten on the board first, and had a lead at halftime, but the final 24 minutes belonged to Somerville.

The Pioneers got three touchdowns from senior Adian Vesuvio-Bush to get past visiting Cranford, 28-12, Friday night at Brooks Field in Somerville.

John Fiore – the son of former Elizabeth, Spotswood and Montclair coach John Fiore – scored the game’s first touchdown in the first quarter, putting the Cougars up 6-0, but they missed the extra point.. Vesuvio-Bush answered with a 42-yard touchdown run in the second to go up 6-7, but Cranford answered back by blocking a Pioneer punt, and bringing it back 32-yards for a touchdown.

The Cougars went for two, but the pass was incomplete, and they led 12-7 at the break.

After that, the Pioneers took over.

Vesuvio-Bush scored from two-yards out in the third quarter, and ran in a two-point conversion to put Somerville up by an even field goal, 15-12. He then ran another in from a yard out in the fourth to make it 21-12; the kick failed. And then, for insurance, sophomore James Hampton picked off a potential touchdown pass a couple yards deep into the end zone, and brought it all the way across the opposite goal line to secure a 28-12 victory.

The Pioneers – who are 2-0 and are on a 12-game regular season win streak – will play host to Montgomery (1-1) next Friday night, while Cranford (0-2) will play its third straight road game to start the season, visiting Carteret (1-0) next Friday night.

Click below to watch postgame reaction and highlights from Marcus Borden with Somerville head coach Matt Bloom, senior Aidan Vesuvio-Bush and sophomore James Hampton, presented by Sportsplext at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Top five foe stands in the way for Argonauts as Rutgers Prep boys to challenge St. Rose in Non-Public South B

One of two Top 15 matchups down at Jackson Liberty High School Monday evening – after their girls’ team takes on Gloucester Catholic for a title – the Rutgers Prep boys’ basketball team will have a tall order when the third-seed Argonauts take on No. 1 seed St. Rose of Belmar for the Non-Public South B championship.

Yes, there will be two great games on tap, and Central Jersey Sports Radio will be there with live coverage, beginning with the girls’ game at 5 pm, and the boys at 7. Mike Pavlichko will have all the play-by-play. Click here to listen.

Both teams have challenged themselves, playing and beating some top-flight competition. And they’ve also played each other, with the Purple Roses coming away with an 80-63 win on December 23rd.

But that was a long time ago, in basketball time.

Since then, Prep has played three tough games against Gill St. Bernard’s – twice in the regular season, and again in the Somerset County Tournament final; and, by the way, Gill plays for a title tonight, too, up in Paterson – and knocked off Montgomery, this year’s Central Group 4 champ, in the SCT semis.

Rutgers Prep (20-9) is ranked No. 11 statewide, the Purple Roses (22-7) are third. Both have taken losses against some tough teams. Prep lost its opener at the Tip-Off Showcase in Montgomery to Manasquan, 64-61, on a buzzer-beater – ironic, considering how the Warriors’ season ended in controversy last year – while St. Rose beat them by five two days later. They also beat Gill in early January in the Hoop Group Boardwalk Showcase, 50-48.

Prep is led by two sophomores, and a senior, in that order, in terms of scoring. And they’re all around the same mark: Jacob Canton is averaging 15.5 per game, Andrew Kretkowski 15.3, and senior Myles Parker is scoring at a 15.2 point per game clip. Together, they account for 65.5% of the Argonauts’ scoring in any game. But we’ll get back to them in a minute.

The Argonauts should have a height advantage over St. Rose, whose biggest losses to graduation are 6′ 8″ Matt Hodge and 6′ 6″ Gio Panzini. The Roses go as big as 6′ 6″ junior guard Jayden Hodge, an all-Shore Conference star who has offers from schools like Villanova, Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers, among a host of others. He’s averaging just over 19 points per game this season, and leads the team in rebounding, assists, blocks and steals.

But head coach Brian Lynch – a Christian Brothers alum who played with eventual Rutgers standout Geoff Billett in Lincroft, then faced him often while playing in the Big East at Villanova – runs nine-deep in his rotation, so a lot of players will get in.

And now back to the Big Three. Because 6′ 7″ sophomore Andrew Kretkowski – the team’s top rebounder, who’s second on the team in blocks with 29, and can step out and hit the three – sat out the sectional semifinals against Holy Cross Prep with an undisclosed injury, and is listed as day-to-day.

To make matters worse, 6′ 11″ junior Logan Franz has been out with an injury since February 19th, and won’t play either.

So maybe Prep won’t have that height advantage, but there enough talented players on both sides that this should be a hotly contested game.

That first meeting was on the road for Prep, in St. Rose’s tiny, loud, bandbox of a gym.

And seemingly ages ago, too.

Click below for previews of Monday’s Non-Public North B final with both head coaches:

Rutgers Prep head coach Matt Bloom
St. Rose head coach Brian Lynch
by Mike Pavlichko

Last year’s final is this year’s semifinal, as Rutgers Prep and Montgomery rematch for trip to SCT championship game

If last year’s Somerset County Final and even this season’s regular season matchup are any indication, Saturday’s semifinal game in the Somerset County Tournament between Montgomery and Rutgers Prep very well may be the best game of the day.

It’s certain to be a doozy when the second-seeded Cougars and third-seeded Argonauts meet at 12:45 at Franklin High School. And you can hear it all on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame immediately following the 11 am girls’ semifinal between Rutgers Prep and Hillsborough. Click here to listen.

The last two meetings have all come down to the wire. After a 62-48 Prep win on January 30th of last season, they won the county final by three, 64-61. This year’s regular season was a 63-59 Argonauts’ victory.

In both games, Montgomery trailed at the half. They were down 37-29 at the break in the finals last season, and 40-25 at the half this year. Both times the Cougars rallied in the second half, but fell short, so getting out of the gate hot would be a good start this time around.

The Cougars had a legitimate shot at the tournament’s top seed, but that went to Gill St. Bernard’s, and the difference may have been a late win over Hudson Catholic, which Monty fell too in their opening game of the season, by four.

They have only lost three times since, coming in at 18-4 and on a five game win streak, that includes a 67-58 victory over an always-pesky Pingry squad in the quarterfinals last Saturday, and an impressive 48-45 regular season win over Ridge Tuesday. The Red Devils are the fourth-seed in the county tournament, and play top-seed Gill St. Bernard’s in Saturday’s semifinal finale, scheduled for 4 pm.

Monty’s top scorer is Ethan Lin, a junior who played in this year’s regular season matchup with Prep, but missed last year’s final after breaking his ankle a few weeks earlier. He’s averaging 19.7 points a game, while senior Bohdan Biekietov – in his second season since coming over from the Ukraine – is averaging 11.9 points per game.

For Rutgers Prep, it’s senior Myles Parking leading the show at 15.9 points per game, with sophomore Andrew Kretkowski – who had a big final last year as a freshman against Montgomery, with 17 points and eight rebounds – second at 15.5 points per game, and tops on the team at nearly 5.6 boards per contest. Sophomore Jacob Canton, with a team-best 116 assists in 24 games, can distribute the ball.

This is sure to be some hard-nosed basketball, and worth the price of admission.

Click below to hear both head coaches talk about Saturday’s SCT semifinal between 2-seed Montgomery and 3-seed Rutgers Prep:

Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy
Rutgers Prep head coach Matt Bloom

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 3 Rutgers Prep faces Franklin Tuesday as Argonauts look to go on a run

The time is now for the Rutgers Prep boys’ basketball team.

With a record of 6-6, and still the No. 3 ranking in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, the Argonauts are looking to make some noise over the next couple of weeks, jockeying for position in both the county and state tournaments, with the SCT seeding looming first, on January 27th.

Tuesday night will be one of those key games, as Prep (3-1, second place in the Skyland Conference Delaware Division) takes on Franklin (5-6, 2-2) in a game that could be a turning point for both seasons.

Prep will hope to use it as a springboard to a solid run toward the postseason. Franklin would land a signature win if the Warriors can take the victory. Game time is 7 pm, and it can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame at 6:45. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel will call all the action; click here to listen.

Last year’s Rutgers Prep squad was on the young side and inexperienced. Many of those key parts are back, including senior Myles Parker, who leads the way with 15.6 points per game and a squad-best 34 treys. Sophomore Jacob Canton adds 14.6 per game and has dished out a team-best 58 assists through 12 games, while another second-year player, Andrew Kretkowski, also is averaging 14.6 per game, along with a team-leading 6.4 rebounds.

They do a lot well – play defense, rebound, shoot from the perimeter, get up and down the floor – and just watching for a few minutes, it’s evident this group has a bond and meshes well. Bloom will have the core of Canton, Kretkowski, and also sophomore Rocco Loomis (9.3 ppg) for a few years.

To say Prep has struggled to its 6-6 mark would be inaccurate. Would they love to have more wins? Sure. But losses have come to the likes of Gill St. Bernard’s, Don Bosco Prep and Manasquan, among others. But those three have come by a combined 12 points

The run, though – they hope – starts now.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep boys’ basketball coach Matt Bloom talk about the Argonauts with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep boys’ and girls’ find role reversal; Bloom has experienced squad while Klinger starts with nearly blank slate

Since the debut of Central Jersey Sports Radio in the 2020-21 school year, only one school has topped the girls’ basketball rankings that entire time: Rutgers Prep.

Going back to the days of Christina Dalce, then Antonia Bates and Mikayla Blakes, there has always been some overlap and consistency. Not so much this year.

On the boys’ side, head coach Matt Bloom had a very young and inexperienced team last year, but one that gained valuable experience throughout the course of the season, and – ultimately – won the Somerset County Tournament for a second straight year. This year, almost the entire team is back.

The script has been flipped, and yet, both teams could still be the favorite to win their respective sides of the SCT this winter.

For Mary Klinger’s girls, the No. 1 ranking is theirs to lose. They have topped the rankings for 37 straight weeks, won 51 straight games against Somerset County opponents, and won 64 in a row against the Skyland Conference, their last defeat to any of those teams coming to Franklin in the 2019 SCT Final, almost six years ago now.

All that will face a stiff early test in the Argonauts’ home opener next Tuesday – our first broadcast of the season on Central Jersey Sports Radio – when Gill St. Bernard’s travels down to Somerset. The Knights are another veteran squad.

The Prep girls return just one starter in Ava LaMonica. Mikayla Blakes is tearing it up at Vanderbilt, having been named SEC Freshman of the Week for a third time already, and scoring over 20 points a gamewhile Chloe Escanillas and Zahra Alexander are thriving at Marist and NYU, respectively. NYU is the top-ranked team in Division 3.

LaMonica averaged about 11 points a game last year and nearly five rebounds, though missed a good chunk of the year and the entire SCT due to injury.

Hannah Fraser, is the next-most experienced returnee, a sophomore who played in 13 games last season as a frosh.

The girls open up Saturday at 11:30 am in Game Two of the inaugural Tip-Off Showcase at Montgomery against Ewing, which was 26-6 last year and won Central Jersey Group 3.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger preview the 2024-25 season with Mike Pavlichko:

Rutgers Prep’s Jacob Canton (#1) takes it to the basket against Hillsborough in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals in Somerset on February 15, 2024. (Photo: Vin Ebenau)

Meanwhile, on the boys’ side, head coach Matt Bloom’s squad had little experience last year, but as they came together throughout the season – playing their typically challenging schedule – they were good enough to outlast Montgomery in the Somerset County Tournament Championship game.

They’ll lose senior John Kelly – who would have been a big contributor had he not missed much of the season due to injury – but have their top six returning scorers back, including uber-freshman Jacob Canton, now a sophomore, who averaged just over 16 points a game last year, as well as now-senior Myles Parker and his 14.7 points a game.

The Argonauts won’t be taking it easy either with the schedule, opening up with Manasquan – last year’s Central Jersey Group 2 champions, who were embroiled in controversy over the end of that group semifinal game against Camden – in the same event the girls will play in Saturday, the Tip-Off Showcase at Montgomery.

That will be Game Three of the day, starting at 1:00, right after the girls take on Ewing.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep boys’ basketball coach Matt Bloom preview the 2024-25 season with Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Somerville drops heartbreaker to Mainland in Group 3 semis, 36-35 in overtime, on game-winning two-point conversion

Somerville didn’t lead all night until overtime, and it looked like the Pioneers and visiting Mainland were headed for a second OT period, as the Mustangs pulled within one on a seven-yard touchdown run by Rocco DiBiaso, and lined up for the PAT.

But Chuck Smith called timeout, and set up for two. Quarterback John Franchini found top receiver Jake Blum just across the goal line near the pylon for two, setting off a raucous celebration, and leaving Somerville’s players emotionally spent on the turf.

In the end, it was a 36-35 loss for the Pioneers as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio that ended what otherwise was an amazing season: 12-0 after winning the Central Jersey Group 3 title over Delsea last week, and the first Somerset County team to reach the group semifinals since the playoffs expanded to play down to group champions for the first time in 2022.

Somerville’s season ends at 12-1 – with a lot to look back on – after the sting from this one dissipates.

Mainland – last year’s Group 4 champion, now playing in Group 3 – improves to 10-3 and will get a crack at back-to-back state titles next weekend when they play Old Tappan, a 43-14 winner Friday night in the other semifinal. That game likely would be either Black Friday at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, or Sunday, December first at Rutgers. The NJSIAA will announce dates and times after all this weekend’s games are complete.

Somerville played catchup all game, but was right in the thick of a back-and-forth game with a lot of momentum swings. Rocco DiBiaso led off the scoring on Mainland’s first possession, after they held Somerville on the Pioneers’ first.

With a 7-0 lead heading into the second, both offenses heated up on a night where the temperature hovered around 37 the entire evening, with snow falling before kickoff and well into the first half.

Josh Rodriguez scored on a three-yard run out of the wildcat less than two minutes into the second quarter to knot the game at seven. Mainland answered with a touchdown run by Franchini, but Rodriguez caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Brenden Pacheco to tie it at 14-14. Franchini then found Blum for a 42-yard touchdown strike 2:18 before the half, and the teams went into the break with Mainland up 21-14.

They would strike again early in the fourth, after a scoreless third quarter. Rocco DiBiaso scored from 14 yards out to make it 28-14 with 10:46 to play, but Somerville came back.

Terrell Mitchell capped a five-play, 56-yard drive with a 22-yard touchdown run, and Max Nuzzi caught a ten-yard TD pass from Pacheco with 1:36 to go to tie it at 28.

They tried a squib kick that was recovered by Mainland, but there was a penalty on the play, and they kicked again. But eventually, the clock ran out on the Mustangs, and they headed to overtime.

Somerville struck first, taking just four plays to get a four-yard touchdown run by Pacheco, giving the Pioneers their first lead of the game. Spencer Carran – 4-for-4 on PATs – missed the extra point, but he got another chance after a roughing the kicker penalty, and made good, to make it 35-28.

It took only three plays for Rocco DiBiaso to score from seven yards out, setting up the heroics from Franchini and Blum to win the game.

Somerville quarterback Brendan Pacheco played a stellar game, throwing for 202 yards and three scores

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko of Central Jersey Sports Radio with Somerville head coach Matt Bloom: