Tag: Mike Cipot

by Mike Pavlichko

North Brunswick rallies, then wins see-saw fourth quarter battles to survive and advance

It could have been an early night for the third-seeded North Brunswick Raiders.

But head coach Mike Cipot had talked to his team during the week about playing from behind. Certainly not hoping for it, but preparing for that eventuality with a group of players who – if they’ve ever been in the playoffs at all – maybe saw time as sophomores in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the NJSIAA playoffs last season.

Whatever the discussion, it paid off. After two touchdown connections from Frankie Garbolino to Marquis Perry in the first quarter to erase a 14-0 deficit, the Raiders survived a back-and-fourth final quarter to beat 6th-seed Eastern at home 39-30 Friday night in the Central Group 5 first round.

Perry and Garbolino also each had a touchdown run, while Brandon Harrison had a 20-yard pick six for a score.

North Brunswick next will travel to second-seed Cherokee in Marlton for a second-round game. They beat 7-seed Egg Harbor Township Friday night 38-37.

Click below to hear North Brunswick head coach Mike Cipot talk about the Raiders’ come-from-behind victory over Eastern:

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 5 North Brunswick visits Edison with two-game win streak, and steadily improving

With a 4-1 football team in tow, North Brunswick head coach Mike Cipot believes his squad is in a good place.

They’ve been improving since a 35-22 Week Three loss to Sayreville, Cipot believes, and he’s happy with the improvement he’s seen in his team since then.

That was capped off with a win where the Raiders did all the right things last week in a 35-7 win over Piscataway.

LISTEN: Loaded North Brunswick aiming high behind Garbolino and Co.

So, North Brunswick looks to keep it going this week when they visit Edison’s Matthew Drwal Field for a big rivalry game against the Eagles in the “Big Central Game of the Week” driven by Mark Montenero and his team at the world-famous Autoland.

https://www.edisonboysbaseball.com/

Kickoff is 7 pm on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe on the call; click here to listen live.

North Brunswick won a dramatic game last year at Edison.

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With the Eagles driving late in the game down 21-20, North Brunswick D-back Jelani Devonish-Wynter was playing tight coverage on receiver Malcolm Stansbury. The two went up for a 50-50 ball in the left corner of the end zone, and after they both went to the ground, Stansbury and came out with the ball.

MORE AUDIO: Devonish-Wynter’s end zone heroics help No. 9 North Brunswick edge out Edison

The play was ruled an interception, and North Brunswick hung on to win.

Click here to listen to North Brunswick coach Mike Cipot talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Justin Sontupe about the Raiders’ season and Friday night’s rivalry game at Edison:

by Mike Pavlichko

This Week in the Big Central – Episode 7: The Midway Point

Half the regular season is in the books in high school football across New Jersey, and we talk about it on Episode 7 of “This Week in the Big Central,” driven by Mark Montenero and his team at the world-famous Autoland!

Mike Pavlichko starts the show with a look at the playoff standings – interrupted by a mild rant on the state’s multiplier formula for power points.

Then, it’s a look at the Bellamy & Son Paving Player of the Week, South Brunswick’s Khiri Summers, who had three receiving touchdowns on offense, and two interceptions on defense, against Monroe.

Mike and Dom Savino wrap it up with a look at the Week 6 slate, including some playoff implications.

by Mike Pavlichko

This Week in the Big Central – Episode 4: The Mr. Old Bridge

A pair of big wins for a pair of Raiders, and the Big Man in Old Bridge.

Those are some of the highlights of Episode 4 of “This Week in the Big Central,” driven by Mark Montenero and his team at the world-famous Autoland.

We take a closer look at the top-ranked North Brunswick’s big win at Old Bridge, thanks to a big night from Marqis Perry. Then Hillsborough came up with a statement win over Phillipsburg in overtime.

Later, host Mike Pavlichko talks with Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Player of the Week Tommy Amankwaa, and sits down with Mr. Old Bridge, Ron Mazzola, to talk about his PA work for Old Bridge and Spotswood, work with GMC wrestling and gymnastics, and great moments in Knights’ football.

Then, Dom Savino slides into the chair across from Mike to preview Week Three action in the Big Central.

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 1 North Brunswick wins critical road matchup with Old Bridge on Perry’s 5 TDs

Mike Cipot, the Raidrers head coach now in his fifth season at the helm, says it was one of the best performances he’s seen.

Senior Marquis Perry scored five times – twice on the ground and three times on tosses from junior quarterback Frankie Garbolino – to power North Brunswick past No. 4 Old Bridge on the road, 34-27.

In Week One, North Brunswick scored 35 unanswered points to break a 21-all tie en route to a 56-21 win over South Brunswick. Somewhat similarly, this time the Raiders were tied at 20 with Old Bridge, but won the second half 14-7.

The victory puts the Raiders at 2-0 heading into a home game with Sayreville next weekend, while the Knights drop to 1-1.

Click below to hear North Brunswick head coach Mike Cipot talk about the victory over the Old Bridge:

by Mike Pavlichko

Loaded North Brunswick aiming high behind Garbolino and Co.

In 2020, Frankie Garbolino was one of a trio of sophomore starting quarterbacks in Middlesex County – along with South Brunswick’s Vince Jiardullo and Edison’s Matt Yascko – who got a reputation for playing above their station.

This year, the North Brunswick star hopes to translate that into a state championship.

The Raiders went 7-1 in their pandemic-shortened season, their only defeat coming at the hands of Cranford.

The schedule is a tough one this year, with Edison, Piscataway, Union, St. Joe’s and Hillsborough on tap. But both Garbolino and head coach Mike Cipot feel like this will be another strong year for the club, as they return not only

Click below to hear from both of them as Mike Pavlichko stopped by preseason camp earlier this week.

North Brunswick junior QB Frankie Garbolino:

North Brunswick head coach Mike Cipot:

by Mike Pavlichko

Cipot helps North Brunswick figure it out, and is named Coach of the Year

In The Sound of Music, the nuns in the abbey sang “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?”

In North Brunswick, head coach Mike Cipot had to figure out how to solve the problem of not having the graduated Myles Bailey.

All he did in his time with the Raiders was re-write more than a couple of key pages in the record books. Bailey is tops in career rushing yards (5,096), career rushing touchdowns (41), and career points (314). And as a safety, his 8 career interceptions rank 5th all-time in school history.

Bailey now is a grayshirt at Central Michigan, and he’s not the only top talent Cipot lost.

There’s Samod Wingo, a TE/DE who is at William Paterson, and Leon Lowery – who played in a handful of games late in the season for Syracuse.

But Cipot and his assistants found a way, leading North Brunswick to a 7-1 season, their only loss to Cranford, one of the Big Central’s top teams.

How did they account for the loss of Bailey’s big numbers? By committee.

Five different players – including the quarterback, sophomore Frankie Garbolino – rushed for 100 yards or more this season.

Click below to hear Mike Cipot talk about how the Raiders continued their success in 2020:

Honorable mentions for Coach of the Year included Dan Lee of Monroe and Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s Austin Holman.

Lee’s Falcons finished 5-1, by far the school’s best season since he took over for Chris Beagan in 2016. Monroe had gone a combined 8-30 in Lee’s first four seasons. Their only loss came by 7 at home to Old Bridge in Week One, and they won their remaining games by a combined 184-60, never allowing more than 18 points the rest of the way.

Holman led the Raiders to a 5-2 season, following a 4-6 mark in his first year at SPF in 2019. He took over a program that had gone a combined 9-50 under Mark Ciccotelli and Jon Stack from 2013-18. They scored three blowout wins, beating Princeton, JFK and Colonia by a combined 136-29.

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 7 North Brunswick puts unbeaten mark on the line vs. Edison in Big Central Game of the Week, powered by Bellamy & Son Paving

It will be a battle of sophomore quarterbacks at Drwal Stadium in Edison tonight when the Eagles entertain No. 7 and unbeaten North Brunswick in the Big Central Game of the Week powered by Bellamy & Son Paving (6:50 pm pregame, 7:00 kickoff).

Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino have the call. Listen by clicking the Listen Live button on our page, or here.

The Raiders have won each of the last three years, but before that, Edison had won three straight, and North Brunswick leads the all-time series 9-7. the teams only met for the first time in 1994, 20 years after North Brunswick Township High School first opened.

The game features two tenth-grade quarterbacks. Matt Yascko started six games as a freshman for Edison, compiling 1,065 yards and 7 touchdowns after starter Lucas Loffredo went down to injury. Loffredo eventually moved to and transferred to Piscataway, where he did not play.

READ MORE: Edison coach Matt Fulham talks 2-1 start, Yascko & Yascko, and North Brunswick challenge Friday night

North Brunswick’s sophomore quarterback is less tested. But Frankie Garbolino has helped lead North Brunswick through the first three games of the post-Myles Bailey era with 626 yards passing and 7 touchdowns in just the first three games, most notably including no picks.

Listen below to Dom Savino’s conversation with North Brunswick coach Mike Cipot on the 2020 season, and previewing the Edison game: