Tag: New Brunswick

by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio unveils 2026 High School Baseball Broadcast Schedule featuring a dozen regular season games, plus County, State tourneys

With a dozen regular season games, plus coverage of the GMC and Somerset County Tournaments – as well as state tournament coverage to be announced at a later date – Central Jersey Sports Radio has announced its 2026 high school baseball broadcast schedule.

It all gets started next week, with our opener on Tuesday, March 31 at 4 pm between defending 2025 SCT champion Immaculata and NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 winner Hillsborough. Then, after the calendar turns to April mid-week, we get state Group 1 champion Middlesex visiting Spotswood, on Thursday, April 2.

Coverage also includes two regular season games at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater – Montgomery vs Pingry on April 11, and Rutgers Prep against South Plainfield two Saturdays later – as well as the semifinals and finals of the Somerset County Tournament on April 18th and 20th, respectively.

The schedule includes three of last year’s SCT semifinalists, and all four of 2025’s GMC Tournament semifinalists, including a rematch of the title game between Edison and St. Joseph-Metuchen, and a rematch on the Invitational final between New Brunswick and East Brunswick Magnet.

Last year’s North 2, Group 3 winner South Plainfield also is on the schedule, as well as finalist Colonia.

Click here to see the full 2026 broadcast schedule.

by Mike Pavlichko

New Brunswick breaks through, ends 32-game skid, and Zebras are honored with CJSR’s Perseverance Award for 2025

Losing streaks are tough to break. Just ask Highland Park and JP Stevens, who both broke losing streaks over the last couple of years, nearly back-to-back – the Owls at the end of 2023, and the Hawks to start 2024.

New Brunswick – which won state titles as recently as 2003 and 2006 under John Quinn – has struggled with numbers for a Group 5 school, and it’s shown in the results. The Zebras hadn’t scored more than eight points in a game since late 2022, and had been shutout four times already in 2025 by the time Cutoff Weekend was through.

But like Highland Park did in 2023, the players and coaches decided they wanted to play one more game, and brought West Windsor-Plainsboro into Memorial Stadium. They’ve been struggling, too.

And boy, did the Zebras take out three or four years of frustration.

They exploded for 36 points in a 36-0 win, and even notched their first shutout since a 14-0 victory over Carteret – Quinn’s final year at the helm – on September 25th, 2009, at The Pit.

And now New Brunswick, when they open their 2026 season, will have a chance to make it two straight for the first time in eight years.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with New Brunswick Players Nazir Pollard, Zi’youn Brown and Micheal Galindo, along with head coach Geoff Chrisman :

by Mike Pavlichko

Wednesday Night Big Central Roundup: Carteret tops JFK in “consolation” game behind 6 TD night from Boseman; New Brunswick snaps state’s longest active skid; South River picks up first win of season in finale

Al-Naiquan Boseman scored five touchdowns for the Carteret Ramblers, who won a track meet against JFK, 49-31, Wednesday night at “The Pit” in a Big Central Conference crossover “consolation” game.

While the NJSIAA no longer assigns consolation games, teams that miss the playoffs are allowed to set up their own matchups. Scroll down for scores and notes on the rest of the games, many of which were moved from Thursday due to the Nor’easter that’s in the forecast.

Meanwhile, for Carteret, Boseman scored four of his six touchdowns in the first half, after which the Ramblers led 26-25.

Carteret went ahead 33-25 less than a minute into the second half, then went up 40-25 on Boseman’s fifth TD run of the game, a three-yard score with 4:16 to go in the third. He’d score again as time ran out to make it 46-25.

After a Gatik Bhardwah 30-yard field goal made it 49-25, JFK got the game’s final score with 3:49 left on a pick-six by Grant Lorentzen.

Carteret improves to 4-5 with the win, while the Mustangs fall to 6-4.

Carteret Ramblers football team celebrating on the field after a victory, posing for a group photo in their blue and white uniforms.
Carteret celebrates on last win on its home field in 2025, after a 49-31 victory over JFK. (Photo: Marcus Borden)

Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden with Carteret head coach Kevin Freeman and players Ronelle Nimneh-Gilbert and Al-Naiquan Boseman, presented by the Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Here are other scores from around the Big Central Wednesday night:

  • New Brunswick 36, West Windsor-Plainsboro South 0: The Zebras ended the state’s longest active losing streak Wednesday night, winning for the first time in its last 33 games. The 36 points was the most scored by New Brunswick in a game since a 43-14 win at Monroe on October 29, 2021, and it was their first win since a September 16, 2022 home victory over Franklin. And after being shutout four times this season – never scoring more than eight points – it was their first shutout victory since a 14-0 victory over Carteret in 20009, when John Quinn was head coach. They also played Matawan to a shutout tie in 2012.
  • South River 19, Dunellen 0: The Rams picked up their first win of the season Wednesday, finishing the year 1-9. With New Brunswick’s loss, and Dunellen now 0-9, the Destroyers will take the state’s longest losing streak into 2026, now at 19 games. Their last win came against Brearley, 34-28, on October 29, 2023.

  • Millburn 51, Roselle 14
  • Keansburg 27 Middlesex 6
  • South Plainfield 35, Spotswood 28
  • Union 28, Columbia 7
  • Edison 39, Watchung Hills 14
  • East Brunswick 35, Perth Amboy 12
  • Dayton 34, Keyport 6
  • Manchester Twp. 18, JP Stevens 12
  • North Plainfield 42, Highland Park 13
by Mike Pavlichko

Another reset for New Brunswick, as Chrisman looks to turn Zebra football around in ’25

Things haven’t been good for New Brunswick high school football for a while, but there was a time they were great.

Going back to the mid-2000s, when the Zebras were churning out players like Dwayne Jarrett, Jonathan Casillas under John Quinn, who brought two championships to the Hub City. And even as recently as 2015 when they went 9-2 under Don Sofilkanich, who was a coordinator on Quinn’s state title teams in 2003 and 2006, their only championships in the playoff era.

But since that 2015 campaign, in nine years, New Brunswick is just 16-66 under three different coaches, having lost 23 straight. The last 20 of those have seen them fail to score more than eight points in a game, with 12 shutouts in that span.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is, there’s a new head coach in Geoffrey Chrisman, who has been an assistant at multiples schools – including New Brunswick – and was the head coach at West Windsor-Plainsboro South in 2015 and 2016. (The school now plays as a co-op with West Windsor-Plainsboro North.)

He’s also been teaching in New Brunswick for a year now.

One of his goals is increasing the numbers around the Group 5 program, a large high school but with lower turnout for football than in those glory days of the 2000s. With 18 seniors coming back, Chrisman has a good nucleus to start from who’ve at least been through the wars. And he’s got a freshman class of 20.

His goal is to create at atmosphere that’s fun “beyond Fridays” and to build a real community around the team, including their families and friends, while also creating a sense of ownership in the program.

Highland Park turned things around after its long losing streak going 6-3 last season, and JP Stevens broke its own skid with two wins last year. Maybe this is New Brunswick’s turn?

Click below to hear from New Brunswick head coach Geoffrey Chrisman, along with seniors Jeffren Paulino (OL/DL) and Jabril Bright (WR/DB) at Big Central Media Day with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

2025 Big Central Preview: United Silver Division

Just like the Patriot Silver Division – which we previewed yesterday – the United Silver Division of the Big Central Conference also was defined by parity in 2024, for the most part.

Three teams shared in the division title, going 3-1, led by Governor Livingston, which was 5-5 overall, and should be right in the mix again this year.

South Plainfield has a solid defense, and JFK loses a good deal on defense, but also has much experience back. North Plainfield is coming off a 3-6 season, but also expecting to improve.

New Brunswick is another story, having gone winless in each of the last two seasons. But they have a new coach in Geoffrey Chrisman who seems poised to at least bring a new culture to the program, that hasn’t existed in a long time. The results may or may not show up in wins and losses, but it will be interesting to watch.

Click below to hear our preview of the United Silver Division from Big Central Conference Media Day:

by Mike Pavlichko

Early look at Big Central Football 2025: Tight United Silver Division could be jam-packed again

Of the five United Gold Division teams in 2024, three of them finished 3-1 in divisional play, a symbol of parity in the group, even though North Plainfield and New Brunswick both struggled overall.

But it was a tight race between Governor Livingston, South Plainfield and JFK, as the three ended up tied for first, with the Highlanders beating the Tigers, the Tigers beating JFK and the Mustangs beating Governor Livingston. Are we having fun yet?

Here are the preliminary schedules for the Liberty Silver Division teams – in alphabetical order – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge. Please note game dates and times may be changed without notice as the season approaches. Division games marked with an asterisk (*).

Governor Livingston Highlanders (5-5, 3-1, tied for 1st with South Plainfield, JFK in ’24)
Head Coach: Pete Ramiccio (15-15, 4th season)

  • Week 0: Lakeland (Thurs, 4p)
  • Week 1: New Providence (Sat, 1p)
  • Week 2: at JFK* (6p)
  • Week 3: at North Plainfield* (Sat, 12p)
  • Week 4: South Plainfield* (Sat, 6p)
  • Week 5: at Johnson
  • Week 6: Voorhees (Sat, 1p)
  • Week 7: at Bernards
  • Week 8: New Brunswick (Sat, 12p)

It will be quite the challenge making up for some of the Highlanders who graduated this June, including starting QB Lucciano Santamaria (844 yards, 7 TD), runningback Jack Dally (1,195 yards, 15 TD) and their top three receivers, led by Ryan Honey (386 yards, 3 TDs). There’s a little more back on the defensive side, including junior two-way lineman David Dorsett, who logged three sacks and seven TFLs last season, along with two fumble recoveries. Linebacker Max DiDonatto and soph lineman Joey Switlyk could be players to watch as well for GL.

JFK Mustangs (4-6, 3-1, tied for 1st with Governor Livingston, South Plainfield in ’24)
Head Coach: Michael Henderson (7-22, 4th season)

  • Week 0: at Perth Amboy (6p)
  • Week 1: Voorhees (6p)
  • Week 2: Governor Licingston* (6p)
  • Week 3: at New Brunswick*
  • Week 4: Monroe (6p)
  • Week 5: at Scotch Plains-Fanwood
  • Week 6: at North Plainfield*
  • Week 7: Middlesex (6p)
  • Week 8: at South Plainfield* (6p)

Unlike Governor Livingston, the top three offensive returnees are all back for Mike Henderson, and that could make for a fun year in Iselin. QB Richie Trotman threw for 1,297 yards and 17 TDs last season as a junior – but will need to cut down on the picks this year – while top rusher Fieheem Howell, Jr., (1,307 yards, 12 TD) and No. 1 WR Grant Lorentzen (48 catches, 632 yards, 9 TD) also return, as do several key backups. There’s plenty to work with there, but the defense will lose big chunks of numbers, although Jamir Campbell (3.5 sacks, 4 TFLs, 1 INT) could be a big key on that side of the ball. Lorentzen is also a solid kick returner, averaging nearly 25 yards per return last season.

New Brunswick Zebras (0-9, 0-4, 5th place in ’24)
Head Coach: Geoffrey Chrisman (first season)

  • Week 0: bye
  • Week 1: at Plainfield
  • Week 2: at Scotch Plains-Fanwood
  • Week 3: JFK* (6p)
  • Week 4: North Plainfield* (6p)
  • Week 5: at Carteret
  • Week 6: South Plainfield* (6p)
  • Week 7: Rahway (Sat, 12p)
  • Week 8: at Governor Livingston* (Sat, 12p)

The results have not been good for Zebras football in many years, and in the last two seasons under Steve Gluchowski, scoring just 33 points in 2023, 32 last season, and going a combined 0-18. The program is lacking numbers, and now it’ll be Geoffrey Chrisman’s turn to try and fix it. Chrisman, whose joined the district as a teacher for 2024-25, but hasn’t coached football since 2019, when he was an assistant at North Hunterdon. His biggest job? Finding kids in the halls to play football for a Group 5 school whose numbers look more like a small Group 1.

North Plainfield Canucks (3-6, 1-3, 4th place in ’24)
Head Coach: Derrick Eatman (5-24, 4th season)

  • Week 0: bye
  • Week 1: Belvidere (6p)
  • Week 2: at South Plainfield*
  • Week 3: Governor Livingston* (Sat, 12p)
  • Week 4: at New Brunswick* (6p)
  • Week 5: at Voorhees (6p)
  • Week 6: JFK* (6p)
  • Week 7: Johnson
  • Week 8: at Metuchen

All three QBs the Canucks played last year are graduating, including Mohammad Ahsan, who threw for just under 600 yards. North Plainfield struggled to put up points against good teams last season, and they’ll do the same this year unless some new talent emerges. Senior RB Aaron Potts (913 yards, 14 TD) is gone to graduation, too. The defense will have to shore up as wel, allowing 35 points or more in five of their six losses.

South Plainfield Tigers (5-5, 3-4, tied for first with Governor Livingston, JFK)
Head Coach: Bill Hamilton (19-20), 5th season)

  • Week 0: at East Brunswick (Thurs, 6p)
  • Week 1: at Delaware Valley
  • Week 2: North Plainfield* (6p)
  • Week 3: at Cranford
  • Week 4: at Governor Livingston (Sat, 1p)
  • Week 5: Bernards (6p)
  • Week 6: at New Brunswick (6p)
  • Week 7: South River (Thurs, 6p)
  • Week 8: JFK* (6p)

If the Tigers can start 2025 the same way they finished 2024 – with four straight wins – or anything close to it, they’ll compete for a division title. Senior QB Ryan Balent is gone, and returnee Jordan Magazine only threw one pass last year as a sophomore. The good news is that he, or whoever else Coach Hamilton goes with, will have Dom Massarro back to run the ball; he went for 1,049 yards last year on 105 carries and scored nine touchdowns, while Jaydon Jones also returns after a sophomore year rushing for 543 yards and four scores, while junior King Hills went for 504 and two scores. That’s more than 2,000 rush yards back from a team that ran for over 2,700 last season. The defense has some standouts back, too. Massari had two INTs, one for a touchdown, while junior Erick Hernandez (4 TFLs, 1 fumble recovery) and Kaydin Daniel (4 TFLs) could be players to watch.

by Mike Pavlichko

New Brunswick names Geoffrey Chrisman new football coach to revive program

Several months after Steve Gluchowski stepped down as head football coach at New Brunswick, the district has hired Geoffrey Chrisman as the Zebras’ new leader.

Chrisman – who just joined the district as a teacher last school year, according to his LinkedIn bio – most recently was the head girls’ lacrosse coach and assistant field hockey coach at The Hun School in Princeton, but had been an assistant football coach at North Hunterdon for two seasons – 2018 and 2019 – under head coach Jared Mazzetta. He’s also been at Princeton High and had a prior stint as teacher and assistant coach in New Brunswick, while also serving three years as an assistant and two seasons as head coach in 2015 and 2016 at West Windsor-Plainsboro South, which now is a co-op with West Windsor-Plainsboro North.

Gluchowski came to New Brunswick from Spotswood, where he was an assistant, but the Zebras didn’t muster a win in his two seasons, going 0-9 in both 2023 and 2024. New Brunswick has dealt with historically low numbers in recent years, despite being a Group 5 school.

New Brunswick football hasn’t had a winning record since Don Sofilkanich coached them to a 9-2 season in 2015, where they reached the Central Jersey Group 5 semifinals and lost to Old Bridge. They won just four the next year, and only reached four wins once more, in 2019 under former Zebra standout Nate Harris.

A request for an interview was referred to the school’s Athletic Office for approval, but has not been returned as of this writing.

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY:  Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational Final: (5) New Brunswick 5, (2) East Brunswick Magnet 2

New Brunswick won its first tournament championship of any kind since taking the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 1 title in 1985 and 1986, as the fifth-seeded Zebras beat second-seed East Brunswick Magnet, 5-3, to win the Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko call all the action, as heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio from Edison High School on May 23, 2025:

GAME STORY: New Brunswick claims Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational with strong mound work from starter Garcia, Henderson closing it out

by Mike Pavlichko

New Brunswick claims Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational with strong mound work from starter Garcia, Henderson closing it out

The New Brunswick baseball program had one title to its credit coming into Friday’s Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational Final against East Brunswick Magnet: the Central Jersey Group 1 pennant in 1986.

But other than that, they’d never been to a county final of any kind, not in the invitational – now in its sixth season – nor the main event,

But by 2:30 or so Friday afternoon, they had some more hardware to put in the trophy case..

The fifth-seeded Zebras used a three-run third inning and a strong start – after a shaky first – from Yeuri Garcia to beat second-seed East Brunswick Magnet 5-2, in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, and videostreamed live on our YouTube channel.

The Zebras staked Garcia to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, getting a two-RBI single by Ronaldy Peralta, who blooped a ball into no man’s land that fell to the red turf in short right field. But the Tigers got it right back in the bottom of the inning on a two-RBI double by Stephan Zoppolo.

After each team went out 1-2-3 in the second, New Brunswick would score the decisive run – and two more for insurance – in the third.

Kelvin Heuston led off with an infield hit, and after his older brother Devin struck out, DH Jacob Henderson laced a double to drive in what ultimately would be the winning run. Alex Rodriguez then reached on an E1, scoring another run, and a sac bunt by Peralta drove in Rodriguez to make it 5-2.

And Garcia, who had some control issues – he walked five, but also struck out five – settled in. He got in some jams, including a second and third situation with two out in the fifth, but got out of it.

He was pulled in the sixth with a 2-0 count on seven-hitter and opposing pitcher Anthony Bienvenue, but Henderson came in and needed just three pitches to strike him out, overpowering with a fastball that had more juice that what Garcia had been throwing for 6 2/3 innings.

And despite allowing two on in the seventh, he closed it out for the save.

Jacob Henderson gets the final out of the sixth for New Bruinswick, then got the save in a 5-2 win over East Brunswick Magnet in the Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational Final on May 23, 2025. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

New Brunswick improved to 15-2 with the win, while East Brunswick Magnet fell to 20-5. The two teams shared the Gold Division title this year, both 12-2 in the division.

The win went to Garcia, who’s now 4-1. Henderson got the save. Bienvenue took the loss for the Tigers to drop to 9-2.

Click below for postgame reaction with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

New Brunswick pitchers Jacob Henderson and Yeuri Garcia
New Brunswick head coach Nico Vargas
by Mike Pavlichko

East Brunswick Magnet, New Brunswick earn trips to Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational Final with Monday semifinal wins

The finals of the Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational Tournament are set for this Friday, with 2023 champion East Brunswick Magnet set to take on New Brunswick, after both teams won their semifinal games on Monday afternoon.

(3) East Brunswick Magnet 8, (2) North Brunswick 7: The Tigers rallied from a 7-3 deficit heading into the seventh to win behind a five-spot in the top of the inning at North Brunswick. The Raiders (5-14)trailed 2-1 after 3 1/2 innings, but got two in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-2 lead, and after East Brunswick Magnet tied it at three in the top of the fifth, the Raiders added three in the fifth and one in the sixth to lead 7-3 after six on an RBI double by Connor Levine and two RBI singles that followed.

In the decisive top of the seventh, Tommy O’Neill – who ended up getting the win in relief – led off by reaching on an error on the centerfielder, getting all the way to second. Nomar Carreras struck out, and Jack Clements grounded out, bringing in O’Neill with the first run after he’d stolen third, cutting it to 7-4.

The rest of the rally all came with two outs. Braeden Cullen followed with a double, and Stephen Zappola reached on an infield hit that scored courtesy runner Braeden Chase Myers. Another double by Joshua Carreras moved Zappola to third, then a walk to Anthony Bienvenue loaded the bases. Andrew Teleposky got plunked to make it 7-6, Jedwin Crespo reached on an E6 to make it tie the game, and O’Neill walked to make it 8-7, before Nomar Carreras struck out looking to end the inning.

O’Neill – who got the last two outs in the sixth, threw a 1-2-3 seventh – with a strikeout, groundout and a strikeout – to preserve the win.

(5) New Brunswick 4, (1) JP Stevens 2: The Zebras (14-2) took a four-nothing lead with two runs apiece in the second and fourth, and held off the Hawks, who managed two runs in the sixth, but that was all.

In the second, Jose Encarnacion reached base on an E3, driving in Ronaldy Peralata, then Joel Ramos scored from third on a wild pitch with Jose Omar Abreu batting. The runs in the fourth came from Ramos on a dropped third strike, and another wild pitch that brought home Encarnacion.

JP Stevens got its runs in the sixth on a single by Collin Casey, and a balk.

First Pitch for Invitational Final moved up…

Baseball tournament director Mike O’Donnell told Central Jersey Sports Radio that Friday’s final – originally set for 4 pm at Edison High School, has been moved up to a noon start. O’Donnell says a number of schools – including East Brunswick Magnet and New Brunswick – had unused snow days, and this Friday happens to be one of the days both schools now have off. So, the game was moved earlier, likely a good idea also since the forecast calls for some rain Friday. And while it’s too early to tell, better to try and start early if there’s a window to play, than to sit around and wait for a later start that might not happen.

Central Jersey Sports Radio has tentative plans to broadcast the final, so long as it doesn’t conflict with the Somerset County Tournament final. That’s scheduled for Wednesday at 6 pm at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater, but the weather Wednesday – and Thursday, too – doesn’t look great, and the rain date is Friday. If that doesn’t happen, the SCT might not get to have it’s title game until next week, with backup site Diamond Nation in Flemington often full of youth baseball events on weekends. Their Memorial Day classic, featuring seven different age groups from 9U to 15U, is schedule for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.