Tag: Offensive Player of the Year

by Mike Pavlichko

Proving it was no hype, just reality, Brody Nugent of Old Bridge delivers for Knights, wins CJSR Offensive Player of the Year Award

Before the season even started, before Marcus Borden’s Camp Caravan, the ex-East Brunswick coach raved about Brody Nugent. He was a big fan, and predicted big things from the Old Bridge senior.

He delivered on every one of them.

Historic high school football stats are hard to come by in New Jersey. Around 2010 is the last year one can find somewhat reliable stats publicly available. And in all that time, it appears no one has done what Brody Nugent did this year.

That’s not counting the intangibles, of course: leadership, grit, toughness.

But numbers-wise? No Middlesex County quarterback has thrown for over 2,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 in the same season. There have been some really good ones, but typically they are either big passers or big runners. But not both.

Nugent certainly is both. In the passing game, he went for 2,276 yards and 19 touchdowns. On the ground, he ran for 1,262 yards and 20 more touchdowns.

That makes him responsible for 3,538 yards and 39 touchdowns leading an offense that helped take the Knights to the precipice, where they fell to eventual Group 5 champion Washington Twp. in the “Central Jersey” Group 5 title game.

Click below to hear Alec Crouthamel with Old Bridge QB Brody Nugent, the 2025 Central Jersey Sports Radio Offensive Player of the Year:

Honorable Mentions:

  • Dylan Chiera, Colonia: One of three Middlesex County quarterbacks to pass for over 2,000 yards this season, the senior led the Big Central with 2,436 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, helping the Patriots reach the North 2, Group 4 semifinals, where they fell to eventual champion Phillipsburg.
  • Jack Kristjanson, Montgomery: One of the senior captains on a team that made history, qualifying for its first-ever sectional finals a year after going just 1-9. “Confident and calm under pressure,” says first-year head coach Sean Carty, Kristjanson threw for 1,846 yards and 17 touchdowns this season.
  • Devin Thomas, Plainfield: One of four Big Central QBs to throw for 2,000-plus yards this year, it was even more impressive since he hadn’t played football since his freshman year at St. Thomas Aquinas. A member of the state Group 4 champion Cardinals’ basketball team last season, Thomas came back in the fall and threw for 2,214 yards and 29 TDs, while also rushing for 474 yards and five more scores.
  • Andrew Avent, Rahway: The CJSR Three-Way Player of the Year literally does it all for Rahway. But at runningback was where he did his best work in four years as a varsity starter. He finished with over 4,000 career yards and 77 touchdowns, getting 1,961 this season. He holds the career and single-season rushing and scoring records, and is – in a word – dominant.
  • Shaun Jackson, Sayreville: The senior runningback carried for 1,977 yards this season and 30 total touchdowns, while also logging 342 receiving yards. He was a big reason the Bombers improved from 4-6 last season to 9-2 this year, their only two losses coming to two sectional finalists: Montgomery in the regular season, and Old Bridge in the CJ5 semifinals.
  • Justin Scaramuzzo, St. Joseph-Metuchen: The senior ran the offense with aplomb, throwing for 1,212 yards, 12 touchdowns, and just one interception. The numbers aren’t flashy, but mistakes were rare, indeed, especially in a tight 0-0 game at the half in October that wound up being a 21-0 win over Phillipsburg in Metuchen, the Stateliners’ only regular season loss before the playoffs. Scaramuzzo also carried the ball 100 times for 580 yards and 12 more touchdowns.
  • Zymere Weaver, St. Thomas Aquinas: He also threw for over 2,000 yards this year, going for 2,236 and 24 touchdowns through the air, while also rushing for five scores.
  • Joshua Allen, Woodbridge: The senior runningback finished two carries shy of 200 and ran for 1,549 yards – 7.9 per carry – and 20 touchdowns, with a long run of 89 that was nominated for Big Central Highlight Reel Play of the Year.

by Mike Pavlichko

Somerville’s speedy, shifty Terrell Mitchell named CJSR 2024 Offensive Player of the Year

Somerville head coach Matt Bloom calls him a “gamebreaker in all phases.”

Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano just calls him. A lot.

Well, the Scarlet Knights got their guy, and so did the Pioneers, with Mitchell helping power an offense that brought The ‘Ville its first sectional title since 2017, and Mitchell is the 2024 Central Jersey Sports Radio Offensive Player of the Year.

It was a crowded field, to be sure, as you’ll be able to tell in a moment when you scroll down and look at the names and accomplishments of all this category’s honorable mentions.

But Mitchell certainly stood out.

He helped a 5-5 team in 2023 improve to 12-1 – winning the Big Central Conference Liberty Division, setting a school record for victories, and taking the Central Jersey Group 3 title – with a 178-rush effort in 2024, producing 1,406 yards and 18 touchdowns. Mitchell also added 22 catches for 186 yards and five more scores.

He also had a kick return for a touchdown against North Hunterdon and a took a punt return to the house against Rahway. He had eight two-point conversions – on a team that went for it more often than not – and finished with 166 points. Easily, he’ll graduate as one of the most talented backs in Somerville history.

And after a lengthy and what seemed like a rock-solid commitment to Wake Forest, a late push by Greg Schiano led him to flip on Signing Day last Wednesday and ink with the Scarlet Knights.

He’s now the third Central Jersey Sports Radio “Player of the Year” winner to sign with the Scarlet Knights. South Brunswick’s Jai Patel was CJSR Special Teams Player of the Year in 2022, while Thomas Amankwaa went to “the Banks” out of Hillsborough after winning Two Way Player of the Year in 2021. Amankwaa recently announced he was entering the transfer portal.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Somerville’s Terrell Mitchell, the 2024 Central Jersey Sports Radio Offensive Player of the Year:

Honorable Mentions:

  • Andrew Avent, Rahway: The junior runningback – winner of the “OMG He’s Back Another Year” Award, and an Honorable Mention for “Two-Way Player of the Year” – carried 194 times for 1,412 yards, rushing for 16 touchdowns on the offensive side, while also registering 102 tackles on defense. Coach Brian Russo calls him the “all-around best player on the team the last two years.”
  • Jackson Jankowicz, Hillsborough: The senior may have taken the ball more than any other player in the Big Central this year. He amassed 233 carries in 2024 for 1,341 yards and 24 touchdowns, breaking Shawn Mayer’s single season record. He also tied Tommy Amankwaa’s single-season overall record of touchdowns scored, with 30. He also ends his career with the career record of four kick returns for touchdowns, is No. 2 on the career all-purpose yards list with 4,638, and third in career points scored with 258.
  • Chukwuma Odoh, St. Thomas Aquinas: A sophomore, and winner of the “Rising Star” Award, Odoh took over No. 1 running back duties from Chase Young this season to the tune of 1,418 yards and 17 touchdowns, rushing for at least a century in ten straight games this season. “He put the team on his back,” says assistant coach Justin Hill, in a crowded backfield that amassed over 3,000 yards on the ground as a team.
  • Felilx Matos, Phillipsburg: While quarterback Jett Genovese and receiver Matthew Scerbo, Jr., may have been the glue for the Stateliners over the last three years, Matos brought an extra dimension this year for the Phillipsburg, the North 2, Group 4 champions. Listed as a receiver, he hauled in 40 passes for 695 yards and five touchdowns, but he also ran the ball 85 times for 584 yards and 15 touchdowns. His best game may have come in a win over St. Joseph-Metuchen, in which he scored five times on offense, and also returned a blocked field goal for a sixth score.
  • James Bodley, Piscataway: One of just two seniors among the five honorable mentions here, Bodley was the winner of the “Scores Every Which Way” Award. He did so in six different ways this season: 13 on the ground, two touchdown catches, a couple of two-point conversions, a kickoff return for a score, and punt return for a TD, and a scoop-and-score fumble recovery. He rushed for over 1,000 yards this season, and finished tenth on the all-time Chief’s rushing yardage list.
by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia’s Jaeden Jones runs his way to CJSR Offensive Player of the Year Honors

In 2021, Josh Oluremi became the first quarterback to lead Middlesex County in rushing in goodness-knows-how-long. (Historical stats in high school football are a mixed bag.)

In 2022, Colonia head coach Tom Roarty handed the keys to the offense to a junior who had never played the position before. But Jaeden Jones used his point guard mentality to run the show not only with ease, but to slice and dice his way through opposing offenses to the tune of 1,661 yards and and 19 touchdowns while still throwing for over 1,000 yards.

This year? Well, his encore performance was pretty much on par: he rushed for 1,474 yards and 22 touchdowns – three more than last year, while throwing for 1,212 yards and 9 TDs.

For his efforts, Jones has been named the Central Jersey Sports Radio Offensive Player of the Year for 2023. Scroll down to see our Honorable Mentions.

Click below to Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with Colonia senior Jaeden Jones:

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Zaimer Wright, Sayreville, RB: 1,800 yards rushing, 24 TDs
  • Aleks Sitkowski, Watchung Hills, QB: 134-220 passing for 1,696 yards, 17 TD; rushed for 690 yards and 23 TD
  • Carter Shallcross, Summit, RB: 1,483 yards and 15 TDs, two 200+ yard rushing games, only second Big Central player to rush for 100+ yards vs. St. Thomas Aquinas in last 3 seasons
  • Matt D’Avino, Montgomery, WR: 67 catches for 1,051 yards, 16 TDs, averaged 15.7 yards/catch
  • Chiekezie Ogbuewu, Dunellen, RB: 1,644 yards and 21 TDs, one TD reception
by Mike Pavlichko

Cookie Monster! Somerville’s Desiderio named Big Central Offensive Player of the Year

In the end, there was no debate, little surprise: Cookie Desiderio was the top offensive player in the Big Central Conference.

The 6-1, 215-pound senior runningback was a dominant force on offense, right from the get-go.

In the Pioneers’ opener, Desiderio touched the ball only six times, four of them resulting in touchdowns. He had two rushing touchdowns on two carries, totaling 113 yards. Desiderio also had four catches, “only” two of them resulting in touchdowns, and a total 98 receiving yards.

LISTEN: Whitaker and Desiderio postgame reaction after Somerville knocks off Woodbridge

Of course, it could only go “downhill” from there, and it did. All the “Cookie Monster” did the rest of the season was score a touchdown every 5.8 carries, the best rate in the state of New Jersey. And he led the entire Garden State scholastic scene with 26 rushing touchdowns, adding four more TD grabs.

Click below to hear Cookie Desiderio and Defensive Player of the Year A.J. Pena of Somerville talk together about their undefeated 7-0 season:

Three others earned Honorable Mention status on offense: New Providence runningback Charlie Barth, Monroe quarterback Aidan McLaughlin, and North Brunswick signal caller Frankie Garbolino.

McLaughlin is the only senior of the bunch. He threw for 1,433 yards and 13 touchdowns this season, with only 5 INTs. That was good for an average of 238.8 yards per game, and he tossed for over 300 yards three times. In a Week 2 win over Perth Amboy where the Falcons scored a school record 63 points, McLaughlin was not to be outdone: he tossed for an all-time program best 315 yards on 14-of-23 passing, with three touchdowns. He eclipsed his own mark later in the season in a win over a solid South Brunswick team, tossing for a cool 370 yards.

LISTEN: Monroe senior QB Aidan McLaughlin credits his teammates for his record-setting performance

Barth is just a junior, so the Central Jersey Sports Radio Two-Way Player of the Year will be back for another year to defend his title. He rushed for 1,702 yards and 25 touchdowns on 186 carries, and was the closest of anyone in the Big Central – even the state – to Desiderio’s pace: scoring on every 7.4 carries. He scored 25 of the team’s 34 rushing touchdowns, and had multiple scores in all but one game, notching four TDs in a game twice.

Garbolino is the youngest of the bunch, a sophomore thrust into a starting role who came up roses. He went 124-for-215 for 1,685 yards, tossing 17 touchdowns and only 6 picks. The only game where he didn’t throw for at least 100 yards was his varsity debut, a 93-yard passing effort in an 18-9 win at Sayreville. And he spent his best offensive output on one of the Raiders’ toughest opponents, in a 32-7 home win over state-ranked Passaic Tech.

LISTEN: Garbolino appears on “Tuesday Night Quarterback” to talk about being one of the rising sophomore QBs in the Big Central