The second-seeded Randolph Rams scored seven runs in the final two innings to come from behind and rally to win at top-seed South Plainfield, 8-3, in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 championship game.
Click below to hear all the play-by-play as broadcast live by Mike Pavlichko on Central Jersey Sports Radio from South Plainfield, NJ, on June 3, 2024:
There was a point midway through Monday’s North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 title game that everything was coming up South Plainfield.
But in the end, seven runs in the final two innings gave Randolph the title, via an 8-3 win against the Tigers as heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
The top-seeded Tigers had taken a 2-1 lead over visiting second-seed Randolph in the third inning, on a groundout by Dan Kapsch that scored Stephen Studlack, and an RBI single by Zach Robinson that plated Dom Massaro.
In the top of the fifth, Randolph had a runner at third with two down, and on a bloop single to right, Brandon Bickunas made the catch and threw a perfect strike to Studlack to double up courtesy runner Ryan Kress tagging from third to end the inning with a 9-2 double play.
Then in the bottom of the inning, Massaro led off with a solo home run into the woods in left field.
What could go wrong?
Well, Randolph scored three times in the sixth, chasing starter Aldo Pigna from the game, to take a 4-3 lead, then scored five more times in the top of the seventh to put it out of reach.
The three runs in the sixth came on three hits and two walks. There were no big bombs. And the seventh was a nickel-and-dime affair, too.
It was a tough way for the season to end for South Plainfield, which finishes 22-6-1. They defied preseason prognosticators, winning the GMC Red Division over Old Bridge and Monroe, but lost in the GMC Finals to Old Bridge, and now in the sectional title game to Randolph.
Pigna took the loss, his first, to fall to 5-1, while ace Tommy Martin went the distance for the Rams, allowing six hits, striking out nine to improve to 7-1.
Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
It hasn’t been that long since South Plainfield won a sectional title. Many teams have gone much longer – see St. Thomas Aquinas, until yesterday – if they’ve even won one at all.
For the Tigers, it’s been nine years, eight seasons, not counting the wiped-out COVID year of 2020.
In 2015, under head coach Anthony Guida, South Plainfield not only won a sectional title, but they won the whole enchilada, beating Cranford 4-2 to win the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 title, then taking out Northern Burlington 8-4 to win the state Group 3 championship.
Nine years later, they’re back in the game, scrappy as ever.
Monday afternoon, top-seed South Plainfield will host second-seed Randolph in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 title game, which can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio by clicking here. Game time is 2 pm, with pregame set for 1:45. Mike Pavlichko will call all the play-by-play.
South Plainfield comes into the game at 22-5-1 and as GMC Red Division champions. They lost 6-5 to Old Bridge in the GMC Tournament final back on May 18th, and other than a defeat the previous day to Notre Dame of Lawrenceville, they have won 16 of their last 19 games, with one a tie against Spotswood called due to darkness.
Randolph is 20-9, finishing 7-5 and in second in the North Jersey Athletic Conference American Division to Delbarton. The Rams started hot, going 11-1 in their first dozen games, but stumbled a bit late in the year, dropping six of eight heading into the state tournament.
Click below to hear South Plainfield head coach Scott Gleichenhaus talk about the Tigers and the North 2, Group 3 title game against Randolph:
The last five years for Randolph baseball have been a steady progression under Mark Rizzi.
The former longtime Rutgers-Newark baseball head coach, who spent 17 seasons there, arrived at Randolph in 2019, and his teams have only gotten better since.
After his debut season saw the Rams go just 7-14, they came back from the missed pandemic year with a 12-9 record in 2021, then went 13-12 and 14-12.
This year? They’ve reached the 20-win plateau at 20-9.
That’s the Randolph team that will take the field in South Plainfield Monday afternoon, as the second-seeded Rams visit the top-seeded Tigers for the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 title. It’s a game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame set for 1:40 pm, and first pitch at 2:00. Click here to listen.
Randolph has good senior leadership yet again. Connor Stokoe, who plays second and third, has a team-best 33 RBIs and is hitting .370 with a team-best five home runs, while junior shortstop AJ Terry is tops with a .453 batting average and 39 hits.
But Rizzi says some key sophomores have been the difference this year. That includes players like outfielder Jackson Magley (.286), Chase Lorent (.388) and RJ Dougherty (.293, 18 RBI).
Senior Tommy Martin is expected to get the start. He’s 7-1 with a 1.57 ERA and a solid strikeout-to-walk ratio: 65Ks and 13 walks on the year. He’s tossed 58 innings already.
Click below to listen to Randolph head coach Mark Rizzi talk about the Rams’ season, and Monday’s title game against South Plainfield:
It’s a group that has played together for years, in many cases going back to youth football.
And whatever obstacle comes their way, whether for one, or the collective, they seem to be able to handle it.
There weren’t too many in the opening round of the playoffs, a 34-7 win over Middletown North.
But the second round was a different story. In the semifinals, the Lions fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter to Morris Knolls. But after a key timeout by head coach Kevin Kley, it was all North Hunterdon the rest of the way against the Golden Eagles, resulting in a 25-14 win.
This Saturday, after a tight game for three quarters, with the Lions holding a 21-14 lead, it was a fourth quarter that spiraled into a good old-fashioned donnybrook. North and Randolph combined for 49 points in the final 12 minutes, which never saw the Lions lose the lead, but in which every time the Rams closed it from two scores to one, North Hunterdon had an answer.
Danny DeLusant, Kente Edwards, Alex Uryniak. They all scored “breathing room” touchdowns in the fourth quarter, which in the end, turned out to be very necessary.
And following the game, head coach Kevin Kley praised theirs – and everyone’s – resiliency, toughness, and grit through it all.
Click below to for postgame reaction with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, talking to head coach Kevin Kley:
The two teams combined for 84 points, 49 of which came in the final quarter.
But don’t worry if you missed any of it! We have all the highlights right here!
Senior quarterback Luke Martini threw for 389 yards unofficially – by far a career high – and tossed a career best five touchdown passes, as well, in the win.
Now 11-1, the Lions face Northern Highlands, the North 1, Group 4 champion, in next week’s semifinals at Franklin High School, Somerset County.
Click below to for full game highlights:
Top-seed North Hunterdon jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 title game Saturday afternoon in Annandale, but by late in the third quarter found itself tied at 14-14. And it looked like the next possession might win the game, the way things were going.
But the teams exploded for 49 combined points in the fourth quarter. Happily for the Lions, they scored more of them than the Rams did, and claimed a state championship for the second time in six seasons, thanks to a 49-35 win heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Senior quarterback Luke Martini had a career-best game on the big stage: unofficially 389 passing yards and five touchdown passes, both career highs. Two long bombs got the Lions the early lead: a 49-yard TD pass to Derek Vaddis, and an 81-yard TD pass to Danny DeLusant.
Vaddis also had a 20-yard TD reception, and DeLusant had another for 25, before Kente Edwards and Alex Uryniak punched in short runs from two and three yards respectively.
After losing the two-score lead, North Hunterdon got the next two scores to go up 28-14. Randolph got within in score, but North Hunterdon got it right back. And that happened twice more, with Edwards’ and Uryniak’s scores providing the insurance.
It was North Hnterdon’s third state title overall, to go along with the 2017 championship – which came over Phillipsburg at MetLife Stadium after a regular season loss to the Stateliners – and their first in 1976. The Lions are 3-1 now in finals, all-time.
With an 11-1 record – matching the 2017 mark – North Hunterdon now goes on the face North 1 Group 4 champ Northern Highlands in the Group 4 semifinals, to be played at Franklin High School next Saturday and Sunday. Game times and dates should be announced this weekend by the NJSIAA.
Click below to for postgame reaction with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
The North Hunterdon Touchdown Club may shift from afternoon fare to breakfast food at its traditional tailgate off Route 31 bright and early Saturday morning, but the football team just plans to keep doing what it does when kickoff rolls around at noon.
That’s when the top-seeded Lions (10-1) will take on second-seed Randolph (9-1) for the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 Championship, in a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio, starting with pregame at approximately 11:40 am. Click here to listen.
Led by quarterback Luke Martini, with star runningback Kente Edwards, and Alex Uryniak – who could start on any other Big Central team, as head coach Kevin Kley tells anyone who will listen (and he’s right) – and a defense that can get after the quarterback and play aggressively with focus all at the same time, North Hunterdon is looking for its third state sectional championship.
But this year, even more is at stake.
A win will not be the end of the road, the end of the season. The winner goes on to the Group 4 semifinals against the winner of the North 1, Group 4 title, which was played last night between 4th-seed Northern Highlands and 2nd-seed Ramapo. From there, it would be on to the NJSIAA’s first-ever group championships, which will be held the first weekend of December – the week after Thanksgiving – at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium in Piscataway.
The two teams have never met on the gridiron. North Hunterdon is 2-1 all-time in finals, winning in 1975 and 2017. Randolph is 7-5, with its last title and last finals appearance coming in 2010.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with North Hunterdon head coach Kevin Kley about the Lions’ title game against Randolph:
Right from the jump, it looked like things might go Colonia’s way Friday night.
The 5th-seeded Patriots got by 4th-seed Randolph on the road, 32-21, in the opening round of the North 2, Group 4 playoffs, thanks to its stars: Josh Oluremi and Jaeden Jones.
They accounted for all the first-half scoring, with Jones kicking things off by returning an interception 51-yards for a touchdown on Randolph’s very first offensive play. Oluremi had a long touchdown run, then found Jones through the air for another score.
The win might have Colonia fans partying like it’s 2014, when the Patriots made a surprise run through the playoffs and took Phillipsburg to the brink at Rutgers, coming within a few feet of beating the Stateliners for the North 2, Group 4 title.
In any event, next up is top-seed Irvington (8-2) on the road next Friday night. The Blue Knights got by 8th-seed Linden 11-6 in their opening round game.
Click below to hear Colonia head coach Tom Roarty talk about the Patriots’ victory: