Tag: Soouth Brunswick

by Mike Pavlichko

Monroe coach Field lauded his team after 1-4 start, now Falcons are a win away from GMCTs Final Four

When a team is feeling good about itself as Monroe baseball was heading into 2023, getting extra work in during the offseason that not every club has the time or manpower to pull off, starting 1-4 can be a real downer, even if you’re playing in the grueling GMC Red Division and lost three of those games by a single run each.

But Sean Field got his Falcons to stay the course – and having a good one-two punch on the mound like Harrison lollin and Lucas White doesn’t hurt either – eventually going on a seven-win tear.

Now, the fourth-seeded Falcons – who finished fourth in the uber-competitive Red – are in the quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon against another divisional foe, 12th-seed South Brunswick, which knocked off 5th-seed and White Division champion Sayreville in the second round.

The Falcons and Vikings will play at 4:00 this afternoon at North Brunswick Community Park, in a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio with pregame at 3:45, as part of a doubleheader presented by Auto Lounge of Edison.

Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino will call all the action; click here to listen.

The Falcons will put White on the mound today, coming in with a 1-2 record and a 5.25 earned run average.

Offensively, the Falcons are a bit of a light-hitting team, at .270 on the year, but with great pitching, it’s gotten the job done.

This will be the third meeting with South Brunswick this year, with the Falcons winning both in slugfests: 3-0 on April 17th and 11-6 the next day. They avoided Viking ace Joey Tuttoilmondo in both those games, and will avoid him again Wednesday afternoon, with Ethan Fantel going for South Brunswick.

Click below to hear Monroe head coach Sean Field talk about the Falcons’ 2023 season heading into the GMCT quarterfinals against South Brunswick:

by Mike Pavlichko

GMCT Semifinals set for Wednesday, with South River, South Brunswick, St. Joe’s and Aquinas all advancing on Super Sunday

Wednesday’s semifinals in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament boys’ bracket are all set, with four teams punching their ticket with wins at Middlesex County College in Edison on Super Bowl Sunday.

Perhaps the most notable was South River. The third-seeded Rams (23-2) made it to their first county semifinals since they won the Middlesex County Tournament in 1979, prior to the formation of the GMC in 1986. It was a repeat win for the Rams that year, who also won in 1978.

They beat 6th-seed North Brunswick (20-4) by a score of 80-58 behind a team-high 20 points from senior Laz Rodriguez.

CLICK HERE for an individual game story on that game with coverage by Mike Pavlichko.

The Rams will play seventh-seed South Brunswick, which upset 2-seed Colonia 63-43. The Vikings (16-5) got 20 points from Kalani Antoine in the win, and were in control virtually wire-to-wire, getting out to an 18-6 lead after one quarter that they extended to 28-14 by the half, holding Colonia (17-8) to single-digit scoring in both of the first two quarters.

Click below to hear postgame comments from head coach Joe Hoehman:

In the other bracket, fourth-seed St. Joseph of Metuchen (15-9) got by 5th-seed South Plainfield (20-5) 60-42, without Josh Ingram scoring a ton of points. He finished with a pedestrian 16, but Anthony Williams stepped up to play lead scorer with 22 for the Falcons. Now they will get a third meeting with St. Thomas Aquinas, where they will meet in the second GMCT semifinal Wednesday night.

Click below for postgame reaction from St. Joe’s head coach Jan Cocozzielo

In the final of the four games Sunday, top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas (22-3) won 62-47 over eighth-seed Piscataway (11-15). The Chiefs hung tough, trailing by just nine at the half, 38-29, and the Trojans were plagued by turnovers throughout, yet found a way to win.

Click below for postgame comments from St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Bob Turco:

All in all it sets up Wednesday’s semifinals at Monroe High School at 5 and 7 pm, which can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, as Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe will bring you all the live play-by-play. Click here to listen on Wednesday night.

Game one will feature South River and South Brunswick, while game two will feature St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Joseph-Metuchen.

by Mike Pavlichko

It’s 25 straight weeks atop the rankings for Rutgers Prep, with two new teams joining Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten in Week 7

On the strength of a 3-0 week, and a win that solidified their position as the team to beat in the Skyland Conference – a 75-36 thumping as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio last Tuesday afternoon – Rutgers Prep held on to the No. 1 spot in the Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten for Week 7.

The Lady Argonauts (13-3) had a 3-0 week, which also included an 80-19 rout at Bridgewater-Raritan, and a 76-56 win over Montclair-Immaculate on Sunday. They’re on a seven-game winning streak heading into the final week of the regular season, with the Somerset County Tournament seeding coming up a week from tonight.

St. Thomas Aquinas (15-4) holds in second, while Gill St. Bernard’s (12-4) stays put in third.

Edison (15-2) moves up to No. 4 on the strength of a 3-0 week, while South Brunswick (13-5) moves up two spots to No. 5, despite a 1-1 week in which they beat North Brunswick, but dropped an out-of-conference game to Morristown 54-51.

READ: Edison community and beyond comes together to “Fight For Allie,” help local 11-year old girl beat brain tumor

Bernards (12-5) had a 1-2 week and dropped to sixth, after a win over Delaware Valley, but losses to Belvidere and Dayton.

In seventh is Watchung Hills, which went 3-0, sweeping a week of games from Phillsipburg, Montgomery and Hunterdon Central.

North Plainfield (13-4) makes its debut this season at No. 8, with wins in the past week over Woodbridge and South Plainfield, but a loss to former Skyland Conference foe Bound Brook. (North Plainfield joined the Greater Middlesex Conference this season.)

Hillsborough (10-7) – which fell out of the rankings in Week 4 – rejoins the Top Ten at No. 8 after a three-win week that included victories over Franklin, Hunterdon Central, and previously-No. 9 Mount St. Mary (13-6), which dropped out, along with previous No. 10 Spotswood (15-4).

Below are the full Week 7 Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten Rankings:

by Mike Pavlichko

Despite losses, top teams remain at the top in Week One Bellamy & Son Paving girls’ basketball rankings

The No. 1 team in the Bellamy & Son Paving girls’ basketball top ten lost this weekend. So did the No. 3 team, and the No. 5 team.

But with all coming to out-of-area opponents, neither slipped in the Week One rankings.

Rutgers Prep (1-1) remains No. 1, followed by 2-0 St. Thomas Aquinas, with Gill St. Bernard’s (1-1) holding in the third spot.

After No. 4 South Brunswick (2-0), Colonia also held in the fifth spot at 1-1.

Dropping out were the ninth and tenth teams – North Brunswick (0-2) and Mount St. Mary (1-2), with Edison and Bernards – both 2-0 – taking their place.

Below are the full Bellamy & Son Paving Week One rankings:

by Mike Pavlichko

North Brunswick tops rival South Brunswick with stifling defense, pitches 19-0 shutout

The game was 6-0 at the half, but North Brunswick wasn’t panicking with a small lead.

Senior quarterback Frankie Garbolino, now in his third year as a starter, knew that with a solid defense, his Raiders had a little more time to put some points on the board.

They did put more points on the board, and in a rivalry game that saw Joe Goerge in his first game back as head coach at South Brunswick, beat their arch rivals, the Vikings, 19-0 at home in the season opener for both teams.

Garbolino threw for 125 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-17 passing, rushing for another 104 yards and a touchdown, while the defense limited South Brunswick to just 68 yards of total offense.

Click below for postgame reaction from North Brunswick head coach Mike Cipot: