Tag: Special Teams Player of the Year

by Mike Pavlichko

In split award, South Plainfield’s Dominic Massaro is CJSR Special Teams Returner of the Year, while Cooper Smoragiewicz of Summit’s clutch boots win him Kicker of the Year

Sometimes, we just can’t decide.

Here we were, four members of the Central Jersey Sports Radio staff, gathered at a local watering hole to determine all our Player of the Year honorees, and we had an easier time picking appetizers.

Then again, maybe that should have been a sign: We eventually settled on three of them.

For the 2025 CJSR Special Teams award, we hemmed and hawed, then just decided to heck with it. We’ll split it up and have a Special Teams Returner of the Year and a Special Teams Kicker of the Year.

Those awards go to South Plainfield’s Dominic Massaro and Summit’s Cooper Smoragiewicz, respectively.

Returner of the Year – Dominic Massaro, South Plainfield:

The biggest compliment an opponent can give to a returner is to not kick the ball to him.

And South Plainfield’s Dominic Massaro – Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Special Teams Returner of the Year for 2025 – was complimented a lot this fall.

When the ball did find Massaro on special teams, he was a game-breaker (and on one occasion, a game-winner). He returned three punts for touchdowns this season – including the only one in a Week Zero win over East Brunswick. Even when he didn’t score, he set up great field position, averaging nearly 45 yards per return.

Dominic Massaro is about as South Plainfield of an athlete as they come, a tough-nosed kid who plays multiple sports at the only level he knows how: turned all the way up to eleven.

Noted for his grind-it-out rushing style, in a three-year varsity career, he’s rushed for over 3,000 yards, a thousand each of the past two seasons and just 25 yards shy – with 975 – his sophomore year.

On special teams, he had two kick returns for touchdowns in 2023, and another in 2024, and this year had three punt returns for scores, including an 85-yarder in Week Zero against East Brunswick that turned out to be the game-winner in a 9-7 road victory on August 28th.

What helped him most in that regard? Playing baseball. His comfort tracking down fly balls in the outfield helps him get to the right spot on special teams, and once the ball is in his hands, his running back instincts take over. 

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Justin Sontupe speak with Dominic Massaro, our Special Teams Returner of the Year:

Kicker of the Year – Cooper Smoragiewicz, Summit

Last year, the Special Teams Player of the Year was Alexie Moriera of Phillipsburg, who kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired to give the Stateliners the North 2, Group 4 title.

This year, Summit’s Cooper Smoragiewicz won not one, but two playoff games with “walk-off” kicks. The first came in the opening round of the playoffs, a chip-shot from 19-yards out to beat Warren Hills, 24-21. The second came in the North 2, Group 3 semifinals from 34-yards out against West Essex, to send the Hilltoppers to the sectional finals with a 31-28 win.

In a season where six of Summit’s nine wins came by just three points – including those two playoff victories – Smoragiewicz was 24-of-24 on PATs.

Oh, and he’s just a sophomore, so there will be plenty more of his story to be written by the time he finished his senior season in 2027!

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel speak with Cooper Smoragiewicz, our Special Teams Kicker of the Year:

Honorable Mentions:

  • Thomas Diemar, Bernards: Though he didn’t play a full season due to a bad-luck, non-contact ACL injury in Game Three, Deimar – a nationally-ranked long-snapper, continued to do it for two more weeks after is injury! Head coach Jon Simoneau says he had a perfect career: never one bad snap!
  • Jaret Quesada, Manville: He led the Big Central Conference in PATs made this season, connecting on 54 of 59, and at one point connected on 17 straight. He had four touchbacks, and only attempted one field goal this year, connecting from 23 yards out in a Week Three, 31-0 home win over Belvidere.
  • Mike Bellamy, Montgomery: Ranked the No. 2 long snapper in New Jersey, the kid does it all, playing offensive line as well as fullback, where he scored four designed touchdowns this year – not just falling on a fumble by his own team in the end zone.
  • Gavin Pereira, Spotswood: After going 27-of-28 last year, the senior was 20-for-22 on extra points in 2025. He also hit on three of four field goal attempts, with a long of 38, while also getting four kickoff touchbacks. His coach Chris Meagher says he gets great placement on those that don’t sail out the back of the end zone.
  • Quaron Robinson, Union: Helping the Farmers win the field position battle, he averaged 35 yards per punt this year, many landing inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
by Mike Pavlichko

Championship-winning kick, textbook PATs earn Phillipsburg’s Alexie Moriera 2024 CJSR Special Teams Player of the Year honors

He didn’t try a lot of field goals this year, but of the three he made, one was one of the biggest in Phillipsburg history, both literally and figuratively.

Literally, the 46-yarder Alexie Moriera booted on November 15th was not only a career long, but the longest in Stateliner gridiron history, and we’re talking a lot of football here.

Figuratively, it gave P’burg the North 2, Group 4 title in a wild 13-11 win over Northern Highlands, in which Maloney Stadium’s visitors went ahead on a touchdown and two-point conversion with just 24 seconds left.

That left the ‘Liners needing to march down the field and score. And score they did. Alternating between Jett Genovese runs and passes to Matthew Scerbo, Jr., the two got Phillipsburg to the 29 yard line. Cue Moreira.

Click below to see the full drive – the Week 11 Chris Auto Body Drive of the Week – capped by Alexie Moreira’s 46-yard field goal.

And it was on PATs – never a sure thing at the high school level – where Moreira also left his mark, going 57-for-59 on the season.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko speak with Alexie Moreira of Phillipsburg, our Special Teams Player of the Year:

Honorable Mentions:

  • Noah Ochab, Bernards: The junior could have been the starter last year, but he was stuck behind last year’s Special Teams Player of the year, Jonas Gonzalez. Ochab (pronounced “OH-shahb”) was 5-of-10 on field goals this year, including a school-record 48-yarder against Voorhees, against whom he also ran in a two-point conversion on a fake extra point. He was 32-of-33 on those PATs this yea, and kicked off 13 times for touchbacks. Head coach Jon Simoneau says he’s an excellent multi-directional punter – only one was returned all year – and Ochab downed nine inside the 20-yard line.
  • Gavin Periera, Spotswood: Also a junior, Gavin nailed 27 of 28 PATs for the Chargers this season in just his first year kicking. He also had two multiple field goal games, going 8-of-10 overall – tied for third most makes in the state – and booting a career-long 44-yarder against Highland Park in late September. He also recovered his own onside kick against Bound Brook, and had at least a dozen touchbacks.
  • Joe Squicciarini, Bridgewater-Raritan: This is the guy tied with Periera for third in the state for field goals; he was 8-of-12 this season, and kicked a career-best 41-yarder against Union City in the playoffs.
by Mike Pavlichko

Bernards kicker Jonas Gonzalez boots his way to CJSR Special Teams Player of the Year honors

As the Bernards offense struggled to get anything of significance going against Lakeland in the North 2, Group 2 championship game, Jonas Gonzalez – who’d missed a field goal earlier in the game – split the uprights for a second half field goal to get the Mountaineers within four.

It wasn’t a pressure-packed, end-of-game, kick it or go home scenario in that very moment, but the cool, calm and collected senior’s sure foot on that attempt was no less crucial. It got Bernards within four points.

Without that, the go-ahead score on a pass from Connor Laverty to Jake Caldwell wouldn’t have been enough to hold off the Lancers, who sent the game to overtime with a field goal as time expired. Without it, Bernards likely would have lost when the clock hit :00.

Along with being the Mountaineers’ long-range specialist, going 6-of-8 on three-pointers during the season, with a long of 39, and going 9-of-11 on PATs, Gonzalez has been named the Central Jersey Sports Radio Special Teams Player of the Year for 2023.

Gonzalez also excelled on kickoffs, with 76 this year, and a 54.5 yard average, with a long of 65. He also had 50 touchbacks, one of the best in the state in both categories.

Scroll down for Honorable Mentions:

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Bernards senior Jonas Gonzalez:

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Aaron Losada, Sayreville, PK: Went 42-of-44 on extra points, 3-of-4 on FGs, including a long of 43.
  • Jack Joyce, St. Thomas Aquinas, K/P: 48-of-49 on extra points, 7-of-11 on FGs, 26 touchbacks punting, 36 yard average.
  • Seamus Browne, Summit, K/P: Made 8 FGs, among top 5 in NJ. Was 42-of-44 on PATs, and has 29 touchbacks
by Mike Pavlichko

Many happy returns for Shawn Martin: Scotch Plains-Fanwood kick returner named Special Teams Player of the Year

The great program builder/re-builder Milt Theodosatos once said about kicking the ball to a great returner, “We kick the ball to him, that’s a human tragedy.”

Imagine four human tragedies in one season?

That’s what happened this year when opponents kicked the ball to Scotch Plains-Fanwood senior Shawn Martin. Not that they did it often.

The 5-11, 170-pound lightning bolt returned four kickoffs for touchdowns in 2020. He only had six returns all year.

Good job by the opponents, just not good enough.

Martin returned two kicks for touchdowns in a 42-38 loss to Cedar Grove in the Raiders’ first-ever home game under the lights at Perry Field. The returns were 95 and 92 yards.

A week later, he returned a kick 90 yards to paydirt in a 27-22 win over Linden, and he followed it up with an 82-yard kick return for a score against Princeton in a 61-20 victory over the Little Tigers.

Click below to hear Shawn Martin talk about his four kick returns for touchdowns this year, including which was his favorite:

Honorable Mentions for Special Teams Player of the Year went to senior kicker Jake Beckman of Ridge and junior kicker Jai Patel of South Brunswick.

Beckman is a three-year starter who went 12-for-16 on field goals in his career, and 89-of-102 on PATs. He kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to beat Bridgewater-Raritan in 2018.

Patel is on the radar of several Power 5 schools with another year yet to be played scholastically. He was 7-of-8 of field goals in 2020, with a long of 42 yards, and perfect on 22 PATs. He also handled kickoffs, booting 19 of 32 for touchbacks, and averaged 41 yards per punt, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA, according to head coach John Viotto.