Tag: St. Joseph-Metuchen

by Mike Pavlichko

Mini coaching carousel that sent Riggi to Metuchen elevates Sofilkanich to defensive coordinator at St. Joseph

Very few of the dozen head coaching changes at Big Central Conference football schools this off-season came about because of other departures, unlike a couple of years ago.

After the 2023 season, Joe LaSala left Woodbridge, Joe Goerge left South Brunswick to take the Barrons’ job, and Ibrahim Halsey left Roselle for the Vikings, leaving Tyrone Turner to take over at Hillside. In the past week, he joined the staff of new head coach Steven Brown at North Plainfield.

No, none of that happened this year, but Joe Riggi’s departure as Defensive Coordinator at St. Joseph-Metuchen to take the vacant head coaching position right down the road at public school Metuchen – after alum Jordan Leitner stepped down – did leave a big opening on the staff of Falcons’ head coach Bill Tracy less than two months before the start of camp.

But Tracy has moved quickly, elevating veteran coach Don Sofilkanich to the job, after he joined Tracy’s staff last season, helping out with the offensive line and inside linebackers.

Tracy was well aware of Sofilkanich’s bona fides when while serving as the head coach at Livingston – prior to his very solid run at Ridge – and Sofilkanich was the DC at Roxbury under John Quinn, who he calls “truly one of the best head football coaches in the history of our state.”

“I had the pleasure, or displeasure, of coaching against Coach Sof many years ago. (His) defenses were very tough, so well-prepared, and we had a very tough time against him,” Tracy told Central Jersey Sports Radio this week. “I was fortunate to add him as an assistant coach last season, and when Joe Riggi, my former outstanding DC, got another opportunity, promoting Sof was an easy move.”

“He is great with the kids, very well-prepared, dedicated, and gets the best out of our guys,” Tracy added. “We are lucky to have him.”

And Tracy isn’t the only one to think that way.

“It’s a no-brainer,” says Central Jersey Sports Radio high school football analyst Marcus Borden, who coached Sofilkanich (a 1988 grad) at East Brunswick, later had him on his staff with the Bears, and later worked under him when Soflikanich took a head coaching job at then-Bishop Ahr, now St. Thomas Aquinas.

Sofilkanich came to prominence in Middlesex County as a coordinator under John Quinn at New Brunswick on two state championship teams, the first of which came in 2003 when he led the defense on a squad that featured future New York Giants captain and two-time Super Bowl winner Jonathan Casillas and future NCAA All-American Dwayne Jarrett, who played at Southern Cal. That ’03 championship was the Zebras’ first title since 1926. They won again in 2006 with Soflikanich as the Offensive Coordinator..

He then left to become head coach at Asbury Park, turning around a program that went 1-9 in 2006, going 11-1 in 2007 with a Central Jersey Group 1 title.

After two more 11-1 seasons – and two more CJ1 championships – he moved next door to to Neptune for a year before coming back to the GMC to lead Bishop Ahr from 2011-2013, going 12-18. He spent the next three years at New Brunswick, going 15-16, including an excellent 9-2 in 2015.

Soflikanich coached two years at Plainfield in 2019 and 2020, going 4-11, and Sayreville in 2023, where he was 8-3.

“He will not be out-coached by anyone,” Borden says of Sofilkanich. “Don, as a football player in high school, was one of the hardest workers, and focused-in on technique, which made him successful,” said Borden. He says that carried on to Soflikanich’s play in college. “He used his physicality and ability as a technician to be successful.”

That laid the groundwork for his coaching career. When he later joined Borden’s staff at East Brunswick, “he taught the kids how to be physical.”

Borden recalled a scrimmage between his East Brunswick squad and Soflikanich’s Asbury Park team one year: “We were on the field at Heavenly Farms. It was raining. His kids were tough, physical and hard-nosed just like him.” He said he told the Asbury kids as they left practice in the rain, “Believe in your coach and what he’s teaching you. Because I know you will have success.”

by Mike Pavlichko

Early look at Big Central Football 2026: St. Joseph still team to beat in American Gold Division, but has a lot to replace

Having swept the Big Central Conference’s American Gold Division each of the last two seasons, one would have to consider St. Joseph-Metuchen a team that will at least be right back in the thick of things in 2026, but there will be work to be done for Bill Tracy and his program, with some key talent lost to graduation.

Their next best competition could very well be Elizabeth, with senior QB Arique Fleming back for his fourth year as the starting signal-caller for the Minutemen. Westfield – coming off a 4-6 season under first-year head coach Matt Andzel – also will look to make strides, as will Union, which went 3-8 last year with a very young club under Barris Grant, who left Hillside for the job.

Here are the preliminary schedules for the American Gold Division teams – in order of 2025 finish – compiled from the official league schedule and other online sources to the best of our knowledge as of the date of publication, along with a few notes on each squad. Division games are starred.

St. Joseph-Metuchen Falcons (8-2, 3-0, American Gold Division Champions)
Head Coach: Bill Tracy, 5th season (25-15)

  • Week 0: bye
  • Week 1: Bridgewater-Raritan
  • Week 2: at Westfield*
  • Week 3: at Elizabeth*
  • Week 4: Phillipsburg
  • Week 5: at Delbarton
  • Week 6: at Piscataway
  • Week 7: Union*
  • Week 8: at St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Week 9: Donovan Catholic

St. Joseph put up big numbers last year, but some key players who posted those numbers are gone. Senior dual threat quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo threw for 1,212 yards and 12 touchdowns – with just one pick – while leading the team in rushing with 580 yards, while senior wideout Reggie Bropleh had a team-best 522 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. Only 70 of 1,604 rushing yards are back, and 206 of 1,215 receiving. And while they’ll lose senior Michael Wellett III (5 sacks), Tommy Kwiatkowski (4 sacks) and Jason Gross (team-best 8 sacks) on defense, others like Jack Cummings (3 1/2 sacks) will be counted on. Always strong coaching when Bill Tracy is running the show, and that helps.

Elizabeth Minutemen (5-5, 2-1, 2nd place American Gold)
Head Coach: Eugene Kline, 2nd full season (9-9)

  • Week 0: at Carteret
  • Week 1: at Plainfield
  • Week 2: at Union*
  • Week 3: St. Joseph-Metuchen*
  • Week 4: at Ridge
  • Week 5: Linden
  • Week 6: Hillsborough
  • Week 7: at Westfield*
  • Week 8: Somerville

It’ll be one last go-round for Arique Fleming, a true team leader who has been the starting quarterback and matured in leaps and bounds since his very first start in the 2023 season opener as a freshman. He tossed for 1,811 yards and 18 touchdowns a season ago, while also leading the team with 551 rushing yards. And with four of the five receivers who each caught at least 200 yards’ worth of passes last season coming back, Fleming will have plenty of options. The defense should be solid, too, with key players like defensive back Eric Cespedes (2 INTs) and and linebacker Isaiah Butler back as well.

Westfield Blue Devils (4-6, 1-2, 3rd place American Gold)
Head Coach: Matt Andzel, 3rd season (9-12)

  • Week 0: Scotch Plains-Fanwood
  • Week 1: at St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Week 2: St. Joseph-Metuchen*
  • Week 3: at Union*
  • Week 4: Bridgewater-Raritan
  • Week 5: at Woodbridge
  • Week 6: at Ridge
  • Week 7: Elizabeth*
  • Week 8: Plainfield

Matt Andzel embarks on his third season as head coach, and gets a tough schedule out of the gate with the two non-publics – St. Thomas Aquinas and division foe St. Joseph – back to back in Weeks One and Two. And the crossover slate doesn’t get any easier with North 2, Group 4 champion Bridgewater-Raritan and a trip to Ridge also on the slate. QB Cole Weidler returns; he began 2025 as the starting quarterback but was replaced by Jordan Walsh when top receiver Ezno Ferrera went down to injury, and the team began to run the ball more.

Union Farmers (3-8, 0-3, 4th place American Gold)
Head Coach: Barris Grant, 2nd season

  • Week 0: at Edison
  • Week 1: at Watchung Hills
  • Week 2: Elizabeth*
  • Week 3: Westfield*
  • Week 4: at Hillsborough
  • Week 5: at Plainfield
  • Week 6: Bridgewater-Raritan
  • Week 7: at St. Joseph-Metuchen*
  • Week 8: at Linden

Barris Grant’s first season resulted in an immediate boost of one win for the very young Farmers, but they are poised to take the next step this season. Take their starting quarterback, for example. Elijah Bryant was just a sophomore, but threw for 1,259 yards and five touchdowns, though he’ll want to cut down on the turnovers this season. The top runningback was a junior; Jamir Hall finished just shy of 1,100 yards and scored 12 touchdowns. The defense was a little more veteran, as seven seniors will graduate, but not all of them starters.

by Mike Pavlichko

Karl-Anthony Towns’ historic NBA title with Knicks brings us back to his last ultimate championship: St. Joe’s TOC win in 2014

Karl-Anthony Towns has had a fantastic basketball career, whether it’s been with the Knicks, the Timberwolves, Kentucky, or in high school at St. Joseph-Metuchen.

The one-time Falcons star played in the Tournament of Champions all three years when he was in high school (he reclassified and graduated early) and won it all in 2014 with a core trio that also included Wade Baldwin (Memphis, Portland in the NBA, now in Europe) and Marques Townes (also now playing in Europe).

After a year at Kentucky playing for John Calipari – where the Wildcats went 38-1, won the SEC Tournament, but lost their lone game in the national semifinals to Wisconsin – Towns went pro.

He was the first overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft that year, chosen by the Timberwolves, and was Rookie of the Year in 2016. He’s been a six-time NBA All-Star, and was traded to the Knicks in October of 2024 as part of a three-team deal.

Now, in his second season in New York, he’s an NBA Champion – his first “overall” championship since that Tournament of Champions win in 2014, crowned the best high school team in New Jersey.

And so, we decided to take a look back at that title. This reporter broadcast that game live on WCTC in March of 2014, and interviewed KAT courtside after the game. Click below to listen!

by Mike Pavlichko

Pingry is lone winner among three CJSR-area non-publics to open playoffs Tuesday; St. Joseph-Metuchen and Gill St. Bernard’s are eliminated

Of the three non-public schools from the Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area to begin play in the NJSIAA state tournament Tuesday afternoon, only Pinrgy came out a winner.

The Big Blue advanced in Non-Public South A first round action, while St. Joseph-Metuchen lost in the same section, and Gill St. Bernard’s was ousted in Non-Public North B.

Read through for a rundown of Tuesday’s light action – with many non-public teams getting first round byes – along with all scores, and look ahead for the upcoming schedule in the non-public brackets.

NON-PUBLIC SOUTH A

(10) Pingry 5, (7) Notre Dame 2: On paper, this looked like a winnable game for Pingry – we essentially said so in our preview Sunday – and the Big Blue certainly delivered. Tied at 1-1 after three innings, Pingry scored four times in the final three frames, and survived a threat in the bottom of the seventh.

In the top of the first, a one-out ground out by Aaron Wu scored Riley Wong, who’d led off the game by reaching on an error. But The Irish got it back in the bottom of the third when Tommy Swietek grounded into a fielder’s choice to plate a run and tie the game at one.

Pingry took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth on a sac fly by Shane Varenckas, scoring Zach Zaslow. Then, they went ahead 3-1 in the sixth on a Langston McDonald double to centerfield, bringing home Wu from first.

Then, they got some insurance in the top of the seventh, when three straight batters reached via error. Varneckas hit a ground ball to first that got booted. Pinch hitter Vivaan Gandhi reached on an error by the shortstop, and Wong reached on an error by the third baseman. After Andrew Crowley struck out, Wu hit a ground ball to shortstop that resulted in another error and brought in Wong and Ghandi to make it 5-1.

Notre Dame would threaten in the home half, getting a single, ground out and single before Swietek drove in another run with a single, but reliever Michael Cardona got a fly out and pop out for the final two outs of the game to seal the deal.

Starter Zach Zaslow got the win, scattering eight hits over five innings, striking out three and walking just one.

Next up, the Big Blue visit second-seed St. Augustine (19-7) at 4 pm Thursday in the sectional quarterfinals.

Click below to hear Pingry head coach Anthony Feltre talk about the win with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

(6) St. John Vianney 10, (11) St. Joseph-Metuchen 7: The Lancers built up a 4-0 lead over the first three innings before the Falcons got two in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Walter Christian and a passed ball that allowed John Boyke to score. But St. John Vianney got five back in the bottom of the inning to take a 9-2 lead.

St. Joe’s would chip away, though. They got one in the fifth on a sac fly by Luke Baranauskas, but give it right back in the bottom on a home run and trailed 10-3 heading into the sixth. Nick Yacykewych then hit a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the sixth to get it back to 10-5, then scored two more to cut it to 10-7 in the seventh, on a Boyke two-RBI double. But that was as close as they get.

St. Joseph finishes its season at 6-17.

Other results…

  • (8) Paul 6 4, (9) Donovan Catholic 1
  • (5) Christian Brothers 8, (12) Camden Catholic 1

NON-PUBLIC NORTH B

(10) Pope John 4, (7) Gill St. Bernard’s 1: The Lions scored twice in the top of the seventh inning to keep the Knights at bay in pulling off the upset. Pope John got a run in the first and another in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead before Gill scored in the bottom of the inning on a Niko West leadoff home run to left. But that was all they would get, as Pope John’s Patrick Black went 6 2/3, allowing just five hits, striking out eleven. And they added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh on a single and a sac fly.

Joey Fava started for Gill St. Bernard’s and allowed just three hits and two unearned runs through five innings of work, striking out six. West pitched the final two innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits, as the Knights’ season ends at 9-12.

Other scores…

  • (8) Montclair-Kimberley 5, (9) Hawthorne Christian/Eastern Christian Co-Op 1

UPCOMING NON-PUBLIC SCHEDULE:

Thursday, May 27

Non-Public South A:
(8) Montclair-Kimberley at (1) St. Mary-Rutherford
(5) Morristown-Beard at (4) Newark Academy
(6) Morris Catholic at (3) St. Thomas Aquinas
(10) Pope John at (2) Rutgers Prep, 4 pm

Non-Public North B:
(8) Paul VI at (1) Immaculata (at Diamond Nation, Flemington)
(5) Christian Brothers at (4) Union Catholic
(6) St. John Vianney at (3) Red Bank Catholic
(10) Pingry at (2) St. Augustine, 4 pm

by Mike Pavlichko

State Playoff Preview: St. Joseph-Metuchen, Pingry, Gill to open NJSIAA play Tuesday

Hard to believe, but it’s already state tournament time in high school baseball.

The county tournaments are (mostly) done – with the GMC still to be decided this coming Saturday after rain throughout Memorial Day weekend – and everyone is set to begin sectional play in the NJSIAA tournament.

Over the next three days, we’ll take a look at each and every matchup involving Central Jersey Sports Radio teams, starting with the non-public schools, which open play on Tuesday, save for those that have first round byes and are awaiting their first opponent, including Immaculata and Rutgers Prep. St. Thomas Aquinas has a bye, bit already has their opponent determined.

We’ll have a look at Central Jersey Groups 1, 2 and 4 on Monday, and North Jersey, Section 2, Groups 2, 3 and 4 on Tuesday.

NON-PUBLIC NORTH B:

(10) Pope John (4-18) at (7) Gill St. Bernard’s (9-11), 4 pm Tuesday: Though Pope John has taken the last three meetings – with wins in 2019, 2021, and 2024 – that most recent win over Gill is far enough back not to matter. The Lions play a very difficult schedule, including four losses to the two teams that squared off in the Morris County Tournament final, with Mount Olive (now No. 13 in the state) knocking off the statewide No. 1 – and they still are – Delbarton. Both teams are hitting about the same, hovering around the .270 mark, but Pope John has given up more runs, with a team ERA of 7.35, while the Knights are under five. Junior Gavin Bucceri leads the team in hitting, at .379, while senior Jack Markovich is hitting .297 with three home runs. The teams have one common opponent in Pingry; Gill swept them in mid-April, getting a 13-2 and a12-8 win, while Pope John beat the Big Blue a month later, 11-7. The winner will head to Somerset to take on second-seed Rutgers Prep (16-6) in the sectional quarterfinals.

Quarterfinals: (6) Morris Catholic (13-10) at (3) St. Thomas Aquinas (12-14), Thursday (TBA): Just about any team that comes out of the GMC Red Division is probably stronger than their record would indicate. After all, look who’s in the GMC Tournament final: the second and fifth-place teams. And both Old Bridge and Monroe are quite deserving. In fact, their strength of schedule almost certainly was a factor in how high the Trojans were seeded. This will be the first meeting between the teams going back at least to 2008, the last year for which records are publicly available online. They do, however, have one common opponent. St. Thomas lost at home to Montville last Saturday, 12-4, while Morris Catholic beat them two weeks earlier, 8-6. But the Crusaders also lost a preliminary round Morris County Tournament game to a near-.500 Morris Hills team, 9-1, while Aquinas made it to the GMC Quarterfinals, beating South Brunswick 3-2 to get there, then falling to second-seed Middlesex, 3-0. With an up-and-down lineup led by Louis Rizzolo, hitting .373 and a couple others over .300, the Trojans likely look to Rizzolo on the mound in the opener: he’s 6-0 with a 0.98 ERA. A first round bye here means a lot, with Rizzolo starting a quarterfinal game, that would also line him up for a potential title game start.

(2) Rutgers Prep (16-6): The Argonauts have a first-round bye, and will open play Thursday against either seven-seed Gill St. Bernard’s or 10-seed Pope John.

NON-PUBLIC SOUTH A:

(11) St. Joseph-Metuchen (6-16) at (6) St. John Vianney (15-9), 3:45 pm Tuesday: It’s been a challenging season for the defending GMC Tournament Champion Falcons, to say the least. While they graduated a bunch, there’s still talent – and many league coaches will attest to this – but there’s also inexperience. Of their five wins, two came in a back-to-back sweep of East Brunswick in early April, then later in the month they put together a three-game win streak, with victories over Toms River East in the Autism Awareness Challenge, Woodbridge and St. Thomas Aquinas. The followed that up with an eight-game skid – though five of those games were decided by either one or two runs – before beating Freehold Boro, 11-1, to come into the state tournament on a positive note. Also on the plus side, Luke Baranauskas has been back in the lineup for a few games now, after missing the bulk of April; he’s the team’s top regular, hitting .409, while Logan Ring is hitting .352 with 17 RBIs, and Luke Palermo is right behind him with 16 – and it’s no surprise those are key returnees from last season, though they’re still only juniors. Regardless, beating Vianney will be a tough task, especially on the road, with a pitching staff allowing over five earned runs a game. This will be their first meeting since at least 2008. The winner got to third-seed Red Bank Catholic (17-7) Thursday in the quarterfinals; the Caseys have a first-round bye.

(10) Pingry (10-4) at (7) Notre Dame (13-10), 4 pm Tuesday: This will be the first meeting between the teams since 2016, so there’s no recent history here, either. Common opponent advantage goes to the Irish, who beat Gill St. Bernard’s 6-1 in the Autism Awareness Challenge, while the Big Blue were swept by Gill, 13-2 and 12-8, the week prior. Pingry has lost four of five coming in, with defeats at the hands of Pope John, Franklin, Hillsborough and Rutgers Prep, but they are coming in off a 6-4 victory over Oratory Prep, which is 10-4 just like Pingry. The Big Blue is hitting close to .300 (.299), with junior Langston McDonald (.380, 12 RBI) leading the way, while sophomore Andrew Crowley has a team-high 18 runs batted in, while hitting .338 on the year. Nearly every Pingry team has a tendency to be pesky and give opponents fits, and expect little different here in what could be a toss-up. The winner will take a long drive on Thursday to play in the quarterfinals at second-seed St. Augustine (19-6, #12 in NJ), which has a first-round bye.

(1) Immaculata (20-5): The Spartans – coming off a 1-0 loss in eight innings to Watchung Hills in the Somerset County Tournament final Friday afternoon – have a first-round bye and will open play Thursday at Diamond Nation in Flemington against either eight-seed Donovan Catholic (6-15) or nine-seed Paul VI (9-13).

by Mike Pavlichko

Old Bridge, Monroe and GMC stuck between turf and a rainy place on Jim Muldowney Championship; how did others handle it?

Sometimes, despite all the best planning and intentions, things just don’t work out.

All was right with the world when the Greater Middlesex Conference announced just a week ago that its baseball and softball tournament championship games would be held at Rutgers University, following in the footsteps of the NJSIAA, which announced in early January that the state baseball finals would be held at Bainton Field on RU’s Livingston Campus in Piscataway.

A week later, it may have just been too good to be true. But it’s not the GMC’s fault, or Rutgers.

Blame Mother Nature. As we know from this season, she can be fickle.

Big picture, many more people will have their Memorial Day Weekend plans ruined by the rain expected to come down this weekend.

But as far as high school sports in Central Jersey, he first victim was the GMC Softball final, scheduled to be held at Rutgers Wednesday evening. Thunderstorms in the forecast moved that game to Friday at 7 pm, but had to move it to a different venue.

Now, it’ll be Sayreville and St. Thomas Aquinas playing for the trophy at East Brunswick High School. That game will air live on the King James Radio Network with veteran broadcaster Korbid Thompson on the call.

The Somerset County Tournament baseball final also was scheduled for Wednesday at 6 pm at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater, but that was moved as well, to Friday at 4 pm, at the same location. You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, and also watch it on our YouTube channel, with coverage beginning at 3:40 pm.

The good news on both of those is, none of it will really have a huge impact on the state tournament – which begins next week – for the teams involved. Softball has no pitch count restrictions.

And while baseball does, anyone who needs four days’ rest for Immaculata will get it because the top-seeded Spartans will get five days off between the SCT final and their first game in the states, in the South A quarterfinals against either eight-seed Paul VI or nine-seed Donovan Catholic. And their SCT opponent, Watchung Hills, will open next Wednesday in the first round against 14-seed Elizabeth, giving them four days’ rest. That means everyone’s pitch count should reset to zero.

But for Old Bridge and Monroe, who are in the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament title game, it’s a different story.

Initially, the plan was as it had always been: the semifinals and finals on back-to-back Saturdays at East Brunswick Magnet’s Ray Cipperly Field, a great natural grass surface that would make some minor league baseball teams jealous. (The late Ray Cipperly, the school’s one-time baseball coach and AD, created that field, and later became the Somerset Patriots’ first groundskeeper.) The rain date was to be Sunday, as always.

Then came the news last week that Rutgers would be hosting the baseball final, same day as previously scheduled, same time.

And as of Thursday evening, that game is still on. The GMC is going to wait as long as it can, we’re told, even until Saturday morning, before making a call on postponing it, which is the right call. If you can get it in Saturday, go for it. MAybe they can move it a bit earlier? Currently, the best chance looks like between noon and 4 pm.

The problem is, Sunday’s weather looks even worse. Rutgers has told the GMC Bainton Field wouldn’t be available Sunday. But even if the GMC hadn’t gone there, East Brunswick Magnet would still be soaked from all the rain to play a game there Sunday. Having it at another high school site on Memorial Day weekend, when everyone is away, would just be impossible from a logistics standpoint.

And don’t even think about moving it to the actual holiday on Monday, which may be the only decent day of the three-day weekend.

So, the GMC – if it reschedules – would move the finals to Saturday, May 30, which happens to be smack dab in the middle of the state sectionals, with Friday, May 29th – the day before – being the quarterfinal round, and Wednesday, June 3rd being the sectional semifinals.

But that’s going to leave both teams figuring out what to do with their pitching. Assuming the two starters this weekend would be Brady Meyer for the third-seeded Knights and Ben Faigin for the ninth-seeded Falcons, they will have to choose between starting them when they want in the state tournament – typically, but not always, top pitchers start in the second round, to line them up for a potential title game – or starting them in the GMC Tournament final, if indeed it gets moved to a week later.

It’s not an enviable position to be in, but it’s not without precedent. In fact, through 2018, that’s the way the tournament was set up, with the finals on a weekend during a break in state tournament play. The GMC went to the current format, moving everything a week later, in 2019, with the goal of ensuring divisional play could get wrapped up before the seeding meeting.

In 2018, South Plainfield – then led by head coach Anthony Guida – was a 14-seed and played in the first round of the GMC Tournament on Monday, May 14, then the quarters on Thursday, May 17, and the semifinals on Sunday, May 20. But the state tournament was scheduled to start on Monday, May 21. The Tigers beat AL Johnson in the first round of Central Jersey Group 2, then had a very good Governor Livingston team coming up – on the road – in the quarterfinals.

“I was talking to my pitching coach, Mike Battista,” Guida told Central Jersey Sports Radio Thursday night, “and he said ‘We have five more games in the state if we went all the way to the final, but we have one more game to win to be [GMC] Champions.”

But Guida added he had three legitimate starters that year, so it wasn’t that big an issue. “We knew that we wanted to put our best, Chris Shine, on the mound in the county final, knowing Amboy had two studs on the mound, too.”

“We made the decision to go for the county tournament win,” Guida said.

South Plainfield would fall on Thursday to the Highlanders in the quarterfinals, 11-2, before coming back Saturday – just two days later – to beat 12-seed Perth Amboy, 2-1 in 12 innings, to claim their first – and only – GMC Tournament title to date. Shine went 8 2/3 innings and scattered nine hits, allowing one earned run, with Billy Keane closing it out with 3 1/3 shutout innings.

The Panthers were in a similar boat, getting knocked out in the same round of the North 2, Group 4 section by Bayonne, 8-0, before falling to South Plainfield in the final.

Even three years later, St. Joseph-Metuchen was in a similar situation due to weather. The semifinals of the GMCT got moved to Monday, May 31, and the finals a week later to Sunday, June 6. The NJSIAA fifth-seeded Falcons had to open the state tournament on Friday, June 4 against fourth-seed Red Bank Catholic. But head coach Mike Murray says they “punted on RBC” figuring they had a better chance to win the county tournament, and saved their ace Andrew Goldan for the GMC final.

They would lose to the Caseys, 4-0, but the GMC second-seeded Falcons were 2-0 winners over five-seed South Brunswick, and the gamble paid off.

What’s interesting to note this year is that Monroe is a five-seed and Old Bridge the top-seed in Central Jersey Group 4, meaning they’re in the same half of the 16-team bracket. If they can both get past the first two rounds, they’ll play each other in the semifinals, and that would at least put them back on equal footing, pitching-wise. That is, if both coaches are thinking in a similar fashion.

Say the top starter for each team goes Wednesday in the CJ4 opening round, they could go up to 69 pitches and still be able to come back Saturday for the GMC final, and have 81 left in the tank. That could work. They’d also have three days off until the sectional semis, and could throw another 69 pitches then.

If the top-starter goes Friday in the state sectional quarters, they likely would have not pitched Wednesday either, although they could throw a maximum 49 pitches Wednesday, perhaps in relief, then have 101 for Saturday, but they’d be limited to 49 again the following Wednesday in the CJ4 semis, and wouldn’t be able to go in the county final.

Both teams have a legitimate shot at a state title, but to go back to Guida’s thinking, they still have to win three games to even get a crack at it, and nothing is a sure thing. What is a sure thing is that both teams can win a title with one win in the GMC final, whether it’s this Saturday or next.

Ultimately, Matt Donaghue of Old Bridge and Monroe’s Sean Field could have some tough decisions to make.

by Mike Pavlichko

Kozak logs 200th career K as No. 2 Middlesex “steals” one at “home” from St. Joseph-Metuchen in 8-7 walkoff victory

Where to begin?

We could start at the beginning, when the first of multiple Middlesex errors in the field led, in part, to the second-ranked Blue Jays trailing 3-0 before ever stepping to the plate Thursday afternoon at Mountainview Park in Middlesex.

Or, we could talk about Middlesex chipping away with a run in the fourth, and a run in the fifth to cut a three-run deficit to two, sandwiched around senior Chris Kozak picking up the 200th strikeout of his four-year varsity career, ending the top of the fifth and stranding a Falcon on first.

What about St. Joe’s seemingly pulling away, breaking the game open in the sixth, scoring four runs on one hit, a hit batter, and four errors – including two on one play – to take a 7-2 lead?

Or the five runs Middlesex got in their half of the sixth to tie the game at seven, on just three hits and three walks?

In the end, it came down to the bottom of the seventh. With pinch-runner Lucas Blanco on third and Diego Marcano on second, with two outs after a sacrifice bunt by Nomar Almonte moved them over, and Kozak popped out to first, Daniel Ianiero came to the plate.

He took ball one, and Marcano got way off the bag at second. His decoy worked, drawing a throw from St. Joe’s catcher A.J. Huber. Blanco took off from third, beat the throw home, and sent Middlesex off with its 16th win of the year against just two losses.

Playing up and beating a Red Division team – albeit one now 5-13 – is what the committee will look at when the GMC seeds its county tournament this Friday. That, coupled with Edison’s 6-5 loss at Metuchen Monday – Edison is in the Red, Metuchen in the White with Middlesex – could give the Blue Jays an even stronger argument that they should be the No. 1 seed in the Jim Muldowney Championship Tournament.

Middlesex has one loss in the conference, to South Brunswick, while the Eagles’ league losses have come to Monroe, Woodbridge, St. Thomas Aquinas and now Metuchen. Still, Edison is the GMC Red Champion at 10-3, and there’s something to be said for that as well.

Friday could get interesting.

Joe’s got on the board first in this one, and it all started with leadoff hitter Nick Yacykewych, whose ground ball on a 3-1 pitch stayed in the infield, but the throw from third baseman Diego Marcano sailed into foul territory. He came home on single by Luke Palermo, who then got caught stealing, but the decoy allowed Davis Labno to score from third. Logan Ring doubled to drive in another run, and the Jays were down 3-0.

Middlesex senior Chris Kozak pitches against St. Joseph-Metuchen at Mountainview Park in Middlesex on May 4, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

They got on the board with a run in the third, when Daniel Ianiero walked, moved to second on a bad pickoff move, then scored on a single by Marcus Lavornia. They got another in the fourth, when Marcano led off with a double, and a Kozak bunt led to a throwing error by third baseman Owen Krulikowski, allowing Marcano to score, making it 3-2 Joe’s.

And things were relatively calm until the sixth inning, when the Falcons exploded for four runs. Palermo singled to lead it off. Luke Baranauskas reached on a dropped throw to first. Ring laid down a bunt and reached on an error, the second in the inning, scoring Palermo to make it 4-2. After Walter Christian walked to load the bases and AJ Huber struck out, Yacykewich got plunked on ball four to make it 5-2, driving in Baranauskas.

Then, when things seemingly couldn’t get any worse, Labno hit a ball to short that Marcus Lavornia booted. By the time he recovered, after Christian had scored, Lavornia threw home as Krulikowski was headed to the plate, but it sailed to the backstop. Now, the Jays were down 7-2.

But they weren’t done.

Luke Jones led off the sixth with an infield hit to short. Marcano singled and Almonte walked to load the bases with nobody out. After Kozak struck out, Daniel Ianiero walked in a run to cut the deficit to four. Lavornia did the same to make it 7-4. Almonte scored on a wild pitch to Dylan Ianiero, who then flew out to center, but the runner on third didn’t tag, leaving the bases loaded, down 7-5.

Then, Long hit a line drive ground ball to second that went off John Boyke’s glove and into right field, plating Daniel Ianiero and Lavornia, tying the game at seven. But Sean Hughes ended the inning with a little blooper to short.

Middlesex head coach Blaze Iannetti brought in Dalton Michael to pitch, but pulled him after a leadoff walk. Long came in from center to pitch, and got a pop up into foul territory, a K, and a fly out to right, with the final out coming as John Boyke was just 90 feet from home, advancing with a stolen base and wild pitch.

Then, Middlesex won it in the bottom of the inning on a daring decoy play Iannetti said he didn’t really want to show just yet. But when you need a win – and they got it – all bets are off, the bag of tricks has to be opened.

Long got the win in relief for the Jays, improving to 6-0 on the season, allowing just one base runner in his one inning of work. Labno, who also only worked the seventh, took the loss for St. Joseph.

Click below to watch Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with seniors Lucas Blanco and Chris Kozak, along with head coach Blaze Iannetti.

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY: #4 Edison 4, St. Joseph-Metuchen 0

Monmouth-bound senior Connor Murphy threw a no-hitter, striking out 13, in a 4-0 win over St. Joseph-Metuchen in GMC Red Division action. It came seven years to the day after he tossed a no-no in the Fords Clara Barton Baseball League as a ten-year-old, a game in which he also struck out 13.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Nick Hart call all the play-by-play live from Edison High School on April 14, 2026.

by Mike Pavlichko

Edison’s Connor Murphy earns redemption with no-hitter, striking out 13, in 4-0 GMC Red Division win over St. Joseph

The last time Connor Muprhy threw a pitch against St. Joseph-Metuchen, J.P. Zayle sent it over the left field fence for a grand slam to walk off with the GMC Tournament Championship.

On Tuesday, he got some measure of revenge, with a complete-game, 13-strikeout no-hitter, in a 4-0 win for his 4th-ranked Eagles over the Falcons.

In a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, Murphy was simply masterful, mixing his fastball, change and breaking ball to keep St. Joe’s off balance. He allowed just four baserunners the entire afternoon – three on walks, one on a fielder’s choice – with two of them caught stealing by catcher Damian Calandra, the second of which erased Davis Labno to end the game.

Edison catcher Damian Calandra lets out a yell after throwing out St. Joseph’s Davis Labno trying to steal second, ending the game, a no-hitter for pitcher Connor Muprhy. (Photo: Nick Hart)

It was a stellar afternoon for the senior, one of three D1 pitchers on the Edison roster; he’s going to Monmouth, while Robert Roma and Dom Innocenti will be heading to Wagner.

After a one-two-three first without a strikeout, Muprhy struck out the side in the second, got two strikeouts each in the third and fourth, struck out the side with a walk mixed in in the fifth, then added two more strikeouts in the sixth, and one in the seventh.

Ironically, it was seven years ago to the day Murphy also threw a no-hitter, when he was 10 years old playing in the Fords Clara Barton Baseball League. And, he had 13 strikeouts in that game as well.

Meanwhile, Edison – which has gotten balanced offense the first two weeks of the season – continued in that vein Tuesday to support Murphy’s stellar performance.

All four RBIs came from the top two-thirds of the lineup, while the first two runs came from the bottom third. Seven of the nine hitters in the order all figured in at least one run, either scoring or by driving them in.

The Eagles (6-1) got on the board in the third after getting just one baserunner on in the first two innings against Paul Rao, who took the loss for St. Joe’s (2-6). Isaiah Lutz led off with a walk, then went to third on a double by Damien Calandra. Leadoff hitter Darren Tirado scored him with a sac fly to center, and after Calandra went to third on a wild pitch, and a strikeout of Robert Roma, Dom Innocenti knocked him in with a single to make it 2-0.

And, after a walk to Sam Kentos, Ray Tavarez hit a ball through the wickets of second baseman Jon Boyke, allowing Innocenti to score and make it 3-0.

The Eagles added an insurance run in the sixth, when Sam Kentos singled to lead off. He went to second on passed ball, to third on a sac bunt by Ray Tavarez, who beat it out for a hit, then scored on a sac fly by DH Brayden Roma.

Click below for postgame reaction from Edison pitcher Connor Murphy and head coach Vinnie Abene with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Nick Hart

After consecutive victories, St. Joseph-Metuchen looks to keep win streak alive against No. 4 Edison

After starting the season 0-5, St. Joseph-Metuchen got off the schneid with back-to-back victories over East Brunswick. Falcons head coach Dennis McCaffery’s response to his squad’s slow start was fairly simple: “We’ve been consistently inconsistent.” 

With two wins under its belt, St. Joes now faces a tough task ahead to extend its win streak to three games as they travel to face fourth-ranked Edison. 

Tuesday will be a rematch of the instant classic that was the 2025 GMC championship, in which the Falcons reigned victorious on a walk-off on a grand slam by the now-graduated J.P. Zayle. While St. Joe’s looks to have the same success against the Eagles this time around, its squad will look much different than that of a year ago.

You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Nick Hart calling all the action. Pregame is set for 3:45 with first pitch at 4; click here to listen.

The Falcons graduated 12 seniors from their program last year, five of whom recorded 40 or more at-bats, three of whom pitched at least 30 innings, and, of course, the player responsible for the walk-off grand slam, Zayle. 

Although seniority is a common theme for St. Joes both last year and this year, underclassmen Nicholas Yacykewych and Paul Rao have made their presence felt early. 

So far on the young season, Yacykewych leads his squad with an impressive .385 batting average in 16 plate appearances. Rao, on the other hand, has made his mark on the mound, sporting a 3.27 ERA in fifteen innings of work, while recording a team-leading 10 punchouts on the mound.  

While a three-game win streak may sound nice, McCaffery has only one thing on his mind entering Tuesday’s game. 

“We don’t really worry about any past type of success or failure,” he said. “We try and just focus on that day and the whole mindset is one pitch, one out, one inning at a time.”

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart talk with St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Dennis McCaffery about the Falcons’ upcoming game with Edison: