Tag: Zaire Young

by Mike Pavlichko

Young’s two TD runs, solid D, sends Piscataway to sectional semis with 20-7 win over Bayonne

The Piscataway football team is on the the sectional semifinals of the state playoffs for a third straight year, and the recipe was very simply “Chiefs football.”

They did it with a two-touchdown, 124-yard rushing game from Zaire Young, and tough defense. But more than that, it was a little creative play-calling that got the Chiefs’ offense going early, in a 20-7 home victory for third-seed Piscataway over six-seed Bayonne in the North 1, Group 5 opening round in the state playoffs, as heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio Saturday afternoon.

On the very first drive of the game, Piscataway ran Young three times, gaining three yards, another three, and then no gain. On fourth-and-one, Higgins brought out punter Patrick Novak, but the ball went right to Young, who took it down the left sideline for a 26-yard gain and a first down.

Then, Higgins had Pernell go to the air, and a 37-yard catch by top receiver Devin Labega set up first-and-goal at the one. That left an easy run into the end zone for Young, who put the Chiefs up 7-0 with the PAT just 2:32 into the game.

Tone: set.

The Chiefs would score on their next possession, too, with Colby Cotton catching a 30-yard pass from Pernell to make it 14-0, capping a seven-play, 62-yard drive in 4:24. And then, with 8:09 left in the first half, Young would cap a short drive – following a Myles Elliott interception – with a two-yard touchdown run, with a missed PAT leaving it 20-0 Chiefs.

But Bayonne would soon get on the board. Their first sustained drive of the game ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Talon Carr to Drew Haynes, to make it 20-7, and that would be all the scoring in the first half.

After the break, Piscataway played ball-control football, and the defense continued to do its job, with the two playing to a scoreless final 24 minutes.

The Chiefs (8-1) now move on to the semifinals at second-seed West Orange (8-1), which beat seven-seed Union Friday night, 26-0.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Marcus Borden with Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins and seniors Landon Pernell and Zaire Young, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Young’s monster game, No. 3 Piscataway defense, stifle No. 5 Somerville for 28-14 win

There were two big storylines out of No. 3 Piscataway’s big win Thursday night at Kenny Armwood Stadium over No. 5 Somerville, heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The first is obvious: senior Zaire Young ran 37 times for 268 yards – the fifth-best single-game rushing yardage performance in school history – and scored three touchdowns in the win, including gobbling up time on the clock late in the fourth quarter to keep the ball out of the Pioneers’ hands. That included runs of two, one and 57 yards, on the night’s final score.

The other was less obvious: the Chiefs (2-0) shutout the Somerville offense, the first time that’s happened since a 37-0 shutout at the hands of Westfield in 2022, the last game Ian Pace coached in his only season in The ‘Ville before Matt Bloom took over with two games left in that year’s regular season. (They won both to get into the playoffs.)

That’s because Somerville began the game in fine form, with a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Dushawn Dorsey, who found a hole, then outraced the rest of the defense into the end zone. Their other score came on a 65-yard pick-six by cornerback Thyce Pappas.

But that was all they could muster in the win, in a game which had a lot of juice coming in, at least for the fans and coaches, if not the players, none of whom were alive the last time these two teams met, in 1987, the last of 23 consecutive meetings while members of the Mid-State Conference.

Somerville (1-1) could not get into a flow all night, and never really displayed its tempo, no-huddle offense as a result. Justin Bowen was held to 30 yards on 11 carries, with his long being 12, the only run he had over six yards on the night. Seven of his eleven runs were for three yards or less.

Click below for postgame reaction from Piscataway head coach Dan Higgins and senior runningback Zaire Young with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!