As we've been doing all season long, Central Jersey Sports Radio is highlighting the high school football "Speedster of the Week" presented by Higgins Speed Lab in South Brunswick, recognizing the top runningbacks in the Big Central Conference every week. And the Week Ten winner is Sam Dech of Phillipsburg! This is Dech's fourth time on the list, and first time topping it as the "Speedster of the Week." Dech was part of a big ground game for top-seed Phillipsburg in a 35-7 win over fifth-seed Colonia in the North 2, Group 4 semifinals, scoring two second half touchdowns on a 217-yard, 23-carry night.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have in-person coverage of three of the five sectional title games being played this Championship Weekend, involving six teams from the Big Central Conference. We'll have live play-by-play of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 final, which features two BCC squads, as top-seed Phillipsburg (9-1) will host third-seed Montgomery (8-3) at Maloney Stadium. The Stateliners - the defending champs in this section - haven't lost to a public school all year, while the Cougars have rebounded off a 1-9 season under first-year head coach and previous Offensive Coordinator Sean Carty.

Here we are - Championship Weekend! Six Big Central teams will vie for five titles this Friday night - with one guaranteed winner - Mike Pavlichko takes a quick look on this week's edition of "The Big Central in 2 Minutes!" On this week's episode, Mike gives one last take on the ridiculousness of the seeding procedure - a team South of Philly in Central Jersey Group 5?

It was September 1994 when Old Bridge High School officially opened its doors, a merger between Cedar Ridge and Madison Central. Seven years later, they made their first sectional title game, falling 10-7 to JP Stevens. They'd go again in 2015, falling to South Brunswick. For the first time, since they are back. The third-seeded Knights (10-1) beat second-seed Sayreville (9-2) Friday night in the Central Jersey Group 5 semifinals, 28-27, to advance to the title game next week.

There are eleven Big Central Conference public schools left in the state playoffs, less than half of the 25 teams that initially qualified. But of those that remain, there are some good opportunities for the league to win championships, and there's even a guarantee it will in North 2, Group 4, where all four teams playing in semifinals Friday are from the BCC.

As we've been doing all season long, Central Jersey Sports Radio is highlighting the high school football "Speedster of the Week" presented by Higgins Speed Lab in South Brunswick, recognizing the top runningbacks in the Big Central Conference every week. And the Week Nine winner is Carteret's Al-Naiquan Boseman! In a breakout season for the Ramblers, with 1,397 yards and 14 touchdowns, Boseman saved the best for last.

Phillipsburg has returned to the top of the Big Central power rankings, following a 55-14 win over Newark Central in the opening round of the playoffs, while St. Joseph-Metuchen fell to No. 3 after a loss to Donovan Catholic back on Friday. New Providence - still unbeaten after an opening round playoff victory over Secaucus - is up again this week, now in second.

The NJSIAA counts power points, and Strength Index, but luckily for Old Bridge, style points aren't a thing, only the points on the scoreboard. And that's where the Knights were a winner Saturday evening, as third-seed Old Bridge topped sixth-seed Freehold Twp., 38-31, on a late Brody Nugent touchdown and a fumble recovery on the Patriots' ensuing drive. Nugent scored from 32 yards out with 6:32 to play to give his team a 38-31 lead.

For a third straight week, St. Joseph-Metuchen leads the Big Central Power Rankings, with Phillipsburg right behind them, while Don Bosco Prep and Winslow Twp. are 1-2 on the statewide list. New Providence - still unbeaten - has now moved into third, with Old Bridge pulling up to four and Somerville down one to fifth as the Knights and 'Ville flip flop.

In the last high school football rankings before the season wraps up in late November/early December, St. Joseph-Metuchen and Phillipsburg remain Nos. 1 and 2 in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, while about everyone else behind them shuffled around. The playoffs begin this week for public schools, while St. Joe's and St. Thomas Aquinas have one more week of play before their postseason begins.

With Friday night's Cutoff Weekend high school football games all in the books, Central Jersey Sports Radio is updating the unofficial NJSIAA playoff standings as we head into Saturday action. We'll have further analysis late morning into the afternoon Saturday, with our 2025 "Playoff Projection Show" scheduled for 6 pm where we give our bracket projections. The full tournament for the public schools will be unveiled on Sunday by the NJSIAA via Gridiron New Jersey.

It's Cutoff Weekend in New Jersey high school football, and we're taking a look at the playoff scenarios for every Big Central team in contention. This week, Strength Index values are locked in, and out-of-state opponent SI values also have been updated by Gridiron New Jersey, which does all the official calculations of the NJ UPR formula for the NJSIAA. And we've double- and triple-checked our own standings to make sure they match with Gridiron's.

When debating who to choose for the Week 7 Bellamy & Son Paving Player of the week, I asked by broadcast partner for that game, Justin Sontupe, for his take. "No doubt in my mind Somerville loses without him. He did everything." Surely, it takes a whole team to win. He doesn't do what he did without the offensive line. Or the defense - which he had to be a part of when a cornerback went down - holding a talented Plainfield team in check.

As we've been doing all season long, Central Jersey Sports Radio is highlighting the high school football "Speedster of the Week" presented by Higgins Speed Lab in South Brunswick, recognizing the top runningbacks in the Big Central Conference every week. And the Week Seven winner is Somerville's Aidan Vesuvio-Bush! Back on Friday night, in a 40-28 win over Plainfield heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio…

There was a second straight week of major upheaval in the Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Top Ten, with Montgomery handing Sayreville its first loss, No. 1 St. Joseph-Metuchen ending St. Thomas Aquinas's 35-game league winning streak, and Woodbridge falling to unranked Summit for the Barrons' first loss of the season. The result saw the Falcons stay at No.

With the NJSIAA's Cutoff Weekend for high school football next week in New Jersey, Central Jersey Sports Radio is taking a closer look at the race for the playoffs, including who's in the running for top seeds, who's in, who's jockeying for position, and who has some work to do just to get in, or stay in the hunt. We'll break down each supersection, with individual team analysis for all Big Central Conference schools.

Week 6 of the high school football season has brought us our fourth different team to lead the Big Central Conference Power Rankings. Somerville led the preseason rankings, followed by St. Thomas Aquinas for two weeks, and it's been Phillipsburg atop the pile since after Week 2 of play. But this week, St. Joseph-Metuchen - by virtue of its 21-0 win over the Stateliners Saturday - have vaulted to the top of the heap.

So much for consistency. While some teams have moved around a bit, Phillipsburg has spent the entire season at No. 1 in the Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central rankings, but that changed this week. Saturday, No. 6 St. Joseph of Metuchen blanked the No. 1 Stateliners at home, 21-0, to dethrone the Big Central's top-ranked team. Phillipsburg had occupied the top spot since last year's final poll, overtaking Somerville after becoming the first BCC team to reach a state final, where they lost the Group 4 title to Winslow Twp.