PERTH AMBOY, NJ–Week eight brings us to Perth Amboy High School for the first time ever as GMC Gridiron will see the seventh ranked Panthers in action tonight against sixth ranked Bishop Ahr. The Trojans are coming off a shutout loss to North Brunswick last week in North Edison while Amboy had a bye. PAHS is seeking its first ever playoff berth, and trying to stay in contention for a share of GMC White Division honors while BGA is looking to stay ahead of North Brunswick in the standings. With a victory tonight, Ahr is more than likely going to qualify for the Non-Public Group III playoffs, which start in two weeks. It would be the 18th time that the Trojans have qualified for the playoffs. Here are the particulars for this game:
Current Weather Conditions–South Plainfield, New Jersey at 12:24 PM on Friday afternoon
- Sky Conditions: Sunny
- Temperature: 55 degrees
- Humidity: 56 percent
- Dew Point: 40 degrees
- Barometer: 29.86 inches of Hg (Mercury) and Steady
- Winds: WNW 3 mph with gusts up to 13 mph
- High Temperature: 55 degrees
- Low Temperature: 45 degrees
Weather Forecast–Perth Amboy at 7:00 PM EDT on Friday night
Things got off to a cloudy start here in the Central Jersey area on Friday morning as another cold front came through, and it is going to be bringing in significant change over the next few hours. Temperatures started to drop last night after an unusually balmy day with temperatures getting up to just over 73 degrees. It was the fourth day in a row where temperatures hovered between 73 and 75 degrees in Northwestern Middlesex County. Changes were in the air though this week as a powerful storm system delivered the lowest barometric pressure (955 millibars or 28.20 inches of Hg) in North America for a non-tropical storm in the upper Midwest. The powerful storm brought all kinds of weather from Blizzard conditions in the Dakotas to Tornadoes in Ohio, Alabama, and Georgia. High winds of 50 to 60 miles per hour were responsible for the death of a Notre Dame student filming football practice. Washington D.C., and parts of Southern Jersey were under a Tornado Watch on Wednesday.
While the storm system didn’t make as big of an impact in terms of wind and rain in our area, it did bring much cooler weather than we have experienced this past week. High temperatures are expected to drop about 15 to 20 degrees from the high temperatures on Thursday. According to the forecast from the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, the mercury isn’t going to climb much further today. The high is not even expected to reach 60 degrees this afternoon. Winds from the Northwest between 15 to 20 miles per hour are going to make it feel even colder. Tonight, skies will be clear with temperatures falling to near 40 with a persistent Northwest wind between 10 and 15 miles per hour. So dress warmly for the game.
Weather information provided by Greg’s Weather Center.
Directions to Perth Amboy High School
Address: –300 Eagle Avenue, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861
From Parkway South
- Take the US-9 exit- exit number 129- toward RT-440/WOODBRIDGE/I-287/PERTH AMBOY.
- Keep LEFT at the fork in the ramp
- Keep RIGHT at the fork in the ramp.
- Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto CR-501/KING GEORGES RD. Continue to follow KING GEORGES RD.
- KING GEORGES RD becomes NJ-184.
- Turn SLIGHT LEFT to take the ramp toward AMBOY AVE.
- Stay straight to go onto PFEIFFER BLVD.
- Turn RIGHT onto CR-653/AMBOY AVE.
- Turn LEFT onto EAGLE AVE.
From Parkway North
- Take the RT-9 N/RT-440 exit- exit number 127- toward I-287/WOODBRIDGE/STATEN ISLAND.
- Take the RT-440 S/INDUSTRIAL AVE ramp toward I-287 N
- Take the RT-440 N ramp toward STATEN ISL.
- Merge onto NJ-440 E.
- Take the RT-184 exit toward RT-35/AMBOY AVE/PERTH AMBOY.
- Take the ramp toward AMBOY AVE.
- Stay straight to go onto PFEIFFER BLVD.
- Turn RIGHT onto CR-653/AMBOY AVE.
- Turn LEFT onto EAGLE AVE.
Game Outlook
Tonight’s game is the first one we’ve seen Perth Amboy play in the four seasons of football coverage. The Panthers are still in the hunt for a playoff spot, but it is not very likely in the very tough and competitive North Jersey Section 2 Group IV bracket. However, they still have a shot for a tie in the GMC White. They’ll have to hope for North Brunswick to lose to either J.F. Kennedy or South Plainfield over the next two weeks, and win tonight and on Thanksgiving against Carteret. Meanwhile, Ahr is still in the lead in the GMC White by a tenuous half game over North Brunswick after losing to the Raiders last week. BGA is also still among the teams to qualify in Non-Public Group III if the cutoff were today. However, Ahr needs to win this one before going on a bye next week if they want to secure its playoff spot.
Both of the Trojans losses were shutouts (Neptune in week #1, 62-0 and NBTHS last week, 28-0). Otherwise, Bishop Ahr has outscored its opponents by a margin of 127-43, or an average of about 25 to 9. Amboy has played tough defense this year as well giving up an average of 13 points per game in its six contests. Against the GMC White teams that were in division last year, Bishop Ahr is 1-1 (win over New Brunswick and a loss to North Brunswick). So is Perth Amboy. Meanwhile, versus teams that made up the GMC Blue last year, BGA is a perfect 4-0 while Amboy is 2-1 (lost to Kennedy). Rob Brown returns tonight for Amboy, which is good news for the Panther offense anchored by quarterback Faustino Saucedo and running back Raymond Arce. The Trojans have plenty of firepower as well with Kenny Virden and Roger Kilgore along with Tim Hagerty. Freshman Bill DeMato has done a solid job of running the spread offense. On defense, Ahr is led by Rashad Kilgore, Chris Guido, Justin Johnson, and C.J. Hart while Brown anchors the stingy Amboy defense.
See our pick in the GMC Football Week Eight Capsules for Friday night.