St. Joseph’s, Highland Park, North Brunswick Get Nods In Saturday Contests
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–On Saturday afternoon, the second half of week two action will take place on the GMC Gridiron. There will be seven games on the schedule including three contests in the GMC Blue Division. St. Joe’s will be competing in their second game all time when the Falcons travel to Marlboro. Below are the game capsules with GMC Gridiron’s picks for Saturday’s contests:
St. Joseph’s (1-0) at Marlboro (0-1)–This will be a step up for the Falcons, which defeated Group I school, Sussex Tech in its opener last week (35-6). Jordan Jimerson led St. Joe’s with a huge game. Meanwhile, Marlboro lost to J.P. Stevens last week in its opener. Wideout Al Myers will bring his athletic ability from the basketball court to the Falcon passing game. St. Joseph’s will have a tougher contest this week, but will still prevail. Prediction: St. Joseph’s wins 28-13.
#9 Carteret (1-0) at Colonia (0-0)–The Ramblers rolled in their opening weekend win over Monmouth Regional at home while the Patriots were idle. Greg Jones helps the Colonia ground game, but the Pats offense will hurt with the graduation of C.J. Gray and the transfer of Geoff Fredericks to Neptune. Carteret has much of its top players returning from last year including QB Tyler Rodriguez, RBs Naji Johnson and Jerrod Johnson, Dan Valles and Kevin Van Dyke. Ramblers get the edge. Prediction: Carteret wins 21-14.
New Brunswick (0-1) at North Brunswick (1-0)–The Zebras are still searching for its first win since the 2009 season after losing a tough battle against Shore foe, Raritan last week. Meanwhile, North Brunswick defeated Middletown North on the road to begin its season. The Raiders took some hits to graduation with the losses of QB Tait Pirkle, RB Ross Kurtz, and WR Karim Sawyer. Tim Parson and LaShawn Boyd are trying to pick up the slack. Raiders get the edge at home. Prediction: North Brunswick wins 28-12.
Highland Park (0-1) at South River (0-1)–Both teams are coming off losses last weekend. The Owls opened their season with a blowout loss to Group I powerhouse, Asbury Park while South River was surprised by neighborhood rival, Spotswood. Quawi Batchelor, Quatay Niesmith, Tyler Rios, and Manny McClain lead Highland Park while Taariq Phillips paces South River. Both of these teams were early favorites to win the division this year. The Owls will be looking to get revenge after losing to the Rams on a last second score last year. Highland Park has more firepower. Prediction: Highland Park wins 27-21.
Dunellen (0-0) at Metuchen (1-0)–Metuchen is coming off a solid win over Keyport in its opener last week, and will be looking to avenge a 42-13 loss at Columbia Park last season. One big thing going in the Bulldogs favor is the fact that Rontik Sadler, who scored three touchdowns in the victory a year ago, has graduated. MHS also has the likes of Dorian Miller and Errol Lindo returning. However, Dunellen still has a lot back including QB Jeff Puckett, FB Vinne Grausso, who had two long TD runs in last year’s win, D.J. Ditter and Sean Gibney. With South River and Highland Park falling to Spotswood and Asbury Park last week, Dunellen has a chance to pick up right where it left off last season in the Blue. This will be a much closer one than last season. Prediction: Dunellen wins 35-24.
Middlesex (1-0) at Spotswood (1-0)–Both teams began the season with victories, but the Chargers had one of the big upsets of opening weekend with a surprise win over neighborhood rival, South River at home. Dean Vitale leads the Charger offense at QB, but his team doesn’t have as much experience as Middlesex. The Blue Jays tout a veteran backfield consisting of Al-Tarik Rushing, Sean Gilbert, and Will Roach. Tough game for the Jays, but they get a slight edge. Prediction: Middlesex wins 19-18.
Mater Dei (0-1) at Cardinal McCarrick (0-1)–McCarrick has a very inexperienced team this year that doesn’t have much depth to boot. The losses of the likes of John Appiah to graduation along with Mohammed Alli not coming out for the team, and Will Thomas transferring to a school in New York puts the Eagles in a very tough spot. Cardy Mac was trounced on the road at Point Pleasant Beach last Friday night (53-0). However, the Eagles have defeated Mater Dei each of the past two seasons, and are playing at home. This will be a close and low scoring one. Prediction: Cardinal McCarrick wins 8-7.
GMC Hoops will be posting a preview on tonight’s matchup between Piscataway and South Brunswick shortly.