Brief Look At Championship Saturday Contests Involving GMC Teams Next Weekend
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Next weekend, GMC Gridiron will be heading over to Rutgers University to take in the state championship games. Two of them involve teams from the GMC. Both Sayreville and Piscataway will be defending their sectional championships when the face off with their opponents on December 3rd. Piscataway will be squaring off with Elizabeth for the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV title, and Sayreville will be facing off against Manalapan. The Bombers and the Chiefs have made tremendous runs in this year’s playoffs to get to their final, and have a lot of momentum going their way. Let’s take a look at this year’s Championship Saturday games:
Elizabeth vs #2 Piscataway (8-2)–The Chiefs got in the playoffs on the final week of the regular season with a solid victory at Sayreville. The victory over the Bombers gave P-Way a lot of confidence heading into the states. Piscataway followed up with an overtime upset victory at top seeded Hunterdon Central (34-31), and then a hard fought defensive victory at fourth seeded East Orange Campus last week (7-0). Meanwhile, the Minutemen, playing in their first sectional final since 2006, have enjoyed a resurgence under former New Brunswick head coach, John Quinn. The Chiefs are basically playing a home game here, and have a lot of momentum. Chiefs are also defending champs, and they’ll get the nod. Prediction: Piscataway wins 24-17.
Manalapan vs. #3 Sayreville (8-2)–These two teams faced off in the semifinal round of the Central Jersey Group IV state playoffs last year with the Bombers winning. This year, Manalapan has improved a bit more while Sayreville went through some growing pains early on with an inexperienced front line. The Bombers made some changes offensively, and it has paid off with 9 victories in their last 10 games including an upset win at top ranked and top seeded South Brunswick last week. Expect Delon Stephenson to put together another solid effort. Against South Brunswick, he scored two touchdowns including the game winning score on a 63 yard reception. He also made several big plays defensively down the stretch to preserve the win. Prediction: Sayreville wins 21-14.
GMC Gridiron will be posting previews on both of these games next week, and plans to attend both of these contests at Rutgers.