SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Opening week of the 2013 Greater Middlesex Conference football season is now upon us with 9 games on Thursday afternoon and evening, 3 more games on Friday night, and another two on Saturday afternoon. GMC Gridiron just has time to put out his picks for Thursday’s games. Friday and Saturday’s games will be posted later.
- Highland Park at South River–The Rams open the season with a rare Thursday afternoon game against long time rival Highland Park. Both teams did lose a lot to graduation last year, but the Rams still have 1,000 yard rusher Doug Ryan at running back, and Mark Alston, who plays hoops at E.B. Tech, throwing and receiving. It should be enough to down the Owls. Â Prediction: Â South River wins, 29-13.
- Old Bridge at Sayreville–The Knights lost to the Bombers at home last year, 35-0, and OBHS still managed to have a squad that reached the CJ Group V Semifinals. However, Aaron Ford, Vinny Gargano, and Chris Middleton are gone from last year’s team while the Bombers lost a good deal last year, but still have Malik Pressley, Deon Miller, and Myles Hartsfield to run their Wing-T attack to perfection. Â Prediction: Â Â Sayreville wins, 31-14.
- South Plainfield at New Brunswick–The Tigers are coming off their first playoff berth in five years last year, but did lose veterans such as Joe Pellegrino, Anthony Torchia, Justin Glover, Quinn Cochrane, Tory Russell, Joe Jakubik from last year. Returning this year though is QB Kyle Moroney, RB Roemello Monroe, and Malik Cisson among others. New Brunswick is coming off a rebuilding year, but did manage to break a three year losing streak. Â Prediction: Â South Plainfield wins, 24-12.
- Piscataway at Edison–P-Way lost a lot to graduation from last year’s team that lost in heartbreaking fashion to Elizabeth in the North Jersey Section 2 Group V Championship, but they still have a good deal returning with Dajon Foat, Justin Strothers, Charles Mitchell, and Elijah Pierson along with some nice young talent coming up (freshman Elijah Barnwell). Edison had a fairly successful campaign last year, and have QB James Waldron along with RB Aqeel Daniels back along with Nick Wales, Kyle Boyer Tucker, Joe Kim, and Tyrell Best at wideouts, and a solid offensive line. The Eagles have promise, but will have to get through a very tough schedule to start the season with P-Way, Sayreville, and South Brunswick in its first three games. Â Prediction: Â Piscataway wins, 24-20.
- Marlboro at J.P. Stevens–The Mustangs were 4-6 last year including losses to Stevens and Edison. Stevens lost a bit to graduation, and is quite young, but has Chiebuka “Chewy” Chukwuneke coming back to carry the load in the backfield on offense as well as return punts and kickoffs. JPS is playing at home, and should prevail here. Â Prediction: Â J.P. Stevens wins, 24-13.
- Monroe at North Brunswick–Monroe won the opener between these two schools last year, and North Brunswick lost a lot to graduation including wideout and basketball standout, Nick Sidotti at wideout and Tim Parson at QB. The Falcons, which qualified for the state playoffs last season, have 10 letterwinners back on offense including Akeer Franklin at running back. Â Prediction: Â Monroe wins, 34-16.
- Bishop Ahr at Matawan–The Trojans endured a bit of a rebuilding season last year, but have a solid backfield returning including QB David Holder, RB Nelson Thomas, and RB Kaysaan Neal. Matawan lost a lot to graduation, but are a perennial powerhouse in the Shore Conference and Central Jersey Group II, and won last year’s meeting between these two schools at BGA. The Huskies will get the edge here, but it will be a close game. Prediction: Matawan wins, 23-21.
- Metuchen at Dunellen–The Destroyers lost a great deal from last year’s Blue Division champions, but still have junior David Johnson returning at QB, and RBs Nassan Anderson and Rob Young to anchor the potent double wing attack. Metuchen lost lineman Dorian Miller (Rutgers) to graduation, but still have a lot back with QB James Nicolason, RBs Andre Corvil and Zyhier Powell, and WR Evan Collier. Both teams played a close game at the Dawg Pound last year with Dunellen winning. The Destroyers are at home, but the Bulldogs will pull off the upset. Â Prediction: Â Metuchen wins, 24-20.
- East Brunswick at South Brunswick–The Bob Molarz era begins for EB tonight at SBHS with a game against the Vikings. The Bears and Vikes lost a lot to graduation last year, but South Brunswick still has a solid backfield with the likes of Dontae Strickland and fullback Dahrae Ford. Jonathan Gerhartz returns at RB for East Brunswick. Â Prediction: Â South Brunswick wins, 24-17.
GMC Gridiron plans to be at two games today. First, the site will travel to South River to see the Rams in action against Highland Park, and then take a short trip up to Sayreville to see the Bombers host Old Bridge in a GMC Red clash.