SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–After a super start to the season with my 54-10 record over the past five weeks, I’m looking to continue my good run with another solid week. There are three games on Saturday following ten that are taking place on Friday night.
Here is a brief breakdown of the Saturday afternoon matchups:
Highland Park (5-2) at Asbury Park (5-1)–So far this season, Highland Park is winless against Monmouth County opponents with a 20-12 loss against Keyport/Henry Hudson at home in week two, and a defeat to Monmouth Regional (23-20) back in week five. In addition, the Shore Patriot is 5-4 versus GMC foes. Meanwhile, Asbury Park has yet to play anyone in the GMC this season. Take out the performances of the bottom half of the Shore Patriot, and the division is 4-0 against the GMC. The Owls play well on the road with a record of 3-0 while Asbury Park is 1-1 at home with their only loss of the season coming at the hands of undefeated Rumson Fair-Haven (26-18). By the way, the Bulldogs of Rumson defeated Colonia on opening weekend (27-6). Moreover, the record of the Owls road opponents are a combined 8-12. Highland Park’s strength of schedule has a record of 25-22 while the combined record of Asbury Park’s foes is 16-23, but their home opponents have a mark of 10-3. HPHS is averaging 33 points per game while giving up about 19. Meanwhile, the Bishops have scored 35 points per contest while giving up 10. Highland Park should put Nate Smith or Louis Middleton back in the shotgun, and spead out the Asbury Park defense like it did in the second half against Monmouth Regional. Otherwise, the Bishops will win. Prediction: Asbury Park wins 28-24.
Metuchen (5-2) at Cardinal McCarrick (2-5)–The Bulldogs should win easily here. Both teams have played Dunellen, South River, Middlesex, and Spotswood. Metuchen is 4-0 versus those three teams, and outscored them by a combined margin of 89-49 while McCarrick is 0-4 versus those teams, and has been outscored 150-34. The Bulldogs did escape with a 29-22 victory over Dunellen, which demolished McCarrick 58-0 earlier in the season. The Eagles are also playing with a more depleted team, but compete better for the most part at their home confines of Waterfront Park in South Amboy. Coming into this game, Metuchen is averaging 24 points per game while giving up 22. On the other side of the field, Cardinal McCarrick has averaged 13 per contest while giving up 26. MHS has played opponents with a combined record of 25-22 while Cardinal McCarrick has played foes with a combined mark of 16-30. Steven Deinzer, one of the top QBs in the GMC leads the Bulldog attack with Anthony Terenzi, Steve Serieux, and Chris Warren as targets while Elijah Sellers, Ray Bonet, and Quinn Meng lead the Bulldogs on the ground. The Eagles of Cardy Mac are led by Taylor Clark at quarterback with the likes of basketball standouts John Appiah (running back) and Will Thomas. Prediction: Metuchen wins 35-10.
South River (4-3) at Spotswood (4-3)–The Chargers are coming into this game a much different team than earlier this month. They have lost three games in a row, but against opponents with a combined record of 12-8 as supposed to the four teams they played to start the season (Red Bank, J.F. Kennedy, Dunellen, and McCarrick). Spotswood is also 2-1 at home while South River is 2-2 on the road. In those four games though, the Rams have been outscored 98-77 while the Chargers have outscored their opponents 80-27 in their three contests at home including a 14-6 loss to a Metuchen team that can score a lot of points. Spotswood’s overall schedule has a combined record of 21-27 while South River’s is 22-26. Both teams played J.F. Kennedy with the Chargers defeating the Mustangs 34-7 while the Rams knocked off JFK last week on the road, 42-28. Both teams also lost to Metuchen and Highland Park while defeating Dunellen and McCarrick. Spotswood lost to Middlesex on the road (20-14) while South River defeated Middlesex at home (20-7). The Chargers have scored an average of 20 points per game while giving up only 16 (majority of those coming in the loss to Highland Park last week). The Rams, on the other hand, have averaged 21 per game while yielding about 23. Defense prevails in this rivalry game. Prediction: Spotswood wins 20-14.
Last week’s record (9-3)
Record since Week #3: 54-10