SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – Finishing second to Colonia a year ago in the Big Central Conference’s Liberty Gold Division, Linden will look to its talented junior class to challenge for this year’s division title. The Tigers finished the year 5-5 after making a run to the title in the NJSIAA’s North Jersey Group 4 Regional Invitational title.
Hillside lost QB Caleb Salters and the RB tandem of Kyon Simonson and Muwaffq Parkman, but has a talented and speedy group of receivers back led by Marcus White and Darvens Tunis. Westfield lost plenty to graduation including QB Trey Brown and RB Dylan Wragg, but QB Max Cho leads another solid crop of newcomers for the Blue Devils.
Union has a talented group of juniors led by QB O’Malley King and RB Roneil Romain. The Farmers also have the likes of seniors Kordal Hinton and Kinte Warnock returning. Cranford and Summit will look to build off of their solid seasons a year ago. The Cougars qualified for the playoffs despite losing a talented crew that reached the North Jersey Group 3 Regional Final two years ago.
Fire Anderson, Amari Petgrave, and Andrew Wozniak will lead the Cougars. Meanwhile, Summit lost RB Jake Lowry and a number of others from the Hilltopper squad that won the North Jersey Group 3 Regional Invitational Championship. However, Jake Schnall and Tyler Kessel will give Summit a chance to contend in the United Gold Division.
Plainfield lost the speedy and athletic Samir Cherry to graduation, but the Cardinals still look to build off of last season’s solid finish including a North Jersey Group 5 Regional Invitational title with the likes of QB Alameen Watkins, RB Yasir Wyatt, and Joel Cordoba.
Linden gets the pre-season nod for No. 1 in Union County. Last year’s records in parenthesis:
- Linden (5-5)
- Hillside (9-2)
- Westfield (8-3)
- Union (2-7)
- Cranford (7-3)
- Summit (6-5)
- Plainfield (5-6)
- New Providence (5-5)
- Rahway (4-5)
- A.L. Johnson (6-3)
Other Teams Considered: Elizabeth (2-7), Roselle (8-4), Scotch Plains-Fanwood (2-8), Governor Livingston (4-6), David Brearley (10-1), Jonathan Dayton (4-5) and Roselle Park (5-6).
