New Providence Hosts Governor Livingston in Rivalry Game
NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ – On Friday night, Big Central Gridiron will travel up to Lieder Field in New Providence to see the hometown Pioneers host arch-rival Governor Livingston in a Week 1 match-up. The Pioneers are coming off a 23-7 victory over South Plainfield at home last week while the Highlanders are looking to rebound from a 35-9 loss at Lakeland Regional in Week 0.
This will be the 43rd meeting all-time between these two schools dating back to 1969. New Providence leads the series 32-8-2 and has won the last five meetings. The most recent win was a 14-7 victory on the road in Berkeley Heights last season. The Pioneers finished 4-6 overall a year ago while the Highlanders ended up 6-4 overall. Both teams made the playoffs.
New Providence and Governor Livingston each lost a good deal of players due to graduation this offseason. However, both schools do have talented quarterbacks returning. The Pioneers have senior T.J. Munn back and healthy. Munn started the season off well by completing 5 of 9 passes for 49 yards and rushing 11 times for another 66 yards and 2 TDs versus South Plainfield. Meanwhile, Lucciano Santamaria is back this year for Governor Livingston, and looking to improve on a solid junior campaign.
Santamaria threw for 965 yards and ran for another 497 yards a year ago. The Governor Livingston signal-caller accounted for 13 TDs combined. Also returning for the Highlanders is running back Jack Dally, who rushed 83 times for 427 yards and 6 TDs a year ago. Half of those touchdowns came in a come-from-behind 33-21 win over A.L. Johnson. Meanwhile, Munn completed 34 of 82 passes for 451 yards while rushing 84 times for another 340 yards. Munn threw for 3 TDs and ran for two more in 2023.
New Providence has new faces to complement Munn. Last week, junior running back, A.J. Whitehead rushed 18 times for 94 yards to lead the Pioneers ground attack against South Plainfield. Whitehead only ran 22 times for 129 yards and a score as a sophomore a year ago. Junior tight end James Keneally caught two passes for 23 yards while another junior Mike Petses ran for a 5-yard TD, caught a 15-yard pass, and anchored the Pioneers’ stout defense with 13 total tackles.
In addition to Santamaria and Dally, the Highlanders will look to senior Ryan Honey to help supplement the running game. Honey will also help in the passing game. In the loss at Lakeland, Honey led Governor Livingston with 4 receptions for 50 yards. Chris D’Amato is another key player on the roster. D’Amato helps anchor the defense with Dally. Last week, D’Amato (7 total tackles and an INT) and Dally (8 total tackles) combined for 15 total tackles.
Prediction: New Providence wins, 27-13.
