Seaters Travel Down to Play Eagles in BCC Freedom Silver Clash on Thursday Night
LAMBERTVILLE, NJ – On Thursday evening, Big Central Gridiron will be traveling down to Samuel Jeffries Athletic Stadium to see the South Hunterdon Eagles take on the Belvidere County Seaters in a BCC Freedom Silver clash. Tonight’s game is the 66th meeting between these two schools dating back to 1946. Belvidere leads the series 37-28, but South Hunterdon has won three straight and 4 of the last 6 meetings.
However, things are a little different this year. Belvidere is coming off a 3-7 season in 2023, but the County Seaters won three of their last six games after losing 13 straight dating back to the start of the 2022 season. Belvidere has just about everyone back this season including starting QB Kyle Blew, WR Mason Chamberlain, RB Brayden Stefan, TE Luke Tipton, and sophomore WR Elijah White.
Meanwhile, South Hunterdon, which has won a BCC Division title in two of the last three seasons including last year’s Freedom Silver crown, took some hits to graduation. Still, the Eagles, which finished 9-2 including an opening-round playoff win a year ago, have been competitive. Following a 16-8 victory over David Brearley in Kenilworth a week ago, South Hunterdon stands at 3-2.
The Eagles’ two losses have come by only a combined total of 17 points. South Hunterdon lost at home to Middlesex back in Week 2, 18-8, and then lost on the road at Manville two weeks ago, 21-14. South Hunterdon is led by senior RB Edward Cooper, junior wideout Dylan Ratkowski, and freshman QB Kellen Healy on offense while junior Parker Rampel, senior Ty Dunn, and sophomore Milo Dopp.
On the other hand, Belvidere enters the contest at 5-1 overall with the only loss coming out of conference at the hands of Boonton of the Super Football Conference in Week 0 (27-6). The Seaters enter the contest averaging nearly 29 points per game on offense and giving up 8 points per game on defense. Belvidere is tied with Watchung Hills and Spotswood for the most shutouts in the BCC with three.
The County Seaters are ranked fourth in scoring defense behind Bernards, Watchung Hills, and Delaware Valley. Belvidere ranks 9th in scoring offense. The Seaters also rank 6th in point differential behind the likes of Plainfield, Ridge, Somerville, Delaware Valley, and A.L. Johnson. Belvidere has outscored its foes by a margin of nearly 21 points per contest.
South Hunterdon is fairly stout on the defensive side of the ball as well. Coming into Thursday night’s game, the Eagles are ranked 10th in the BCC in scoring defense. The Eagles have yielded only an average of 12.2 points per game and have a shutout under their belt as well. Offensively, South Hunterdon ranks 31st in the BCC with a scoring average of 21.6 points per game. The Eagles also rank 19th in the BCC in terms of point differential.
Both teams are in the hunt for playoff spots in their respective groups. Belvidere is in better shape in North Group 1. Currently, the County Seaters, are ranked 14th in the Supersection. The Seaters are only one of four BCC teams in this regional group. New Providence is the highest-ranked BCC team in this section at No. 3 behind Butler and Cedar Group. Belvidere currently ranks 28th in the BCC in UPR, 25th in Strength Index, 37th in OSI, and 19th in Power Points.
Looking at South Hunterdon’s playoff hopes, the Eagles are currently ranked 19th in the South Jersey Group 1 Supersection. The Eagles need to overtake KIPP Cooper Norcross, Audubon, and Clayton to claim the final playoff spot in the regional group. There are five teams from the Big Central Conference in this supersection. Middlesex is the highest-ranked BCC team in this area at 7th behind the likes of Woodstown, Shalick, Haddon Township, Shore Regional, Glassboro, and Paulsboro. Glassboro reached the state final last year.
South Hunterdon currently ranks 35th in the BCC in UPR, 33rd in Strength Index, 43rd in OSI, and 34th in Power Points. Belvidere got the bulk of its power points with wins over Group 3 North Plainfield in Week 1 and its shutout of Manville in Week 2. South Hunterdon received most of its power points with wins over Group 2 Jonathan Dayton of Springfield in Week 1 and Bound Brook (40-14) in Week 3.
Leading Belvidere’s offense is senior QB, Blew, who has completed 55 percent of his passes for 750 yards and 14 TDs. Blew is averaging 16.0 yards per completion. He also has a touchdown to interception ratio of 7. Senior RB Julian Dorfman has emerged as the Seaters’ top-ground threat this season. Dorfman accounts for 33.4 percent of the rushing yards, and an average of 4.6 yards per carry along with 2 TDs. Blew and Stefan are 2nd and 3rd on the team in rushing yards and Stefan leads the team with 3 rush TDs while Blew has two.
Blew accounts for 16 of Belvidere’s TDs this season. His top two targets are Chamberlain and White, who have combined for 35 of the team’s 49 receptions. Chamberlain leads the team in receptions with 19 along with 5 TDs. Chamberlain has also rushed 12 times for 109 yards and has scored twice on two-point conversions. He is averaging nearly 10 yards per catch and a little more than 9 yards per carry. White leads the team in receiving yards with 341 and TDs with 7. White is averaging 28.4 yards per reception.
Junior Nathan Sussko anchors the Seaters’ defense with 53 total tackles including a sack. Sussko also has a fumble recovery and a kick block. Stefan and junior Brayden Duckworth rank 2nd on the team in total tackles with 49. Duckworth also shares the team-high in sacks with fellow classmate Geoffrey Young with 3. Tipton ranks 4th in total tackles with 47 including two sacks. Tipton also has a forced fumbler and two fumble recoveries. Five different players have an interception. Freshman Richard Quinones handles the placekicking duties and has converted 15 extra points.
Belvidere runs most of the time with a nearly two-to-one ratio in rushing plays versus passing plays. However, the yardage on the ground and in the air are nearly even. The passing game accounts for 50.2 percent of the Seaters’ total yardage while the ground attack account for 49.8. Meanwhile, South Hunterdon is tilted even further toward the run. The play selection for the Eagles is toward the run 92.5 percent of the time. South Hunterdon’s rushing game accounts for 95 percent of its offensive yardage.
Freshman signal-caller Healy directs the offense. The Eagles have attempted only 17 passes and completed 4 of them for 58 yards, or an average of 14.5 yards per completion. Two of those attempts came in the 40-14 victory over Bound Brook several weeks ago. Cooper completed the only pass in that game on a halfback option play for 29 yards that helped set up a TD.
Cooper leads the ground game with an average of 6.6 yards per carry and he accounts for 62.5 percent of the Eagles’ rushing yardage and just under 62 percent of the offensive yardage and 78.6 percent of the TDs. QB Healy has the most receptions on the team with three for 29 yards while Ratkowski has the other reception thanks to Cooper’s halfback option pass against Bound Brook.
Rampel and Cooper anchor the defense with a shared team high of 28 total tackles. Rampel leads the Eagles with 9 solo tackles. Thomas Breuer is third on the team in total tackles with 23 including a team-leading two sacks. Senior Ty Dunn is fourth on the team in total tackles with 22. Ratkowski leads the team in interceptions with two including one he returned for a score in the win over Bound Brook.
Both teams are very good defensively and have a good ability to score. However, Belvidere is slightly stronger defensively, more balanced offensively, and has more experience back. The County Seaters’ passing game behind Blew, Chamberlain, and White provides more explosiveness on offense as well. Belvidere should register its first win in the rivalry since 2020.
Prediction: Belvidere wins 28-7.