BCG Game Previews – Week Seven 

Senior wideout, Ashton Irving, and 7th-ranked St. Joseph’s will have their hands full on Saturday morning when they renew their rivalry with top-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas.

BCG Has Three Games in 20 Hours on Tap This Weekend

Watch this 22-minute movie of St. Joseph’s win over Union on September 14th.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – On Friday night, Big Central Gridiron embarks on a quite challenging schedule.  BCG plans to cover three games over a twenty-hour span starting with the BCC Crossover between Colonia and Cranford from Memorial Field in Cranford at 7:00 PM on Friday.  

Then, on Saturday morning, BCG heads over to Brenner Family Field for the second time this season to see the Falcons of St. Joseph’s take on neighborhood rival and top-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas.  Finally, on Saturday afternoon, BCG takes a trip to Blairstown in Warren County to take in the annual rivalry game between North Warren and Belvidere.

Since time is short, and there is a lot to do, Big Central Gridiron is going to preview these three match-ups right now.  First, we will take a look at Friday night’s game between Colonia and Cranford.


BCG Game Capsule – Colonia @ Cranford – October 18, 2024 @ 7:00 PM

Highlights from Cranford’s win over Colonia in the last meeting between the two schools in October 2021

Friday night’s game marks the first time since the 2021 season that the Cougars and Patriots are facing off against each other.  Both of these teams were rivals in the BCC’s Division 3 league in the first two years of the conference.  Cranford won both ends of the home and home.  In 2020, the Cougars defeated Colonia on the road (17-7) and then won at home over the Patriots in 2021 (27-14).

The only time, these two teams met before that over the past 22 seasons was in 2011 when Cranford downed Colonia in the opening round of the North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 playoffs (34-7) at Colonia.  This will only be the fourth all-time meeting between the two schools and Cranford is currently 3-0.  

Entering Friday’s contest, the Cougars come in ranked No. 13 in the latest BCG 1 to 59.  Cranford is ranked 3rd in Union County behind Plainfield and Summit and ahead of Rahway.  Cranford defeated Rahway two weeks ago at Rahway River Park (14-13) and lost to Summit at Tatlock Park several weeks ago (21-7).  The Cougars are also ranked 3rd among BCC schools in Group 3 behind Somerville and Summit.

Meanwhile, Colonia comes in ranked 22nd according to BCG.  The Patriots are currently ranked No. 6 in Middlesex County, and 6th in Group 4 schools in the BCC as well according to BCG.  Colonia is ranked 27th in the conference in terms of point differential while Cranford is ranked 19th.  The Cougars have scored an average of 23.2 points per game to rank 26th in the BCC while Colonia is slightly ahead at No. 24 with an average of 23.3 points per game scored.

On defense is where Cranford stands out more.  In their first six games, the Cougars have yielded only 13.2 points per game to rank 10th in the BCC.  Cranford is also tied with six other schools in the BCC with two shutouts.  Meanwhile, Colonia does not have a shutout and has given up an average of 22.6 per contest to rank 30th in the league.

In their four victories this season, Cranford has not given up more than 13 points.  Meanwhile, Colonia has allowed an average of 31 points per game in its last four, and lost three of those games.  The Cougars are going to be very tough to beat at home, especially with a stout defense.  Dylan Chiera, Julien Jones, Nygel Hill, R.J. Wortmann, and Derrick Pettus lead the Pats.  Tyler Veltre, Gabe Worrell, Amari Petgrave, Ryder Connors, and Justin Hoeffler lead the Cougars.

Prediction: Cranford wins, 27-17.


BCG Game Capsule – No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas @ No. 7 St. Joseph’s – October 19, 2024 @ 11:00 AM

Highlights from St. Thomas Aquinas’ Thanksgiving Eve 2023 victory over Immaculata.

This is a renewal of a brief rivalry between these two schools.  The Falcons began their program in 2011 and didn’t play the Trojans until the 2012 season.  Although Aquinas was the established program and Joes was the upstart, the Falcons won all four meetings played between these two schools from 2012 to 2015.

In those four contests, St. Joseph’s outscored Aquinas by a margin of 85-30, or by an average of about 21-7.  However, the first three games were won by a combined total of 20 points.  The last meeting in 2015 was the only lopsided one with the Falcons winning 35-0 at Brenner Family Field.  These schools have become fierce basketball rivals over the past several years.  The renewal of football adds to that.

St. Joe’s and Aquinas are only separated by about two miles along Plainfield Road in Edison.  Another thing they share in their history is the current Aquinas AD, Jerry Smith.  From 2004 to 2018, Smith was the AD at St. Joseph’s and helped establish the football program there.  Both of these two schools have increased their stock on the BCC gridiron over the past several seasons.

Aquinas enters the game as the current No. 1 in the latest BCG Top Ten poll while Joes is ranked 7th after being as high as No. 3 last week.  Both of these teams finished in the final BCG Top Ten a year ago.  The Trojans have been the top-ranked team in Middlesex County in each of the past three seasons according to BCG.  The Falcons won the BCC’s American Gold Division crown this season.

Entering Saturday morning’s game, Aquinas ranks 2nd behind Somerville in the BCC in terms of point differential.  Through its first seven contests, the Trojans have outscored their foes by almost 24 points per game.  Aquinas has scored over 50 points three times this season and over 40 points on four occasions.  STA is ranked 1st in scoring with an average of just under 42 points per game.

St. Joseph’s is no slouch on offense either.  Despite being routed by Phillipsburg last week, the Falcons are averaging nearly 30 points per game to rank 9th in the BCC.  Aquinas is stronger on defense by allowing an average of 18 points per contest while Joes has yielded 23.5 per game.  The Trojans are ranked 21st in scoring defense while Joes is ranked 32nd in the BCC.

Neither team has a shutout this season.  Roman Blanks directs the Trojans offense at QB while Justin Scaramuzzo leads the Falcons offense at QB.  Javon Hudson leads the Falcon ground attack while Chase Young returns for Aquinas after being one of two Trojan players to rush for 1,000 yards last season.  Jacob Pappas and Ashton Irving are Scaramuzzo’s two favorite targets while Josiah Zayas and Anthony Perez are two key targets for Blanks.

Another wildcard for the Trojans is sophomore running back Chukwuma Odom is the team’s leading rusher and is averaging nearly 10 yards per carry.  Freshman Zymere Weaver backs up Blanks at QB and can sling the ball and run with it as well.  Aquinas has steamrolled all of the Big Central Conference teams it has faced so far this year.  In BCC games, the Trojans have gone 4-0 and have outscored their opponents by an average of 45 to 7 per contest.

Prediction: St. Thomas Aquinas wins, 35-17.


BCG Game Capsule – Belvidere @ North Warren – October 19, 2024 @ 3:00 PM

Highlights from Belvidere’s shutout win over South Hunterdon last week.

For the second straight week, BCG plans to check out the County Seaters of Belvidere.  Last week, Big Central Gridiron witnessed Belvidere overpower another long-time rival, South Hunterdon, 36-0.  It was the fourth shutout of the season for the County Seaters, which is tops in the BCC.   On Saturday afternoon, Belvidere will take on another long-time rival in North Warren.

The two schools have played every year since 1976 except the period from 2012 to 2015, and the 2020 season.  Belvidere has dominated this rivalry until recently.  The last time the County Seaters defeated North Warren was in 2019.  The Patriots have won the last three including a 6-0 shutout a year ago.  North Warren has won 4 of the last 5 meetings.  Belvidere leads the all-time series 36-6-1.

The County Seaters are among the leaders in the BCC in terms of scoring offense, scoring defense, shutouts, and point differential.  Besides leading the conference in shutouts, Belvidere is ranked 2nd in defense by allowing an average of just under a touchdown per game.  The Seaters are also ranked 10th in the Big Central in scoring offense with an average of nearly 30 points per game.

Belvidere has outscored its foes by an average of nearly 23 points per contest to rank 4th in the BCC in terms of point differential.  The County Seaters have won six straight since losing its season opener to Boonton of the Super Football Conference.  Led by QB Kyle Blew, RBs Julian Dorfman and Brayden Stefan, and WRs Mason Chamberlain and Elijah White, the Seaters are still in the hunt for a playoff spot.

North Warren enters this game at 1-5.  The last time the Patriots faced off against a team from the Big Central Conference was in a regional crossover at the end of last season.  Roselle Park nearly doubled up North Warren in that game with a 41-21 victory.  Belvidere is just a little over a season past a 13-game losing streak that had dated back to the beginning of the 2022 season.

Belvidere looks too strong in this one.  North Warren has been outscored by an average of 34 to 11 per game.  The Patriots also only beat a Hopatcong team 34-26 that was shut out by Manville earlier this season (33-0).  The Seaters then shut out the Mustangs 21-0 at Domenick Colangelo Stadium. 

Prediction: Belvidere wins, 34-7.