1985 Somerville Pioneers

Fortieth Anniversary of Central Jersey Group 2 Championship

SOMERVILLE, NJ – On September 12, 2025, the Somerville Pioneers hosted Montgomery in a Big Central Conference Liberty Division match-up at Brooks Field.  As part of the Alumni Night festivities, the 1985 Somerville Pioneers football team was honored.  The 1985 edition of the Somerville football team compiled an 8-3 overall mark and won the Central Jersey Group 2 Championship.

1985 Schedule

Date	Winning Team	Winning Score	Losing Team	Losing Score
9/20/85	Somerville	33	South Plainfield	22
10/5/85	Somerville	21	Bridgewater-Raritan East	0
10/11/85	Bridgewater-Raritan West	20	Somerville	14
10/18/85	Somerville	19	Voorhees	0
10/26/85	Somerville	29	Watchung Hills	2
11/2/85	Piscataway	20	Somerville	14
11/8/85	Somerville	35	North Hunterdon	8
11/15/85	Somerville	28	Franklin	27
11/23/85	Somerville	15	Rumson-Fair Haven	14
11/28/85	Hillsborough	10	Somerville	7
12/7/85	Somerville	27	Freehold Boro	25

1985 Central Jersey Group 2 State Tournament

Statistics

• Final Record:  8-3
• Division Record: 2-2 – Finished 3rd in the Mid-State Conference Raritan Division behind Hillsborough and Bridgewater-Raritan West.
• Home:  4-1
• Away/Neutral:  4-2
• 1984 Record:  7-3-1 (3-1 – Finished first in Mid-State Conference Raritan Division)
• Points For:  242
• Points Against:  148
• PPG:  26.9
• PAPG:  16.4
• Largest margin of victory:  27 points (twice) vs. North Hunterdon (35-8) and Watchung Hills (27-2)
• Closest margin of victory:  1 point (twice) vs. Franklin (28-27) and Rumson-Fair Haven (15-14). 
• Most points scored in a game: 35 vs. North Hunterdon
• Longest winning streak:  3 games – Finished season winning 4 out of the last 5.
• Shutouts:  Two (21-0 over Bridgewater-Raritan East on 10/5/85 and 19-0 over Voorhees on 10/18/85)
• Offensive firepower:  Six games where Manville scored 21 points or more.
• Defensive grit:  Five games where Manville held opponents to 10 points or less.

Head Coach

• Larry Dubiel – 1st Year – Courier-News Co-Coach of the Year (with Immaculata’s Pierce Frauenheim) of 1985

Assistant Coaches

• Rick Sabol
• Mike Suk
• Campbell Platt

Key Players

• QB Jon Kelly^
• QB/K Bill German^$
• FB/DE – Steve Savoye
• TB/DB – Ben Thompson^
• TB/DB – Andre Green@
• FL/DB – Shawn Watson@
• FL/DB – Jack Williams+
• TE – Zoran Milich^%
• SE – Dave Wilbur^%
• OL – Rich Williams
• OL – Art Aikens
• DT/OT – Herman Proctor*@
• NG – AL Intili
• DT – Wayne Blackbourne@
• DE – Doug Buchanon+
• DT – Todd Scott
• OG/LB – Curt Lange#
• LB- Jim Daly+

• *-First team All Central Jersey Offense by the Courier-News
• ^-Honorable Mention – All Central Jersey Offense by the Courier-News
• #-First team offense – Somerset All-Star Football by the Central Jersey Home News.
• @-First team defense – Somerset All-Star Football by the Central Jersey Home News
• $-Second team offense – Somerset All-Star Football by the Central Jersey Home News
• +-Second team defense – Somerset All-Star Football by the Central Jersey Home News
• %-Honorable mention – Somerset All-Star Football by the Central Jersey Home News

Somerville’s Scoring Leaders

• Andre Green – 10 TDs for 60 points
• Ben Thompson – 8 TDs for 48 points
• Shawn Watson – 8 TDs for 48 points
• Wilbur – 5 TDs and 2 PATs for 32 points
• Bill German – 26 points via FGs and PATs

Jon Kelly threw for 8 TDs, including a long of 74 yards.  Wilbur caught five of Kelly’s touchdown passes, including a long of 35 yards.

NOTE:  The state playoff format back in 1985 was much different than it is today.  There was no group state champion in football back then.  In addition, there were only two rounds with four teams.  The eight-team playoff system didn’t begin until 1996, and the overall group state champion in football didn’t begin until 2022.  Somerville played their regular season home games at 8:00 on Friday nights.  Tight end Zoran Milich went on to become the head coach of Montgomery High School, where the football field there was recently named in his honor.