BCG Game Preview – Jonathan Dayton @ David Brearley – September 11, 2026

Jonathan Dayton travels to Kenilworth on Friday evening to take on David Brearley in a rematch of last season’s finale won by the Bears, 10-7. Winner will be in the driver’s seat for the 2026 BCC Freedom Gold Division title.

Bulldogs Visit Bears in BCC Freedom Gold Clash and Rematch of 2025 Season Finale

KENILWORTH, NJ – On Friday night, Big Central Gridiron will be at Avery Ward Field for the BCC Freedom Gold clash between David Brearley and Jonathan Dayton.  The Bulldogs will be looking for revenge in this rematch of the 2025 regular season finale between these two teams won by the Bears to claim a share of the division title.

Last season’s contest was decided by a matter of inches as Brearley’s defense capped a stellar effort of denying Dayton’s attempt at a last second score to pull out the 10-7 victory.  Brearley’s defense was dominant with 6.5 sacks of Bulldog QB Adrian Bernknopf.  Rocco Federico led the effort with 4.5 sacks.

Federico returns this season to anchor the Brearley defense again.  The Bears have continued their dramatic turnaround from a year ago with wins in their first two contests this season.  In Week 0, Brearley defeated Wallington (33-0) of the NJIC on the road in Bergen County.  Last week, the Bears came up with another close win by edging Manville in a BCC Freedom crossover (21-18).

Meanwhile, Jonathan Dayton enters the contest at 1-1 after a Week 0 loss at Governor Livingston (40-27) and a 43-12 rout of Bound Brook last week.  The Bulldogs have many of their key players back from a year ago, including Bernknopf, Tyler Fuscaldo, Kevin Lynch, Jackson Babiarz, Isaiah Rivas, and Aiden Delpeche.  

Dayton is playing up this year.  In addition to its season opening match-up at Governor Livingston, the Bulldogs will be taking on New Providence later this season.  The Bulldogs are BCG’s pre-season favorite to win the division although Brearley and a much improved Highland Park remain in their way.  Roselle Park won’t be a pushover either.  

After losing 15 straight over portions of three seasons, Brearley rallied to end the 2025 season at .500 overall with a share of a division title and a playoff berth.  Brearley’s turnaround was one of the feel good stories of last season.  The Bears are hoping to build off of that and create something even more special in 2026.  An outright division title would accomplish that.

The Brearley Bears have won 4 of the last 5 meetings between the two schools, including last year’s thriller.  The only win for Dayton during this stretch was two seasons ago.  The Bulldogs defeated the Bears in another low scoring affair, 15-6 at Avery Ward Field in October 2023.  This will be the fourth time in the last six seasons that Big Central Gridiron is covering a match-up between these two schools.  

Brearley is 2-1 against Dayton in games covered by BCG.  This contest marks the 38th meeting between these two schools.  The Bears are 27-9-1 overall in the series, and have won 12 out of the last 13 contests.  Since the formation of the Big Central Conference in 2020, Brearley is 5-1 against Dayton.  The Bulldogs celebrated their best season since 2010 with a 7-2 mark in 2025.  Dayton feels unsatisfied not only since it fell short of a BCC Freedom Gold title, but also because it didn’t qualify for the state playoffs.

Through Dayton’s first two contests, Bernknopf has completed 19 of 31 passes for 326 yards and 7 touchdowns, including five last week in the win over Bound Brook.  Bernknopf threw for two scores and rushed for two more in the opening day loss at Governor Livingston.  Bernknopf leads the Bulldogs in yards passing and yards rushing.

Babiarz leads Dayton in receiving yards, while converting 8 of 9 extra points.  Fuscaldo (22 tackles) has anchored the defense along with Dominic Pintado (20 tackles).  Fuscaldo also has one touchdown reception.  Lynch  and Delpeche each have a TD grab as well, while Babiarz leads the team with three scoring receptions.  

Meanwhile, Brearley counters with Ryan Nelson at QB.  Like his Dayton counterpart, the junior signal caller leads the Bears in both yards rushing and yards passing.  Nelson has rushed for more yardage than he has gained through the air.  He has completed 12 of 18 passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing 17 times for 174 yards and another score.  Nelson is averaging a little more than 10 yards per carry.

Senior running back, Nehemiah De Leon is the team’s second leading rusher with 35 carries for 166 yards and three touchdowns.  Senior wideout Elijah Gutierrez leads the Bears in receiving with six receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns.  Federico is the second leading receiver with five catches for 42 yards.  

Federico continues to lead the defense with 10 total tackles, including nine solos, three for loss and a sack.  Monroe Passmore handles the placekicking duties and has converted two of five extra points.  Passmore shares the punting duties with Nate Bonnet.  Both have combined for three punts totaling 98 yards, or just under 33 yards per punt.

Outlook:  Over the past two seasons, defense has been the key to the game for the winner.  The two teams combined for just 38 points in the last two meetings.  The average margin of victory has only been six points.  Expect this game to be a bit of a grinder.  Brearley will need to do that in order to have a solid chance of winning. 

Dayton will need solid line play to protect Bernknopf and let Fuscaldo break out.  Fuscaldo has only carried the ball 18 times for 75 yards, or an average of about 4.2 yards per rush.  The Bulldogs need to get Fuscaldo going on the ground to bring a little more balance to the offense, and take the pressure off of Bernknopf.  Brearley’s defense and ground game led by Nelson and De Leon will hold the keys to the Bears fortunes.

BCG’s Pick:  Dayton wins 23-17