NJ Football: Video of the Central Conference’s big media day
The Big Central Conference held a media day for the upcoming football season on Thursday at Kean University’s Hardwood Arena in Union.
The football players wielded sledgehammers and long chains. Others wielded lightsabers and wore sunglasses. The scene looked like a cross between the set for the next Star Wars or Mad Max movie and a TikTok clip ready to go viral.
Unfortunately, it was a photo station set up for fun photos at Big Central Conference Football Media Day last Thursday at Kean University. Coaches and players from the league’s 59 schools were in attendance on the eve of the season, and all were full of optimism.
More: Central Jersey High School Football: Links to our 2024 Season Preview
More: Football: Big Central Conference and regional weekly schedule
Training began on Monday, August 12, with the first practice matches scheduled for August 19 and matches starting on August 29. Here’s a selection of storylines to follow as the action gets underway.
Phillipsburg ready for another run
Running in the rain – why it’s a great way to spend an afternoon. Phillipsburg players ran sprints in the rain earlier in the day after a weightlifting session before heading to Kean.
Hey, you have to put in the work, and the Stateliners are always one of the most well-known — and successful — teams in the state. Last year, they finished first in the MyCentralJersey BCC Top 15 rankings.
Senior Felix Matos said they thrive on the attention and pressure.
“We try not to let the outside noise affect us,” said Matos, a receiver and defensive back. “We know what our goal is. We have to stay focused and just stay true to ourselves. … When you win, obviously that’s great, but when you lose, you hear it. You hear it from the fans. You hear it from everybody. So there are some positives and some negatives. At the end of the day, it’s part of being a Phillipsburg Stateliner.”
Pburg should be a contender again, as quarterback Jett Genovese (1,351 passing yards) and top receiver Matt Scerbo Jr. (45-717) are back. The Stateliners were runners-up in North 2 Group 5 for the past two seasons.
“We just have to get over this hump,” Matos said. “You know, when you lose two years in a row, in the same spot — it hurts, and you never want to feel that pain again, especially in my senior year. I just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Star power from Hillside and Somerville
Lists of the state’s top recruits are usually dominated by private school teams, but among the 247Sports Top 45 senior recruits for New Jersey are five players from the Big Central.
Hillside’s Darren Ikinnagbon (DE), who committed to Georgia, is No. 1, and teammate Talibi Kaba (RB/LB), who committed to Rutgers, is No. 8.
Somerville, meanwhile, has three players: No. 5 Jayden Loftin (DL/TE, Tennessee commitment), No. 42 Terrell Mitchell (RB/DB, Wake Forest commitment) and No. 45 Joshua Rodriguez (WR/DB, undecided).
Granted, one or two stars mean nothing when it comes to football success, but it’s still impressive that the two Group 3 schools — which face off on Sept. 28 — are listed alongside national leaders like Bergen Catholic, Paramus Catholic and the Hun School.
“We’re talented but balanced, that’s really a good way to put it,” Bloom said as he entered his second full season as head coach. “The summer was about putting everything together. You can be talented, right, but the most talented team doesn’t always win the game.”
Plainfield on the rise
Plainfield wrote one of the most successful stories last fall, posting the team’s first winning season since 2005 and reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2010.
Now, much of the team, which consists primarily of older players, is back after last year’s 6-5 loss under third-year head coach James Williams.
Somerville coach Matt Bloom said the award is designed to maximize player development and potential and get college coaches to seek out new recruits. He added, “We have guys in every position group on the field that I think are potential candidates for Division I-AA.”
“We were very successful last year,” senior Joel Cordoba said. “This year we’re trying to improve, build on that and keep going. … There was a lot of excitement. Everyone was talking about how good we were.”
Cordoba said the reason for the turnaround was “definitely because our coaching staff and our players just had the will to keep going and we just really wanted to do it. In the end, we didn’t get it done, but we definitely wanted to do it for our city because that’s where we all come from.”
The Cordoba name is well known in Plainfield. Joel’s brother Josue, an all-state lineman last season, is now at Kent State, and his other brother Josh is at Shippensburg. Oldest brother Cesar, who is on the Plainfield coaching staff, graduated from the school in 2016.
“I think since Coach Will (James Williams) has been here, the culture has just changed,” Cesar said. “The biggest problem has been getting everybody to participate, and since Coach Will has been here, everyone has participated, as far as the weight room, field training, conditioning, everyone has participated. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
Highland Park is looking for more
Done, done, done.
That’s what Highland Park coach Shawn Harrison preached to his players last season. The Owls came close at times but just couldn’t win until the final game, a 46-29 triumph over Point Pleasant Beach – no ordinary celebration.
This ended a 51-game losing streak that lasted until the start of 2017. Now enthusiasm is high and the number of participants before official training is around 35, a good number for the Group 1 program.
Quarterback Marcos Hantsoulis noted that he was “glad that we were able to experience a victory for the other classes” that had never achieved victory.
Now they know how to do it.
“That’s what we did last year, we learned how to win,” the fourth-year coach said. “We learned how to finish football games. I remember preaching to the kids last year, ‘Finish football games. Finish, finish, finish.’ That’s what we did. Now we know how to control a football game and win from the first kickoff to the end of the clock.”
