East Brunswick High School Football, the 1st 60 Years: Part VI, 2000-09

East Brunswick High School began the 2000s about as bad as you can get. But they reached the midpoint and the endpoint about as good as you can get.

As Ken Burns might have put it:

East Brunswick football has been played in 42 places. Against teams named Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Owls, Cardinals and Blue Jays. Tigers, Panthers, Cougars, Lions and Jaguars. Zebras and Mustangs. Hornets and Bees. Rams and Dragons. Trojans, Spartans, Knights, Barrons, Vikings, Pirates and Mounties. Patriots, Minutemen and Pioneers. Chiefs and Braves. Red Devils and Blue Devils. Farmers, Rebels and Ramblers. Bombers, Raiders, Rockets, Thunderbolts and Tornadoes. And while we've never played another team called the Bears, we have played one called the Bruins.

UPDATE: Through the 2024 season, it's 46 places, and add Warriors, Mariners and Stateliners.

2000: 1-9, .100

September 8, home to Sayreville: Lost 0-25.
September 15, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 21-39.
September 22, away to South Brunswick: Lost 0-27.
September 28, away to Bishop Ahr: Won 14-12.
October 6, away to Woodbridge: Lost 0-34.
October 21, home to Edison: Lost 6-25.
October 27, away to Piscataway: Lost 3-28.
November 3, home to Perth Amboy: Lost 10-25.
November 11, home to Bridgewater: Lost 13-21.
November 23, away to Old Bridge: Lost 0-21.

This was EB's worst football season yet. In fact, aside from a win over a Bishop Ahr team that, I think, won only 1 game that season themselves, none of the regularly-scheduled games were even close. Only the consolation game against Bridgewater was, and that came on the heels of a Presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush that was, at that point, still up for grabs. And it was grabbed.

At least the annual loss to Piscataway came the day after the Yankees beat the Mets in the World Series, the only Subway Series since EBHS opened (unless you count San Francisco vs. Oakland in 1989).

EB football was now bad. Very bad. Like a lot of things in this world, it would get a lot worse before it got better.

2001: 0-10, .000
September 7, away to Sayreville: Lost 12-40.
September 15, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 7-49.
September 21, home to South Brunswick: Lost 32-39.
September 28, home to Bishop Ahr: Lost 14-20.
October 6, home to Woodbridge: Lost 14-35.
October 19, away to Edison: Lost 20-56.
October 26, home to Piscataway: Lost 12-14.
November 3, away to Perth Amboy: Lost 17-34.
November 9, away to Marlboro, of Marlboro, Monmouth County: Lost 20-26.
November 22, home to Old Bridge: Lost 0-48

The schoolyear opened with EBHS' 2-year renovation and expansion finally completed. Two days later, the football season began with an awful loss to Sayreville. Four days later, the World Trade Center was destroyed.

Incredibly, unlike every professional sports league in North America, the NJSIAA demanded that high school football games be played the following weekend. I don't know how Stevens found it within themselves to score 7 touchdowns. The next 2 losses were close. The rest, except for the consolation game at Marlboro, were not.

The Perth Amboy game was played the same night as Game 6 of that epic Yankees-Arizona Diamondbacks World Series. Incredibly, EB was not as bad that night as the Yankees, who lost 15-0, before blowing a 9th-inning lead in Game 7 the next night. Once the consolation game was lost, the first-ever winless season in EB history was ordained; the only question was how badly were the Purple Bastards going to beat us on Thanksgiving. The answer: By 7 touchdowns.

As bad as things were, we were a touchdown each against Bishop Ahr and Marlboro, a touchdown and a 2-point conversion against South Brunswick, and a field goal against Piscataway away from being 4-6.

2002: 6-4, .600
September 13, home to Piscataway: Lost 0-35.
September 19, home to Edison: Won 34-12.
September 27, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 14-21.
October 4, home to Sayreville: Lost 8-38.
October 11, away to Woodbridge: Won 25-6.
October 18, home to Bishop Ahr: Won 20-14.
November 1, away to South Brunswick: Won 12-8.
November 8, home to Perth Amboy: Won 23-7.
November 15, home to Union: Won 21-12.
November 28, away to Old Bridge: Lost 12-35.

With a season-opening blowout loss to Piscataway, it looked like we would never win again. We'd lost 17 straight and 21 out of our last 22. But then we beat an Edison team which would go on to their own winless season. After 2 more losses, we nearly ran the table, including finally beating Union after 7 tries (spread out over 42 years). But we still lost on Thanksgiving. Still, it was our first season in 8 years with at least 6 wins.

2003: 4-6, .400
September 12, away to Piscataway: Lost 14-21.
September 19, away to Edison: Won 28-12.
September 25, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 6-7.
October 3, away to Sayreville: Lost 0-26.
October 10, home to Woodbridge: Lost 21-25.
October 17, away to Bishop Ahr: Won 7-2.
October 31, home to South Brunswick: Won 28-0.
November 7, away to Perth Amboy: Won 49-25.
November 14, away to Hunterdon Central: Lost 14-27.
November 27, home to Old Bridge: Lost 14-23.

Just hours before we beat Bishop Ahr, the Yankees and Red Sox had that unbelievable Game 7 of the American League Championship Series that ended with Aaron Boone's Pennant-winning home run. But aside from a Halloween win in the next game, this season was rather uneventful. That was not to be the case with the next season.

We were a field goal against Stevens and a touchdown against Woodbridge away from being 6-4.

2004: 10-2, .833
September 10, home to Perth Amboy: Won 41-14.
September 19, home to Edison: Won 55-2.
September 23, away to Piscataway: Lost 13-19.
October 1, home to North Brunswick: Won 28-7.
October 8, away to Sayreville: Won 16-7.
October 22, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 35-0.
October 29, away to South Brunswick: Won 23-21.
November 5, home to Woodbridge: Won 14-13.
November 13, home to Brick Township: Won 13-12.
November 20, home to Hillsborough of Hillsborough, Somerset County: Won 28-21.
November 25, away to Old Bridge: Lost 0-20.
December 5, at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, Middlesex County, vs. Jackson Memorial of Jackson, Ocean County: Won 17-14.

The NJSIAA rejiggered its sectional boundaries for this season. Good thing, too, as it moved Piscataway from Central Jersey into North Jersey Section II, meaning that if we both made the Playoffs, we wouldn't have to face each other. Yeah, right...

Yeah. Right. Despite yet another loss to Piscataway keeping us from the Conference title, we had some big, big wins. And yet, a close win over Sayreville felt better than dropping a double nickel on a hopeless Edison. That win at Sayreville was a sign that there might be something special about this team.

After a shutout over Stevens, played the week that the Boston Red Sox finally ended their "Curse of the Bambino" against the Yankees, the Bears became Kardiac Kids, winning an overtime game against South Brunswick and a tough one against Woodbridge, to qualify for the Playoffs as the 2nd seed. Which meant home-field advantage in the Quarterfinal and the Semifinal.

Good thing, too, as a pair of tough, far-away opponents came calling at Doyle Field. We toughed it out against Brick, the Michigan of New Jersey football (right down to the winged helmets), for our first Playoff win in 19 years, and then survived an overtime battle with Hillsborough. We had advanced to the State Championship for the 1st time in 19 years. And then we went to Old Bridge and laid an egg.

No matter, we still had a title to win. But it would be at Rutgers Stadium, the first time we'd ever played on artificial turf (most area high schools would soon get it, including us), and against Jackson Memorial, defending champions of South Jersey Group IV, now in Central Jersey Group IV. There were 12,000 people on hand, possibly the biggest crowd in EB history (and bigger than a lot of crowds were for Rutgers games at the old, 1938-92 version of Rutgers Stadium).

Somehow, quarterback Matt Mariano kept us in the game, and it was 17-14 in the final seconds. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. After all, this was East Brunswick football we were talking about. Something bad always happens, and we always lose the big ones.

Except, when the last-second field goal by Jackson was tried, it seemed to hang in the air forever. It didn't, and the other shoe did. The attempt fell a few yards short, and, on December 5, 2004, East Brunswick was the State Champion. Well, the Central Jersey Group IV Champion, anyway.

December 5, 2004, The Night of Nights.

I'd waited 20 years for that moment, and some EB fans had waited 32 years. The wait was over. Marcus Borden's Green-White Army had conquered. We had overcome.

2005: 2-8, .200
September 9, away to Perth Amboy: Won 19-13.
September 16, away to Edison: Won 48-19.
September 23, home to Piscataway: Lost 6-41.
September 30, away to North Brunswick: Lost 14-28.
October 7, home to Sayreville: Lost 0-21.
October 21, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 0-14.
October 28, home to South Brunswick: Lost 14-34.
November 4, away to Woodbridge: Lost 0-14.
November 11, away to Brick Township: Lost 14-35.
November 24, home to Old Bridge: Lost 21-40

And then the other shoe dropped. Not just in the form of a bad season, but in the form of the prayer controversy involving Coach Borden. I won't comment on it here, other than to say that I am against government-sanctioned religion, but that I see the point of the other side, too.

The season opener happened 11 days after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The November 11 game against Brick was a consolation game, as neither team made the Playoffs. 

2006: 5-5, .500
September 8, home to Perth Amboy: Won 57-12.
September 21, away to Woodbridge: Won 13-6.
September 29, home to Piscataway: Lost 14-28.
October 6, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 19-20.
October 13, away to South Brunswick: Lost 7-21.
October 20, home to Sayreville: Lost 6-8.
October 27, away to Edison: Won 42-28.
November 3, home to North Brunswick: Won 19-8.
November 11, home to Trenton Central: Won 42-6.
November 24, away to Old Bridge: Lost 9-13.

Three tough losses by a total of 7 points, none tougher than the one on Thanksgiving against Old Bridge. Had they all been reversed, we would have been 7-2 in the regular season. The November 11 game against Trenton Central, unlike our game against them in 1990, was not a Playoff game, but a consolation game. It was also EB's last home game on the natural grass field we'd been using for 42 seasons.

2007: 5-5, .500
September 7, away to Perth Amboy: Won 33-6.
September 20, at Perth Amboy vs. Woodbridge: Won 13-7.
September 28, away to Piscataway: Lost 20-32.
October 5, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 23-14.
October 12, away to South Brunswick: Lost 10-20.
October 19, away to Sayreville: Lost 0-34.
October 26, away to Edison: Lost 6-7.
November 2, away to North Brunswick: Won 21-12.
November 9, at Woodbridge vs. Manalapan: Lost 14-24.
November 22, home to Old Bridge: Won 35-14.

This was the year we almost had no home games. Doyle Field was renovated, with a new FieldTurf surface and a new track named after longtime track & field coach Dud Tighe. We actually played back-to-back games at Perth Amboy, because Woodbridge was also renovating their field. Their field was ready to host our consolation game against... Manalapan? Why were we playing them at Woodbridge? Wouldn't it have been simpler to play them at Manalapan? I've forgotten: Maybe their field was being converted to FieldTurf, too. They may be in a different County, but they're actually closer to EBHS than Woodbridge in terms of distance. 

My father, by this point having been turned into a football fan by the revival of Rutgers under coach Greg Schiano, and I left home on Thanksgiving morning still not sure whether the Old Bridge game would be home or away: The Home News Tribune said it would be at one place, The Star-Ledger at the other. We left early enough to make a mistake and go on further, and, sure enough, Doyle Field was ready. And in the first game on the new field, the Big Green beat the Purple Bastards. First such win in 13 years. All was sweetness and light, and we had a happy holiday.

2008: 4-6, .400
September 12, away to Sayreville: Lost 7-28.
September 19, away to North Bergen, of North Bergen, Hudson County: Won 28-14.
October 3, away to South Brunswick: Lost 17-27.
October 10, home to Piscataway: Lost 21-27.
October 17, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 35-0.
October 24, home to Woodbridge: Lost 14-20.
October 31, away to New Brunswick: Won 26-21.
November 7, home to Perth Amboy: Won 35-12.
November 14, home to Howell, of Howell, Monmouth County: Lost 22-25.
November 27, away to Old Bridge: Lost 21-24.

We were a touchdown each against Piscataway and Woodbridge from being a Playoff team. We were that, and a touchdown against Old Bridge, away from being 7-2 in the regular season.

The most interesting thing about this season was that, for the first time in 34 years, we played New Brunswick -- and on Halloween night, no less. Since 2002, they'd been a perennial Playoff team, and had won 2 Central Jersey Group II Championships and nearly a 3rd. And here we were, playing them on Halloween at Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick.

Despite having gone to high school sporting events in New Brunswick, Perth Amboy, Elizabeth, Bayonne, Paterson, and, this season, North Bergen -- some of these games not involving East Brunswick -- this was the first time I'd ever gone to a sporting event that required metal detectors. Apparently, there had been some gang activity recently.

A few fans showed up in Halloween costumes, but I didn't even bother to break out my varsity jacket and my 1980s "BEAT THE (OPPONENT NAME)" pins. I did wear a green shirt and an EB cap, though. We managed to beat the Zebras, although they didn't go down without a fight. Let me rephrase that: There was no violence, but the game was tough.

Four days later, Barack Obama was elected President. But the joy of early November was wiped out at the end with another hard loss to Old Bridge on Thanksgiving. This year, Halloween was much better than Thanksgiving.

2009: 8-4, .667
September 11, away to Woodbridge: Won 38-0.
September 17, away to Freehold Township, of Freehold, Monmouth County: Won 34-6.
September 25, home to Monroe: Won 23-21.
October 2, home to Piscataway: Lost 10-13.
October 9, away to South Brunswick: Won 23-13.
October 16, away to Sayreville: Lost 13-34.
October 23, away to Jackson Memorial: Won 19-13.
November 6, home to Brick Memorial of Brick, Ocean County: Lost 34-37.
November 13, home to West Windsor: Won 27-0.
November 20, away to Sayreville: Won 13-8.
November 26, home to Old Bridge: Lost 17-23.
December 5, at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, Mercer County, vs. Brick Memorial: Won 9-0.

This was the year the GMC and Shore Conference began crossover games, sending us down to Freehold Township High School (not to be confused with the far older Freehold Hight School, alma mater of Bruce Springsteen), and sending Jackson Memorial (their district now split with Jackson Liberty) and Brick Memorial (younger brother school of Brick Township, and defending CJ Group IV Champions) up to EB to play us.

We beat Freehold Township, and in circumstances far less significant than our 2004 meeting, we beat Jackson Memorial. But Brick Memorial shocked us: It is the most points EB has ever scored and still lost. However, in the middle of all this, was the game of the year: Our come-from-behind win against Monroe, which won the GMC White Division and the Central Jersey Group III title. It was their only loss of the season, and they couldn't believe it.

Try as we might, we couldn't beat Piscataway, this time falling a field goal short. An injury-plagued EB got smacked at Sayreville again, and the Brick Memorial loss seemed to mean we wouldn't make the Playoffs. But other teams lost, and we ended up getting the 4th seed and home-field advantage in the Quarterfinal.

There was a misty rain the night of the Quarterfinal, and I thought the game would be postponed. But West Windsor had already gotten there, so we played, and we beat them. The Semifinal was back at Sayreville, and this time, we were healthy and ready for them. We pulled out one of the toughest wins in our history, and, for the first time ever, beat a team that we had lost to earlier in the season -- a good harbinger for the Final, as we found out, since we would be playing Brick Memorial.

And then we lost another heartbreaker at Old Bridge. We were just 5-4 in the regular season, but were a touchdown each against Piscataway, Brick Memorial and Old Bridge away from being 8-1.

That led to our 4th Central Jersey Group IV Final, our 2nd in 6 seasons. This time, instead of Rutgers, it was at Trenton State College -- excuse me, The College of New Jersey -- in Ewing. As in the 2004 Final, we would have to play the defending champions, Brick Memorial.

And something happened that had never happened before, in the 49-season history of EBHS football: Snow. It ended up being only a couple of inches, but it covered the field, making running the ball difficult, passing the ball nearly impossible, and slipping on the aluminum steps and walkways of Lions Stadium all too common for the fans.

EB kicked a field goal in the first half to make it 3-0, then added a touchdown (but missed the extra point) to make it 9-0 in the 3rd quarter. After that, Memorial tried, but couldn't get anything going. For the 2nd time in these Playoffs, we avenged a regular-season defeat. For the 2nd time in the Playoff era, for the 4th time in our history, we were Central Jersey Group IV Champions.

This one was more enjoyable than 2004, for the simple reason that we'd already done it once before. The tension simply wasn't there: If we'd lost this one, I wouldn't have liked it, but I could have lived with it, even with the miserable weather and the long trip home. But the pressure wasn't nearly as much -- maybe on the individual players, who were in junior high or even elementary school in 2004, but not on the program and the community as a whole. The 2009 victory was nicer. But the 2004 win was sweeter, because we'd waited so long.

East Brunswick High School Football, the 1st 60 Years: Part V, 1990-99

Thanksgiving Day, 1994, a great day for Da Bears

East Brunswick High School celebrates its 60th Anniversary of football this Autumn. To borrow a phrase from the legendary sportscaster Curt Gowdy, For EB football, the 1990s began as if they were jealous of the 1980s.

As Ken Burns might have put it:

East Brunswick football has been played in 42 places. Against public schools and private schools. Against a school established in 1874, against a school established in 1998, and against schools that no longer exist. In the comfort of a home stadium, and with the perils of being on the road. In suburbs, rural areas, and hardscrabble cities. On benches of new aluminum, and on benches of old wood. In stadiums that looked like they'd been there forever, and always would be. In stadiums that looked like they'd fall apart in a solid breeze. In stadiums seating barely 2,000. And, once, in a stadium seating 41,000 people.

UPDATE: Through the 2024 season, it's 46 places.

1990: 8-2, .800

September 14, home to Cherokee: Lost 6-23.
September 21, home to Piscataway: Won 19-6.
September 28, home to Woodbridge: Won 38-13.
October 5, away to Edison: Won 10-8.
October 19, home to West Windsor-Plainsboro, of West Windsor, Mercer County: Won 35-7.
October 26, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 37-7.
November 3, away to Perth Amboy: Won 35-22.
November 9, away to Madison Central: Won 17-0.
November 16, away to Sayreville: Won 20-8.
November 24, home to Trenton Central, of Trenton, Mercer County: Lost 14-21.

Another season-opening loss to South Jersey power Cherokee was followed by a convincing win over Piscataway. That was 31 years ago. Thirty-one years. Almost one-third of a century. We haven't beaten them since.

The Edison game was a purist's delight, with 2 really good lines smacking each other until one team had enough left and the other didn't. This game decided the GMC Red Division title, EB's 4th Conference Championship in 7 years. It's never been so good again. It remains the last time we have won a Conference Championship on the field.

The next week was Homecoming, against a good opponent, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, now known as West Windsor-Plainsboro South. A new school, the newest high school in Middlesex County (opened in 1997), and not playing in the GMC, is in Plainsboro and named West Windsor-Plainsboro North. Why didn't their district just call the new school Plainsboro and the original school West Windsor?

The game was no contest: West Windsor's only score was immediately followed by a kick returned all the way by R.J. Davis. What was remarkable about this game was a fight in the stands. Not only did it not involve EBHS students, but it didn't involve WWPHS students, either. Both South River and Madison Central were playing the next day, and these 2 schools, the once and current arch-rivals of EB, who never play each other, fought each other. Apparently, somebody brought eggs, because I was hit with one. Hit me in the side of my baseball cap, and dripped right into my ear. Ewwww!

The Playoff rules were changed so that the Semifinals were scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend, forcing teams that had Thanksgiving rivalries to move their traditional games. This would be discontinued after the next year, due to said schools' protests.

We played Trenton, which had a nasty habit: It seemed as if, every year, they would go 8-1 in the regular season, but miss the Playoffs because they lost to Notre Dame of Lawrenceville, and, like all the Mercer County schools (including West Windsor and, now, its little brother -- the exceptions being the prep schools like Lawrenceville and Peddie), they were in the Colonial Valley Conference, so they were a Group IV school getting their "power points" from Group III and even Group II schools, and not qualifying. This time, though, they beat Notre Dame, and made it... as the 4th and final seed.

They came into Doyle Field, and their line outweighed ours by an average of 100 pounds. These city brothers were huge. And their quarterback, Terrance Stokes, was fast as hell, and scored 2 touchdowns on the play that has hurt EB so many times: The left-hand end-around. Somehow, we stayed within a touchdown of them, and quarterback Mark Neary (no relation to former Mayor Bill Neary) threw a bomb at the end that was knocked away in the end zone. Not the worst way to end the season, and certainly not the worst opponent against whom to do so.

Linebacker Scott Kammerer, named County Defensive Player of the Year by the Home News, showed me his arm after the game. It was about 7 different colors. But he recovered enough to go 32-0 as a wrestler and win the 189-pound weight class State Championship -- the last EB wrestler to do so, and the best single-season record in school wrestling history.

1991: 3-6, .333
September 14, away to Cherokee: Lost 12-27.
September 21, home to Piscataway: Lost 14-28.
October 4, away to Woodbridge: Lost 7-26.
October 11, home to Edison: Lost 18-32.
October 19, away to West Windsor: Won 18-10.
October 25, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 16-14.
November 1, home to Perth Amboy: Won 26-6.
November 8, home to Madison Central: Lost 14-34.
November 29, away to Sayreville: Lost 0-17.

We lost our first 4 games. We were threatening to have our first winless season ever. Then we won our next 3, despite having to play West Windsor (still a young school then, having opened in 1973, but usually a Playoff contender) and Stevens (no longer the killers they'd been since the late Seventies).

But defeat to Madison, and only our 2nd-ever loss to Sayreville on the day after Thanksgiving, doomed us to our worst season in 9 years. We were 27-1 against Sayreville from 1961 to 1990. Since 1991, with the rise of their program to traditional power, we are 6-24 against them. Total: 33-25.

1992: 4-5, .444
September 19, away to Piscataway: Lost 10-13.
September 26, away to Edison: Lost 6-27.
October 2, away to Madison Central: Lost 12-34.
October 16, home to Monroe Township, of Monroe, Middlesex County: Won 28-8.
October 24, away to Perth Amboy: Lost 18- 31.
October 30, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 13-12.
November 6, home to North Brunswick Township, of North Brunswick, Middlesex County: Won 10-7.
November 13, away to Woodbridge: Lost 0-21.
November 29, home to Sayreville: Won 38-19.

Not an especially remarkable season, although it did present our first-ever games against neighboring schools Monroe and North Brunswick, both of which were experiencing remarkable growth in enrollment, as ours was shrinking: From a peak of 2,600 in 1973 and 2,000 when I graduated in 1987, it was down to about 1,800. From here onward, even though the schools each have "Township" as part of their official name, I will be calling them simply "Monroe" and "North Brunswick," respectively.

The November 6 game was played the week Bill Clinton was elected President. And the season finale, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, was the day Jimmy Varick ran wild and shot down the Bombers.

1993: 4-5, .444
September 18, home to Piscataway: Lost 0-20.
September 24, home to Edison: Lost 6-28.
October 2, home to Madison Central: Lost 9-17.
October 10, away to Monroe: Won 34-10.
October 16, home to Perth Amboy: Won 19-6.
October 23, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 35-0.
November 6, away to North Brunswick: Won 24-0.
November 13, home to Woodbridge: Lost 23-29.
November 20, away to Sayreville: Lost 7-28.

Despite back-to-back shutouts against Stevens and North Brunswick, the less said about this season, the better. This would be the last time we would face Madison Central under that name. The declining enrollment of both Old Bridge schools made their Board of Ed decide to reconsolidate them after 25 years. Goodbye, Madison Central Spartans, navy blue and sky blue. Goodbye, Cedar Ridge Cougars, green and gold. Starting in the fall of 1994, hello, Old Bridge Knights, purple and black, mascot and colors chosen by a student poll.

1994: 8-2, .800
September 16, home to North Brunswick: Won 42-0.
September 23, away to Perth Amboy: Won 41-20.
September 30, away to Bishop George Ahr, of Edison, Middlesex County: Won 13-7.
October 7, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 59-7.
October 14, home to Piscataway: Lost 21-26.
October 21, away to Edison: Won 42-7.
November 4, away to Sayreville: Won 14-7.
November 11, home to Woodbridge: Won 17-0.
November 19, away to Piscataway: Lost 7-12.
November 24, away to Old Bridge, of Old Bridge, Middlesex County: Won 33-18.

We won our first 4 games. This included a first-ever game against Bishop Ahr, which had been founded in 1969 as St. Thomas Aquinas High School, but was renamed in 1984 after a retiring Bishop. In 2019, the school decided to revert to the original name. Not because Ahr, who had since died, was known to have done anything wrong. Rather, the reason they gave is that putting the name of the 13th Century Dominican friar from Italy back on the school was more reflective of the school's values.

This great start to the season also included a demolition of Stevens that I, a veteran of the mid-1980s battles with those guys, simply could not believe: How does J.P. Stevens get beat 59-7 in football? Actually, it was almost worse: We'd gotten to their 1-yard line at the end, but head coach Marcus Borden had quarterback Greg Kohlheim fall on the ball for the last 2 plays, or else we would have gotten to 65 points and a new school record (though not for margin of victory).

Things were looking up. But against Piss... cataway, what should have been our winning touchdown was broken up due to pass interference, and the referee refused to call it. For that reason, we did not win the GMC Red Division, and did not get home-field advantage in the Playoffs. (Under the current system, 8 teams to a section, the 3rd seed would get home-field in the first round.) Still, a big goal-line stand at the end of the first half against Sayreville kept us in the Playoff hunt. So we went to Piscataway for the Semifinal, and again got hosed by the refs, losing by less than a full touchdown.

But all the losing was forgotten as we went into Old Bridge for the first-ever Thanksgiving game against our old/new rivals, and beat them. The turkey tasted real good in Green Town that night. How it tasted in Purple Town, I don't care. The game also saw Kohlheim, despite being a quarterback (but a wishbone quarterback), become the first (and, I think, still the only) EB player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.

There was a weird postscript to this season: Piscataway was determined to have used an ineligible player in 2 conference games, and they had to forfeit them. Our game with them wasn't one in which this player appeared. But it still threw the Conference Championship to us. It remains the last time we finished 1st in our Conference/Division... even if we finished their after the season finished. It was the old Yogi Berra line, and then some: It wasn't over even after it was over!

1995: 5-4, .556
September 15, away to North Brunswick: Won 45-3.
September 22, home to Perth Amboy: Won 35-6.
September 29, home to Bishop Ahr: Lost 0-7.
October 6, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 16-12.
October 20, away to Piscataway: Lost 18-21.
October 27, away to Edison: Won 56-7.
November 4, home to Sayreville: Won 36-29.
November 10, away to Woodbridge: Lost 8-22.
November 23, home to Old Bridge: Lost 27-40.

It was that kind of year: Win your first 2 games by 6 and 4 touchdowns, lose your next by 1; win a close one, lose a close one, win one by 7 touchdowns; go to overtime (for the first time ever, with the new rule taking effect and eliminating ties forever), and winning it; then close with 2 losses. Had we won either the Bishop Ahr game or the Piscataway game, we would have made the Playoffs.

The October 6 game with Stevens came during that epic American League Division Series that the Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners. While the November 4 game was being played, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was assassinated. I came home from the game just in time to see an ABC News Special Report about it break into coverage of a college football game. (Michigan State upset Michigan, 28-25.)

This was also the year when the County's 2 main newspapers, the New Brunswick-based Home News, and the paper formerly known as the Perth Amboy Evening News, but by the time I knew it based in Woodbridge and renamed The News Tribune, merged to form the Home News Tribune, and moved into a new headquarters off Route 18 in East Brunswick.

1996: 3-6, .333
September 20, away to Bridgewater-Raritan: Lost 8-36.
September 26, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 30-20.
October 3, away to Edison: Won 26-13.
October 10, home to Sayreville: Lost 12-13.
October 17, away to Piscataway: Lost 14-20.
October 24, home to Woodbridge: Lost 7-27.
November 8, away to Perth Amboy: Won 14-13.
November 15, away to South Brunswick, of South Brunswick, Middlesex County: Lost 14-20.
November 28, away to Old Bridge: Lost 6-7.

Not much worth talking about with this season, other than that we played neighboring school South Brunswick for the first time, the week that President Clinton was re-elected. It was a really cold night, and we lost. But the South Brunswick cheerleaders came over and gave our cheerleaders brownies. I was a little suspicious of this: Just a few miles away, the cheerleaders at Hightstown High School j=(whose district includes that town and East Windsor) had made cupcakes for an opposing school's cheerleaders (I think it was Nottingham, a.k.a. Hamilton North), laced with laxatives. The story actually made Sports Illustrated.

The October 24 game was played on the same night as Game 5 of the World Series between the Yankees and Atlanta Braves, Andy Pettitte's shutout. Thanksgiving? Oy, better you shouldn't ask. Trailing by 1 point with 1:58 to play (don't bet me on the time), we had a 4th and 6 on our own 40. If you can't make 6 yards at that point, you don't deserve to win. What play did Borden call? A punt. A total capitulation. I was furious with him over this. Did I ever forgive him? Yeah, on December 5, 2004.

We were field goals against Sayreville and Old Bridge, and a touchdown against Piscataway, away from being 6-3.

1997: 1-8, .111
September 19, home to Bridgewater: Lost 13-32.
September 26, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 14-62.
October 4, home to Edison: Won 28-13.
October 9, away to Sayreville: Lost 17-29.
October 18, home to Piscataway: Lost 21-28.
October 24, away to Woodbridge: Lost 8-35.
November 8, home to Perth Amboy: Lost 7-27.
November 14, home to South Brunswick: Lost 0-24.
November 27, home to Old Bridge: Lost 12-48.

This was the worst EB season ever to that point, with only a win over Edison, which ended up winless, preventing us from staying the same. The 62 scored by Stevens not only wiped out the 59 we hung on them in '94, but set a new school record for points allowed in a game.

In spite of this awful season, Marcus Borden remained head coach. This was the season in which I began to wonder why he kept running the ball on 3rd and 18. It was also the season in which I began to wonder if he had incriminating pictures of someone who could recommend his firing. If you had told me in 1997 that 2004, or 2009, or even 1998, was coming, I would not have believed you. Deep in my heart, I had ceased to believe that we would overcome someday.

1998: 5-5, .500
September 12, away to Bridgewater: Lost 7-23.
September 18, home to Edison: Won 44-31.
September 25, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 7-6.
October 2, away to Piscataway: Lost 17-30.
October 10, home to Woodbridge: Won 27-13.
October 23, home to Sayreville: Won 28-7.
October 30, away to South Brunswick: Won 36-10.
November 6, home to Colonia: Lost 6-24.
November 14, away to Manalapan, of Manalapan, Monmouth County: Lost 14-21.

November 26, away to Old Bridge: Lost 16-33.

An oh-so-brief revival in what was otherwise a dark period for EB football, played out against the saga of the insane pursuit of an impeachment against President Clinton, and the steroid-boosted home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. The Edison game remains the one with the most points we've ever allowed and still won. The next week, we played the other Edison team, and scored only 7, but it was enough. Then came our annual loss to Piscataway.

Still, while the Yankees were putting the finishing touches on the greatest baseball season any team (and maybe the entire game) has ever had, we were headed for the Playoffs. This was the year the 10th game was added: The Playoffs were expanded to the top 8 teams in each section, and every team that did not make it would get a "consolation game" against a team with a similar power-point total.

All we had to do was beat Colonia (How'd they get back on our schedule?) at home, and we'd have home-field advantage in the Quarterfinal. Instead, we played like garbage, and got an away game at Manalapan -- remarkably, the first game we ever played in neighboring Monmouth County. We fell behind 21-0, but came back, but a late interception doomed us.

Still, we made the Playoffs. A successful season, right? Well, we lost to Old Bridge on Thanksgiving again, and finished at exactly .500.

1999: 4-6, .400
September 9, home to Bridgewater: Lost 17-21.
September 17, away to Edison: Won 10-7.
September 24, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 11-14.
October 1, home to Piscataway: Lost 7-27.
October 8, away to Woodbridge: Lost 7-14.
October 23, home to Sayreville: Lost 3-27.
October 29, home to South Brunswick: Won 22-13.
November 6, away to Colonia: Won 14-3.
November 12, home to Perth Amboy: Won 28-0.
November 25, home to Old Bridge: Lost 0-14.

Not much to think about here: It was a weak season built around another Yankee World Championship, and an exciting postseason run for the Mets as well -- the first time both New York baseball teams had made the postseason the same year.

At least our first-ever consolation game was against a familiar team, Perth Amboy (not otherwise on our schedule this season), and it was at home, so we didn't have a roadtrip, long or otherwise, for an essentially meaningless game. Except it wasn't meaningless: Win that, and beat Old Bridge on Thanksgiving, and we would have been at .500. We beat Amboy solidly, but in the last EB football game of the 20th Century, we walked out of Doyle Field in pathetic fashion yet again.

We were a touchdown against Bridgewater, and a field goal against Stevens, away from being 6-4.

The next decade would get off to a hideous start. But it would turn out to be our most successful one.

East Brunswick High School Football, the 1st 60 Years: Part IV, 1985-89

Josh Miller, the 1st EBHS graduate to play in the NFL

As Ken Burns might have put it:

East Brunswick football has been played in 42 places. On brutally hot days, and on bitterly cold ones. In drizzles, and downpours, and, once, in a blizzard. On beautiful natural grass fields, and on hopelessly muddy ones, and on artificial turf. On sunny days, and on brilliant floodlight nights. On local radio, and on local-access cable television.

UPDATE: Through the 2024 season, it's 46 places.

The latter half of the Eighties continued East Brunswick High School's pursuit of football glory. But something always seemed to be getting in the way.

1985: 8-3, .727
September 21, away to Brick Township: Won 21-0.
September 27, away to Madison Central: Won 9-0.
October 6, home to Edison: Won 22-14.
October 12, home to Perth Amboy: Won 32-7.
October 19, away to Woodbridge: Won 14-7.
October 25, away to Sayreville: Won 14-13.
November 2, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 17-18.
November 8, away to Cedar Ridge: Won 31-6.
November 16, home to Middletown North of Middletown, Monmouth County: Won 14-7.
November 30, home to Colonia: Lost 10-20.
December 7, vs. J.P. Stevens at Edison H.S.: Lost 7-19.

This would be a good, but weird, and ultimately unsatisfying season. Many of the players from the 1984 near-miss were back. Because it was our 25th season -- not our 25th Anniversary, that was the next season -- the team wore commemorative patches on their jerseys. (They did not wear commemorative patches for either the 50th Season in 2010 or the 50th Anniversary in 2011.)

No team had ever shut Brick out on its home field, but we did. The Edison game was postponed a day due to Hurricane Gloria. This was the season that both Edison schools and Sayreville got their lights, but in their 1st home night game, Sayreville, whose coach Milt Theodosatos and some big players were talking a lot of trash, especially about us, blew a 13-0 lead on us, and we beat them 14-13.

The last MCAC title came down to us and a senior-loaded Stevens, and they kicked a last-minute field goal to beat us by one point. Again. We still made the Playoffs, beating Middletown North. This would turn out to be the last Playoff game EB would win for 19 years, and we have never played Middletown North again. And we have never played Middletown South.

The Thanksgiving game with Colonia was delayed to the following Saturday by rain, and as a result we wouldn't play on Thanksgiving again for 9 years. A snowstorm rendered Stevens' home field unplayable, but across town, Edison's field was ruled to be okay, and the State Final was moved there. We lost again.

1986: 6-2-1, .722
September 21, home to Cherokee of Evesham, Burlington County: Tied 14-14.
September 27, away to Brick Township: Won 23-10.
October 2, home to Madison Central: Lost 0-22.
October 10, away to Edison: Won 33-14.
October 17, home to Woodbridge: Won 16-0.
October 25, away to Perth Amboy: Lost 17-20.
October 31, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 17-12.
November 7, home to Cedar Ridge: Won 28-0.
November 14, home to Sayreville: Won 33-14.

This might have been the strangest season in EB football history. It was the 1st football season of the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC). The league had been formed the schoolyear before, and it had held seasons and championships for all other sports, phasing out the Middlesex County Athletic Conference (MCAC), the Bicentennial Athletic Conference (BAC), and the Central Valley Conference (CVC). But, for scheduling reasons, its 1st football season was delayed 1 year.

Divisions were set up by enrollment, but instead of naming the Divisions A, B, C and, in those sports with enough teams to fill 4 divisions, D, as the Shore Conference did (further dividing each division into North and South because they had 44 schools), the 36 GMC teams (30 of whom then played football) were divided into Divisions named for colors: Red for the largest schools, White, Blue and Gold. This made no sense, since only 3 teams in the Red Division (Edison, Woodbridge and Perth Amboy) wore red as a school color.

EB played Cherokee, a 2-time defending South Jersey Group IV Champion. Somehow, we managed a tie, even though their linemen outweighed ours by an average of 50 pounds. We went down to Brick, and at the half, it began to rain. By the 4th quarter, it was a torrential donwpour. With 3:37 left to play, and a 2-touchdown lead, Josh Miller (who would go on to become the first, and still only, EB football player to play in the National Football League, and won a Super Bowl XXXVIII ring as a punter for the New England Patriots) was waiting to punt, when a lightning bolt came out of the sky, like in Back to the Future, and struck one of the light towers, shorting out the lights and making a terrifying sound, and 5,000 people ran screaming for their cars. Two days later, having no practical option, the NJSIAA declared the game over and EB the winners.

Six days later, on a Thursday due to the Jewish holiday, EB had its first home night game. Madison ruined it. People from Old Bridge tend to ruin things. We bounced back, but some hideous officiating at Perth Amboy knocked us out of Playoff contention. (Had the current system, with 8 teams making it from each section, been in effect, we would have made it.) This was mere hours before the Mets won Game 6 of the World Series in an incredible comeback (or Boston Red Sox collapse) that is remembered as the Bill Buckner Game, on their way to winning Game 7. The Mets haven't won the World Series since.

Six days after that came the game of the season. Two-time defending Central Jersey Group IV Champion Stevens, riding a 22-game winning streak, hosted us in front of an enormous crowd (by non-Thanksgiving New Jersey high school standards, anyway) on Halloween night. Boo to them: EB won one of the most satisfying victories in school history.

As it turned out, this win was crucial: While EB finished up with wins over Cedar Ridge and Sayreville, Stevens lost to Edison on Thanksgiving, throwing the GMC Red Division race into a tie, giving us the tiebreaker and the first-ever GMC Red title. Stevens also ended up losing the Central Jersey Group IV Final, to Middletown North. That was the end of the line for MN, as their crosstown rival Middletown South had just became a power, and remained so for many years.

We were a field goal against Cherokee and a touchdown against Amboy away from being 8-1.

1987: 8-2, .800

September 19, away to Cherokee: Lost 27-33.
September 25, home to Brick Township: Won 25-12.
October 1, away to Madison Central: Won 19-14.
October 9, home to Edison: Won 24-14.
October 17, away to Woodbridge: Won 35-20.
October 23, home to Perth Amboy: Won 12-0.
October 30, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 31-20.
November 6, away to Cedar Ridge: Won 42-14.
November 13, away to Sayreville: Won 41-22.
November 21, home to Madison Central: Lost 0-33.

EB went down to Cherokee -- our 2nd-longest roadtrip ever, after the 1963 trip to Millville -- and nearly came back from a 33-14 deficit. We had the ball in Cherokee territory at the end, but there just wasn't enough time. For a few years, this would be the most points EB had ever scored in a game while still losing. This great game with a bad result came back to haunt us, as it prevented us from getting the 1st seed in the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs instead of the 2nd.

So instead of hosting 4th-seeded Neptune, we hosted 3rd-seeded Madison. It may have been the coldest day in EB football history, and we got clobbered by Madison's seemingly unstoppable wishbone. Madison then went on to beat Neptune for their 1st Central Jersey Championship (in football, anyway).

This changed everything: Prior to this, Marcus Borden had EB playing in a pro-style attack that emphasized passing; with strong-armed quarterbacks like Steve Hughes and Bryan Fortay, and several good receivers and some quick running backs who could also catch passes, it was ideal for us. But, as football, like any other sport, is a "Monkey see, monkey do" game, Borden started the wishbone bandwagon, and installed it for the next season, in the hope that he could build one as strong as Madison's. For years thereafter, EB used what Borden called "the E-Bone."

The October 23 game was the week of the biggest drop, in terms of percentage, in the history of the New York Stock Exchange, although, unlike the 1929 version (and very nearly the 2008 version), it did not lead to a depression.

1988: 7-3, .700
September 16, home to Cherokee: Lost 20-27.
September 23, away to Sayreville: Won 15-0.
September 30, home to Edison: Won 29-18.
October 8, away to Perth Amboy: Won 44-19.
October 16, home to Piscataway: Won 33-8.
October 21, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 21-0.
October 28, away to Madison Central: Lost 3-55.
November 4, home to Bayonne of Bayonne, Hudson County: Won 38-21.
November 11, home to Woodbridge: Won 30-0.
November 19, away to Madison Central: Lost 7-31.

A big change in the schedule: Cedar Ridge, due to declining enrollment, dropped down to the GMC White Division; and Piscataway, which had been in the Mid-State Conference, moved into the GMC Red. This would prove, though not immediately, to be a bad thing.

But a bad thing did happen the week of the Piscataway game: For the first time ever, an EB football player died during a season. Matt Black, a backup quarterback, was killed in a car crash on the Tuesday. (There was no substance abuse involved: It was just an accident.) The funeral was held on the Friday, and the game was pushed back to the Sunday. For the rest of the season, the "Bears" script decals on the right side of the helmets was replaced with a black Number 10 in Matt's memory.

EB and Madison were on a collision course. The Star-Ledger had Madison ranked Number 2 in the State. The Home News and The News Tribune had Madison ranked Number 1 in their polls, and EB Number 2. Over 5,000 people jammed into Lombardi Field for the Friday night showdown. Madison took a 7-0 lead, and held us to a field goal on our 1st possession. Had we scored a touchdown instead, who knows. But Madison scored again, and we drove again, setting up another field goal. If this one was good, it would have been 14-6 and we still would've been in it. Instead, it was missed, and it was 27-3 at the half. Madison ran up the score: The final was 55-3, the most definitive victory in the history of Middlesex County football.

The next week, we played a nonconference game with Bayonne, and it was essentially a Playoff game: The winner would almost certainly qualify, the loser would almost certainly not. We won, and the Bayonne players did not forget this. But making the Playoffs just meant another trip to Old Bridge, and another Spartan spanking, although it wasn't nearly as bad.

The October 16 game was played the day after Kirk Gibson's home run won Game 1 of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who went on to beat the Oakland Athletics in 5 games. The November 11 game was played the week that George Herbert Walker Bush was elected President.

1989: 4-5, .444
September 16, away to Cherokee: Lost 7-12.
September 22, home to Sayreville: Won 23-0.
September 29, away to Edison: Lost 0-8.
October 6, home to Perth Amboy: Lost 16-18.
October 14, away to Piscataway: Won 31-21.
October 20, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 14-0.
October 27, home to Madison Central: Won 10-9.
November 4, away to Bayonne: Lost 7-42.
November 11, away to Woodbridge: Lost 7-8.

The first half of the season was relatively quiet: Even the defeats were not particularly notable, except for the fact so many of the players who made the '86, '87 and '88 seasons near-great had graduated, leading to our first losing season in 6 years.

So we were heavy underdogs as we hosted Madison at Doyle Field, on the night that the World Series resumed 10 days after the earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area and interrupted it. (The Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants in 4 straight.) Madison came in with a 24-game winning streak, but a touchdown, and an extra point and a field goal by Ian Cairns -- who would later join the U.S. Army and do field reporting for the Home News Tribune from Afghanistan -- made the difference in an upset that felt about as good as any sporting event I've ever been to.

It didn't last. We went up to Bayonne to fulfill the home-and-home series, and not only did they pound us in their huge (by high school standards) stadium on the shore of a smelly Newark Bay, but they rubbed it in for the previous season's defeat, even starting a fight. They won that, too.

A week later, with the Berlin Wall having just fell, Woodbridge coach Mike Cilento left the field at Priscoe Stadium uncovered, so it was a sloppy mess, and we lost by 1 point, costing us a winning season. Still, we were a touchdown against Cherokee, and field goals against Amboy and Woodbridge, away from being 7-2.

EBHS football's best decade yet was over. But there was an empty feeling at the end. 

East Brunswick High School Football, the 1st 60 Years: Part III, 1980-84

 

The 1980s were a time when football at East Brunswick High School -- for a reason that I have never learned, also known as "Hollyrock High" as far back as 1977 -- became something very special. But not quite special enough.

As Ken Burns might have put it:

East Brunswick football has been played in 42 places. Near the South River, the Raritan River, the Millstone River, the Rahway River, the Elizabeth River, the Metedeconk River, the Manasquan River, the Maurice River, Farrington Lake, the Tennent Brook, the Bound Brook, the Green Brook, the Ambrose Brook, the Heathcote Brook, the Cranbury Brook, the Rock Brook, the Manalapan Brook, the McGellairds Brook, the Big Brook, Grovers Mill Pond, the Arthur Kill, Newark Bay, and the Hudson River.

UPDATE: Through the 2024 season, it's 46 places, and, having played away to Phillipsburg, add the Delaware River.

1980: 8-2, .800
September 27, home to Sayreville: Won 14-0.
October 4, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 14-7.
October 11, home to John F. Kennedy: Won 22-7.
October 18, away to Perth Amboy: Won 21-7.
October 25, home to Cedar Ridge: Won 22-7.
November 1, away to Edison: Won 19-7.
November 8, home to Madison Central: Lost 7-32.
November 15, away to Woodbridge: Won 38-21.
November 22, home to Raritan of Hazlet, Monmouth County: Lost 17-31.
November 27, away to Colonia: Won 23-0.

Madison's win over us, the week that Ronald Reagan was elected President, made the difference in the race for the Middlesex County Athletic Conference Championship. They ended up losing the Central Jersey Group III Championship to Hillsborough, which is now a Group V school.

But it didn't stop us from making the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs for the first time ever, largely thanks to running back Len Bellezza, who the Home News named its Middlesex County Player of the Year.

But things got really screwy. In our final game before the Playoff cutoff, we beat Woodbridge, to clinch the top seed and home-field advantage. Woodbridge qualified as the 4th seed. But because we had just played them, the NJSIAA said we couldn't play them in the Semifinal. So they rejiggered the pairings, and made us play 3rd-seeded Raritan High School.

And in the first Playoff game in EBHS history, we got beat by a team we weren't even supposed to play! (In a weird twist, EB coach George Tardiff would later coach Raritan to a Playoff berth.) Meanwhile, Woodbridge won their Semifinal, and beat Raritan 7-6 to take the CJ Group IV title. How's that for weird?

1981: 6-3, .667
September 26, away to Sayreville: Won 35-14.
October 3, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 13-21.

October 10, away to John F. Kennedy: Won 13-6.
October 17, home to Perth Amboy: Won 46-0.
October 23, away to Cedar Ridge: Lost 6-12.
October 31, home to Edison: Lost 22-28.
November 6, away to Madison Central: Won 19-17.
November 14, home to Woodbridge: Won 22-8.
November 26, home to Colonia: Won 29-21.

With a lot of really good players, including Bellezza, returning for their senior year, this was a season of high hopes for EB. But another tough loss to Stevens put our Playoff bid in jeopardy. Still, a win over Cedar Ridge, normally a formality, would take us a long way toward qualification. Instead, it rained all through the game, it was not rescheduled, Madison's field was a mess (Cedar Ridge never did build their own stadium), and we lost. We never lost to Cedar Ridge again.

This may also have been our first night game ever: Although Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick, home to NBHS (the 1967-2009 edition of their school was across Joyce Kilmer Avenue) and St. Peter's (which was closed in 1992) has had lights for a long time, I don't think we ever played under those lights until 2008.

The Halloween loss to Edison then ended our Playoff hopes, but the next week, we took our frustrations out on Madison, throwing the MCAC title to Stevens. Had the current system, with 8 teams making it from each section, been in place, we would have made it. Still, we were 2 touchdowns away from being 8-1.

The October 10 game was played the week that President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was assassinated. Ironically, the school we played that week was named for the assassinated John F. Kennedy. This was the last time we played JFK, as they joined the Bicentennial Conference the next schoolyear. (Ask not what scheduling the JFK Mustangs can do for you: It can hold down your power point totals.) So did Carteret, and we haven't played them since, either.

1982: 3-6, .333
September 25, away to Edison: Lost 0-6.
October 2, home to Madison Central: Lost 0-20.
October 9, home to Sayreville: Won 32-0.
October 16, away to Perth Amboy: Won 12-6.
October 23, home to Cedar Ridge: Won 28-0.
October 30, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 13-29.
November 6, away to Woodbridge: Lost 0-20.
November 13, home to Union: Lost 0-10.
November 25, away to Colonia: Lost 14-34.

The September 25 game remains the fewest points EB has ever allowed and still lost. Stevens had an undefeated season, winning the MCAC and Central Jersey Group IV titles. The Thanksgiving defeat at Colonia was the last for George Tardiff as head coach: He wasn't getting along with the administration, and resigned.

1983: 4-5, .444
September 24, home to Edison: Lost 0-20.
September 30, away to Madison Central: Lost 7-21.
October 8, away to Sayreville: Won 27-7.
October 15, home to Perth Amboy: Won 27-0.
October 21, away to Cedar Ridge: Won 21-0.
October 29, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 0-21.
November 5, home to Woodbridge: Lost 13-40.
November 12, away to Union: Lost 14-37.
November 24, home to Colonia: Won 21-7.

Came the revolution, although it was not apparent at first. Marcus Borden, a native of Western New York who'd played at Lehigh University, married a Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader (they were called the Liberty Belles in those days) and coached at the Lehigh Valley's Bethlehem Catholic H.S., came into East Brunswick, and saw a bunch of players who needed to bulk up. He built what's now known as the Free Weight Room across from the main gymnasium, and school weightlifting records were repeatedly broken by the increasingly strong players.

It would take a full year for his conditioning program to, pardon the pun, bear fruit. But it would produce one of the greatest combinations of team strength and team speed in the history of Middlesex County football.

The October 29 game came after terrorists blew up a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, and another group of Marines invaded Grenada. Woodbridge won the MCAC title. No one knew it at the time, but the Thanksgiving win over Colonia started what is still the longest winning streak EB football history.

1984: 10-1, .909
September 16, home to Brick Township: Won 34-27.
September 22, home to Madison Central: Won 28-13.
September 29, away to Edison: Won 21-14.
October 6, away to Perth Amboy: Won 42-14.
October 13, home to Woodbridge: Won 31-0.
October 20, home to Sayreville: Won 42-13.
October 27, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 26-6.
November 3, home to Cedar Ridge: Won 50-14.
November 17, home to Hunterdon Central of Flemington, Hunterdon County: Won 34-12.

November 22, home to Colonia: Won 33-27.

December 1, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 26-27.

I entered EBHS as a sophomore this fall, and what a time to do it. Brick went into that season opener ranked Number 1 in the entire State by The Star-Ledger. It was, at the time, the most points EB had ever allowed and still won.

The Bears -- wearing new helmet decals with "Bears" in script, with the paw-prints moved to the shoulders on the jerseys -- just kept rolling, and rolling. We went into the Sayreville game 5-0, and feeling unstoppable. At halftime, we were winning 40-6. The Sayreville band came out, and unfurled a banner reading "BURY THE BEAR." That's when I first heard the legendary chant: "Scoooooooore-booooooooard!" There are a few smart people from Sayreville, but they had nothing to do with their 1984 band.

We went up to Stevens and ruined their Homecoming in front of 5,000 stunned fans. But the key thing to remember is that their top running back, George Boothe, was injured and didn't play. A week later, we hung a half-dollar on Cedar Ridge. The following week, President Reagan was re-elected. We made the Playoffs, and beat a highly-regarded Hunterdon Central team, putting us in the Final, with a rematch against Stevens, which upset defending Central Jersey Group IV Champion Middletown North.

Then came the Thanksgiving clash at Colonia, to decide the MCAC title. It looked like a disaster at first, with 2 key players getting hurt, and a 3rd thrown out of the game due to his participation in a fight at the end of the 1st half.

But quarterback Steve Hughes, who was named Home News Player of the Year, rallied us back, and scored on a quarterback sneak in the last 30 seconds to win the game, win the Conference Championship, clinch our first (and still only) undefeated regular season, and keep our hopes for an undefeated entire season alive. It may be the greatest game in EBHS football history. Certainly, it was the greatest comeback, if not the biggest one.

The fight was hardly our fault: At the time, Colonia were the Oakland Raiders or the Philadelphia Flyers of Middlesex County football. A year later, they made the Central Jersey Group III Final against Franklin, playing at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, and started a fight. Not smart: At the time, Colonia was considered the ritzy part of Woodbridge, while most of the Franklin players were black and lived in garden apartments that were barely a step up from the New Brunswick ghetto that a lot of their parents grew up in.

Because this happened in a State Final, Colonia football became, as far as I know, one of only 2 Middlesex County high school sports programs to ever get put on probation by the NJSIAA. The other was St. Peter's of New Brunswick, which got caught trying to recruit football players. In Monroe. Today, it would be understandable; at the time, Monroe, then the newest high school in Middlesex County, absolutely stunk in football, so it was a poor choice. St. Peter's never recovered, their enrollment dropped, and the Diocese closed the school.

Funny, but the NJSIAA never punished St. Joseph's of Metuchen for recruiting so many athletes from East Brunswick that they were then nicknamed "E.B. Catholic." I don't know too of many Catholics named Shapiro, do you? The one I do know of was a great soccer player at Hammarskjold, but he went to the wrong Green & White.

The Central Jersey Group IV Final, in front of an overflow crowd at Jay Doyle Field. December 1, 1984. A date which lives in E.B. infamy. George Boothe was healthy again for Stevens, which was loaded with junior talent (including Boothe) and was looking to next year until this golden opportunity. EB, by now ranked Number 2 in the State behind Union, led 20-19 at the half, but early in the 4th quarter, Boothe took the ball and ran to his left and surged down the sideline. The end-around is a play that EB has never been able to stop since. It is our Gridiron Kiss of Death: I don't know how many times I've seen us lose games because of it. Stevens got the 2-point conversion, and led 27-20.

With a minute and a half to go, Hughes got us a touchdown to make it 27-26. At the beginning of the calendar year, University of Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, rather than kick an extra point for a tie against the University of Miami in the Orange Bowl, thus assuring an undefeated season, went for a place in history, and the 2-pointer failed.

Unlike Osborne, Borden had the rule that allowed him to kick the tying extra point and try to win it in overtime. Instead, he went for the 2-pointer. The time was 3:37 PM. You think I'm ever going to forget that? Deric Rowe was wide open in the corner of the end zone. Hughes threw the easiest pass you'll ever see. I could have caught it. Instead, because (he said) he was looking into the Sun, Rowe muffed it: It hit him right in the chest, and fell through his arms to the ground. Although we got the ball back once more, and Hughes was able to throw one last desperation pass, 11-0 and a place in history was denied us.

A few weeks later, we hosted St. Joseph's in basketball. They beat us. That pissed me off. What really pissed me off is that their fans, seeing Rowe as a basketball player, taunted him with songs about his miscue. I yelled, "How many games did YOUR football team win?" The answer, of course, was zero, because St. Joe's was too chicken to play football. (In fact, they didn't play their first-ever varsity football game until 2011.)

East Brunswick High School Football, the 1st 60 Years: Part II, 1970-79

As Ken Burns might have put it:

East Brunswick football has been played in 42 places. Off New Jersey Routes 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 35, 49, 70, 73, 79, 82 and 440. Off U.S. Routes 1, 9, 22, 130 and 206. Off Interstates 95, 195 and 287. Off the New Jersey Turnpike, and off the Garden State Parkway. And, of course, off New Jersey Route 18.

UPDATE: Through the 2024 season, it's 46 places, and add Interstate 78.

1970: 6-2-1, .722

September 26, home to Madison: Tied 14-14.
October 3, away to Woodbridge: Lost 7-32.
October 10, home to South River: Won 39-0.
October 17, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 14-29.
October 24, away to Perth Amboy: Won 24-6.
October 31, away to Cedar Ridge: Won 29-0.
November 7, away to John F. Kennedy: Won 28-9.
November 14, home to New Brunswick: Won 18-10.
November 21, away to Sayreville: Won 24-6.

This season made it six straight Conference Championships. And a 2nd Halloween Bowl. We were 1 field goal away from 7-2.

1971: 5-3-1, .611

September 25, away to Madison: Tied 14-14.
October 2, home to Woodbridge: Lost 12-14.
October 9, away to Cedar Ridge: Won 33-0.
October 16, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 27-6.

October 23, home to Carteret: Lost 6-27.

October 30, away to Thomas Jefferson of Elizabeth, Union County: Won 22-18.
November 6, away to South River: Won 27-0.
November 13, away to New Brunswick: Won 58-0.
November 20, home to Sayreville: Lost 20-22.

This was the first season of the Middlesex County Athletic Conference (MCAC). JFK won the first Conference Title. We were 3 field goals away from 8-1.

The Conference Championship streak ended in ignominious fashion. My sophomore English teacher was Bill Munyan, who was the longtime EBHS football statistician. He told me that the first time we ever lost to Sayreville -- and it would be the only time we would lose to them in our first 30 seasons of football -- was on a safety caused by a bad snap on a punt attempt.

The all-boys Thomas Jefferson High School and the all-girls Battin High School were consolidated into a new Elizabeth High School in 1977, making it the New Jersey high school with the largest enrollment. After a 2009 restructuring by their Board of Education, EHS was split up into campuses, and the former TJHS building has been converted into their arts and performing arts campus.

This was the only season in which South River had a winning record but was beaten by East Brunswick. Oddly, their leading receiver was Frank Noppenberger, who became East Brunswick's most successful boys basketball coach, and then its athletic director.

1972: 7-1-1, .833

September 23, home to Madison: Won 37-6.
September 30, away to Woodbridge: Won 19-13.
October 7, home to Cedar Ridge: Won 27-11.
October 14, away to J.P. Stevens: Won 27-7.
October 21, away to Carteret: Won 46-6.
October 28, away to Thomas Jefferson: Won 20-6.
November 4, home to South River: Lost 14-35.

November 11, home to New Brunswick: Tied 0-0.
November 18, away to Sayreville: Won 41-14.

This was the first season that the block EB logo appeared on our helmets. The November 11 game was played the week that President Nixon was re-elected. The November 18 game clinched EB's 1st MCAC Championship and 2nd Central Jersey Group IV Co-Championship. We were a field goal away from 8-1.

It would be a long, agonizing, gut-wrenching wait for another. Students and graduates of schools that won "State Championships" from 1974 onward would remind EB people that, "You've never won a State Championship." What they meant was, we'd never won a State Championship under the Playoff format.

Athletic director and wrestling coach Jay Doyle died on December 29, 1972. When the new season began, the stadium was named in his memory.

1973: 6-3, .667
September 22, home to Perth Amboy: Won 39-8.
September 29, home to John F. Kennedy: Lost 14-18.
October 5, away to Cedar Ridge: Lost 0-21.
October 13, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 23-28.
October 20, away to New Brunswick: Won 41-0.
October 27, away to Madison: Won 6-0.
November 3, away to Essex Catholic: Won 20-0.
November 10, away to South River: Won 13-6.
November 17, home to Sayreville: Won 33-0.

A strange season on the field. The October 5 game was the first time we ever lost to Cedar Ridge, which took an undefeated season into their final game, on Thanksgiving, against Madison at Madison's stadium, by now renamed Vince Lombardi Field for the legendary Packer coach. (Not sure why: Although he coached a high school team in Kearny, his wife was from Red Bank and they are buried in Middletown, he appears to have had no connection to the town now known as Old Bridge.) But Cedar Ridge needed a last-minute field goal to win 17-15 to clinch their undefeated season, the MCAC Title, and the last Central Jersey Group IV Championship before the Playoff system was put into place. It was a little embarrassing, as Madison, the older school, had not yet won any championship. Nor had they had an undefeated season. (Then again, we still haven't.)

Further strangeness: Within 2 weeks of each other, on October 13, EB set a school record (which we have since broken) for most points scored, but still losing; and then, on October 27, we set a school record (which still stands) for fewest points scored, but still winning.

The game against Essex Catholic, at the old Newark City Schools Stadium, remains the only game we have ever played in Essex County.

It was also a strange season off the field. Due to East Brunswick's large Jewish community, observing Yom Kippur, the game scheduled for Saturday afternoon, October 6, was moved to Friday night, October 5. This was possible because, along with Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick, Vince Lombardi Field at what was then Madison Township High School had lights, and Cedar Ridge groundshared with them, because they didn't have their own stadium. On October 6, Egypt began the Yom Kippur War that took up much of the month before Israel won.

On October 10, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned due to a criminal conviction and the Mets won the National League Pennant. On October 20, President Nixon ordered what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre. On November 17, at a press conference during a "working vacation" at Disney World, Nixon told the media, asking him about Watergate, "I welcome this sort of an examination, because people have gotta know whether or not their President is a crook! Well, I am not a crook!" By the time EBHS played another varsity football game, Gerald Ford would be President.

We were 2 touchdowns away from 8-1.

1974: 6-3, .667
September 28, away to Perth Amboy: Won 39-7.
October 5, away to John F. Kennedy: Lost 14-16.
October 12, home to Cedar Ridge: Won 21-20.
October 19, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 22-28.
October 26, home to New Brunswick: Won 27-8.
November 2, home to Madison: Won 26-21.
November 9, away to Brick Township of Brick, Ocean County: Lost 8-21.
November 16, home to South River: Won 8-7.
November 23, away to Sayreville: Won 13-12.

This was the first season that the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) held Playoffs to determine State Sectional Champions. EB's loss to Brick was no fluke: In the first high school playoff game ever held in New Jersey, on a shortened field at what's now called Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Brick came from behind to beat Camden and finish a 12-0 season.

We were a field goal against JFK and a touchdown against Stevens from being 8-1.

1975: 4-5, .444
September 20 , home to Sayreville: Won 12-6.
September 27, away to Cedar Ridge: Lost 14-22.
October 4, away to Madison: Lost 13-19.
October 11, home to Colonia of Woodbridge: Lost 13-14.
October 18, away to South River: Won 39-14.
October 25, away to Edison: Won 14-6.
November 1, home to Brick Township: Lost 10-14.
November 8, home to Perth Amboy: Won 28-0.
November 15, away to John F. Kennedy: Lost 11-15.

This was the Bears' first losing season in 13 years, since EBHS football was still effectively an "expansion team." We were 1 touchdown each against Madison, Brick and JFK, and a field goal against Colonia, away from being 8-1.

This was the year the NJSIAA expanded its Playoff system to include the top 4 teams in each section: North Jersey Section I (the Counties of Sussex, Passaic, Bergen and Hudson), North Jersey Section II (Warren, Morris, Essex and Union), Central Jersey (Hunterdon, Somerset, Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth) and South Jersey (Ocean, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May). These sectional boundaries would later be redrawn.

On November 5, after EB played Madison, the Township of Madison, tired of being confused with Madison Borough in Morris County, changed the name of the town to the Township of Old Bridge. But instead of making their original high school "Old Bridge High School" at this time, they made it "Madison Central High School." At any rate, this was the only season that both Old Bridge high schools beat EB in the same season. It was also the only season, besides, 1973, that Cedar Ridge ever beat Madison on Thanksgiving.

The October 11 game was played a few hours before the series premiere of Saturday Night Live. The October 25 game was played the week the classic 1975 World Series ended, with Carlton Fisk waving his arms in the hopes that his drive down the left field line would stay fair, and it hit the foul pole to win Game 6 for the Boston Red Sox, before the Cincinnati Reds won Game 7 the next night.

The November 1 game was played the week of 2 weird events in New York City: President Ford refused a federal bailout of the City's desperate finances, leading the Daily News to print its most famous headline: FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD. After the City government made some concessions, Ford decided they were serious, and he changed his mind, but the headline stuck in people's minds, and Ford lost the State of New York a year later, one of several things that cost him a very close election.

A few days later, the New York Rangers made 2 big trades: Sending Jean Ratelle and Brad Park to the Boston Bruins for Phil Esposito, and sending goalie Eddie Giacomin to the Detroit Red Wings. As fate would have it, the Rangers' next game was at home against Detroit, and fans chanted Eddie's name during pregame introductions and cheered his every save and the Wings' win.

1976: 2-6-1, .278
September 18, away to Colonia: Lost 8-20.
September 25, home to Madison Central of Old Bridge: Lost 0-12.
October 2, home to Edison: Lost 6-17.
October 9, home to Cedar Ridge: Won 17-6.
October 16, home to John F. Kennedy: Tied 6-6.
October 23, away to Woodbridge: Lost 0-38.
October 30, away to Brick Township: Lost 0-29.
November 6, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 14-27.
November 13, away to Sayreville: Won 25-6.

EB's worst season yet, not counting its "expansion" years. Coach Mel Caseiro took the fall, and was fired, although he remained a science teacher at EBHS until retiring, and was hired to coach the linebackers at Rutgers University.

This was also the year that the MCAC's smaller schools broke away and formed a new league with other similarly-sized schools. Because it was America's 200th Anniversary, the league became known as the Bicentennial Athletic Conference (BAC). Never again would EB play former arch-rival South River -- not in football, anyway; there would be meetings in other sports, and even then mainly in County Tournament play. Nor would we play New Brunswick again for many years.

The November 6 game was played the week that Jimmy Carter was elected President.

1977: 5-2-2, .667
September 17, home to Sayreville: Won 35-0.
September 24, home to Colonia: Won 14-8.
October 1, away to Madison Central: Won 28-0.
October 8, away to Edison: Won 20-0.
October 15, away to Cedar Ridge: Won 41-7.
October 22, away to John F. Kennedy: Tied 6-6.
October 29, away to Woodbridge: Tied 0-0.
November 5, home to Brick Township: Lost 7-13.
November 12, away to J.P. Stevens: Lost 0-14.

George Tardiff was hired as head coach, and it looked like a great hire: The team won its 1st 5 games, and was undefeated in its 1st 7. The failure to kick an extra point against JFK, get any kind of score against Woodbridge, find a 2nd touchdown against mighty Brick, or beat a Stevens team that ended up winning the MCAC and Central Jersey Group IV Championships, doomed EB to miss the Playoffs. So we were not that far away from an 8-0 start. Had the current system, with 8 teams making it from each section, been in place, we would have made it.

The October 15 game was played the day of Game 4 of the World Series, in which the Yankees would beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, to win World Series for the first time in 15 years, thanks to Reggie Jackson's 3 home runs in Game 6.

1978: 7-2, .778
September 23, away Perth Amboy: Lost 0-8.
September 30, home to Madison Central: Won 9-0.
October 7, home to Cedar Ridge: Won 9-0.
October 14, away to Woodbridge: Won 14-6.
October 21, home to Carteret: Won 21-6.
October 28, home to Edison: Won 20-0.
November 4, away to Brick Township: Won 14-7.
November 11, home to J.P. Stevens: Lost 13-31.
November 23, away to Colonia: Won 15-10.

This was the first season of EB's best-ever helmet design, with the bear-paw prints. It was also the first time we played a regularly-scheduled Thanksgiving game, and we won it. Why Colonia? Just about everybody else in the MCAC already had a Thanksgiving rival, including the other 2 Woodbridge schools, Woodbridge and JFK, who played each other. That left Colonia with nobody to play with, so we filled the gap.

Unfortunately, it was our last game of the season, because our loss to Stevens (who again won the MCAC and Central Jersey Group IV titles) left us on the outside looking in as far as Playoff qualification was concerned. Again, had the current system been in place, we would have made it.

At the time, in addition to Woodbridge-JFK, the rivalries were: Perth Amboy vs. Carteret, Highland Park vs. Metuchen, Edison vs. Stevens, St. Thomas Aquinas of Edison (which became Bishop George Ahr in 1984 and changed their name back in 2019) vs. St. Pius X of Piscataway (which was closed in 1991), North Brunswick vs. South Brunswick, South River vs. Sayreville (SR's former T-Day rivalry with New Brunswick having been ended) and Madison Central vs. Cedar Ridge. 

The September 30 game was played 3 days before the Yankees and Red Sox played the Playoff game remembered for Bucky Dent's home run. The October 14 game was played on the day of Game 4 of the World Series, and the Yanks would win the Series over the Dodgers in Game 6.

1979: 3-5-1, .389
September 22, home to Perth Amboy: Lost 6-8.
September 29, away to Madison Central: Lost 0-31.
October 6, away to Cedar Ridge: Won 18-6.
October 13, home to Woodbridge: Won 24-7.
October 20, away to Carteret: Tied 7-7.
October 27, away to Edison: Lost 17-26.
November 3, home to Brick Township: Lost 0-21.
November 10, home to J.P. Stevens: Won 7-2.
November 22, home to Colonia: Lost 14-20.

The November 3 game was played the day before Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took hostages. We were field goals against Amboy and Carteret, and a touchdown against Colonia, away from being 6-3.

East Brunswick High School Football, the 1st 60 Years: Part I, 1961-69

From the 1967 EBHS Yearbook

Tonight, at 7:00, the 61st season of East Brunswick High School football kicks off, making this the day to present the 60th Anniversary retrospective.

Unfortunately, it will not be a home game at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick. Rather, it will be an away game. And, due to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association's desire to eliminate Thanksgiving Day games in favor of their Playoffs, that day's neighborhood rivalry games have been moved back to the opening week. So we open away to our nastiest rivals, Old Bridge.

In honor of the 60th Anniversary of the Bears' varsity football debut, I present the complete record. Starting with the first decade.

As Ken Burns might have put it:

East Brunswick football has been played in 42 places. In Carteret, Highland Park, South River, Sayreville, Somerville, Middlesex, Bridgewater, Union Township, Piscataway, Hamilton, Millville, Perth Amboy, Woodbridge, Edison, Princeton, Elizabeth, Newark, Brick, Evesham, Bayonne, West Windsor, Monroe, Manalapan, Marlboro, Flemington, Jackson, Ewing, Howell, Plainsboro, Montgomery, Hillsborough, Old Bridge, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, and South Brunswick. And, of course, in East Brunswick.

Mostly, in Middlesex County. But also in Somerset County, Union County, Essex County, Ocean County, Burlington County, Hudson County, Monmouth County, Hunterdon County, and as far away as Cumberland County. But, always, in New Jersey.

UPDATE: Through the 2024 season, make it 46 places, also including Freehold Township, Franklin, Toms River and Phillipsburg; and add Warren County.

In the chart below, "H" means a home game, "A" means away. Each time an opponent is played for the 1st time, I mention their municipality and County.

1961: 4-4 (Won 4, Lost 4, for a winning percentage of) .500

September 23, away to Carteret of Carteret, Middlesex County: Won 7-0.
October 7, home to Middlesex of Middlesex, Middlesex County: Won 32-0.
October 14, home to Bridgewater-Raritan of Bridgewater, Somerset County: Lost 0-14.
October 21, away to Highland Park of Highland Park, Middlesex County: Lost 0-25.
October 28, home to Union of Union. Union County: Lost 6-28.
November 4, away to South River of South River, Middlesex County: Lost 0-26.
November 11, home to Piscataway of Piscataway, Middlesex County: Won 19-0.
November 18, away to Sayreville War Memorial of Sayreville, Middlesex County: Won 27-0

For the 1st 2 seasons, the football coach was James F. "Jay" Doyle, who was also the school's first athletic director and its first wrestling coach.

The 1st game was won in the last 4 minutes, on a 2-yard quarterback sneak by Bill Gruver. For the 1st 5 seasons, EBHS played on a field at the high school, which had opened in 1958, located behind the gym, where what my generation of EBHS students knew as "the practice field," but after renovations is no longer.

Between the September 23 and October 7 games, Roger Maris of the nearby New York Yankees broke the single-season home run record with 61. The week of the October 14 game, the Yankees won the World Series, beating the Cincinnati Reds. In the following off-season, the nearby New York Mets made their debut.

At the time, EBHS was a Group III school, and was playing schools that were, at the time, roughly the same size in terms of enrollment. Some of these schools, like EBHS, got bigger; others got smaller, and as a result were regrouped into leagues, some later into Divisions of the Greater Middlesex Conference, where they faced mostly schools in their same Group.

South River had been the school to which most high school students from East Brunswick had been sent, and became our first arch-rival.

In 1966, Bridgewater-Raritan became Bridgewater-Raritan West, or "B-R West," when B-R East was formed. B-R East was the school that hosted the 1986 Central Jersey Group IV basketball championship game, which EB won, beating Franklin. The two schools were reconsolidated in 1995, as B-R West, the old BRHS, the Golden Falcons, became the new BRHS, with new colors and a new mascot, the Panthers. B-R East, the Minutemen, became a middle school.

For simplicity's sake, hereafter, Sayreville War Memorial High School will be listed as simply "Sayreville."

1962: 2-7, .222
September 15, home to Carteret: Lost 0-13.
September 22, away to Somerville of Somerville, Somerset County: Lost 7-28.
October 6, away to Middlesex: Lost 6-8.
October 13, away to Bridgewater-Raritan: Won 12-7.
October 20, home to Highland Park: Lost 6-7.
October 27, away to Union: Lost 7-27.
November 3, home to South River: Lost 13-32.
November 10, away to Piscataway: Lost 0-19.
November 17, home to Sayreville: Won 13-12.

The Yankees won the World Series the week of the October 20 game, beating the San Francisco Giants. The October 27 game was played during the Cuban Missile Crisis. As bad as it was, the team was 2 field goals away from being 4-5.

1963: 5-2-2, .667
September 28, home to Union: Tied 0-0.
October 5, home to Somerville: Lost 13-33.
October 12, away to Hamilton of Hamilton, Mercer County: Won 20-6.
October 19, home to Bridgewater-Raritan: Won 27-21.
October 26, away to Millville of Millville, Cumberland County: Lost 20-24.
November 2, home to Woodbridge of Woodbridge, Middlesex County: Won 26-12.

November 9, away to South River: Tied 6-6.

November 16, away to Madison Township of Madison, Middlesex County: Won 41-15.

November 28, home to Sayreville: Won 13-12.

Ron "Rock" Gonier became the EBHS football coach, as Doyle cut back to being just AD and wrestling coach. The team was a touchdown against Millville and a field goal each against Union and South River from being 8-1, in only their 3rd season of play.

Hamilton, to the east of Trenton, is also known as Hamilton West. The town now has 3 high schools, the others being Steinert, a.k.a. Hamilton East; and Nottingham, a.k.a. Hamilton North.

Millville remains EBHS' longest-ever football roadtrip: 95 miles. EBHS has never played a team from outside the State of New Jersey. The same day that this game was played, Madison Township High School, the forerunner of the school now known as Old Bridge, was in its first season of varsity football, and played Edison at EBHS, due to their own field not being ready.

The November 28 game had been scheduled for November 23, but was postponed due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the day before. As a result, for the first time, EBHS played football on Thanksgiving Day. A native of Long Island, where Thanksgiving Day football had never taken hold, Jay Doyle was against the idea.

1964: 6-3, .667
September 26, away to Woodbridge: Won 20-6.

October 3, away to Perth Amboy of Perth Amboy, Middlesex County: Lost 0-14.
October 10, home to Ewing of Ewing, Mercer County: Won 12-8.
October 17, away to Bridgewater-Raritan: Won 34-0.
October 24, home to Madison: Lost 14-20.
October 31, home to Edison of Edison, Middlesex County: Won 29-0.
November 7, home to South River: Won 14-7.
November 14, home to New Brunswick of New Brunswick, Middlesex County: Lost 0-19.
November 21, away to Sayreville: Won 19-7.

The EBHS football schedule begins to resemble the kind we're used to, as Perth Amboy and Edison appear for the first time, as Woodbridge and Madison/Old Bridge did the year before.

The October 31 game was the first time that EB played on Halloween. The next game, the first time that we beat South River, was played the week that President Lyndon B. Johnson was elected to a full term.

A touchdown against Madison away from being 7-2.

1965: 6-3
September 25, away to Steinert of Hamilton, Mercer County: Lost 12-13.
October 2, home to Perth Amboy: Lost 6-14.
October 9, away to John F. Kennedy of Woodbridge: Won 21-13.
October 16, home to Bridgewater-Raritan: Won 13-6.
October 23, away to Madison: Won 13-20.
October 30, away to Edison: Won 28-13.
November 6, away to South River: Won 21-12.

November 13, home to New Brunswick: Lost 7-33.
November 20, away to Sayreville: Won 27-13.

Now a Group IV school, EBHS is placed in what is then known as the Greater Jersey Group IV Conference, Central Division II, and wins its first Conference Championship.

A 4,000-seat stadium opened for this season, and in the first game, EB lost to Perth Amboy. In 1973, following the death of Jay Doyle, that stadium was renamed Jay Doyle Field.

The November 13 game was played the week of the Great Northeast Blackout, a.k.a. The Night the Lights Went Out. Of course, in those days, no Middlesex County high school had lights at their football field except for Memorial Stadium in New Brunswick, and the blackout happened on a Tuesday night, so by the weekend it wasn't going to be a problem.

Woodbridge was in the process of building its 2nd high school when JFK was killed, and so they named it after him, much as EB was building its first junior high school in 1961 when United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash, and named it after him. So JFKHS in Woodbridge didn't have a name before JFK was assassinated.

Had we made our extra points against Steinert, we would have been 7-2.

1966: 7-1-1, .833
September 24, home to Madison: Won 35-6.
October 1, away to Woodbridge: Tied 0-0.

October 8, home to South River: Lost 0-27.

October 15, away to Edison: Won 34-12.
October 22, away to Perth Amboy: Won 13-6.
October 29, home to Essex Catholic of Newark, Essex County: Won 32-14.
November 5, home to John F. Kennedy: Won 26-0.

November 12, away to New Brunswick: Won 31-21.
November 19, home to Sayreville Won 33-0.

I talked to Wayne Beck Jr., an EBHS baseball player, whose father Wayne Beck Sr. played in the October 1 game. Wayne Jr. said his father told him that it poured that day, and that Woodbridge Stadium (now Nicholas A. Priscoe Stadium) was practically a field of soup.

The next game was a foreshadowing. EB had Dave Wohl at quarterback, and he would go on to become the first (and still only) EBHS graduate to play in the NBA. South River's quarterback was senior Joe Theismann (then pronounced "THEEZE-man," it was at Notre Dame where it was changed to "THIGHS-man" to rhyme with the Heisman Trophy he ended up not winning), and his top receiver was sophomore Drew Pearson, who succeeded him as SRHS quarterback, and then opposed Theismann in some classic Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys games.

In spite of this rough start, EB won the rest of their games, winning the Conference Championship and, due to their record, winning a share of their 1st Central Jersey Group IV Championship. Our first "State Championship." That November 19 clincher against Sayreville was played the same day as the Michigan State-Notre Dame Number 1 vs. Number 2 tie game that was labeled "The Game of the Century."

Essex Catholic was established in Newark in 1957, moved to East Orange in 1980, and was closed due to declining enrollment in 2003.

1967: 6-3, .667
September 23, away to Madison: Won 27-0.
September 30, home to Woodbridge: Won 14-0.
October 7, away to South River: Lost 14-25.
October 14, home to Edison: Won 9-8.
October 21, home to Perth Amboy: Won 18-13.
October 28, away to Princeton of Princeton, Mercer County: Lost 13-20.
November 4, away to John F. Kennedy: Lost 14-18.
November 11, away to New Brunswick: Won 20-6
November 18, away to Sayreville: Won 41-0.

This season made it three straight Conference Championships. The October 21 game was played on the day of a major antiwar demonstration in Washington that included the supposed "levitation" of the Pentagon. It was also the day of the famous photo of the man in the sweater sticking a flower down the barrel of a soldier's rifle.

From November 14, 1965 to October 28, 1967, East Brunswick was 0-2 vs. South River, and 12-0-1 against everyone else.

1968: 6-3, .667
September 28, home to Madison: Won 18-6.
October 5, away to Woodbridge: Won 19-13.
October 12, home to South River: Lost 14-48.
October 19, away to Edison: Won 26-7.
October 26, away to Perth Amboy: Won 35-14.
November 2, home to Princeton: Won 20-13.
November 9, away to John F. Kennedy: Lost 14-18.
November 16, away to New Brunswick: Won 20-6.
November 23, away to Sayreville: Won 41-0.

Ron Gonier resigned as coach to concentrate on teaching (math), and assistant coach Mel Caseiro (who also taught science, and whose brother John was a vice principal) became head coach. He kept the program strong, winning a fourth straight Conference Championship. He also gave us our first helmet design, putting green stickers with the player's uniform number on each side. Previously, the helmets were blank white with a green stripe down the middle.

Between the October 12 and 19 games, the Olympics in Mexico City featured the raised-fist protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Bob Beamon's record-breaking long jump, Al Oerter winning a 4th straight Gold Medal in the discus throw, Dick Fosbury revolutionizing the high jump with "the Fosbury Flop," and George Foreman winning the Gold Medal in heavyweight boxing. The November 9 game was played the week that Richard Nixon was elected President.

A touchdown vs. JFK away from being 7-2.

1969: 6-3, .667
September 27, away to Madison: Won 30-13.
October 4, home to Woodbridge: Lost 8-14.
October 11, away to South River: Lost 6-24.
October 18, home to John P. Stevens of Edison: Lost 20-27.
October 25, home to Perth Amboy: Won 33-8.
November 1, away to Cedar Ridge of Madison: Won 64-0.
November 8, home to John F. Kennedy: Won 19-0.
November 15, away to New Brunswick: Won 42-8.
November 22, home to Sayreville: Won 37-0.

EB was now the winner of five straight Conference Championships. With the addition of John P. Stevens H.S., a 2nd school for Edison, and Cedar Ridge, a 2nd school for Old Bridge, the EBHS football schedule begins to look even more familiar to those who attended in the 1970s and (in my case) '80s. Cedar Ridge never built its own field, instead groundsharing at Madison.

Stevens was President of the Edison Board of Education, and as such his name appears on the dedication plaques of both the school named for him and crosstown Edison H.S. For simplicity's sake, from here on out, the school's name will be listed the way its people usually list it: "J.P. Stevens."

The October 11 game was played the day of Game 1 of the World Series between the Mets and the Baltimore Orioles. The Mets won the Series on October 16.

The November 1 game remains both the most points EB have ever scored in a football game, and also their win with the biggest margin. The November 15 game was played on Mobilization Day, when 500,000 people attended an antiwar demonstration in Washington.

A touchdown vs. Woodbridge away from being 7-2.

Part II will follow later today.

Yankees Survive 4-Game Losing Streak as Hurricane Ida Strikes

The Yankees had a 13-game winning streak, then they lost the next 2 games against the Oakland Athletics. Then they went down to Anaheim to play the (pardon me) Los Angeles Angels.

Corey Kluber made his return from injury. He should have been given 2 more rehab starts in the minor leagues. Over the 1st 3 innings, he allowed no runs, no hits, and just 1 walk. But he was not ready to go 4 innings: In the bottom of the 4th, he struck out the 1st batter, then allowed single, single, RBI single, flyout, walk, 3-run homer, single, flyout. He turned a 2-0 Yankee lead into a 5-2 Angel lead.

The Yankees tied it back up in the top of the 5th. But Aaron Boone brought Andrew Heaney in to pitch, and he gave the lead right back, on a home run by the Flavor of the Month, Shohei Ohtani. He gave up 2 more runs in the bottom of the 6th.

Anthony Rizzo led off the top of the 7th with a walk, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run to tie the game. But Wandy Peralta let the go-ahead run on in the bottom of the 8th, and Clay Holmes let him score.

The Yankees went down quietly in the top of the 9th. Angels 8, Yankees 7. WP: Junior Guerra (5-2). SV: Raisel Iglesias (28). LP: Peralta (4-3).

*

Jameson Taillon started the Tuesday game, and had nothing. He allowed 6 runs without getting out of the 5th inning. Joely Rodriguez and Lucas Luetge were great the rest of the way, but it was for naught. Rizzo and Gary Sanchez hit home runs, but it was in vain. Angels 6, Yankees 4. WP: Jimmy Herget (1-1). SV: Iglesias (29). LP: Taillon (8-5).

So, now, after winning 13 straight, by doing the sort of things they should have been doing all season long, they had lost 4 straight by doing the things that they were doing before the streak: Swinging at horrible pitches, hitting into double plays, giving up home runs.

What's worse, the Tampa Bay Rays kept winning. When the Yankees won 13 straight, they only gained 2 1/2 games on the Rays. When they lost 4 straight, they lost 4 games on the Rays.

The Yankees badly needed a turnaround game. They needed a great pitching performance, and they needed to back it up with runs.

*

They had the right man on the mound: Gerrit Cole pitched 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits, no walks, and struck out 15. He became only the 3rd Yankee ever to strike out 15 or more without walking a batter. And not a speck of "Spider Tack" in sight. Oddly, the other 2 were also recent: Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda.

He got all the support he would need in the top of the 3rd, and it was a timely 2-out rally. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you -- but if you're the team drawing them, they can save you. DJ LeMahieu drew one. Rizzo singled. Aaron Judge drew another walk to loaded the bases. And Luke Voit singled home DJLM and Rizzo.

The Yankees picked up another run in the 4th, on an RBI single by Brett Gardner; and another in the 8th, on a home run by Judge. Jonathan Loasiga pitched a perfect 8th, and Aroldis Chapman went against his pattern by pitching a breezy 9th.

Yankees 4, Angels 1. WP: Cole (14-6). SV: Chapman (25). LP: Packy Naughton (0-1). And the Rays finally lost, dropping the Yankee deficit to 7 games.

*

The Yankees came home today, to a New York Tri-State Area hit hard by Hurricane Ida. On the YES Network, footage was shown of a Yankee Stadium field that was flooded. Fortunately, the best drainage system in MLB will have the field ready to go tomorrow night, as the hapless Baltimore Orioles come in.

But there was also footage of streets in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island getting flooded. And of water cascading down the steps leading into Subway stations. Here in New Jersey, there were tornadoes, and my hometown's main highway had to be closed due to flooding, although my neighborhood was spared.

Philadelphia was hit even harder. The Vine Street Expressway, Interstate 676, connecting the Ben Franklin Bridge with West Philadelphia and running below street level just to the north of Center City, was flooded. The Delaware River has decent protections against flooding, but the Schuylkill River does not, and the water almost rose to the level of the bridges crossing it. Boathouse Row got flooded. The Philadelphia Zoo is just to the north of Boathouse Row, but was lucky, only having to have a delayed opening.

The Rutgers football team was supposed to open its season at home tonight, against Philadelphia's Temple University. The game was postponed to Saturday, not because of problems at our end, but at theirs: The Temple program needed the extra time to get their things together.

Hurricane Ida had already clobbered Louisiana and Mississippi harder than anything had since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The New Orleans Saints moved their regular-season opener from the Superdome to TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Unlike with Katrina, the Superdome itself was not damaged, but power is still out in New Orleans, and is not expected to be restored in time to host the game.