Joe Ascolese, the Watchung Hills football team's Offensive Coordinator who has spent nearly two decades on the program's staff over two stints, has been named the Warrriors' new head coach, following the recent departure of Rich Suebert. The move was approved Tuesday night by the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education, according to Athletic Director Dan Root. Ascolese has been the team's OC since 2019, and also was with the program as an assistant from 2005 through 2015.

After retiring from football with the New York Giants in his mid-30s with a Super Bowl ring on his finger, Wisconsin native Rich Seubert and his family moved to California for a few years, where he coached a little football at the high school level. But eventually, he came back to the East Coast, returning to New Jersey, and started coaching the offensive line at Watchung Hills.

Former Woodbridge standout Anthony Nyers is the new head coach of the JFK football program, after his hire was approved by the Woodbridge Board of Education last Thursday night. The Woodbridge Board of Ed oversees all three district high schools, including Kennedy, Colonia, and Woodbridge. Nyers had spent the past year working as the wide receivers' coach and Offensive Coordinator at Westfield under Matt Andzel, who just wrapped up his second season as the successor to Jim DeSarno.

High school football is at it again. According to a report out Thursday from Shore Sports Insider (formerly Shore Sports Network), the NJSIAA's Leagues and Conferences committee has recommended that the NJSIAA move back to snaking playoff brackets in each section, rather than splitting them up geographically. Snaked brackets are intended to "balance" them. In that process, when the top 16 in North and South in each group are determined, teams are placed into sections with, for example, the top overall seed in Central, then seeds 2 and 3 in South, then 4 and 5 in Central, 6 and 7 in South, and so on.

When John Hack took the head coaching job at Voorhees two years ago, he told his athletic director the only other job he'd ever take would be in the his own home district, where he and his family live, up at Mendham. Two years later, that's where he's headed. Hack was approved Monday night by the West Morris-Mendham Board of Education to be the new head football coach at Mendham, replacing Ethan Jeros, who was brought back following a 4-6 season.

After three seasons leading the JFK football program, Mike Henderson handed in his resignation on Monday to spend more time with his family. Henderson confirmed the news to Central Jersey Sports Radio this week, saying it was a "difficult decision to make," but says he has two young children at home - two years old and nine months - and says he "didn't want to be absent for either responsibility," family or coaching.

The New Jersey Football Coaches Association has come out with the 2025 edition of its "Super 100" All-State team, with nearly two dozen Big Central Conference standouts being honored. The NJFCA Super 100 is chosen by coaches among its members, and 25 are recognized in each of four sections - Central, South, North 1 and North 2 - with non-publics included as well.

With the 2025 Central Jersey Sports Radio Big Central Awards Show in the books, we decided to take a look back at all the award winners we've had in the show's six years. So far, we've honored 111 different players and 34 of the Big Central's 59 teams, and that's not even counting all the Honorable Mentions in the various categories.

Everyone knows the Phillipsburg mystique, but Frank Duffy prefers to call it "the standard." The measuring stick by which all Stateliner teams are judged. That stick has 758 marks on it, one for every win the program has, the most in New Jersey history, spread across 120 years of football that sometimes has taken them to Pennsylvania, more often here at home in the Garden State, and - like next year - will see a mix of Pennsy and Jersey schools on the schedule.

As always, there were tons of great performances across the Big Central during the 202 high school football season, and it's not always easy choosing the Bellamy & Son Paving Player of the Week Award. But, of course, thanks to Central Jersey Sports Radio founding sponsor Joe Bellamy - without whom none of this would be possible - somehow, we figure it out.

Before the season even started, before Marcus Borden's Camp Caravan, the ex-East Brunswick coach raved about Brody Nugent. He was a big fan, and predicted big things from the Old Bridge senior. He delivered on every one of them. Historic high school football stats are hard to come by in New Jersey. Around 2010 is the last year one can find somewhat reliable stats publicly available.

With a reputation for being one of the Big Central Conference's most physical football teams, having someone who's a ball-hawk all over the field is a nice touch. More than that, senior Aedan Hywel is not just a ball-hawk, he's a quarterback hawk. He is a major reason the Phillipsburg Stateliners shut out two teams, held two more to single digits, and - through the North 2 Group 4 championship game, were holding teams to an average of just 12.4 points per game, despite playing in perhaps the most challenging division in the league, top to bottom.

Sometimes, we just can't decide. Here we were, four members of the Central Jersey Sports Radio staff, gathered at a local watering hole to determine all our Player of the Year honorees, and we had an easier time picking appetizers. Then again, maybe that should have been a sign: We eventually settled on three of them. For the 2025 CJSR Special Teams award, we hemmed and hawed, then just decided to heck with it.

As many who have followed Central Jersey Sports Radio over the years know, beyond the typical Player of the Year winners, we often choose "specialty" awards, or put another way, find ways for more players than just a handful to be recognized. Over 50 Big Central student-athletes are being noted this year alone, whether they be the Player of the Year in a particular category, win a specialty award, or are Honorable Mentions in any of several categories.

There are the offensive numbers, and the defensive numbers. Then, there are the intangibles. Logan Stevens has all of them. He's the Central Jersey Sports Radio Two-Way Player of the Year, getting it done all over the field. It was another outstanding year for Stevens, who ran it 125 times for 1,100 yards even and 14 touchdowns, including five multiple touchdown games, one of which came in the playoffs.

Being Coach of the Year isn't just about having the best team or the most skilled players. Well, you probably have to have most of them, or you're not playing for championships any time soon. But often, it's about something extra: overcoming some adversity, or simply making a key decision or two, more than the next guy. Sometimes, it's Xs and Os, sometimes it's something most don't see.

Our goal at Central Jersey Sports Radio since our founding in 2020 has always been to bring attention to all the great things done by the many outstanding student-athletes in our area, both on and off the field. Even with Honorable Mentions in each category, just having one each of Offensive, Defensive Special Teams and Two-Way Player of the Year isn't quite enough to cover the massive 59-team Big Central Conference.

Seven nominees, seven really good highlights. But in the end, the fans must pick one. With nearly six thousand votes cast, the Ridge Red Devils nearly had a plurality, earning almost 29-hundred votes - and almost 48 percent of the total - in our fan balloting for the 2025 Highlight Reel Play of the Year. And like many nominees - and some past champions - it wasn't a play that was drawn up or routinely worked on at the end of practice.

Losing streaks are tough to break. Just ask Highland Park and JP Stevens, who both broke losing streaks over the last couple of years, nearly back-to-back - the Owls at the end of 2023, and the Hawks to start 2024. New Brunswick - which won state titles as recently as 2003 and 2006 under John Quinn - has struggled with numbers for a Group 5 school, and it's shown in the results.

Joe Goerge has only been the head coach at Woodbridge for two seasons, but he's already seen enough to know the kind of young man A'Arrow Andrewz is. He's an "exceptional leader" and "mature beyond his age," Goerge says. And that's why he's the winner of Central Jersey Sports Radio's Leadership Award for 2025. It all begins with commitment to the Barron program.

A number of Big Central Conference football programs made big strides in 2025. Bound Brook increased its win total from 1-8 to 5-5. Brearley also got to .500 after going winless last season. Sayreville went from 4-6 to 9-2. But none increased their win total by as much as Montgomery did, with the Cougars going from 1-9 to 8-4, a plus-seven in the win column under first-year head coach Sean Carty, who took over the program - promoted from Offensive Coordinator - after Zoran Milich, the school's first and only coach, stepped down after the 2024 season.

All season long, Central Jersey Sports Radio has been highlighting Big Central Conference's "Speedster of the Week" presented by Higgins Speed Lab in South Brunswick, recognizing the top runningbacks in the league every week of the 2025 season. Now, at the end of the year, we tallied up all the outstanding players who made the list - assigned them points, 10 for a first place finish, nine for second, etc.

The Big Central Conference has announced its divisional alignments and schedule for the next two-year scheduling cycle - which covers the 2026 and 2027 seasons - with very few major changes at the top levels. The American Gold was untouched, but Hunterdon Central moved out of the American Silver division, which was reduced to four members: defending champion Phillipsburg, Ridge, Hillsborough and Bridgewater-Raritan, two of whom - the Stateliners and the Panthers.