Week 2: Friday Night’s Top Matchups

Week 1 was a huge success and high school football is officially back in New Jersey. It felt great to be back out there watching some of the state’s best talent leave it all on the field. We have another great slate of games this week beginning with these matchups on Friday night. <strong>Eastern at Lenape</strong> Eastern will be facing their second straight top-10 opponent to begin the season. They are coming off a tough loss to No. 10 Union. Lenape is ranked third in the state. They are the highest ranked public school in New Jersey. Eastern will be led by Aaron Brooks on the offensive end and [player_tooltip player_id="27986" first="Jimel" last="Quann"] on the defensive end. Quann finished with 18 tackles in the opener. This will be Lenape’s first game of the season as they look to begin a huge year. <strong>East Brunswick at Old Bridge</strong> Old Bridge featured an offense that was basically brand new and did not miss a beat. [player_tooltip player_id="28032" first="Owen" last="Haughney"] ran for two scores in a 21-14 victory over Monroe. East Brunswick was all over J.P. Stevens in the opener using their rushing attack. The defense pitched a shutout and will be tested immediately against Old Bridge. <strong>Delran at Northern Burlington</strong> This matchup of 1-0 teams is expected to be a good one. Delran hung 30 points on Cinnaminson in their opener behind 190 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Zach Palmer-Smith. They will look to contain Guy Hendrickson, who scored three times for Northern Burlington in their win over Pemberton. <strong>Bound Brook at Delaware Valley</strong> Delaware Valley sophomore Jack Bill turned in an encouraging performance in the opener. He threw two touchdowns to [player_tooltip player_id="28034" first="Logan" last="Blake"] in a 24-2 victory. They will look to keep pace with the big play offense of Bound Brook. [player_tooltip player_id="28054" first="Patrick" last="LePoidevin"] threw four touchdowns in the opener, two apiece to Sharrod Tedder and Brett Miller. <strong>Barnegat at Shore</strong> These two run-first teams from the Shore Conference picked up wins in their opening games. The two teams combined for 77 points in Week 1. This is a rivalry game that features close matchups. Barnegat has won the last three meetings by a combined 18 points and the last two by a combined nine points. Another chapter will be written by players like Shore’s Shane McLaughlin and Barnegat’s Matt Xiques. <strong>River Dell at Ramapo</strong> This has quickly turned into one of the best rivalries across the state, and definitely one of the best in Bergen County. River Dell and Ramapo have met nine times over the last five years. Three of those meetings came in sectional finals and one in the state semifinals. Ramapo won last year’s meeting 21-19. This game will be another classic showdown. <strong>St. Augustine at Millville</strong> St. Augustine is loaded on the offensive end. Offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="27887" first="Jake" last="Ketschek"] leads the way for running back [player_tooltip player_id="27984" first="Kanye" last="Udoh"]. [player_tooltip player_id="27976" first="Nasir" last="Hill"] is a star on both sides of the ball. Millville lost their opener but competed well. Nate Robbins threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns. The quarterback will have to be one his A-game once again. <strong>Woodrow Wilson at Cherokee</strong> This will be the first meeting ever between two of the best programs in South Jersey. Both Woodrow Wilson and Cherokee are coming off sectional titles and picked up opening game victories. There is no more that needs to be said about this one. This will be a well-played game on the field and well-coached game on the sidelines.