The Bridgewater-Raritan High School football team got back into the victory column during the Homecoming game against Elizabeth High School.
Bridgewater-Raritan scored early and held on to post a 34-23 victory over Elizabeth at Basilone Memorial Field in Bridgewater on Friday, October 3.
The victory enabled Bridgewater-Raritan to improve to 5-1 and bounce back from a 33-14 loss against Ridge High School last Friday, September 26. Elizabeth dropped to 2-4 on the season.
The pregame festivities on Homecoming weekend for the match-up between the two schools were in full swing, as, during the school day, the annual Pep Rally took place. A new Homecoming King and Queen were also crowned just minutes before kickoff. Furthermore, students organized a “Pink Out” for the first game of the season that occurred in the month of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The National Football League (NFL) had a similar initiative in its league during the 2010s, as players would wear pink accessories to show support for women affected by breast cancer. The NFL has since broadened its awareness to all cancers under the “Crucial Catch” umbrella, and the pink accessories went away in favor of custom cleats worn by athletes in support of a cause of their choice.
However, this tradition for high school football players has lived on in October games, as many still wear pink accessories. Junior James Locrotondo was seen sporting pink gloves, a pink mouth guard and pink turf tape, while sophomore Jack Winne wore a pink undershirt.
The series between Bridgewater-Raritan and Elizabeth has become a near-yearly fixture in Big Central football since the addition of the school from Union Cunty to the division in the shortened 2020 season (coincidentally, in which the teams did not play each other). The teams have matched up against each other in each of the last five seasons, but the Panthers have clearly had their number, as they’ve won all five of the games.
Bridgewater-Raritan returned to Garretson Road for its fifth home game of the season, boasting a 28-27 victory against the Minutemen last season, in which the Panthers similarly jumped out to a ginormous 28-6 early lead before halftime. However, the team almost allowed Elizabeth to come all the way back by not scoring in the second half, but they sealed the game by stopping the Minutemen on a gutsy two-point conversion attempt that would’ve given Elizabeth the lead in the closing stages.
Elizabeth made the lengthy trip to Bridgewater for its third straight away game, having dropped the previous two in double-digit losses to St. Joseph High School in Metuchen and St. Thomas Aquinas High School of Edison, each a parochial power.
Basilone Field has quickly become a football fortress in New Jersey football, as Bridgewater-Raritan has not dropped a football game on its home turf there in nearly 350 days, with its last loss coming on October 25, 2024, against Phillipsburg High School. Bridgewater-Raritan will meet Phillipsburg on the road on Friday, October 24.
The Panthers got the ball to start the game for the third consecutive week and capitalized immediately with junior quarterback Evan Woodring finding senior wide receiver Jack Cifuentes in the middle of the field for a 33-yard touchdown.
Woodring was starting under center for the second straight week, Friday night, following a knee injury to senior and Rutgers University lacrosse commit Declan Kurdyla in the team’s victory against Hunterdon Central Regional High School on September 19. Kurdyla is expected to return later this year, but Woodring has shown incredible poise in converting back to quarterback, a position that he had not played in a live game since his freshman year.
Elizabeth was not looking to lay down and take a beating like Bridgewater-Raritan’s last home opponent (Hunterdon Central); the Minutemen followed up with their own score on a 15-yard pass from Aiden Waheed to Qua’Yon Williams to tie the game up at 7-7 apiece. Incidentally, Waheed was not the starting quarterback for Elizabeth, as highly touted junior quarterback Arique Fleming began the game as an emergency backup, nursing a shoulder injury in his throwing arm.
Fleming eventually took over for Waheed on their next drive, but not before the Panthers lit up the scoreboard again, this time on the heels of a six-yard rush from Denzel Amoafo, who shook off multiple defenders on his way to the goal line.
The rushing attack for the Panther Offense was the real story of the game, as Amoafo and junior running back Jahmier Black combined for 226 yards on the ground. Black has been an absolute workhorse for the Panthers, as he carried the ball 25 times for 142 yards against the Minutemen, while Amoafo got the majority of the work in the red zone. Nonetheless, Woodring was brilliant in his own right, completing six of his eight passes for 120 yards and no interceptions, while also rushing for 17 yards on five carries.
Amoafo was given another scoring chance on the following Bridgewater-Raritan drive after a strip sack from senior Chris Antunes, which was recovered by senior Mikey Bratus. Amoafo punched in his second touchdown of the day on a 12-yard run, giving the Panthers a 21-7 lead.
Elizabeth was able to mount a drive on their next possession, as Fleming took a designed run from a yard out into the end zone to bring the game within a score. However, he was promptly flagged for a distasteful celebration right in front of the official.
The Panthers were able to utilize the ensuing penalty on the kickoff to their advantage, as a solid return and a great offensive drive set the Panthers up in field goal range, in which Joe Squicciarini slotted home a 34-yard kick to give Bridgewater-Raritan a 24-14 lead heading into the locker room. Squicciarini has been automatic for the Panthers in 2025, as he has knocked down all five of his field goals and 22 extra points.
The Minutemen got the ball coming out of halftime and scored on another Arique Fleming-designed run, this time from seven yards out. The Panthers did, however, prevent Elizabeth from putting their two-point conversion into the end zone, keeping the score at 24-20.
The Panthers were completely stymied on offense in the third quarter and did not score coming out of the break following their hot start. This sort of stalling has been emblematic of Bridgewater-Raritan this season, as more than 75% of the Panthers’ scoring has come in the first half. These offensive woes gave Elizabeth a chance to take the lead, as following a three-and-out series, a muffed snap on a punt from Squicciarini caused the punt to be blocked. This gave the Minutemen the ball inside the 20-yard line with little time remaining in the third quarter. However, the Panther Defense made a great stand, as back-to-back sacks made the Minutemen settle for a 43-yard field goal, leaving the Panthers with a razor-thin 24-23 lead.
The momentum of the game completely flipped on its head during the fourth quarter, as the Panthers regained their footing on offense, allowing Squicciarini to hit his second field goal of the game in the first two minutes of the final period. The Panthers continued to shine on the defensive side of the ball, producing 3rd down stops one after another. This enabled Jahmier Black and the offense to drain the clock before he delivered a nine-yard scoring burst to close the scoring and seal the 34-23 victory.
Bridgewater-Raritan will travel on Friday, October 10, to play Hillsborough High School. Hillsborough improved to 2-4 when it scored an impressive 42-21 victory over Westfield High School on Saturday, October 4, in Westfield.
Hillsborough had trailed by a score of 14-0 after one quarter before it mounted its rally. Bridgewater-Raritan is home at Basilone Field to Westfield on Friday, October 17.
