Bridgewater-Raritan High School players swapped Halloween costumes for football pads when the team dominated Linden High School, 35-6, in the first round of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional playoffs at Basilone Memorial Field in Bridgewater on October 31.

This victory marked the second straight season the Panthers won a state playoff game under third-year head coach DJ Catalano. 

Bridgewater-Raritan will now play at home in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 playoff semifinals against Union City High School on Friday, November 7.

With a victory, Bridgewater-Raritan would make a sectional final appearance in football for the first time since 2017, a game in which it lost to Westfield High School for the third straight season.

The winner of Friday night’s contest at Basilone Field is set for a meeting against the victor of the other state semifinal contest between Piscataway High School and Bayonne High School. 

The state sectional final is scheduled for the weekend of November 14-15.

Bridgewater-Raritan entered their Halloween matchup coming off a 36-13 road loss to Phillipsburg High School last week. The game felt like it was in reach for the Panthers in the first half, as they held the Stateliners scoreless in the first quarter and were tied up 7-7 at one point in the second quarter. However, the Stateliners then went on to score 16 unanswered points en route to their victory. 

Despite the loss, the Panthers maintained the number one seed in the NJSIAA Section 2 Group 5 Tournament, largely due to their superior strength of schedule and a 34-27 victory over the Chiefs in September. 

Linden traveled to Basilone Memorial Field following a heartbreaking 28-27 loss against Plainfield High School, which came down to the final play, with a failed two-point conversion deciding the game. The real story of the game was the performance of  Plainfield quarterback Devin Thomas, who threw for 295 yards and all four touchdown passes in their epic victory. 

The game ultimately decided which team captured the seventh seed in the state sectional playoffs tournament, as Plainfield matched up against second-seeded Piscataway and fell, 29-14, last week.

The circumstances of Linden’s route to the playoffs almost exactly mirrored those of Bridgewater-Raritan two years ago, as they amassed three wins and went on the road to face a top two seed in a Group 5 tournament under a first-year head coach.

Linden is coached by Mark Ciccotelli, who became the head coach in May of this year after serving as an assistant at St. Joseph High School in Metuchen and, most recently, as the head coach of Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School from 2017 to 2018.

Coach Catalano found himself in a similar situation in his first year as a head coach for Bridgewater-Raritan in 2023, as he was matched up against Watchung Hills High School  in the playoffs following victories against Edison High School, Elizabeth High School and Old Bridge High School.

Bridgewater-Raritan ultimately lost its 2023 playoff game, 33-26, against Watchung Hills but made a deeper run the following season in the playoffs, beating Irvington at home before falling to  the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 champion Union City on the road.

The Panthers are set for a rematch against the Soaring Eagles in the semifinals, this time with a home-field advantage on November 7. 

Coming into Friday night’s state playoff opener, Bridgewater-Raritan had not faced Linden since 2017, a game in which it won, 28-12.

Coach Catalano recognized the complexity of game planning for a Ciccotelli-led team in a conversation before the game, as the veteran coach typically likes to unveil many new plays during the game that haven’t previously been shown on film. The Tigers have also typically relied heavily on a triple-option offense, which is unlike any team Cicotelli has ever coached, as he has prioritized an air raid offense in previous years.

To start the game, Linden took a page out of Coach Catalano’s book, winning the coin toss and electing to receive. However, this move did not yield any sort of benefit for the Tigers, as the Panther defense forced a quick three-and-out series.

The Panther offense came out firing on all cylinders, as senior quarterback Declan Kurdyla quickly found his favorite target, Mikey Bratus on a screen for a huge completion that set the Panthers up in Linden territory. The Panthers then turned to their strong running game, as running back Denzel Amoafo bounced a run to the outside and took it for 32 yards into the endzone to take an early 7-0 lead. 

The Tigers got the ball back and promptly went three and out and gave the ball back to Bridgewater-Raritan in its own half of the field following a lackluster punt. However, the Panthers were unable to capitalize on this field position, as they failed to convert on a fourth-and-short situation. 

Linden was unable to completely swing the momentum to their side following this defensive stand, as it went three and out for the third consecutive drive. The Tiger offense proved to be absolutely stifled by the masterful defensive play calling of Coach Catalano, as nearly every drive for Linden ended in one, two, three, kick. 

The Panthers capitalized on yet another short punt and rode their running game all the way to the endzone, as Kurdyla took a speed option for himself 17 yards for a touchdown. However, senior kicker Joe Squicciarini missed the extra point, making it 13-0. The kick marked Squicciarini’s first conversion miss this season, as up until that point, he had made every extra point and field goal he attempted. 

After another unproductive Linden series, Bridgewater-Raritan found itself with an opportunity to go up three scores before halftime. Kurdyla found junior running back Jahmier Black on a short pass that he ran all the way down the sideline inside the 5-yard line. Kurdyla then found his lacrosse teammate Jack Cifuentes in the end zone, and then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 21-0. 

The Panthers got the ball from the Tigers after yet another abrupt drive, and were well on their way to another score as Kurdyla found junior receiver and corner Evan Woodring down the sideline for a huge gain. Woodring actually started multiple games at quarterback this season in place of an injured Kurdyla, and has transitioned back to a top target for him in recent weeks.  Kurdyla danced around defenders in the backfield and scrambled for another rushing touchdown, blowing the doors off the game midway through the second quarter. 

Linden could barely advance the ball forward against the stout Panther defense. This offensive frustration ultimately culminated on a bad pitch play in which the ball was loose and was recovered by Miles Tofte, setting up yet another Panther scoring chance inside of Tiger territory. A few plays later, Kurdyla found Mikey Bratus in the endzone for his fourth all-purpose touchdown of the night, making it 35-0 in the closing stages of the first half. 

Kurdyla ended his night with eight completions on 13 attempts for 142 yards and two touchdowns, while he also ran for 53 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. This passing attack hasn’t been seen in the same fashion in any other game the Panthers have played this season, taking the workload off of Amoafo and Black, who only ran the ball twelve times total. 

Bridgewater-Raritan took its foot off the gas in the second half, as it did not score for the rest of the game, and eventually allowed a 60-yard passing touchdown after pulling the starters from the game in the fourth quarter. On that score, Linden missed the point-after try, and the game ended in a 35-6 final score.