Bull Session Week Eight
October 28, 2026
The NJIC final between Waldwick/Midland Park and Garfield was a great game, and I don’t say great lightly. It was an overtime thriller won by WMP, stopping Garfield on their two-point attempt to win 35-34….. This week the playoffs start, and I will be at Rutherford Friday night, who faces Hillside. I will drive to Hardyston on Saturday to see Wallkill Valley play Hawthorne….. One program with an incredible record is Westwood, which hasn’t had a losing season since 1992… The Union vs. West Orange playoff game features Grant brothers Darnell and Barris competing against each other…. In a regular-season finale, Bergen Catholic plays DePaul, and the Campanile brothers Vito and Nick will coach against each other…. I saw that a certain player transferred from one school to another, and I find it sad. Unfortunately, I do not think this is going to change. If I see a top freshman, I wonder if he stays with that school for four years…. Back to Garfield, the national anthem was done very well. I think it was a recording, and it had a good pace, as it is supposed to. When someone sings it solo, they tend to drag it out…. Both Garfield and St. Joe’s had AC/DC, the house band of high school football, playing before the game: Garfield had TNT and Joe’s had Highway to Hell …. The Giants pleasantly surprised me with their overtime win over Houston. And they made the right decision to start JJ McCarthy….. For the record, I have not watched one second of post-season baseball this year. Several times, I watched the Rangers instead…. NJ College Scene: Princeton is 4-2 after losing to Harvard, 35-7, 6-2 Monmouth beat Hampton, 49-13, 6-1 Rowan beat 3-4 TCNJ, 30-7, 5-2 Montclair State beat #23 Salisbury, 24-14, 2-4 Kean beat 0-7 William Paterson 30-15, and 0-7 FDU (Florham) lost to King’s College, 49-30…. Top performances that jumped out at me, courtesy of nj.com: Passing: Alex Kramer of Tenafly: 20-26-417-6, Jah’naad Cady of Franklin: 20-28-377-5, Myles Balchan of Rutherford: 22-28-324-4, Jasiah Hogans of New Brunswick: 18-22-313-3, Kevin Reilly of New Providence: 20-24-304-4, Brooks Esler of River Dell: 13-14-272-4, Chase Kraucheunas of Delaware Valley: 10-13-262-4 ….Rushing: Abel Paul of Livingston: 47-501-5, Kobe St. Hilaire of New Milford: 36-397-3, Elijah Davis of Becton: 17-325-5, Ibby Hudwell of Gloucester: 17-321-4, Caleb Brown of Neptune: 16-275-3, Matthew Belenko of Middletown North: 31-248-4, Jake Catanzarite of Cedar Grove: 21-240-1, Cashmir Parsley of Salem: 19-239-3, Nick Haines of Hasbrouck Heights: 27-229-5, Quinyon Simmons of Steinert: 19-193-4, Kenny Callaghan of Hawthorne: 16-187-3 .…. Receiving: Sal Fama-Linn of New Brunswick: 11-234-1, Ethan Martinez of Weehawken: 10-233-5, Osvaldo Ortiz of Dover: 8-188-3, Jackson Babiarz of Dayton: 12-184-3, Will Holman of Rutherford: 7-183-2, Kyle Campos of Woodbridge: 9-178-3, Brandon Howard of Trenton: 11-170-1, Iain Rossig of River Dell: 6-166-3, Jake Schultzel of Freehold Township: 14-161-1 ….That’s all for this week! I will be back soon with more bull!