Was Senior Night’s regular season finale between Bridgewater-Raritan High School and Watchung Hills Regional High School the Panthers’ last home football game of 2026?
While reigning North 2, Group 5 state sectional champion Bridgewater-Raritan will open the playoffs at the stadium of a familiar foe, right now, there is only one appropriate answer to that question for the Panthers given the craziness of New Jersey’s 2026 football season.
Who knows?
That being said, one more shining moment at John Basilone Memorial Field would not hurt.
Regardless, one of the town’s most cherished memories since the East-West merger 35 years ago took place in the Panthers’ symbolic home venue last season on November 14, 2025, when the Panthers rallied to defeat Bayonne High School to win the North 2, Group 5 championship game. That result was good for the Panthers’ first ever state sectional championship, which erased the heartbreaking memories of Bridgewater-Raritan falling one game short three straight times at MetLife Stadium against arch-rival Westfield High School from 2015-17.
While they were shut out against Bayonne in the first half of that aforementioned night, the top-seeded Panthers were not denied on their path to being the top team in North 2, Group 5.
Not only did their powerful defense keep their halftime deficit at one touchdown thanks to a goal-line stand of Bayonne in the closing minutes of the second quarter.
Current Bridgewater-Rartian High School Class of 2027 senior Jamelle Jones, who is also a member of the Panthers’ indoor and outdoor track and field teams, arguably had the most memorable dash of his high school career on the first play from scrimmage of the third quarter. That was when he recovered a Bayonne fumble as part of his memorable junior campaign, returned it 35 yards for a touchdown, put Bridgewater-Raritan on the board, and tied what proved to be an early low-scoring affair.
Bridgewater-Raritan never trailed again, and the rest is history as the old saying goes, especially given the Panthers’ comeback bid in the second half was ultimately successful.
“I keep those memories in my mind every time I play,” Jones reminisced of that and many more moments he and his senior classmates had at John Basilone Memorial Field. “The feeling and adrenaline when I make plays like that is the best feeling I can have, especially playing with my brothers every day.”
“That’s really what motivates me.”
Inevitably, the answer to the question of whether or not Senior Night was the last time Jones and his fellow seniors played a football game on their home turf will be determined in the coming weeks.
If this was the case, the Panthers’ regular-season home finale – prior to what they hope is a lengthy business trip, could not have been more perfect.
On Senior Night for Bridgewater-Raritan (7-2), which saw a whopping 55 members of the Class of 2027 be recognized with their families from the Panthers’ football, cheer, and marching band programs, the Panthers scored on both of their first two drives of the game against Watchung Hills (4-5) and built a two-touchdown lead after one quarter it never relinquished.
Coming into the game as heavy underdogs in what proved to be a successful final push towards a playoff berth themselves, the visiting Warriors put up a valiant fight to the tune of a one-possession game at halftime. With Watchung Hills still trailing by just seven points, this was also the case late in the third quarter with Bridgewater-Raritan facing 4th and 1 from its own 29-yard line.
After catching both touchdown passes for the Panthers in the first quarter, senior Evan Woodring completed a hat trick, which was achieved after he sprinted down his team’s sideline for a 71-yard touchdown run with 4:32 left in the third quarter.
With his team comfortably ahead by two touchdowns, Bridgewater-Raritan senior Nathan Zuckerman pounced on top of a muffed punt by Watchung Hills, and junior Jack Winne then put the game out of reach with a 23-yard touchdown run of his own early in the fourth quarter. On top of this, the Panthers’ vaunted defense posted a clean sheet in the second half to punctuate a 28-7 victory over the Warriors to end the regular season Friday, October 23, at John Basilone Memorial Field in Bridgewater.
“I love this town and this community, and I grew up next to these guys my entire life,” said after the game by Woodring, whose team completed a perfect regular season homestand for the second consecutive year. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to help my team win, whether that’s quarterback, running back, or receiver.”
“I’m proud of my guys for getting the win tonight, but right now, we have to lock and get better for a new season.”
While the Panthers can only control what is directly in front of them, for now, they have a chance for revenge at Passaic County Technical Institute (6-3), as both teams will open the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 Football Tournament with a first-round rematch at 6 p.m. Friday, October 30, in Wayne.
Heading into Senior Night, it was never a question of if Bridgewater-Raritan would return to the postseason for the fourth time in as many seasons under the direction of head coach DJ Catalano, especially given the Panthers ran the table at home and only lost two games on the road at St. Joseph High School (Metuchen) and Phillipsburg High School.
In Bridgewater-Raritan’s defense, very few teams from New Jersey’s public schools have left those venues victorious in the regular season over the past four years, as even two-time reigning state sectional champion Phillipsburg fell victim to a shutout loss at St. Joe’s (Metuchen) last regular season.
But with the current regular season now over, every team in New Jersey that earned the privilege of playing at least one more game is now on a clean slate.
Heading into Senior Night, the Panthers were deservedly one of 14 teams unofficially locked in the playoff picture, notably given their strength of schedule as a co-division champion of the loaded Big Central Conference American Silver Division. However, based on a long series of online simulations of game outcomes across the final week of the regular season, in one set of simulations, 82.5% of them had the Panthers ranked No. 9 amongst the 16 playoff teams in their North, Group 5 super section.
Just 17.5% of these simulations therefore had Bridgewater-Raritan at No. 8, but the difference between these two spots alone is massive, especially given the scale further tipped towards the other outcome after games played Friday night.
That No. 9 spot for Bridgewater-Raritan was all but sealed on Saturday afternoon, when East Orange High School: another contender in the North, Group 5 super section that was in play for any spot between four and nine, rolled to a 35-0 victory over Newark Central High School on cutoff day. Unofficially, a loss by East Orange would have put it in danger of potentially losing out on a first-round home game, and this scenario may have also therefore put Bridgewater-Raritan in play for the No. 8 spot.
Any winner of a potential eight-versus-nine opening-round matchup in a 16-team bracket could potentially have the No. 1 overall seed from the North, Group 5 super section looming in the next round – barring a massive upset. As only the top eight teams of the 16 qualifying playoff teams in each super section would be guaranteed a first-round home game, Passaic Tech finishing at No. 8 over Bridgewater-Raritan gave the Bulldogs the home-turf advantage over the Panthers.
To say the least, for many reasons, this will only provide further motivation for Bridgewater-Raritan.
On November 21, 2025, Passaic Tech ended the Panthers’ history-making playoff run with a 23-14 comeback victory at Bridgewater-Raritan in the Group 5 state semifinals: one week after the Panthers won the North 2, Group 5 championship game, 21-14, over Bayonne. Reigning Group 5 state champion Washington Township High School: New Jersey’s fifth-ranked team, rolled to a 31-12 victory over Passaic Tech in last year’s state championship game and will enter this postseason on a 23-game winning streak going back to last year.
That said, Passaic Tech’s aforementioned victory over Bridgewater-Raritan denied the Panthers what would have been their first ever state finals berth.
After the 16-team North, Group 5 super section was split into its annual North 1 and North 2 sectional playoff brackets, fifth-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan sits just below fourth-seeded Passaic Tech in next week’s North 2, Group 5 playoffs.
While upsets elsewhere in the bracket are naturally unlikely and certainly out of the Panthers’ control, any upset could still keep Bridgewater-Raritan in play for a home game if it is ever the higher-seeded team in a later playoff matchup. First and foremost, it must of course defeat Passaic Tech in the opening round in order for that conversation to even be viable.
Even though the Panthers only control their outcome against the Bulldogs in the present moment, who would not love a little bit of chaos elsewhere?
If fifth-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan wins next Friday and eighth-seeded Linden High School (4-4) were to simultaneously pull off a monumental upset at top-seeded and undefeated Elizabeth High School (9-0): New Jersey’s No. 17 ranked team overall, that scenario would give Bridgewater-Raritan one more home game given the winners of these two games play each other in the second round.
For what it’s worth, Linden pulled off a stunning home 25-21 upset victory in its regular season finale against Union, which lost to Bridgewater-Raritan by a score of 28-7 on October 9 on its path towards eventually qualifying for the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 Football Tournament.
Union is team No. 14 out of the 16 squads who qualified North, Group 5 super section.
Last year, then-sixth-seeded Bayonne collected two road upsets at then-third-seeded Elizabeth and at then-second-seeded Piscataway High School in back-to-back weeks to advance to the North 2, Group 5 championship game at Bridgewater-Raritan.
The past is history and tomorrow is a mystery, but on Senior Night, Bridgewater-Raritan made the most out of its potential final opportunity to shine in front of its whole community.
Prior to kickoff, the following 31 members of the football team representing the graduating senior Bridgewater-Raritan High School Class of 2027 were honored: players Andrew Arndt, Jahmier Black, Nick Bogolashvili, Nick Crovelli, Branden De Matos, Francesco DiMaria, Maximus Dorsey, Jamelle Jones, DJ Krizan, Trent Levash, James Locrotondo, Anthony Lorino, Neil Luis, Jack Madsen, Jake Markovitch, Martino Nguyen, Jonathan Okolo, Cole Pello, Jack Ritch, Ethan Sainte, Jasper Schwamberger, Trent Thiry, Evan Woodring, Alex Zimmerman, Ben Zimmerman, and Nathan Zuckerman, along with team managers Nolan Brown, Serena Grasso, Bellina Locrotondo, Amelia Pan, and Rohan Venugopal.
The following nine senior members of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School cheer team were also honored pregame: Jillian Beattle, Elizabeth Burrell, Grace Donato, Ava Green, Phoebe Anne Kirsinger, Brianna Maher, Annie Morano, Lauren Pinchinson, and Masha Rabkova.
After its halftime performance, the Bridgewater-Raritan High School marching band’s following 15 senior members were recognized: Krishna Dowlapalli, Risha Dowlapalli, Evan Gerbounka, Maria Gonzalez, Alex Lutz, Reva Muzumdar, Jacky Pan, Aaron Persky, Alexander Persky, Kashti Shah, Charlotte Singer, Anurag Trivedi, Kayla Valli, Jacon Weinstein, and Tyler Wosniak.
“Growing up, my brother was my biggest role model, and I’m wearing [No. 5] because he wore it,” Woodring said of being recognized on Senior Night three years after his older brother: Colin, was a senior member of the Panthers’ Class of 2024 in Coach Catalano’s first season in charge, when Colin was also the leading scorer that winter on the Bridgewater-Raritan’s boys’ basketball team Evan also currently plays for.
“He means a lot to me and is super supportive.”
Evan Woodring ended the regular season with a team-high 40 receptions for 655 yards and eight touchdowns, and his first of three scores on Senior Night was set up on an 18-yard catch on third-and-long by classmate Branden De Matos from sophomore quarterback J.B. Baxter. That was the third play of the Panthers’ opening drive, as Baxter’s next pass was a 42-yard strike to Woodring with 10:14 left in the first quarter.
As a testament to the numerous hats he wears for Bridgewater-Raritan, Woodring went right back to work as the placeholder for the Panthers’ kicking unit, which saw sophomore Jack Winchock deliver the snap and junior Parker Lyons boot the first of his four extra points in as many attempts.
That was not all.
While Watchung Hills drove just 32 yards from its own 35-yard line into the Panthers’ territory, they took nearly five minutes off of the clock, and their ensuing punt was downed at the Panthers’ one-yard line with 5:35 left in the first quarter.
Needing to go 99 yards to the opposite end zone, Bridgewater-Raritan got five yards of breathing room when the Warriors were whistled for an untimely offside penalty. On his lone pass of the game, Woodring flicked a screen pass to classmate and running back Jonathan Okolo, who nearly ran it the distance before being tackled.
Okolo’s big play was good for a 73-yard gain with 3:58 left in the first quarter en route to his 118 total yards from scrimmage.
Woodring then swapped out from under center with Baxter, who tossed an eight-yard touchdown pass to Woodring on a play where made an impressive one-handed grab over his defender.
This touchdown with 1:14 left in the first quarter resulted in a 14-0 lead for Bridgewater-Raritan to end the period, but Watchung Hills was knocking on the door at this moment.
To round out what ended up being another long drive by the Warriors, senior Sebastian D’Egidio found an opening to his right side on a fourth-and-goal run from the Panthers’ four-yard line, and Watchung Hills found itself down just 14-7 with 6:17 left in the second quarter.
The Warriors then forced a turnover on downs at their own 28-yard line, but neither team was able to cash in on their next possessions. As part of a Bridgewater-Raritan defensive unit that has surrendered seven or fewer points in five of its nine regular season regular season games, including on Senior Night, Jones (one sack, two tackles for loss, seven total tackles) took advantage of a low snap by Watchung Hills for a sack as time expired in the second quarter.
This preserved the Panthers’ 14-7 lead, which seemed insurmountable with the way its pressure up front coupled with how Bridgewater-Raritan’s secondary all but erased Watchung Hills’ passing game on Friday night.
“We talked about ‘E + R = O’ at halftime, because you can’t control the event (E) and you can only control your response (R). If you’re going to have an elite response, chances are, you are going to get the outcome (O) that you want,” explained by Catalano, who now has a 16-6 record as Bridgewater-Raritan’s head coach over the past two seasons alone. “All week, we were really talking about consistency, as that has been our biggest problem as a team. Being consistent is about finding opportunities to be better.”
“At halftime, I said that this is an opportunity – right now, for you guys to show how good you can respond to the adversity of us not playing well.”
While Watchung Hills continued to hang around in a 14-7 game early in the third quarter, its offense was continuously shut down by Bridgewater-Raritan’s defense, and Woodring’s 71-yard touchdown run with 4:32 to go in the period gave the Panthers much needed breathing room.
“Our defense is elite,” declared Jones. “Our effort and how we all play together is out of this world, but we practice it every day. I think how close we are, how we all play together, and how we swarm to the ball contributes to this a lot, but the credit also goes to our coaches. They put in a lot of work and time to get us prepared for these moments.”
“By the time it’s game day, we know all of our plays and what we need to do.”
After senior Jasper Schwamberger made a tackle for a turnover on downs with 11:46 to go, classmate Nathan Zuckerman’s recovery of the ensuing muffed punt extended Bridgewater-Raritan’s drive with 9:20 remaining. Just 17 seconds later, Winne’s 23-yard touchdown run extended Bridgewater-Raritan’s lead to 28-7, and with 2:07 to go, a sack by junior Justin Lavender brought up 4th and 21 for Watchung Hills at the Panthers’ 30-yard line with the game on the line.
Bridgewater-Raritan senior offensive/defensive lineman Trent Levash, who knows what it takes to defend a title after already helping the Panthers’ wrestling team win back-to-back team state sectional championships as a sophomore and junior, fittingly launched his football team’s 2026 title defense bid this fall with a tackle for a turnover on downs to seal the victory.
“I really think wrestling just brought over the effort aspect, but I have to thank all of our football coaches, because they give everything for us and I am going to give everything for them,” Levash reflected of the high-stakes experiences he has shared with his football teams from his tenure on the Panthers’ wrestling mat, where has already been crowned a county, district, and region tournament champion to go with back-to-back individual state tournament berths.
This also includes Levash’s sixth-place podium finish in the heavyweight bracket at the individual state tournament at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City to cap off last winter.
“I am going to continue to fix all of my mistakes through the playoffs, so we can go back-to-back for sectional championships in football, too.”
Even though the Panthers won their first football state sectional championship in school history last fall, Bridgewater-Raritan will have to check off another box for the first time if it wants to defend its crown, as all four of the Panthers’ postseason games during last season’s memorable championship run were played at John Basilone Memorial Field.
That tall task? Winning a true road game in the state tournament for the first time in nine years.
The Panthers have a 3-8 record in true playoff road games over the past 20 years, including their most recent playoff victory in a true road game, when they won at Piscataway by a score of 27-6 on November 18, 2017 before falling to Westfield High School one week later at MetLife Stadium in the sectional finals.
However, if anyone can guide the Panthers on the path to breaking another streak, it is Catalano.
After all, it took him just two seasons in 2024 to lead Bridgewater-Raritan to its first playoff victory since that aforementioned game at Piscataway seven years prior. Even more, it took him just three seasons in charge to lead the Panthers to their first state sectional championship ever.
Simply put, he will have his team ready this weekend, when he will officially begin his fourth postseason as Bridgewater-Raritan’s skipper.
Catalano will most notably return to Passaic Tech for the first time since August 26, 2022, which was his first game as a member of the Panthers’ coaching staff, as he served as Bridgewater-Raritan’s defensive coordinator that season prior to then-head-coach Rick Mantz passing the Baton to Catalano that offseason. The Panthers lost that game at Passaic Tech, 32-7, but in what will be a full-circle moment just over four calendar years later, Catalano will now be the one bringing his reigning state sectional champion Panthers squad to Wayne.
Perhaps this time, with the Panthers set up for a different outcome at Passaic Tech than it had just over four years ago.
“At halftime, I also talked about leadership, our seniors, and how long they have been playing together,” continued by Catalano, who was named Coach of the Year by New Jersey Suburban Youth Football League’s High School Football and Central Jersey Sports Radio for his championship season in 2025. “I told them that they are a tight-knit group, and when they play together, communicate, lead each other, and build each other up, no one can break them. I love this group, because this is my first four-year group and will always be a special group that I am going to remember for the rest of my life. They drove me crazy, especially when they were freshmen, but it’s been really cool to watch them mature, grow, and develop.”
“They got to end on Basilone with a victory and enjoy it for themselves, so I’m really proud of those kids.”
The winner of Friday’s first-round matchup between fifth-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan (7-2) and fourth-seeded Passaic Tech (6-3) will advance to the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 Tournament semifinals against either top-seeded Elizabeth (9-0) or eighth-seeded Linden (4-4).
On the other side of the Panthers’ bracket, second-seeded East Orange (6-2) will serve as host to seventh-seeded Union City High School (4-5) in a rematch of a regular-season game won 32-29 by East Orange at Union City on September 11. Third-seeded Phillipsburg (6-2), which defeated the Panthers by a score of 35-14 in Phillipsburg on October 16, will serve as host to sixth-seeded Ridgewood High School (5-3).
Ramapo High School (5-3), which moved up from Group 4 to Group 5 after last season along with Phillipsburg, is the No. 1 seed in the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 Tournament, while undefeated and 17th-ranked Elizabeth is the overall No. 1 seed amongst the 16 total North, Group 5 playoff squads.
Ramapo has a perfect 4-0 regular season record against the 16 teams in the North, Group 5 playoff field, including a 17-14 road victory in overtime at Passaic Tech on September 25.
New Jersey’s North 1 and North 2 state sectional champions, which will be crowned either November 13 or November 14, will square off in the state semifinals on November 20 or November 21. Those who survive and advance to the final day of the 2026 season will play in the state finals across all groups on either November 28 or November 29 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.
“It all starts [Saturday] morning,” referenced Levash of the Panthers’ early-morning film session after Senior Night and the beginning of his team’s immediate preparation for Passaic Tech. “We’re going to fix our mistakes [from Friday], and I’m going to grind all week along with my teammates and coaches.”
“We will go out and get them next week.”