Can clinch first GMC title with win over Piscataway
By Ken Weingartner, Sports Writer
The South Brunswick High football team is guaranteed at least a share of its first ever Greater Middlesex Conference division title – not to mention its first league championship of any kind since 1973 – but the Vikings aren’t in a sharing kind of mood.
”We don’t want to be selfish, but this is something we would like to hang onto for ourselves,” said South Brunswick coach Rick Mantz, whose squad must win tomorrow night at Piscataway to claim sole possession of the GMC Red Division crown.
South Brunswick (6-0 overall) is coming off a huge, 13-9 win over previously unbeaten Sayreville and sits atop the Red Division with a 5-0 record. The Vikings are ranked No. 1 in Middlesex County by the Home News Tribune and No. 15 in the state by the Star-Ledger.
Piscataway, the defending Red Division champion, is 4-1 both overall and in the GMC after a 33-0 victory over Old Bridge. The only team to beat the Chiefs, who are rated No. 12 in New Jersey, was Sayreville.
”I’ll be very honest with you. If I had my druthers, I’d be playing the St. Francis Culinary Academy, or something,” Mantz said with a laugh. “Piscataway is no easy challenge. They’re so fast. They’ve got three or four receivers that can all catch the ball. They find ways to make plays.”
Two weeks ago, East Brunswick had Piscataway on the ropes, yet despite gaining more than 400 yards the Bears came up on the short end of a 27-21 decision. Each of the Chiefs’ four touchdowns came on plays of greater than 35 yards (including a fumble return).
”East Brunswick did everything they physically could do, and still couldn’t win the game,” Mantz said. “Big plays take the air out of you. We’re reminding our kids that every angle, every minute detail, has to be addressed because with one bad step they’re out the gate and gone. We respect that speed. It forces you to change the way you do things.”
Last week for South Brunswick, Mike Muha threw touchdown passes of 37 and 39 yards to Dan Acevedo and Justin McClendon, respectively, as the Vikings rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 9-7. Muha has completed 13 of 18 passes this year for 308 yards and four TDs.
Devin Young also played a key role for the Vikings, not only rushing nine times for 74 yards, but by pinning down Sayreville with his punts. Young averaged nearly 36 yards per punt and the Bombers had no return yards.
”We felt field position was a big help in the second half,” Mantz said. “We thought our punt coverage and Devin’s punt were important in making Sayreville have to travel coast to coast. That helped our defense a lot, too.”
It was Mantz’s third consecutive win over Sayreville in recent years. He led Hillsborough to a 13-7 triumph in 2004 and 14-9 in 2005.
South Brunswick is No. 1 in power points in Central Jersey Group IV and looking to make a second consecutive appearance in the postseason.
”It’s fun and exciting, but it’s not going to buy you much right now,” Mantz said. “We’re not guaranteed anything right now. We’re trying to be appreciative of what we’ve earned, but we know we still have a long way to go. I’m real pleased with the way the kids have responded.”
And with them being a little selfish.
According to South Brunswick High’s crack sports historian, former coach and player Bob Cleffi, the only Viking football team to claim a conference championship came in 1973 when SBHS won the Delaware Valley League with an 8-1 record. That equaled the program’s best record, first established in 1964.

