Vikings on 11-game win streak as GMC Tournament nears

VARSITY REPORT

By WARREN RAPPLEYEA
Correspondent

 North Brunswick Township High School’s Quamere Nance carries the ball for the Raiders during their victory over Edison High School Oct. 9. The Raiders play J.P. Stevens High School in North Brunswick on Oct. 23.  SCOTT FRIEDMAN North Brunswick Township High School’s Quamere Nance carries the ball for the Raiders during their victory over Edison High School Oct. 9. The Raiders play J.P. Stevens High School in North Brunswick on Oct. 23. SCOTT FRIEDMAN South Brunswick High School’s boys’ soccer team is riding an 11-match winning streak as it prepares to open the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Tournament.

The Vikings split their first four games and have done nothing but win since then, allowing just nine goals during the winning streak and winning the Red Division for the second year in a row. As a result, South Brunswick has earned the top seed in the tournament and a bye into the quarterfinals, which begin Oct. 27

New Brunswick High School (15-0) is seeded second, and the two teams were scheduled to meet in a regular-season match Oct. 19.

While South Brunswick has been defensive minded in front of goalkeeper Arvind Swaminathan, who has four shutouts, the Vikings can score as well. Both of South Brunswick’s losses — to Monroe Township High School, 2-1, and East Brunswick High School, 1-0 — were by one goal.

“Everyone knows their role, and they really play as a team,” coach Chris Hayston said. “We’re difficult to defend because we have so many players who can score, and we move the ball around very well.

Patrick Grudnick leads a balanced attack with 12 goals and eight assists. Nasser Aamer has tallied seven goals to go with six assists, and Jermaine Small has also scored seven times. Kevin Nunez has five goals and three assists, Kyle DeGroff has contributed four goals, and Paul Grudnick has three goals and eight assists.

The Vikings are coming off a 3-1 win over North Brunswick Township High School Oct. 15 that clinched the division title. Aamer, De- Groff and Nunez all scored in what was also South Brunswick’s 500th victory in boys soccer. South Brunswick’s previous match, a 4-1 success against J.P. Stevens High School Oct. 13, also highlighted the Vikings’ balance. Aamer, Small, Patrick Grudnick and Max Antisell scored goals.

North Brunswick ended its season on a high note, downing Carteret High School, 1-0, Oct. 17 to up its record to 4-12. Davide Sousa scored for the Raiders, with Chris Shamy earning an assist on the play. Pawel Dzielski stopped five shots in keeping a clean sheet.

Football

South Brunswick continued to make Ridge Road an inhospitable destination for visitors by quickly jumping out in front of visiting Monroe on its way to a 52-7 win Oct. 16.

The Vikings dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and were able to move the ball with regularity while limiting the Falcons offense to mostly short gains. Wendell Allen, Mo Jabbie and Phil Campbell scored two touchdowns apiece, and Campbell, who ran for 80 yards on the night, scored four two-point conversions.

Junior quarterback Josh Liao completed a touchdown pass to Jabbie for 18 yards and also ran for 24 yards and a touchdown. Allen returned the second half kickoff 95 yards for a score as the Vikings seemed unstoppable. Monroe scored a late touchdown to avoid the shutout.

After losing its season-opener to Middletown High School South, 41-21, coach Joe Goerge’s Vikings have reeled off five straight wins and now stand at 5-0 in Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Red Division play. In those five wins, South Brunswick has piled up 159 points while allowing its opponents only 34 points.

The win gives South Brunswick 87 power points — good for first place in the race for the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group V playoffs. New Brunswick sits in second place with 77 power points. The best seven of a team’s first eight games count in the standings.

South Brunswick is scheduled to host undefeated Piscataway Township High School, which is also 5-0 in Red Division play, in a much-anticipated matchup Oct. 30. However, the Vikings will first travel to Edison High School (2-3) Oct. 23. The Eagles are coming off a bye week that followed a 40-21 loss to North Brunswick Oct. 9.

“We’re preparing for Edison — that’s it,” Goerge said. “[The Red Division] is one of the toughest in the state. Anyone can beat anyone else.”

North Brunswick had the difficult task of playing Piscataway Oct. 16 and fell, 42- 18. The Raiders scored first on an electrifying 80-yard run by Quamere Nance. The Chiefs came back to take the lead, 7-6, by the end of the first quarter and increased their edge to 28-6 by halftime. Piscataway added two more touchdowns in the third quarter to put the game away.

The Raiders’ other points came in the fourth quarter on a 43-yard scoring run by Max Emmanuel and a Dylan Steel-to-Kelson Hopson scoring pass that covered 12 yards.

Next up for North Brunswick is a visit from winless J.P. Stevens Oct. 23. The Hawks are coming off a 41-6 loss to East Brunswick Oct. 16.

Girls’ soccer

North Brunswick’s girls soccer team looked to end a three-game losing streak Oct. 21 when it took on J.P. Stevens during the preliminary round of the GMC Tournament. The Raiders (6-7-1), seeded 15th, came off a pair of 2-0 losses to Woodbridge High School (Oct. 15) and Edison (Oct. 13). Goalkeeper Danielle Segerholm turned aside 17 shots in the two matches.

J.P. Stevens is seeded 18th.

South Brunswick’s girls soccer team also enters the GMC Tournament on the heels of two straight losses. The fourthseeded Lady Vikings (7-7) will play Oct. 23 in the first round against the winner of the Dunellen High School (20th seed) vs. Edison (13th seed) game.

Coach Beth Barrio’s team was set to play a non-conference game against Columbia High School Oct. 20.

In its last outing Oct. 17, South Brunswick lost a 3-1 decision to Steinert High School. Francesca Dimitrakis scored her fourth goal of the season, while Sydney Schneider stopped 13 shots in the match. Schneider made 19 saves Oct. 13, but it was not enough to prevent a 3-0 loss to Manalapan High School.

Girls’ tennis

South Brunswick (11-3) is coming off a perfect week. On Oct. 14, Rashmi Venkataram, Neeharika Kishore and Shohini Bagewadi swept the singles matches while the tandems of Swathi Chandrika and Prathyusha Pandu and Sneha Rampali and Ashi Yadav captured the doubles in a 5-0 win over Piscataway.

On Oct. 13, the Lady Vikings defeated The Hun School, 4-1. Venkatarama and Kishore won at singles, and Ashima Agarwal and Tiffany Xu and Christina Fernandes and Anisha Javvaji took the doubles matches.

The previous day Kishore won at singles while Chandrika and Pandu won first doubles and Rampali and Yadav won second doubles to help South Brunswick squeeze by East Brunswick, 3-2.

North Brunswick’s girls team won three of its four matches. Colleen Binbinon, Komal Grover and Carly Lodise won the singles events while Harshitha Katikala and Kelly Huang won at first doubles and Swathi Vasudevan and Akshaya Dinesh took second doubles against both Perth Amboy High School (Oct. 16) and Woodbridge High School (Oct. 14). Abby Tan and Athmika Vaseeharan stepped in for Vasudevan and Dinesh in a 5-0 win over Colonia High School Oct. 12. The Raiders are 11-5 on the year.

Girls’ volleyball

South Brunswick won two of its last three matches to even its record at 9-9. The Lady Vikings lost a 2-1 heartbreaker (22- 25, 28-26, 18-25) to East Brunswick Oct. 16 despite a 10-kill, 11-dig performance by Sarah Weeden. Nina Trach had four service aces and 15 digs in the loss.

Two days earlier, Kelly Matuszewski led the way with seven service aces, nine digs and five kills in a 2-1 victory (24-26, 27-25, 26-24) against Old Bridge High School. Weeden added eight kills and 14 digs, and Miranda Irizarry had five kills. On Oct. 12, the Lady Vikings edged West Windsor- Plainsboro High School North, 2-1. Jaime Klemas posted eight kills, Shannon Fisher had 23 assists and seven digs and Trach led both teams with 24 digs.

Field hockey

South Brunswick (9-6) scored a 1-0 win over sixth-seeded Metuchen High School Oct. 17 in the first round of the GMC Tournament. Skyler Aspir’s eighth goal of the year made the difference, and Kavya Sreeram stopped all five shots she faced in goal.

Third-seeded South Brunswick was set to play second-seeded Monroe Oct. 20 in