UNION COUNTY, NJ — Four Union County football teams won division titles in the Big Central Conference this season, including one of them shared with two other schools.
Another Union County school, much-improved David Brearley High School, finished second.
Summit High School won the five-schools United Gold Division title outright at 4-0 with wins against Cranford, Hillside, Carteret and Scotch Plains–Fanwood high schools.
Governor Livingston High School captured the five-schools United Silver Division crown at 4-0 with victories against South Plainfield, John F. Kennedy Memorial, North Plainfield and New Brunswick high schools.
New Providence High School won the Patriot Silver Division title outright with a record of 3-0. Triumphs came against Arthur L. Johnson, Abraham Clark and Metuchen high schools.
Sharing the Liberty Silver Division championship with Montgomery and Somerville high schools was Rahway High School. All three schools went 3-1 in the division, with Montgomery beating Somerville, then Somerville downing Rahway and then Rahway topping Montgomery.
Spotswood and David Brearley high schools both finished 4-1 in the Freedom Gold, but Spotswood beat David Brearley, 40-7, at home on Friday, Sept. 12, which is the tiebreaker to winning the division title outright. Spotswood’s lone division setback came at Jonathan Dayton High School, 20-19, on Friday, Oct. 10. Jonathan Dayton finished third in the six-schools division with a record of 3-2. The Bulldogs lost to Highland Park and David Brearley high schools.
Summit, for the first time since 2018, and New Providence, for the second straight season, reached sectional state championship games. Summit lost at West Morris Central High School, 35-14, in the North 2, Group 3 final, while New Providence was defeated at home by defending champion Cedar Grove High School, 37-13, in the North 2, Group 1 sectional title game.
New Providence finished 10-1 overall and won 10 games for the first time since 2010, which was the last year the Pioneers captured a sectional state championship and North 2, Group 1.
Summit went 9-3 and won nine games for the first time since 2018, which was the last year the Hilltoppers won a sectional state championship and North 2, Group 3.
Governor Livingston went 5-5 for the second year in a row and produced a third straight non-losing campaign.
Rahway went 6-4 and produced its second straight season better than .500.
Jonathan Dayton went 7-2 and won seven games for the first time since its last winning season of 9-2 in 2010.
David Brearley lost its first three games to extend a losing streak to 15 dating back to the 2023 season. The Bears then reeled off four straight wins and, after a loss at Metuchen, bounced back in a big way to win at 6-1 Jonathan Dayton ,10-7.
That was enough for David Brearley to earn a playoff berth as the Bears qualified out of North, Group 1 and competed in the section North 2, Group 1.
Big Central Conference
2025 Division Winners
American Gold:
St. Joseph, Metuchen (3-0) – outright
American Silver:
Phillipsburg (4-0) – outright
Freedom Gold:
Spotswood (4-1) – outright
Freedom Silver:
Manville (5-0) – outright
Liberty Gold:
Woodbridge (4-0) – outright
Liberty Silver:
Montgomery (3-1), Somerville (3-1), Rahway (3-1) – tri-champions
Montgomery won at Somerville 22-15 on Friday, Sept. 12.
Somerville won at Rahway 20-7 on Saturday, Sept. 20.
Rahway defeated Montgomery 28-7 at Rahway on Friday, Oct. 24.
National Gold:
Piscataway (4-0) – outright
National Silver:
Sayreville (4-0) – outright
Patriot Gold:
Bernards (3-0) – outright
Patriot Silver:
New Providence (3-0) – outright
United Gold:
Summit (4-0) – outright
United Silver:
Governor Livingston (4-0) – outright
Photos by JR Parachini
