SPRINGFIELD, NJ — A three-game winning streak toward the end of last season put Jonathan Dayton High School one game away from producing the program’s first .500 season, a 5-5 record, since 2015.
“We hit our stride there,” fourth-year head coach Nick Iannacone said.
Jonathan Dayton rebounded from a 1-5 start to beat Dunellen High School, 15-12, at home and then go on the road and win at David Brearley High School, 15-6, and triumph at Bergen County’s Wallington JR/SR High School, 26-7.
Then the Bulldogs hosted Passaic County’s Hawthorne High School in its season-finale and came up short, 42-7. As a result, Jonathan Dayton closed at 4-6.
The Bulldogs are now seeking to reach five wins for the first time in 10 years and post a winning record for the first time since the 2010 squad came in at 9-2 and was one game away from playing for a sectional state championship.
Iannacone, who starred as a player at New Providence High School, has so far guided Jonathan Dayton to records of 4-5 in 2022, 3-7 in 2023 and 4-6 in 2004. The 2022 squad was 4-4 and one win away from posting a winning season before it fell at Abraham Clark High School, 35-0, in its season-finale.
“We don’t have a lot of kids coming up who played youth football, but we keep on pumping,” Iannacone said. “We do what we can control.”
One of Jonathan Dayton’s top returning seniors is two-way lineman Milton Bostick, No. 55.
“We’re always working, conditioning and spending time in the weight room,” Bostick said.
Jonathan Dayton’s leading tackler last year, with more than 100 total, is returning senior Chidiogo Iherobiem (6-0, 185).
Jonathan Dayton is in the Big Central Conference’s Freedom Gold Division, along with fellow Union County schools David Brearley and Roselle Park and Middlesex County squads Highland Park, South River and Spotswood high schools.
Last year, Jonathan Dayton finished tied for third in the division, along with Roselle Park and South River, all three with 2-3 league records. Spotswood won the division outright and perfect at 5-0, while much-improved Highland Park came in second at 4-1. Finishing last was Brearley at 0-5. Highland Park, which struggled with the number of players for many years, as Jonathan Dayton had in the past, went 6-3 overall last year to produce its first winning season since the 2016 squad finished 6-4.
In the same manner as a few other teams in Union County, Jonathan Dayton’s eight-game regular season schedule is the same. The Bulldogs are playing the same eight teams in order, with the only difference being that the teams they hosted last year, they will play at this time.
Jonathan Dayton opened with home games against South Hunterdon Regional High School and Highland Park last year and this year will open at both schools.
Jonathan Dayton’s season-opener is during Week One and scheduled to be played Friday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m. at South Hunterdon Regional. The Eagles went 4-4 last year, beginning with a 30-0 win at Jonathan Dayton.
Jonathan Dayton home games in Springfield this fall include Roselle Park on Friday, Sept. 19; South River on Saturday, Sept. 27; Spotswood on Friday, Oct. 10; and then David Brearley on Saturday, Oct. 25, which is the playoff cutoff date weekend.
Jonathan Dayton Bulldogs 2025
Friday, Sept. 5, at South Hunterdon Regional, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 12, at Highland Park, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 19, Roselle Park, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 27, South River, 1 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 3, at Belvidere, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 10, Spotswood, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 17, at Dunellen, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 25, David Brearley, 1 p.m.
Photo by JR Parachini
