November 18, 1972: East Brunswick High School, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, which would one day be my Alma Mater, beats Sayreville War Memorial High School, 41-14 at War Memorial Stadium in Sayreville. This clinches the school's 2nd State Championship in football.
EBHS had opened in 1958, due to the growth that the Township of East Brunswick had already had, and was forecast to have in the 1960s, thus taking its students out of next-door South River High School, which was, and has frequently been since, a football powerhouse.
EB's 1st varsity season was 1961, under head coach Jay Doyle. They went 4-4. They went 2-7 in 1962, and Doyle, also the school's 1st athletic director and its 1st head coach in wrestling, handed the head football coaching job over to his assistant, Ron Gonier. "Rock" led the Bears to records of 5-2-2 in 1963, and 6-3 in 1964 and 1965.
In 1966, he led EB to a 7-1-1 season, winning the school's 1st Conference Championship, in the Greater Jersey Group IV Conference, Central Division II. It was also enough to earn a share of the Central Jersey Group IV Championship, winning us our 1st "State Championship," in only our 6th season. He coached 1 more season, leading us to 6-3 and another Conference Championship.
His assistant Mel Caseiro took over from there, and led EB to Conference Championships in 1968, '69 and '70, going 6-3, 6-3 and 6-2-1, respectively. The 1971 season was the 1st in the new Middlesex County Athletic Conference, and EB slipped a little, going 5-3-1.
EB opened the 1972 season on September 23, wearing a block EB logo on our helmets for the 1st time. The opener was home to Madison, a next-door neighbor, and we won, 37-6. In 1975, to avoid confusion with Madison Borough in Morris County, Madison Township changed its name to the Township of Old Bridge. But the name of the school was changed from Madison Township to Madison Central. The town had opened a 2nd high school, Cedar Ridge, in 1969. In 1994, the 2 schools were reconsolidated due to declining enrollment, and have been Old Bridge High School ever since.
The next game was away to Woodbridge, and we won, 19-13. This was followed by a home game against Cedar Ridge, and we won, 27-11. Threeroad games followed, beating Edison school J.P. Stevens, 27-7 (we did not play Edison High School that season); Carteret, 46-6; and Thomas Jefferson High School, forerunner of the current Elizabeth High School, 20-6, proving that our win over them the season before, while a big upset, was no fluke.
The next game, at home on November 11, was against South River, who, naturally, became our 1st arch-rival. In 1966, South River had dealt us our only loss of the season. History repeated itself, as they beat us, 35-14.
And the next game, home to New Brunswick, ended in a 0-0 tie, putting our hopes for any title in doubt. Especially since our season finale would be away to Sayreville, who had beaten us at home the season before. This turned out to be Sayreville's only football win over EB between our 1st season of 1961 and 1990. Since then, they have been considerably better at the sport, and have dominated us.
But on November 18, we went into Sayreville's War Memorial Stadium, and, led by quarterback Dave Cole, put up a dominating performance, winning, 41-14, advancing us to 7-1-1, and clinching the MCAC title. When the results were in from the other games in the section, we found out that we were tied for the best record, and thus Central Jersey Group IV Co-Champions.
On December 29, 1972, Jay Doyle died of a heart attack, only 41 years old. The EBHS stadium, not yet named, was named Jay Doyle Field in his memory.
In 1974, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) dropped the best-record method, and came up with a "power points" system based on record and strength of schedule (in other words, the records of the teams that a team beat) to assign Playoff seedings.
East Brunswick would just miss the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs under the 4-teams-per-section-and-group format in 1977, '78, '81, '86, '92 and '95; reach the Quarterfinals in 1998 after the expansion to 8-teams-per-section-and-group; reach the Semifinals in 1980, '87, '88, '90 and '94; and the Finals in 1984 and '85.
A series of shocking moments, reminiscent of the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Rangers before those teams finally ended their World Championship droughts, and the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings who still have them as of 2022, prevented EB from winning another State Championship.
It would be a long, agonizing, gut-wrenching wait for another. Students and graduates of schools that won "State Championships" from 1974 onward would remind EB people that, "You've never won a State Championship." What they meant was, we'd never won a State Championship under the Playoff format.
Finally, in 2004, everything fell into place, and we won another, ending a 32-year drought. We won another in 2009, and have made the Playoffs again in 2010, '14 and '21.
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November 18, 1972 was, of course a Saturday. Baseball season was over. Among the college football games played that day were these:
* Number 1 University of Southern California beat their crosstown arch-rivals, the University of California at Los Angeles, 24-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Stadium, in what was officially a home game for UCLA, though both teams then played their home games there. USC won the Pacific-Eight Conference title.
* Number 2 Alabama beat Virginia Tech, 52-13 at Denny Stadium (now Bryant-Denny Stadium) in Tuscaloosa. Alabama won the Southeastern Conference title, but lost to Auburn the next week, in the famed "Punt, 'Bama, Punt!" game. For the 1st time since the 1948 season, the Sugar Bowl did not invite the SEC Champions.
* Number 3 Michigan beat Purdue, 9-6 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Losing to Ohio State meant that Michigan only got a share of the Big Ten Conference title, and cost them a bowl bid due to the head-to-head tiebreaker and the Big Ten's awful "Rose Bowl only" rule that held until 1975.
* Number 4 Oklahoma beat Kansas, 31-7 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. Oklahoma beat Nebraska to win the Big Eight Conference title, and advanced to Number 2 in the country. Unable to face Number 1 USC in the Rose Bowl, they turned down a bid to the Orange Bowl to face a higher-ranking team in the Sugar Bowl, in the hope of a better shot at the National Championship.
* Number 5 Nebraska beat Kansas State, 59-7 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Losing to Oklahoma meant that the 2-time defending National Champions, in their last season before Bob Devaney handed off the head coaching job to his offensive coordinator, Tom Osborne, only got a share of the Big Eight Conference title. But they still got the league's Orange Bowl bid.
* Number 6 Penn State beat Boston College, 45-26 at Alumni Stadium, just outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Penn State were invited to the Sugar Bowl, but lost it to Oklahoma, 14-0. Oklahoma's win did not impress the voters enough to put them ahead of USC, who were awarded the National Championship by both polls, the Associated Press (AP, the college football writers) and United Press International (UPI, the head coaches).
* Number 7 Texas beat Texas Christian (TCU), 27-0 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. Texas won the Southwest Conference title, then beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
* Number 8 Louisiana State beat Mississippi State, 28-14 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.
* Number 9 Ohio State beat Northwestern, 20-17 at Dyche Stadium (now Ryan Field) in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. This avenged Northwestern's win at Ohio Stadium the year before. Ohio State beat Michigan to win the Big Ten title, but lost the Rose Bowl to USC, who thus won the National Championship. Had Ohio State won the Rose Bowl, they might have won the National Championship.
* Number 10 Notre Dame beat the University of Miami, 20-17 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame were invited to the Orange Bowl, where they were beaten by Nebraska in Bob Devaney's last game.
* Number 12 Iowa State were upset by Number 19 Missouri, 6-5 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. Yes, 6-5. That's in football, not baseball.
* Number 16 North Carolina beat arch-rival Duke, 14-0 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill.
* Number 17 Washington were upset by their arch-rivals, Number 20 Washington State, for the Apple Cup, 27-10 to close the 1st season of Wazzu's new Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington.
* In an intra-State rivalry game, the University of Richmond beat the College of William & Mary, 20-3 at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.
* Miami University of Ohio beat the University of Cincinnati for the Keg of Nails, 23-0 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.
* Brigham Young beat arch-rival Utah in "the Holy War," 16-7 at Rice Stadium (now Rice-Eccles Stadium) in Salt Lake City.
* The University of California beat arch-rival Stanford in "the Big Game," 24-21 at the old California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.
* Oregon beat Oregon State in "the Civil War," 30-3 at Parker Stadium (now Reser Stadium) in Corvallis, Oregon.
* Among the service academies, Army beat Holy Cross, 15-13 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy lost to Georgia Tech, 30-7 at Grant Field in Atlanta; and Air Force lost to Number 15 Colorado, 38-7 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs.
* The closest thing New York City had to a major college football team, Columbia, lost to the University of Pennsylvania, 20-14 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* And among New Jersey's teams, Rutgers beat Morgan State, 37-14 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; while Princeton lost to Yale, 31-7 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.
There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 87-86 at Madison Square Garden. In a losing effort for the Bucks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 32 points and grabbed 20 rebounds -- and that wasn't the best performance of the day.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Phoenix Suns, 126-122 at The Omni in Atlanta, in its 1st season. "Pistol Pete" Maravich scored 45 points -- and that wasn't the best performance of the day.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Baltimore Bullets, 95-79 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 127-117 at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. Nate "Tiny" Archibald scored 51 points, and that was the best performance of the day.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Buffalo Braves, 120-92 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat their arch-rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, 102-100 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The San Diego Conquistadors beat the Kentucky Colonels, 112-104 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. And the Denver Rockets beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 111-103 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver. Ralph Simpson -- not to be confused with later Houston Rocket star Ralph Sampson -- scored 44 points, but, as we've seen, that was not the best performance of the day.
There were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 7-3 at the Nassau Coliseum. Phil Esposito and Wayne Cashman both scored 2 goals, Bobby Orr just 1.
* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Minnesota North Stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs played to a tie, 4-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Atlanta Flames, 6-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. Al McDonough scored a hat trick for the Pens.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Detroit Red Wings, 8-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Mike Corrigan and Ralph Backstrom each scored 2 goals for the Kings.
* And the Philadelphia Flyers, the California Golden Seals, the Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
And there were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:
* The New York Raiders beat the Quebec Nordiques, 7-1 at Madison Square Garden. But with the established Rangers and the expansion Islanders having the NHL's backing, if the New York Tri-State Area could only support 2 pro hockey teams at the time, in this era before the New Jersey Devils arrived, then the Raiders were the likeliest odd team out, and only lasted the season.
* The New England Whalers beat the Ottawa Nationals, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.
* And the Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Philadelphia Blazers, 5-4 in overtime at the Philadelphia Arena in West Philly.
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