December 1, 1984: East Brunswick's Black Saturday

The main entrance to East Brunswick High School

-- after renovations were made in 2000.

It would have appeared differently in 1984.

December 1, 1984: New Jersey completes its high school football State Playoffs. Among the games played is the Central Jersey Group IV Final, at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick, New Jersey.

I was there. I saw this game. I have been trying to forget it ever since.

East Brunswick High School, in Middlesex County, opened in 1958, and had been playing football since 1961. In 1966 and 1972, it won the Central Jersey Group IV Championship. But that was under the old system, based on total wins. In 1974, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) instituted a Playoff system, based on "power points": A team got 2 points for every win, and 1 point for every game won by a team it beat.

Under this system, John P. Stevens High School of Edison, also in Middlesex County and a Middlesex County Athletic Conference (MCAC) opponent of E.B., won the Central Jersey Group IV Championship in 1977, 1978 and 1982, also making the Playoffs in 1983. East Brunswick had made it only once, in 1980, losing in the Semifinal.

John P. Stevens was the President of the Board of Education in Edison. He oversaw the building of Edison High School in 1955, but died soon thereafter. When a 2nd high school opened, on the north side of town, it was named for him. As a result, his name is on the dedication plaques of both schools.

But in 1984, the year I entered EBHS as a sophomore, E.B. won its 1st 6 games. In just his 2nd season as head coach, Marcus Borden had built a team based on strong line play and quick-strike capability. The 7th game was at Stevens' John E. McGowan Stadium, on October 27. E.B. beat J.P., 26-6. It was a dominating performance, and it went a long way toward the Bears earning the MCAC Championship. I was there: It was Stevens' Homecoming, and 5,000 of their fans went home angry.

They would get their revenge. Their big running back, George Boothe, was unavailable for this game due to injury. He returned, and helped them make the Playoffs. E.B. won their Semifinal over Hunterdon Central of Flemington, and then beat Colonia of Woodbridge on Thanksgiving Day to clinch the MCAC title and our 1st undefeated regular season. Stevens won their Semifinal, over Middletown North of Monmouth County, but lost their Thanksgiving game against crosstown Edison.

The local newspaper, then named The Central New Jersey Home News, ranked E.B. Number 1 in Middlesex County. So did another nearby paper, The News Tribune. These 2 papers would merge in 1995, forming The Home News Tribune. The Statewide newspaper, the Newark-based The Star-Ledger, ranked E.B. Number 2 in the entire State, behind Union of Union County. We were 10-0, and Stevens as 7-3. And we had the home-field advantage for the Final. We were heavily favored to win our 1st real "State Championship" in the sport.

Jay Doyle Field -- also noticeably altered,

well after 1984

But we couldn't stop Boothe. He scored 3 of their 4 touchdowns, the 1st on an end-around on which he wasn't even touched, putting the Hawks up, 27-20 in the 4th quarter. But the Bears had come from 27-13 down to beat Colonia, 33-27, just 9 days earlier, so the thought was there that we could do it again.

The Bears did come back, and scored a touchdown to make it 27-26 with a minute and a half to go. Remembering the Orange Bowl at the beginning of the year, when Nebraska's Tom Osborne went for the 2-point conversion and the National Championship against the University of Miami, and not getting it, and losing 31-30 -- but forgetting that, unlike college football at the time, New Jersey's State Playoffs did have a provision for overtime -- Borden went for the 2-point conversion.

Steve Hughes, who would be named Middlesex County Offensive Player of the Year by The Home News, found running back Deric Rowe wide open in the end zone. It was 3:37 PM. Don't bet me on the time. Rowe later said he lost the ball in the Sun. It hit him in the chest, slipped through his fingers, and fell to the grass. It was still 27-26.

We got the ball back one last time, but it was no use: Stevens 27, East Brunswick 26. Our undefeated State Championship season was gone. And, yes, 38 years later, it still hurts. Every time that score comes up, in any sport, I cringe.

Twice, I walked out of Jay Doyle Field in tears. The 2nd time was after graduation. The 1st time was this one, a game that became known as Black Saturday. I was spoiled over the 1st 10 games. I waited a long time for that 1 more win.

Deric played basketball for us, too, and we still cheered him every time he got the ball. But this was E.B.'s "Bill Buckner moment" -- 2 years before Buckner had his own. There would be other close calls, including another 1-point loss to Stevens in next year's regular season, costing us the Conference Championship; and another loss to them in the 1985 State Final. But E.B. football hadn't won a "State Championship" (officially, Central Jersey Group IV Championship) since 1972, and not at all under the current system.

Finally, we did it again on December 5, 2004, against Shore Conference power Jackson Memorial, at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway. Borden was still the head coach. I was there. We did it again in 2009, beating Brick Memorial, another Shore Conference school, in a snowstorm at The College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College) in Ewing. I was at that one, too.

There is a tragic postscript to that 1984 Final: Both Deric Rowe and George Boothe ended up in legal trouble. Rowe played football at Kansas State University, but dropped out, and served time in prison for armed robbery, carjacking and kidnapping. Last I heard, he was free, and living in the San Diego suburbs.

Boothe played at the University of Connecticut, but fell into drug use there, and became Central Jersey's "O.J. Simpson" -- the difference being that he was convicted for killing his girlfriend, in Atlanta in 1994. He was eventually released, and, at last check, was living in Connecticut.

*

December 1, 1984 was, as I said, a Saturday. After coming home, I didn't give a damn about the college football games that were played that day:

* Rivalry: Number 3 Florida beat Number 12 Florida State, 27-17 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.

* Rivalry: Number 8 Boston College, 8 days after their Thanksgiving weekend thriller over Miami, beat Holy Cross, 45-10 at Fitton Field in Worcester, Massachusetts. A rivalry between 2 Catholic schools just 40 miles apart that began in 1896, and had been played every year but 3 since 1910, only lasted 2 more years, as Holy Cross was entrenched in NCAA Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS).

* Number 10 Southern Methodist University (SMU) beat the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), 38-21 at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl, in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada.

* Rivalry: Number 11 Auburn were upset by Alabama, 17-15 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

* Rivalry: Number 13 Texas were upset by Texas A&M, 37-12 at Memorial Stadium in Austin.

* Rivalry: Number 18 Georgia were upset by Georgia Tech, 35-18 at Sanford Stadium in Athens.

* Rivalry: Army beat Navy, 28-11 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* Rivalry: Tennessee beat Vanderbilt, 29-13 at Vanderbilt Stadium (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.

* Rivalry: The University of Houston beat Rice University, 38-26 at the Astrodome in Houston. Champions of the Southwest Conference, Houston received an automatic bid to the Cotton Bowl, where Boston College beat them. It was Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie's last college game.

* And Iowa beat Hawaii, 17-6 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Baseball was out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Portland Trail Blazers, 115-93 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 100-97 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 110-104 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers, 131-109 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 94-86 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 142-110 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* The Denver Nuggets beat their arch-rivals, the Utah Jazz, 118-111 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 115-103 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

And there were 9 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Hartford Whalers, 8-4 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins, 5-4 in overtime at the Boston Garden. Dave Christian, a member of the Gold Medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, scored the winning goal with 3:40 left in overtime.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Minnesota North Stars, 8-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings, 10-5 at the St. Louis Arena. Joe Mullen scored 2 goals and an assist. Brian Sutter had 2 goals. Bernie Federko had a goal and 4 assists.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the New York Islanders, the Edmonton Oilers and the Winnipeg Jets were not scheduled.

November 22, 1980: East Brunswick Football's 1st Playoff Game -- and 1st Playoff Hosing

East Brunswick High School in the 1980s, while I was there

November 22, 1980: For the 1st time, the football team at East Brunswick High School in East Brunswick, New Jersey played a Playoff game. It was the wrong result, against the wrong team, given to my eventual Alma Mater for the wrong reason.

The Bears started their season by winning their 1st 6 games, with junior running back Len Bellezza running wild. The local newspaper, the New Brunswick-based Home News, would name him the Middlesex County Offensive Player of the Year.

On November 8, at home at Jay Doyle Field, EB lost to neighboring Madison Central of Old Bridge, 32-7. It turned out to be their only loss of the regular season, and the only game all season they scored fewer than 14 points, but also the game that cost them the Middlesex County Athletic Conference title.

The next week, on November 15, EB beat Woodbridge away, 38-21. This clinched the 1st seed in the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs, the 1st time the Bears had made the Playoffs since their establishment in 1974. They had shared the CJ IV title in 1966 and 1972, when they and another school each had records of 7-1-1. They had fallen 1 win short of Playoff qualification in 1975, 1977 and 1978. This time, they made it, and would face the 4th seed in the Semifinal, at home, on November 22.

Except they didn't. Because that 4th seed was Woodbridge. They had earned that seed, fair and square, just as EB had earned their 1st seed. But since EB had just played them, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association decided that the same matchup shouldn't be played 2 weeks in a row. So they decided that EB would, instead, host the 3rd seed, Raritan High School, of Hazlet in Monmouth County.

This wouldn't be a big deal if EB had beaten Raritan. But we didn't: The Rockets beat us, 31-17. Aside from Madison, they were the only team to score more than 21 points on us all season. I was 10 years old, about to turn 11, and in the 6th grade at Bowne-Munro Elementary School in East Brunswick, so not only did I not see this game, I didn't even know it happened for nearly 4 years, until I got to EBHS.

The only detail I know about it is that John Emery, one of EBHS' original physical education teachers, and the team's offensive coordinator from its 1st season in 1961 until 2005, missed this game, the only EB football game he missed in all that time, due to it being the day of his daughter's wedding.

Five days later, on Thanksgiving, East Brunswick went back to Woodbridge, and beat Colonia, 23-0, to finish the season at 8-2, the 1st time we'd won that many games in a season.

And speaking of Woodbridge: They won their Semifinal, and then beat Raritan in the Final, in Hazlet, 7-6. How's that for a weird outcome? We'll never know what would have happened if the NJSIAA had allowed the rematch like they were supposed to. Maybe we would have lost, anyway. After all, between that 1972 co-championship-by-record and the 1st Playoff title we actually won, in 2004, 32 years later, there were a lot of weird things that happened to EB's football team, some of them favorable, a lot of them not.

This time, it was a weird bureaucratic choice, and we got hosed by it.

There's an interesting postscript. George Tardiff was the head coach at East Brunswick from 1977 to 1982, including the 1980 Playoff berth. His next coaching job was at Raritan, and he got them into the Playoffs. In 1994, he finally won a Central Jersey Group IV title, with another Monmouth County school, Marlboro.

Raritan have spent most of their seasons since 1980 in Central Jersey Group III, as their enrollment has dropped. While East Brunswick have played them in other sports, we have never played them in football again, either in the regular season or in the Playoffs.

*

November 22, 1980 was a Saturday. This was the beginning of college football's eight-day rivalry week. Number 1 Georgia, who won the Southeastern Conference title, were idle. So were Number 3 Florida State, Number 6 Alabama, Number 7 Penn State, Number 8 University of Pittsburgh, Army and Navy.

And, while not every game played on this day was a major rivalry, these were:

* Number 4 Nebraska were upset by Number 9 Oklahoma, 21-17 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Oklahoma thus won the Big Eight Conference title.

* Number 5 Ohio State were upset by Number 10 Michigan, 9-3 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. This gave Michigan the Big Ten Conference title.

* Number 12 University of Southern California were upset by Number 18 University of California at Los Angeles. UCLA beat USC, 20-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 13 Brigham Young University beat the University of Utah, 56-6 at Robert Rice Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* Number 14 South Carolina were upset by Clemson, 27-6 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

* Number 15 North Carolina beat Duke, 44-21 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. UNC thus won the Atlantic Coast Conference title.

* Winning the Apple Cup were Number 16 University of Washington, beating Washington State, 30-23 at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane, Washington. "Wazzu" played some games at Joe Albi, 80 miles north of their campus in Pullman, because, at the time, it seated more than their on-campus Martin Stadium. This win gave UW the Pacific-Ten Conference title.

* Number 17 Mississippi State beat the University of Mississippi, a.k.a. Ole Miss, 19-14 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson.

*  Yale beat Harvard, 14-0 at Harvard Stadium in Boston.

* Boston College beat the University of Massachusetts, 13-12 at Alumni Stadium (now Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium) in Hadley, Massachusetts, outside Amherst.

* Villanova beat Temple, 23-7 at Villanova Stadium in the Philadelphia suburb of Villanova, Pennsylvania.

* The University of Richmond beat William & Mary, 26-14 at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.

* Maryland beat Virginia, 31-0 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia.

* Tennessee beat Kentucky, 45-14 for the Old Bourbon Barrel at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.

* Louisiana State University (LSU) beat Tulane, 24-7 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

* The University of Cincinnati beat Miami University of Ohio, 23-13 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.

* Winning the Old Oaken Bucket were Purdue, beating Indiana, 24-23 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.

* Winning Paul Bunyan's Axe were Wisconsin, beating Minnesota, 25-7 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

* In "the Border War," Missouri beat Kansas, 31-6 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. 

* In "The Big Game," the University of California beat Stanford, 28-23 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California.

In non-rivalry games:

* Number 2 Notre Dame beat the Air Force Academy, 24-10 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

* Number 11 Baylor beat Number 20 Texas, 16-0 at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas.

* Syracuse beat West Virginia, 20-7 at the new Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. The new Mountaineer Field, now Milan Puskar Stadium, replaced the old Mountaineer Field that season. Syracuse also opened a new stadium that season, the Carrier Dome, now the JMW Wireless Dome. Had Rutgers opened their new Rutgers Stadium then, shortly after their 1976 undefeated season, instead of waiting until 1992-94, they would have been a lot better off.

* North Carolina State beat East Carolina, 36-14 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* Wake Forest beat Appalachian State, 28-16 at Groves Stadium (now Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

* The University of Miami beat North Texas, 26-8 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* Vanderbilt beat Chattanooga, 31-29 at Dudley Field (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.

* Iowa State beat Oklahoma State, 23-21 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

* Texas A&M beat Texas Christian University (TCU), 13-10 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.

* The University of Houston beat Texas Tech, 34-7 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.

* Wyoming beat the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), 52-7 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso.

* Iowa beat Michigan State, 41-0 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.

* Kansas State beat Colorado, 17-14 at KSU Stadium (now Snyder Family Memorial Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas.

* San Diego State beat New Mexico, 24-22 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium).

* Arizona State beat Oregon, 42-37 at Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* Arizona beat Oregon State, 24-7 at Parker Stadium (now Reser Stadium) in Corvallis, Oregon.

* And in New Jersey, Rutgers beat Colgate, 35-13 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; and Princeton beat Dartmouth, 27-24 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Golden State Warriors, 116-110 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Detroit Pistons, 117-103 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Utah Jazz, 99-93 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Rockets, 129-120 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Washington Bullets, 114-101 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 108-101 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. George Gervin led all scorers on the night, as "the Iceman" scored 39 points.

There were 10 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 6-4 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Quebec Nordiques and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 3-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena) in Hartford, Connecticut.

* The Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals played to a tie, 2-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Edmonton Oilers were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, Arsenal, the team I would one day support, beat Liverpool team Everton, 2-1 at Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury for its North London neighborhood.

November 21, 1987: East Brunswick's "Blue Saturday"

Jay Doyle Field, on a considerably warmer day,

after its 2007 renovation

November 21, 1987: A high school football game is played at Jay Doyle Field, on the campus of East Brunswick High School in Middlesex County, New Jersey. It is a Semifinal in the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament, and the host school is playing its neighbor and rival, Madison Central High School of Old Bridge.

From 1963 to 1974, EB went 9-1-2 against Madison Township. From 1975 to 1993, when the opposing school was named Madison Central, they led, 13-8, including Conference title deciders in 1980 (them) and 1987 (us); their ruining EB's 1st-ever home night game in 1986; a Number 1 vs. Number 2 game in 1988 where they beat us in the worst blowout in our history, 55-3; Playoff defeats to them in 1987 and 1988; and our ending their 24-game winning streak in 1989. Up until 1987, most of these games were early in the season, sometimes even the opening game.

On October 1, 1987, at Madison's Lombardi Field, EB won, 19-14. Afterward, Spartans coach Bob DeMarco -- whose brother, Greg DeMarco, had been East Brunswick's wrestling coach and still taught at Madison, and both men were graduates in the school's time as MTHS -- retooled his offense, installing the wishbone formation, allowing multiple running options.

Both schools won every game for the rest of the regular season. As a result, EB won the 1st seed in the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs, and would host the 4th seed, which turned out to be Madison Central, in the Semifinal, set for Saturday afternoon, November 21.

It turned out to be the coldest game in EB football history, our very own "Ice Bowl." Given that we were so cold that we were turning blue, Madison wore alternating navy blue and sky blue, and how "Blue" we felt afterward, I have called it East Brunswick's "Blue Saturday."

There was nothing we could do. We couldn't stop their wishbone offense, led by quarterback Ed Walsh. (His father, Hugh Walsh, had been the head coach and athletic director at nearby Monroe Township High School, and their stadium is named for him.) Madison scored 2 touchdowns in each of the 1st 2 quarters, led 27-0 at the half, and coasted to a 33-0 win.

To make matters worse, our best running back and best cornerback, Mark Harmon -- he was black, and thus not related to the UCLA quarterback turned actor of the same name -- tore up his knee. He missed the upcoming basketball season. When he returned for his senior year, he wore a plastic knee brace, and was limited to defense.

He did play basketball in his senior year. To put that in perspective: EB's boys basketball team made the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament Semifinal and won the Central Jersey Group IV title when he was a freshman, won the GMC Red Division and its Tournament when he was a sophomore, and reached the GMCT Final when he was a senior; but had a losing record when he missed the season as a junior.

Madison Central went on to beat Neptune in the Central Jersey Group IV Final. The next year, they inflicted an even worse loss on us, then beat us again in the Playoffs, before beating Middletown South for the title. The 1987 Madison team was just a prelude for the 1988 Madison team being named, along with the 1966 South River and 1982 J.P. Stevens teams, one of the greatest high school football teams in Middlesex County history. (The 2004 Piscataway team is now included among those contenders.)

Ed Walsh received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. The Army football team was running the wishbone at the time, so he seemed like a good fit. But after an injury, he transferred to an NCAA Division III school closer to home, Trenton State College, now known as The College of New Jersey. He did not play pro ball.

*

November 21, 1987 was a Saturday. It was the start of college football's rivalry week. These rivalry games were played:

* Number 2 Oklahoma beat Number 1 Nebraska, 17-7 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, to win the Big Eight Conference title, and set up a National Championship showdown.

* Number 5 University of California at Los Angeles were upset by the University of Southern California, 17-13 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This cost UCLA, and gave USC, the Pacific-Ten Conference (Pac-10) title.

* Number 9 Louisiana State University (LSU) beat Tulane, 41-36 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* Number 12 South Carolina beat Number 8 Clemson, 20-7 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. This was a non-conference game, and Clemson had already clinched the title in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

* Number 15 Tennessee beat Kentucky, 24-22 at Commonwealth Stadium (now Kroger Field) in Lexington, Kentucky.

* Number 18 Iowa beat Minnesota, 34-20 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

* Number 20 Indiana beat Purdue, 35-14 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.

* Harvard beat Yale, 14-10 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, to clinch the title in the Ivy League.

* Duke beat North Carolina, 25-10 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

* Mississippi State beat the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), 30-20 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson.

* Ohio State beat Michigan, 23-20 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

* Northwestern beat Illinois, 28-10 at Dyche Stadium outside Chicago in Evanston, Illinois.

* Missouri beat Kansas, 19-7 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.

* Stanford beat California, 31-7 at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California.

* Oregon beat Oregon State, 44-0 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.

* Brigham Young University (BYU) beat the University of Utah, 21-18 at Cougar Stadium (now LaVell Edwards Stadium) in Provo, Utah.

* Washington beat Washington State, 34-19 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

In non-rivalry games:

* Number 3 University of Miami beat the University of Toledo, 24-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. This set up a National Championship showdown between Miami and Oklahoma, also at the Orange Bowl, in the game of the same name. Miami won, to take the title.

* Number 4 Florida State were idle, preparing for their rivalry game with Florida, which they won.

* Number 6 Syracuse beat West Virginia, 32-31 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York.

* Number 7 Notre Dame were upset by Penn State, 21-20 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

* Number 10 Auburn were idle, preparing for their rivalry game with Alabama. They won it, to win the Southeastern Conference (SEC) title.

* Number 11 Michigan State beat Wisconsin, 30-9 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. This clinched the Big Ten Conference title for Michigan State.

* Number 13 Oklahoma State beat Iowa State, 48-27 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

* Number 16 Texas A&M beat Texas Christian University (TCU), 42-24 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Forth Worth, Texas.

* Number 19 University of Pittsburgh beat Kent State, 28-5 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* Virginia Tech beat the University of Cincinnati, 21-20 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.

* Virginia beach North Carolina State, 34-31 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* Wake Forest beat Georgia Tech, 33-6 at Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.

* Vanderbilt beat Maryland, 34-24 at Vanderbilt Stadium (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.

* The University of Houston and Texas Tech played to a tie, 10-10 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* Texas beat Baylor, 34-16 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. Five days later, on Thanksgiving, A&M beat Texas to win the Southwest Conference (SWC) title.

* Colorado beat Kansas State, 41-10 at KSU Stadium (now Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas.

* Wyoming beat the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), 37-13 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, to clinch the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) title.

* San Diego State beat New Mexico, 53-30 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

* Among the service academies, Air Force beat Hawaii, 34-31 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu; while Army and Navy were idle, preparing for their game against each other, which Army won at Veterans Stadium.

* And with New Jersey's teams, Rutgers beat Temple, 17-14 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia; and Princeton beat Cornell, 23-6 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

Baseball was out of season. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Golden State Warriors, 99-91 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Boston Celtics, 107-97 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Houston Rockets, 104-94 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 101-88 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Detroit Pistons beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bulls, 144-132 in overtime at the Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan scored 49 points.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz, 120-119 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 97-91 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings, 103-96 at the original ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics, 124-103 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-4 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena) in Hartford, Connecticut.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 6-6 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-5 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 4-4 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

And in English soccer, Arsenal, the North London soccer team I would one day discover, lost 1-0 to Hampshire team Southampton at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury for its North London neighborhood.

November 19, 1966: East Brunswick Football's 1st State Championship

From the 1967 EBHS Yearbook

November 19, 1966: East Brunswick High School, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, which would one day be my Alma Mater, beats Sayreville War Memorial High School at home, 33-0. This clinches the school's 1st State Championship in football, in only its 6th season.

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.

EB opened the 1966 season on September 24, home to Madison, a next-door neighbor, and won, 35-6. 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. I talked to Wayne Beck Jr., an EBHS baseball player in the late 1980s, whose father Wayne Beck Sr. played in the 1966 season. Wayne Jr. said his father told him that it poured that day, and that Woodbridge Stadium (now Nicholas A. Priscoe Stadium) was practically a field of soup. Not surprisingly, the game ended in a 0-0 tie.

The next game, at home on October 8, was against South River, who, naturally, became our 1st arch-rival. EB had Dave Wohl at quarterback, and he would go on to become the first (and still only) EBHS graduate to play in the NBA. South River's quarterback was senior Joe Theismann (then pronounced "THEEZE-man," it was at Notre Dame where it was changed to "THIGHS-man" to rhyme with the Heisman Trophy he ended up not winning), and his top receiver was sophomore Drew Pearson, who succeeded him as SRHS quarterback, and then opposed Theismann in some classic Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys games. The Rams beat us, 27-0. EB were now 1-1-1, and there was no indication that this would be a special season.

In spite of this rough start, EB won the rest of their games. They went to Edison, and won, 34-12. They went to Perth Amboy, who had beaten them the last 2 years, and won, 13-6. They came home to face Essex Catholic, and won, 32-14. This was the 1st time EB had ever played a religion-affiliated school. Essex Catholic was established in Newark in 1957, moved to East Orange in 1980, and was closed due to declining enrollment in 2003.

On November 5, EB hosted John F. Kennedy Memorial High School of Woodbridge, so named because JFK was assassinated while it was under construction, and won, 26-0. On November 12, they beat New Brunswick at their Memorial Stadium, 31-21.

They closed on November 19, at home, beating Sayreville, 33-0. This gave us the Championship of the Greater Jersey Group IV Conference, Central Division II, our 1st league title. And, due to our 7-1-1 record, it also gave us a share of their 1st Central Jersey Group IV Championship. Our first "State Championship." Plainfield, placed in Central Jersey despite being in Union County, which should have put it in North Jersey Section 2, also had a 7-1-1 record, and so EB shared the title with them.

That November 19 clincher against Sayreville was played the same day as the Michigan State-Notre Dame Number 1 vs. Number 2 tie game that was labeled "The Game of the Century." I have a separate entry for that event.

EB would repeat the story in 1972: We went 7-1-1, with our only loss being to South River, but won the Championship of the Middlesex County Athletic Conference, and a Co-Championship in Central Jersey Group IV. At the end of the year, 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. 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.

*

November 19, 1966 was, of course a Saturday. Other notable college football games played that day, aside from the nationally-televised Michigan-State Notre Dame game:

* In the 2nd half of ABC's nationally-telecast doubleheader, Number 8 UCLA beat Number 7 USC, 14-7 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. This game forced a tie for the Championship in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU), and, head-to-head, UCLA should have had the tiebreaker. The next week, Notre Dame went into the Coliseum, and walloped USC, 51-0.

But USC still got the Rose Bowl bid, and lost to Purdue. UCLA, hampered by a rule in the league now known as the Pac-12 similar to the Big Ten's, couldn't go to a bowl, despite finishing the regular season 9-1. Wow, if ever a 20th Century college football season needed a playoff, this was it. The next season, USC and UCLA would play a "Game of the Century."

* Number 3 Alabama and Number 4 Nebraska both had the week off. The following week, Nebraska lost to arch-rival Oklahoma. But they still won the Big Eight Conference title. Alabama beat Southern Mississippi and then arch-rival Auburn, and beat Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 10 Purdue crushed arch-rival Indiana, 51-0 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.

* Michigan beat Ohio State, 17-3 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Wisconsin beat Minnesota, 7-6 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

* Southern Methodist beat Baylor, 24-22 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, clinching the Southwest Conference title. But they lost the Cotton Bowl to Georgia, who were off this week, and ranked Number 7.

* Harvard beat Yale, 17-0 at Harvard Stadium in Boston.

* Penn State beat Pittsburgh, 48-24 at Pitt Stadium.

* Army and Navy both had the week off. The following week, Army beat Navy, 20-7 at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia.

* In New York City, Columbia beat Brown, 40-38 at Baker Field.

* In New Jersey, Princeton beat Cornell, 7-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

* And Rutgers lost to Colgate, 26-7 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

One more football score I want to mention, but not in college, nor in the pros. The school that would one day become my high school, East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, beat Sayreville 33-0. This enabled them to win both the Greater Jersey Group IV Conference, Central Division II Championship, and, due to their record, winning a share of their 1st Central Jersey Group IV Championship. Our first "State Championship."

There were 5 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the expansion Chicago Bulls, 116-104 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 134-110 at the Philadelphia Civic Center.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Baltimore Bullets, 147-125 at the Baltimore Civic Center. (The building still stands, under the name of the CFG Bank Arena.)

* The St. Louis Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons, 105-87 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 144-109 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. For the Warriors, Rick Barry scored 45, and Nate Thurmond had 24 points and 27 rebounds.

And the entire NHL -- all of the "Original Six" teams -- were in action:

* The New York Rangers played the Boston Bruins to a tie, 3-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons, 7-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

Also on this day, Gail Devers, an American sprinter who won Olympic Gold Medals, was born. So was celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito. So was actor and martial artist Jason Scott Lee. Although not related to Bruce Lee, he played Bruce in a film biography. 

October 27, 1989: East Brunswick's Sweet Revenge Over Madison Central

This is an actual photo from the game.
I didn't take it, but I was there.

October 27, 1989: A high school football game was played at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick, New Jersey. It shouldn't have mattered much to me. But it did. It mattered. A lot.

From 1963 to 1974, EB went 9-1-2 against Madison Township, before the name of the Township was changed to Old Bridge. From 1975 to 1993, when the opposing school was named Madison Central, they led, 13-8, including Conference title deciders in 1980 (them) and 1987 (us); their ruining EB's 1st-ever home night game in 1986.

In 1987, EB had won the regular-season game between them, but there was a rematch in the Semifinal of the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament. It was a bitterly cold day, and Madison won, 33-0. The next year, in what was set up as a "Game of the Century," with Madison ranked Number 1 in the State and EB ranked Number 2 in the County, Madison won in the most humiliating game in EB history, 55-3, before winning a Playoff rematch, 31-7.

So when the teams -- the East Brunswick Bears, coached by Marcus Borden, in white helmets, green jerseys and white pants, and the Madison Central Spartans, coached by Bob DeMarco, in light blue helmets, white jerseys, and light blue pants with navy blue trim -- took the field against each other in East Brunswick for the regular-season game in 1989, Madison had a 24-game winning streak, and were heavily favored to win.

There was precedent for hope: In 1984 and 1985 EB had lost Central Jersey Group IV Finals to Edison school J.P. Stevens, and won the 1986 regular-season game between them, ending their 22-game winning streak. But there was a significant difference: In '86, EB still had several returning players with Playoff experience; in ''89, they had significant graduation losses. So Madison were heavily favored.

So we were heavy underdogs as we hosted Madison at Doyle Field. And it looked like the same old thing: On the 1st play from scrimmage, EB quarterback Troy White tried a long pass, and it was intercepted and returned deep. Fortunately, we held them to a field goal, and it was only 3-0.

On their next possession, Madison had a 66-yard touchdown pass, but a personal foul after the play led to the extra point attempt being pushed back, and it was wide right. Still, it was the 5:30 mark of the 1st quarter, and Madison already led, 9-0.

But the Spartans did not score again. The Bear defense held them, as they could not in the previous 3 games between the teams. Early in the 2nd quarter, a big gain by Greg Rullo set up a 27-yard field goal by Ian Cairns, to make it 9-3 Madison with 8:12 left in the half. Jimmy Allinder, who wrote a sports column for the weekly local newspaper The Sentinel and was the lead commentator on EB's Channel 3 cable broadcasts, called Rullo, also a fine linebacker, "a man possessed tonight." It was still 9-3 Madison at the half.

In the middle of the 3rd quarter, Madison quarterback and cornerback Brian Donnelly injured his non-throwing shoulder, and missed most of the rest of the game. Shortly thereafter, Pat Casinelli fumbled a punt, and gave the ball back to Madison. But, shortly after that, he forced a fumble to regain possession for EB, shifting the momentum back. At the end of the quarter, it was still 9-3 Madison.

On the 1st play of the 4th quarter, White broke to his left and ran for a 1st down. Rullo bulled his way to a 1st & goal. He was injured on the play, but only missed 2 plays. White ran to his right, surveyed his multiple options, and decided to take it in himself, diving into the end zone. Touchdown, EB.

Color commentator Phil Hill said, "I have never, in all my years at East Brunswick, saw the crowd erupt like they just did, John, when we scored that touchdown. Virtually everyone was on their feet." As one of that crowd, I can vouch for that. Maybe if we had won the Central Jersey Final in 1984... But we didn't win that one.

But now, with 9:24 to play, Cairns kicked the extra point, and it was EB 10, Madison 9. It was the first time, in nearly 6 full games, that Madison had been behind all season. And all of the sadness and anger that Madison had been inflicting on us for 3 years was close to being brushed away.

The Bear defense held the Spartans on their next drive, and from there on in, it was a matter of controlling the clock. Madison got the ball back with 3:20 to go, and Donnelly returned as quarterback. With 1:45 left, they had a 4th & 3 in their own territory. Donnelly tried to pitch to his left, but he got swarmed by green jerseys, led by linebacker Todd Pechar. He didn't really have a chance to check his options out, threw a lateral anyway, and nobody got it: It rolled to the sideline, and the Bears took over on downs.

At this point, the announcers were saying that the officials had a bad game. I didn't notice -- or maybe, because of the result, I simply forgot.

After an EB 3-and-out and a good punt by Drew Stahley, Madison got a last chance, on their 20-yard line, with 43 seconds and 1 timeout to go. Madison coach Bob DeMarco knew he had to gain at least 50 yards to set up a game-winning field goal, so he abandoned the wishbone that had won him 24 straight games, for the shotgun.

Hill told his broadcast colleagues that the game had started with an interception, and he thought it would end with an interception. He was right: Donnelly threw long, and Tom Gehrmann picked him off with under 30 seconds to go. White knelt with the ball once, and it was over: East Brunswick 10, Madison Central 9. It was an upset that felt about as good as any sporting event I've ever been to.

It didn't last. We went up to Bayonne to fulfill a home-and-home series that began with us making our, and ruining their, Playoff chances the season before. Not only did they pound us in their huge (by high school standards) stadium on the shore of a smelly Newark Bay, but they rubbed it in for the previous season's defeat, 42-7, even starting a fight. They won that, too.

A week later, with the Berlin Wall having just fell, Woodbridge coach Mike Cilento left the field at Priscoe Stadium uncovered, so it was a sloppy mess, and we lost by 1 point, costing us a winning season: 4-5. Still, we were a touchdown against Cherokee, and field goals against Perth Amboy and Woodbridge, away from being 7-2. Madison went on to reach their 3rd straight Central Jersey Group IV Final, but lost it to Middletown South.

In 1994, Madison Central and the other school in town, Cedar Ridge, were reconsolidated into a single Old Bridge High School due to declining enrollment. Just EB's luck, ours declined, too, and their started going back up, and they've dominated us in football ever since.

Kicker Ian Cairns, the man who made the difference, would later join the U.S. Army, and do field reporting for the Home News Tribune from Afghanistan. He became a career officer. (UPDATE: He has since retired from the Army, and runs a consulting firm in East Brunswick.)

There have been some good wins for EB football since, including the Central Jersey Group IV Championships won in 2004 and 2009. But the 1989 win over Madison Central/Old Bridge remains the greatest regular-season EB football game I've ever seen -- and the most satisfying. As the old saying goes, Revenge is sweet.

*

October 27, 1989 was a Friday. Game 3 of the World Series, between the 2 teams of the San Francisco Bay Area, delayed after being pre-empted by the Loma Prieta Earthquake 10 days earlier, was played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants, 13-7. The A's completed the 4-game sweep the next day.

The NBA season started 7 days later. There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers and the New York Islanders, each other's arch-rivals, played each other to a 5-5 tie at Madison Square Garden. The Isles led 3-0 in the 2nd period, and 5-2 at the start of the 3rd, but blew it, as Miloslav Hořava scored an equalizer with 34 seconds left in regulation. Over 5 minutes of overtime, neither team could find a winner.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-5 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. The Leafs led 5-1 after 2 periods, but blew it, with the Sabres' Mike Foligno scoring with 59 seconds left in regulation, and Pierre Turgeon scoring the winner with 2:30 left in overtime.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 5-5 at the Saddledome in Calgary.