November 22, 1973: The Old Bridge Thanksgiving Classic

A recent photo of Vince Lombardi Field

in Old Bridge, New Jersey

November 22, 1973: The most famous football game in the history of the Township of Old Bridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey is played.

Well, sort of: From its incorporation on March 2, 1869 until November 5, 1975, the town was known as the Township of Madison -- or, more often, "Madison Township" -- in honor of the 4th President of the United States, James Madison. One of the adjoining towns is named for the 5th President, James Monroe.

Tired of being confused with the Borough of Madison in Morris County, New Jersey, Madison changed its name to the Township of Old Bridge, a name taken from an adjoining section of a town next-door -- my hometown of East Brunswick. Jeez, why couldn't you pick a name from your own town, like Browntown or Sayre Woods?

With their high school-age students previously going to Matawan High School, in a town next-door but over in Monmouth County, Madison Township Township High School opened in 1963, pretty much in the center of town, near the intersection of U.S. Route 9 and County Route 516, with the colors navy blue and sky blue, and the mascot of the Spartans.

The town continued to grow, and a 2nd school opened, 2 miles east on Route 516, named Cedar Ridge High School, with the colors green and gold, and the mascot of the Cougars. On the same campus was a middle school named for the recently deceased poet Carl Sandburg. They also have a middle school named for Dr. Jonas Salk, who was still alive at the time. So were some of America's astronauts, who had elementary schools in the town named for them.

But while Cedar Ridge got their own gymnasium and baseball field, they never got their own football stadium, and had to "groundshare" with the established school, playing their "home games" at the home of their arch-rivals, which was very uncomfortable. In 1970, after the death of legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi, the complex was named Vince Lombardi Field, even though he had no connection to the town. (He had married a woman from nearby Red Bank, and had coached at the now-defunct. St. Cecilia's High School in Kearny.)

Cedar Ridge had a bad start to their football history: In 1969, they lost all 9 games, including a 64-0 defeat to East Brunswick, which remains the biggest win by points in my Alma Mater's history. Their next 2 seasons were also bad. Madison fans nicknamed the newer school "the Gulch Down the Road." In 1972, they got better. But, for the 4th time in 4 tries, Madison won the Thanksgiving Day game between the teams. Previously, in 1965, '66, '67 and '68, Madison had played next-door Sayreville on Thanksgiving.

In 1973, Cedar Ridge football took off. They even beat East Brunswick for the 1st time, 21-0. They went into the Thanksgiving game undefeated, at 8-0. Madison were just 2-6. It looked like the "little brother" school was ready to finish them off, and win the Championships of the Middlesex County Athletic Conference and the Central Jersey Group IV section. (That would be the last season that having the best record in the section and the enrollment-defined group would settle the title. The next season, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the NJSIAA, instituted a Playoff system.)

But Madison refused to let their dominance go. The Spartans fought the Cougars tooth and nail, all game long. It looked like it would be an incredible upset -- unless, of course, the belief that Cedar Ridge simply couldn't beat Madison Township was too strong.

As the clock ticked down, the Spartans led, 15-14, but Cedar Ridge had one last drive in them. With 57 seconds to go, Kyle Raymond attempted a field goal from 33 yards out. It was good, and the Spartans could not get back into field goal range on their last possession. Cedar Ridge won, 17-15, and completed their undefeated championship season.

With the change of the town's name in 1975, the Board of Education changed the name of Madison Township High School to... Madison Central High School. This made no sense whatsoever. Their "MT" helmet logo was changed to an "MC." Most people continued to call them "Madison" for short. That Autumn, Cedar Ridge beat Madison again.

But those would be the only 2 times in 25 tries that Cedar Ridge won. Whether it was declining enrollment, or the fact that they never had a home-field advantage, the Cougars never had a big football moment after 1975. They never made the Playoffs. And neighboring schools like East Brunswick, Sayreville and, every 4th Thursday in November, Madison routinely clobbered them. They occasionally had good baseball, soccer and wrestling teams, but 1973 (and maybe '75) would be it for them in football. But the 1973 Cedar Ridge-Madison Central game is still regarded as one of the greatest games in the history of Middlesex County football.

Both schools saw their enrollment drop, and in 1993, the decision was made to reconsolidate them. The combined school was named Old Bridge High School. A poll was taken among the students who would be moving on to it, to choose new colors, which turned out to be black and purple, a combination no nearby school had; and a new mascot, which became the Knights, possibly a tribute to nearby Rutgers University, and also a name not given to a nearby school. (The next-closest Knights were Wall Township, 5 towns to the south in Monmouth County.)

When the 1994-95 schoolyear opened, Madison Central became the OBHS West Campus, holding Grades 9 and 10; while Cedar Ridge became the OBHS East Campus, holding Grades 11 and 12. In 2004, it was reorganized again: The former Cedar Ridge is now Old Bridge High School, holding Grades 10, 11 and 12; the former Sandburg is now the Grade Nine Center; and the former Madison Central is now Carl Sandburg Middle School.

Notable graduates of Cedar Ridge include lawyer Doug Emhoff '82, Vice President Kamala Harris' husband; writer Junot Díaz '86; singer-actress Colleen Fitzpatrick '88, a.k.a. Vitamin C; and Shannon Sohn '92, Emmy-winning helicopter traffic reporter for WABC-Channel 7.

Notable graduates of Madison Township/Madison Central include Mark Schlissel '75, fired as President of the University of Michigan in 2022 on what would once have been quaintly called a morals charge; Jordan Zimmerman '75, a former co-owner of the NHL's Florida Panthers; Fabian Nicieza '79, co-creator of the comic book superhero Deadpool; actor Brian O'Halloran '87, who played Dante in the film Clerks; actor Ken Leung '88, known for his role on the TV series Lost; 

And notable graduates of Old Bridge High School after 1994 include Adam Chazen '04, special effects producer for the TV show Game of Thrones. 

*

November 22, 1973 was, as I said, Thanksgiving Day, and therefore a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. There were 5 college football games played:

* Number 2 Alabama beat Number 7 Louisiana State University (LSU), 21-7 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

* Number 5 Notre Dame beat the Air Force Academy, 48-15 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. The Fighting Irish were on a collision course with 'Bama, and beat them in the Sugar Bowl to decide the National Championship.

* Number 11 Texas beat their arch-rivals, Texas A&M, 42-13 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.

* Ohio University -- not to be confused with Ohio State -- beat Marshall University, 35-21 at Fairfield Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia.

* And the University of Southern Mississippi beat Utah State, 32-8 at Faulkner Field (now Renasant Stadium) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

There were 2 games in the NFL. The Washington Redskins beat the Detroit Lions, 20-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. And the Miami Dolphins beat the Dallas Cowboys, 14-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

With the growing dominance of football, the NBA and the NHL usually doesn't schedule games for Thanksgiving Day anymore. But, on this T-Day, there were 4 NBA games:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 107-91 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA (now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena).

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Atlanta Hawks, 101-99 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Houston Rockets, 104-96 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston.

* And, in what could be considered the NBA equivalent of an amateur football rivalry, the Portland Trail Blazers beat their arch-rivals, the Seattle SuperSonics, 131-125 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. Geoff Petrie scored 43 points.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The Virginia Squires beat the Memphis Tams, 136-111 at the Hampton Coliseum, outside Norfolk in Hampton, Virginia. And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Stars, 92-84 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 7-6 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The New York Islanders beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2 at the Boston Garden. This turned out to be a preview of the Stanley Cup Finals, but the Flyers won that.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars, 2-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Toronto Toros beat the Quebec Nordiques, 4-2 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the New England Whalers, 7-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Chicago Cougars beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 4-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

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.

October 28, 1988: Madison Central 55, East Brunswick 3

October 28, 1988: It was billed as the Game of the Century in high school football in Middlesex County, New Jersey. It turned out to be one of the most memorable games of the 20th Century, all right, but, from my perspective, for all the wrong reasons.

In 1987, I graduated from East Brunswick High School. The following schoolyear, we beat Madison Central High School of Old Bridge, 19-14 at Madison's Vince Lombardi Field, a key game in winning the title in the Red Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference. EB and Madison had been neighbors and rivals since Madison began playing football in 1963.

They met again in the Semifinal of the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs, at EB's Jay Doyle Field. It was a miserably cold day, and Madison coach Bob DeMarco had gotten his team's wishbone formation working perfectly. Madison won, 33-0, and went on to beat Neptune for the title.

Embarrassed, East Brunswick coach Marcus Borden abandoned his pass-oriented offenses, and installed his own version of the wishbone. It worked pretty well. Going into their game on October 28 at Lombardi Field, the New Brunswick-based local newspaper, The Home News, ranked Madison Number 1 in its circulation area (which included some spillover into Somerset County), and EB Number 2. The Newark-based Statewide newspaper, The Star-Ledger, ranked Madison Number 1 in the entire State.

The Home News promoted it like it was a "Game of the Century." Their high school football editor, Gene Haley, made their picks, and he predicted a 28-24 Madison win. Given that home field advantage is usually considered a 3-point boost, it was a fair pick.

It was an electric Friday night, and over 5,000 fans packed into that old pit along U.S. Route 9. Madison took the field wearing light blue helmets, navy blue jerseys and light blue pants. East Brunswick took the field wearing all white uniforms, with green trim. We were looking for revenge and Playoff position. They were looking to make history.

They did. We won the toss, but our 1st drive ended with Bryan Fortay, one of the most heavily recruited quarterbacks in the State, being intercepted by linebacker Rob Stanavich, who had nothing but green real estate in front of him, and he high-stepped into the end zone. We came back with a field goal, and it was 7-3, so it wasn't so bad.

Madison came back with another touchdown. We drove, but couldn't get close enough, and another field goal attempt went wide. It was 14-3.

That was it. We couldn't stop them. At all. They went through our defense like a hot knife through butter. Over and over again, their fight song, to the tune of the University of Michigan's "Hail to the Victors," rang out across the field to our side. It was 27-3 at the half. I left. It was 4.7 miles from Lombardi Field in Old Bridge to the house where I grew up in East Brunswick, and I walked all the way. I didn't stop off for a drink or a snack.

By the time I got home, the game was over. Madison Central had won, 55-3. That is not a typographical error: The Number 1 team in the County had beaten the Number 2 team, fifty-five to three.

They had run up the score against the team they hated the most. Crosstown rivals Cedar Ridge, they always beat, and merely pitied; East Brunswick, they hated, and they wanted to send a message. It was received, loud and clear.

It was the local equivalent of the 1940 NFL Championship Game, when the Chicago Bears beat the Washington Redskins, 73-0. Which brings up the question: Suppose we had made that field goal when it was 14-3. What would have happened? I'll tell you what would have happened: We would have lost, 55-6.

Somehow, EB sucked it up, and won the next week, beating Bayonne, 38-22 at home, and clinching the 4th and final seed in the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs. Madison remained undefeated, and got the 1st seed. We had to go play them again. This time, they didn't run up the score: They only beat us, 31-7, and went on to beat Middletown South, to make it back-to-back titles.

They extended their winning streak to 24 games in 1989, before coming to East Brunswick. We beat them, 10-9, in one of the greatest games in EB history. They still won the Conference title, and got to a 3rd straight Central Jersey Group IV Final. This time, though, Middletown South beat them.

In 1994, the two Old Bridge schools, Madison Central and Cedar Ridge, were reconsolidated into Old Bridge High School. But the 1988 Madison Central team is still considered the greatest high school football team in Middlesex County history, over any of the many championship teams of South River, Highland Park, and J.P. Stevens in Edison. Since it happened 15 years after the undefeated State Championship team of Cedar Ridge in 1973, anniversary reunions of both squads often coincide. And since the combined school began to face East Brunswick on Thanksgiving, such reunions were often held at halftime of that game, forcing EB fans to face their late-'80s tormentors again.

A few years ago, Lombardi Field was redone, and the sides were reversed: What was the visitor's side is now the home side, which makes sense, since that's where the locker rooms and public restrooms are. Now, it's the visiting team that has to make the long walk to their side.

*

October 28, 1988 was a Friday. College and pro football were in midweek. Baseball was out of season. The NBA season began 7 days later. There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Washington Capitals and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 2-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

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.

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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.