CN Week 4 football: Turnarounds highlight midseason

Four weeks are in the books in the 2016 varsity football season, bringing the unofficial halfway point of the regular season with most teams having played four of the eight games that will count toward the ultimate playoff picture.

Through a month of action, the biggest stories in the Mid-State 38 have been the emergence of several teams that had struggled to varying degrees in recent seasons and have begun the 2016 campaign strong, exhibiting stark turnarounds.

Heading the list is the Somerville High School team, a club that had lost 25 straight games before snapping the string last season, a year the Pioneers finished 2-8. Now, with a high-powered offense led by quarterback Nick Couzzi and wide receiver Nasir Petties-Jackson, Somerville is 4-0 headed into Friday’s meeting with also-undefeated Rahway, looking to take control of the Mid-State 38 Mountain Division and continuing to build toward its first playoff berth since 2009.

TOP 10: The latest Courier News-area football rankings

Bound Brook is another undefeated club that’s done an about-face this year. The Crusaders finished 4-6 last season, and after starting 3-0 for the first time since 2012, Bound Brook won its fourth straight to start a season for the first time since 2008, topping Belvidere 28-6. It was also the first time since 2008 the Crusaders had beaten the County Seaters, which is also Bound Brook’s last winning campaign.

The Crusaders’ chief rival, Manville, has also taken a sharp upward turn and could be in for the biggest turnaround of them all. The Mustangs have not recorded a winning season or a playoff berth since 2006 — the only trip to the postseason in the program’s history — and after five consecutive 1-9 campaigns, Manville’s 3-1 start has been pretty impressive. Are the Mustangs legit? Their wins have come against three struggling programs with a combined record of 1-12. Could a postseason berth be forthcoming? That remains to be seen. Manville should have a much better indication as to the answer to both those questions after their meeting with Belvidere this coming weekend.

A little farther down Route 206, Hillsborough is also making news. The Raiders began last season 1-4, finishing 4-6. But while most of those losses came in close, hard-fought games, this year Boro has flipped the script, going 3-1 with dominating efforts in its victories and its lone loss coming to undefeated Bridgewater-Raritan. Hillsborough has been getting contributions from across the roster, including a defense that has notched two shutouts and a special-teams unit that proved crucial in a 27-13 topping of Phillipsburg on Friday night.

North Hunterdon has also impressed in the early season, with a 31-22 victory over Immaculata last Thursday night the Lions’ most impressive achievement. North’s running attack has paid dividends, led by senior back Mitch Finnegan and junior quarterback Matt Busher. The Lions went 5-5 last year, suffering key injuries, but the strong sophomore class that was forced into action last year has shown that the year of experience has done wonders. And with 13 returning starters, North could be headed to its first playoff berth in well over a decade.

The other story line has been the continued dominance of a couple of clubs that enjoyed historic success a year ago, and, despite key graduation losses, have picked up where they left off.

Westfield is at the top of the list, as the Blue Devils have followed up last year’s undefeated campaign and North 2 Group V championship by beginning the season 4-0, a run that has included a key victory over Ridge, the team expected to be the Westfield’s chief rival in the Watchung Division. The Blue Devils now own the state’s longest winning streak, which they ran to 17 games after a 40-14 topping of Watchung Hills on Friday night.

Bridgewater-Raritan is the other club that’s continued its 2015 roll, as the Panthers have followed up an 11-1 season that saw them go all the way to the sectional final by going 4-0 to start the year, including wins over Hillsborough and Phillipsburg.

RELATED: A complete index of links to all our local week 4 results

Conference race roundup

Summit became the first Mid-State 38 team to clinch a division championship when it wrapped up the Raritan Division last weekend, and now two more clubs have joined the Hilltoppers in celebrating division titles.

Bridgewater-Raritan clinched the Delaware Division crown Friday night with its victory over Montgomery, while Roselle takes the Valley Division title after topping Hillside on Saturday.

The other three MS38 divisions are still in play, with head-to-head matchups on tap for this weekend in two divisions, and each should go a long way toward determining the outcome of those races.

Westfield will play host to Union at 1 p.m. Saturday in a battle of undefeated teams, with the winner holding the top spot with two games left in divisional play — the Blue Devils against Elizabeth and Plainfield (on Thanksgiving) and the Farmers vs. Ridge and Linden (Thanksgiving).

The Mountain Division race is even closer to the wire as Somerville visits Rahway on Friday. Each of those teams is undefeated, and the winner will have the lead with one game left in conference. If Somerville wins, it would need to beat Governor Livingston the following weekend to take the title or have the Highlanders lose to Cranford on Oct. 21. A Rahway victory this Saturday would wrap up the championship for the Indians.

Things are a little bit more up in the air in the Union Division, which features a conference-high eight teams. Bound Brook leads at 4-0 in conference play, with Brearley (3-1 in conference), Roselle Park (2-2 in conference) and Dayton (1-3 in conference) still left to play. The Crusaders have already beaten Belvidere (3-1), which, for all intents and purposes, gives Bound Brook a 1½=game lead over the County Seaters.

STANDINGS: Latest Mid-State 38 football standings

Cutting the ribbon

Somerville will be visiting Rahway at 7 p.m. Friday in a game that could decide the Mid-State 38 Mountain Division race as the division’s lone undefeated clubs square off at Rahway River Park. And while the game is crucial to both teams’ hopes this season, it also marks the first-ever game at the Indians’ new, highly controversial facility.

Residents of the area protested the construction of the new $5 million turf field on the site of Rahway’s former Veterans Park athletic home, a push that ultimately failed.

Saturday’s game is set to feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony and is expected to be a sellout.

Simeon Pincus:SPincus@gannettnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SimeonPincusCN

Mid-State 38 Week 4 scoreboard

THURSDAY

Hunterdon Central 24, Franklin 10

North Hunterdon 31, Immaculata 22

FRIDAY

A.L. Johnson 39, Delaware Valley 12

Bernards 35, New Providence 17

Bound Brook 28, Belvidere 6

Brearley 29, Roselle Park 7

Bridgewater-Raritan 37, Montgomery 6

Cranford 56, North Plainfield 35

Elizabeth 23, Linden 10

Hillsborough 27, Phillipsburg 13

Manville 40, South Hunterdon 0

Ridge 49, Plainfield 7

Rahway 30, Voorhees 16

Somerville 45, Warren Hills 8

Westfield 40, Watchung Hills 14

SATURDAY

Dayton 19, Pingry 6

Roselle 26, Hillside 0

Summit 54, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 35

BYE: Governor Livingston, Union

Mid-State 38 Week 5 schedule

Friday, Oct. 7

Bernards at Delaware Valley, 7 p.m.

Bound Brook at Roselle Park, 7 p.m.

Brearley at Dayton, 7 p.m.

Elizabeth at Hunterdon Central, 7 p.m.

Hillsborough at Ridge, 7 p.m.

Immaculata at Warren Hills, 7 p.m.

Manville at Belvidere, 7 p.m.

North Hunterdon at Bridgewater-Raritan, 7 p.m.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood at Cranford, 7 p.m.

Somerville at Rahway, 7 p.m.

Summit at Governor Livingston, 7 p.m.

Voorhees at North Plainfield, 7 p.m.

Watchung Hills at Phillipsburg, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 8

A.L. Johnson at Hillside, 1 

Montgomery at Plainfield, 1 p.m.

Roselle at New Providence, 1 p.m.

Union at Westfield, 1 p.m.

South Hunterdon at Pingry, 2:30 p.m.

BYE: Franklin, Linden