Pincus’ Week 4 football picks: Union Division lead rides on Belvidere at Bound Brook

Though the Bound Brook High School football team is enjoying its first 3-0 start in four years, things take a decided step in a tougher direction for the Crusaders on Friday night.

After victories over winless teams in South Hunterdon and Pingry, to go along with an opening-night victory over Manville, Bound Brook will face the a perennial Group I power Friday night when it plays host to undefeated Belvidere at 7 p.m.

With first place on the line in the Mid-State 38 Union Conference, the Crusaders not only need to step up their game, but have to do so coming off an uneven effort at Pingry last Saturday, a contest Bound Brook trailed late before a field goal by Michael Borja with just over 2:00 remaining put the Crusaders ahead to stay in a game in which they didn’t reach the end zone until the final minutes and the outcome already all but decided.

“We know what had to be fixed from Saturday,” Bound Brook coach Dom Longo said. “So far we’ve had a good week of practice. From a defensive standpoint, we thought we played well, so we’ve had to fix our mistakes offensively, and the guys are pretty excited to be playing in a game of this kind of magnitude.”

Starting running back Joe Warren missed the Pingry game and Bound Brook was held to 142 rushing yards and 234 yards of total offense. The senior is expected to be full go for Friday night.

After starting 3-0 for the first time since 2012, Bound Brook looks to win its fourth straight to start a season for the first time since 2008, a year the Crusaders finished 10-0 and went to the NJSIAA Central Group I semifinals. It’s also the only season they’ve beaten Belvidere.

Bound Brook is 1-9 all-time against the County Seaters, a team it didn’t start playing regularly until 2004, when the Crusaders joined the Skyland Conference.

“I don’t know that there’s extra motivation for us, other than we want to play well,” said Longo, whose team played Belvidere tight in each of the past two seasons, losing by a touchdown or less. “I (also) don’t think the guys are down because the score Saturday didn’t reflect how good we are. The motivation now is to play a good game Friday night and let the chips fall where they may. We just want to come out of there saying that we played tough, well and executed.”

PINCUS’ PICK: Belvidere 23-19

RELATED : The latest Courier News Football Top 10

Three losses for me last week, two of which came in games I could have picked either way. Not at all surprised Bridgewater-Raritan topped Phillipsburg and North Hunterdon beat Watchung Hills. I knew those would both be good, competitive contests that I (erroneously) gave the edge to the home field advantage. But Governor Livingston descending the mountain to beat North Plainfield was a bit of a surprise.

A few coin tosses on this week’s slate, too, as the conference races get serious and the legitimate contenders continue to emerge.

PINCUS’ RECORD: Last week: 11-3; 2016 season to date: 35-14 (.714 pct.)

Here are the rest of Week 4’s local games:

THURSDAY

North Hunterdon (2-1) vs. Immaculata (2-1) at Manville HS, 7 p.m. – For those of you reading this in Friday’s print edition of the Courier News, yeah, I know. This one already happened, so you’re either marveling at my prognostication skills, or laughing at my ineptitude. Either way, Summit’s already wrapped up the MS38 Raritan Division title, thanks to head-to-head victories over both these teams, so this one, really, is for second place, and, of course, the continuing quests for state tournament berths. North Hunterdon showed some nice things against Watchung Hills last Friday night, especially running the ball with quarterback Matt Busher and running back Mitch Finnegan, and could certainly give Immaculata fits trying to stop the ground attack. Still, the Spartans should do a better job stopping the Lions running game than Watchung Hills did, and Immaculata boasts a far more capable offense, and that could be the difference here. Immaculata normally plays its home games at Somerville HS, but this one’s being contested at Manville due to SHS’s back to school night.

PINCUS’ PICK: Immaculata 31-23

Hunterdon Central (1-2) at Franklin (0-3), 7 p.m. – Hunterdon Central’s played well in all three of its games, especially defensively, and has won six of its past seven meetings with Franklin, with a 42-41 overtime loss in 2012 the lone blemish. And if the Red Devils are going to stay within hailing distance of a playoff berth, this is an absolute must-win game. Like Central, the Warriors know firsthand how tough life in the Mid-State 38 Delaware Division can be week to week, and would love to get into the win column headed into the bye week, but I’d be surprised if that happened here.

PINCUS’ PICK: Hunterdon Central 24-7

STANDINGS: The latest Mid-State 38 football standings

FRIDAY

Bernards (2-2) at New Providence (0-3), 7 p.m. – Great win for Bernards last week against Hillside, getting the Mountaineers back in the groove after a pair of disappointing losses. Also nice to see Bernards play a relatively low scoring game and its defense hold a team under 40 points. That should happened again here, as New Providence is, how we say in the trade, ‘rebuilding.’

PINCUS’ PICK: 35-6

Montgomery (1-2) at Bridgewater-Raritan (3-0), 7 p.m. – Bridgewater-Raritan dropped the proverbial mic last week with a convincing 30-7 victory over Phillipsburg, not only taking the Delaware Division race by the horns, but sending a message that these Panthers are every bit as dangerous and capable as their 2015 predecessors that took an undefeated mark into the North 2 Group V final. Montgomery is never an easy opponent, so don’t expect to see B-R take its foot off the gas.

PINCUS’ PICK: Bridgewater-Raritan 38-13

North Plainfield (1-2) at Cranford (1-2), 7 p.m. – North Plainfield put forth a valiant attempt at rallying against Governor Livingston last weekend, only to come up short, but the Canucks are still a far more potent team than a year ago, and this week first-year head coach Mark Ciccotelli leads his team into Cranford to battle a club he offensively coordinated to an undefeated record last season and the North 2 Group III championship. The Cougars’ lone victory came against winless Voorhees, while North Plainfield has been very much involved, even in the games it has lost. I’m feeling the Canucks’ first triumph over Cranford since 2010 and sweet revenge after last season’s 50-8 lambasting.

PINCUS’ PICK: North Plainfield 41-36

Phillipsburg (2-1) at Hillsborough (2-1), 7 p.m. – Hillsborough’s been dominant in its two victories, pitching a pair of shutouts, and with Phillipsburg coming off a lopsided loss to Bridgewater-Raritan a week after escaping with a three-point victory over Hunterdon Central, the Raiders could be in a great position to grab this one after falling by a touchdown in last year’s meeting.

PINCUS’ PICK: Hillsborough 20-14

Plainfield (0-3) at Ridge (2-1), 7 p.m. – Saw the Somerset County Girls Soccer Tournament brackets Wednesday night. Surprised to see defending champ Ridge drop to the No. 4 seed a year after going undefeated and sharing the state Group IV championship. I guess I wouldn’t be as surprised about it if I were still covering girls soccer. Man, I miss having Friday nights off.

PINCUS’ PICK: Ridge 35-7

Rahway (3-0) at Voorhees (0-3), 7 p.m. – I was informed early on in my career that there is, apparently, a right way and a Rahway. I don’t know if there’s any truth to that, or someone just thought rhymes are cute. In any case, I hope Rahway’s bus goes the right way trying to navigate the hills of Lebanon Township on Friday night.

PINCUS’ PICK: Rahway 37-20

South Hunterdon (0-4) at Manville (2-1), 7 p.m. – South Hunterdon can really use a win, and considering the Eagles have beaten Manville in each of the last nine meetings, this would normally be a great spot for South Hunterdon to get off the schnide. That’s especially true since the Eagles have allowed just three touchdowns to the Mustangs in the past eight years, and last season’s 28-7 final was the first time since 2009 Manville had even scored a point against South Hunterdon. But here’s the rub: Not only is this the best team Manville has had in years – the Mustangs snapped a five-year streak of 1-9 finishes by earning their second victory of the season last week – and not only is South Hunterdon 0-4 having been shutout in three of those games, but I’ll be covering this game Friday night. And the last time I saw Manville play was in the program’s lone all-time playoff appearance, a 2006 contest at South River – the same season the Mustangs’ last win came against South Hunterdon. Can’t ignore the signs, man.

PINCUS’ PICK: Manville 40-20

Warren Hills (2-1) at Somerville (3-0), 7 p.m. – I’d like to dedicate the following pick to my favorite Somerville alum, my esteemed former colleague, the ageless Paul Franklin. (Clears throat): The Ville, the Ville. So much ink has been spilled, scribing your fortunes this season, and still. Another victory, I feel, is here on the till. So take it, and finally, the old man can chill. And perhaps my Top 10, he'll cease trying to kill

PINCUS’ PICK: Somerville 41-27

Westfield (3-0) at Watchung Hills (0-3), 7 p.m. – The “w” key on my keyboard broke off a while back, so in order to be able to type the letter, I have to use the touchscreen (I’m fortunate to have that). When I’m doing a lot of writing, I usually copy a “w” and then use the Ctrl-V keyboard shortcut to paste, every time I need the letter. The problem is that when I need a capital W, I have to go back to the touchscreen. That makes writing about Westfield and Watchung Hills extra challenging. Glad there’s no West Windsor-Plainsboro West High School.

PINCUS’ PICK: Westfield 38-10

SATURDAY

Summit at Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 1 p.m. – I’m off Saturday, a rarity for a high-school football beat writer. Unfortunately for Scotch Plains-Fanwood, I don’t think Summit will be off.

PINCUS’ PICK: Summit 30-13

Dayton at Pingry, 2:30 p.m. – It’s been a rough start for Pingry in (wait for it) its final season in the Mid-State 38 Conference. But the Big Blue are coming off an inspired outing last Saturday where they came within 2:45 of toppling Bound Brook, and while victories figure to continue not to come easy for a squad already struggling with numbers in a program that’s also suffered key injuries, Pingry does have a couple of very winnable games on its schedule the rest of the way and this is certainly one of them. Dayton has been outscored 108-12 so far this year, and I think this might just be the week the Big Blue roll into the win column.

PINCUS’ PICK: Pingry 22-12

Simeon Pincus can be reached atSPincus@GannettNJ.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SimeonPincusCN