Sodano and Old Bridge football team stun top-ranked Piscataway

Nick Sodano scored three touchdowns in the final five minutes as the Old Bridge High School football team rallied for a dramatic 24-20 comeback victory over previously unbeaten Piscataway at Lombardi Field on Friday night.

Senior running back Elijah Barnwell’s second touchdown run of the game with just over a minute remaining gave the Chiefs (5-1) a 20-17 lead. Sodano answered with his 42-yard scoring jaunt 49 seconds later to produce the final margin.

The victory was Old Bridge’s first since 2012 over Piscataway, which had outscored the Knights 84-14 in the two previous meetings between the schools.

With the win, Old Bridge improved to 3-1-1 overall and 3-0-1 in the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division, positioning itself to claim a division title. The Knights can win the title outright by sweeping its remaining division games against New Brunswick, Sayreville and East Brunswick.

The Chiefs, who built a 13-3 lead on Barnwell’s 6-yard scoring jaunt and Brevin Donerson’s 85-yard interception return, squandered their 10-point cushion as the Knights struck for two scores to take a 17-13 lead.

After Sodano closed the deficit to 13-10 on a 6-yard touchdown run with 4:21 remaining, he returned a fumble 44 yards for a score as the Knights built a 17-13 lead with 1:52 left.

Old Bridge’s Jon Sammarco opened the scoring with a 37-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Donerson returned his second interception of the season for a score as Piscataway (5-0) took a 6-3 halftime lead.

Barnwell’s first touchdown run came with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Juwon Jackson set up Barnwell’s late fourth-quarter touchdown run with a long kickoff return.