SSI Football Report: Old Friends Face Off in Raritan-Marlboro 1st-Place Clash, Pt. Beach’s Win Streak, and More

Two old friends will be going head to head as opposing quarterbacks when Raritan travels to Marlboro on Friday with sole possession of first place in Class C North on the line. 

Raritan senior Parker Needham and Marlboro senior Nick Dimino have known each other since elementary school, but their teams have never faced one another in a high school game. 

“Me and Nicky go way back, we used to play soccer when we were younger,” Needham said on the Shore Sports Insider podcast(opens in new tab) this week. “We’re going to go at it this week and hopefully we come out with the ‘W.’” 

Dimino said he lived in Hazlet until his family moved to Marlboro when he was in fourth grade, but the two played youth sports against each other and have remained in touch. Now they both will play a crucial role in a game that will put the winner in the driver’s seat for a division title. 

“We’re going to be talking smack to each other this week, but it’s all love,” Needham said. 

“One hundred percent,” Dimino said about trash talking with Needham. “We know what we’re really about. It’s all just fun at this point.” 

Marlboro has only won two division titles in its history, which came in 1994 and 2023. Raritan has won eight division titles in its history, but only two in the last 20 years. The most recent one came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and the last one in a full season was in 2008. 

“It would be awesome to get another one. I feel like it would just boost the morale of this team and this program before our bigger goal of the state playoffs,” Dimino said. 

Raritan (3-1) has already tied its win total from last season in the first year under new head coach Chris Damian. He spoke on the SSI podcast about how mandatory weight room attendance, players putting their trust in him and teammates hanging out more as a whole instead of in cliques has helped energize the Rockets’ program. 

“I think that went a long way in the development of the culture,” Damian said. 

Marlboro (3-1) has already surpassed its win total from last season, when the Mustangs took their lumps in the loaded Class A North before being realigned into Class C North this season. 

“Last year was a rough year, but we have a lot of young guys, and the senior class, we’re all really united and playing with confidence,” Dimino said. 

Both quarterbacks are dual threats, as Dimino has thrown for 317 yards and two touchdowns and run for 153 yards and five touchdowns in four games. Needham has 339 yards and three touchdowns passing to go with 257 yards and three touchdowns rushing. 

The run game is central to what both teams do, as Raritan’s flexbone option also features seniors Eric Berg (299 yards, 5 TD) and Marko Brown (152 yards), while Marlboro’s backfield includes seniors Shaqur Richardson (291, 3 TDs) and Hudson Muhlbach (178, 2 TDs). The Mustangs will try to penetrate a Raritan defense allowing only 11.3 points per game, led by linebackers Mark Jewell and Preston Tagliaferro. 

Winning the line of scrimmage may be even more crucial with a forecast of gusting winds and rain on Friday that could all but eliminate the passing game. 

“The deciding factor, and I think (Marlboro) coach (Jason) Dagato would say the same thing, is going to be the turnover game and it’s going to be the penalty game, and who wins both and who plays clean,” Damian said.

Shore Kickers Start Strong

It’s shaping up to be a deep year for kickers in the Shore Conference, with multiple kickers having already made field goals of 40-plus yards. 

Red Bank Catholic sophomore kicker Simon Picinich, a returning SSI first-team All-Shore selection, moved to the front of the pack after nailing a 48-yarder in a win over Manalapan last week. 

That put Picinich just ahead of Donovan Catholic senior kicker Sal Reynoso, who hit a 47-yard field goal in a win over St. John Vianney in the Griffins’ second game. Picinich’s kick also came just a week after Ocean’s Aidan Zacharczyk hit a 46-yard field goal in a win over Red Bank. 

The state record is believed to be 58 yards by Shore Regional’s Kevin Mills in 1984. 

Stat of the Week: 8 

Point Beach has quietly put together an eight-game divisional winning streak, with its last divisional loss coming to Neptune in 2024. 

The Garnet Gulls went unbeaten in Class D South last season and are off to a 2-0 start in Class C South this year. They look like a strong favorite to win their second straight division title, which they have never done in their 102-year program history. 

Junior RB/LB Gage Boyle is putting together a strong all-around season with 323 yards rushing and four touchdowns along with 52 tackles, 4 for a loss, and 1.5 sacks in Point Beach’s 3-1 start. Junior Thomas Aiosa has been a breakout player for the Garnet Gulls with 351 yards and five touchdowns, plus a team-high seven tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks. 

Point Beach hosts Freehold (0-4) this week.

Notes From Around the Shore 

—Top-ranked Red Bank Catholic has now won nine straight against Shore Conference opponents. The Caseys welcome No. 6 Holmdel (3-1) in Class A North this week. 

—Middletown North senior MJ Parulis is the first player to block a punt, catch a two-point conversion and record an interception in a game in the Lions’ 108-year history, according to team historian Ray Veth. Parulis did it all in a crucial 21-14 win over Manasquan in Class B North and earned Dick’s House of Sport Player of the Week(opens in new tab) honors. 

—Monmouth Regional is 4-0 for the first time since 2017, when the Falcons went 7-4. 

—Pinelands has a school-record three straight shutouts. The Wildcats are also believed to have set the single-season program record for shutouts. They can tie the 2002 team for the best start in school history when they face Toms River East in a divisional game this week in a bid to improve to 5-0. 

—Freehold Township senior quarterback Dakota Lasater put up 454 total yards and three touchdowns in a win over Matawan. He also made a game-clinching interception on defense and forced a fumble. He leads the Shore Conference with 1,328 yards passing and 11 touchdowns. 

—Brick Memorial senior Colin Schoellkopf surged to second in rushing in the Shore with his career-high 212 yards in a win over Toms River North that gave him 473 for the season. RBC sophomore Gabe Kemp is No. 1 with 570 yards in four games. 

—Colts Neck sophomore running back Trevor Baum has blossomed in the last two games after 15 total carries in the Cougars’ first two games. He had 43 carries for 213 yards and three touchdowns combined in wins over Long Branch and Asbury Park. He also ran for three touchdowns in a loss to Ocean in the second game of the season. 

Alumni of the Week

Jordan Angstreich, So. WR, Middlebury

Rumson’s single-season record-holder for receiving yards has picked up right where he left off. He had 10 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown against Wesleyan in Middlebury’s season opener, the highest of any receiver in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. 

Quenton Nelson, OL, Indianapolis Colts 

The perennial Pro Bowler from Red Bank Catholic helped the Colts put 30 points on the Chiefs in an overtime loss on Sunday Night Football. He currently is graded as the fourth-best guard in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus(opens in new tab). If he remains healthy, Nelson could one day follow Long Branch legend Sam Mills as a former Shore Conference star to make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. 

Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999. 

Email: scottstump25@gmail.com