Bridgewater-Raritan Claim Program’s First Sectional Crown with Win Over Bayonne

photo & coverage by: Nery Rodriguez

Bridgewater-Raritan’s first sectional championship didn’t come easily, but it came with grit, big plays on both sides of the ball, and a finish worthy of a title. In a back-and-forth North 2, Group 5 final, the Panthers erased an early deficit, leaned on their defense, and delivered the decisive strike late to secure a 21–14 win over Bayonne.

The opening half belonged mostly to the Bees, who struck first on a 20-yard touchdown run by Chance Fischer. Bayonne kept Bridgewater-Raritan scoreless through two quarters and carried a 7–0 lead into halftime. But the Panthers have built their postseason identity on second-half surges, and they showed exactly why coming out of the break.

Just seconds into the third quarter, a mishandled Bayonne snap turned into the spark Bridgewater-Raritan needed. Jamelle Jones scooped the fumble and raced 35 yards for the tying score. Though Fischer responded with a 66-yard touchdown burst to put Bayonne back on top, the Panthers punched right back. Jahmier Black capped a strong rushing day with an 11-yard touchdown run to even the game again.

Black finished with 114 yards on 14 carries and helped the Panthers control crucial stretches of the second half. Quarterback Declan Kurdyla added 62 rushing yards of his own while completing 6 of 10 passes for 150 yards. His biggest play, though, came with under three minutes left, when he dropped a 42-yard touchdown pass to Jack Cifuentes for the go-ahead score. From there, Bridgewater-Raritan recovered a squib kick and never let Bayonne regain possession in a meaningful way.

After the win, Kurdyla reflected on the moment and what it meant to seal a championship with this group.

“It feels great. I am super happy to win it with this team. We have worked super hard for this since freshman year. We always knew this senior group was special,” he said.

He added that the game-winning play was no accident. “I had so much trust in my teammates and coaching. And we practice for these exact situations and it came down to execution, and we were able to execute. And Jack Cifuentes made a great play and won us the game.”

Bridgewater-Raritan finished with 186 rushing yards and outgained Bayonne through the air 150–59, while the defense held the Bees to 99 rushing yards outside of Fischer’s explosive runs. The title marks the program’s first sectional crown and continues a remarkable turnaround season after several years without a winning record.