Raiders Football Retakes the Field; Plays Scrimmages This Week and Next Week

Seeking to bounce back from a 2-8 season that included setbacks to five squads that made the state playoffs and one that didn't but finished 7-3, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood football team , and played its first of three scrimmages Tuesday, Aug. 24 at Bishop Ahr.

All three scrimmages are on the road. Scotch Plains will play at East Orange Campus in a game that will also include Union. That scrimmage is scheduled for Aug. 28 at 11 a.m. at Robeson Stadium in East Orange.

The Raiders will next face Belleville Sept. 3 at 10 a.m. The teams will play on Belleville's new field turf, which the school is debuting this year.

Last year Scotch Plains snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating Belleville 48-6 at home in a North 2, Group 3 sectional consolation game. Both schools are once again situated in North 2, Group 3 this season.

Belleville, which is a member of the Super Essex Conference, finished 3-7 last year after falling to neighborhood rival Nutley 58-36 on Thanksgiving.

Last year's game between Scotch Plains and Belleville was originally scheduled to be played at Belleville, but Belleville's new field turf was not ready yet. This will be the first season the Buccaneers will be playing home games on the new surface.

When the Mid-State 39 Conference was realigned for this season, Scotch Plains was the only Union County school placed in a West division. During the first year of the conference last season, there were seven divisions, with Scotch Plains in the Watchung Division. That division also included Westfield, Linden, Union, Plainfield and Elizabeth.

The way the schedules were put together for the first season of the conference last year, teams did not play every other team in their divisions. That meant that Scotch Plains also had games against such formidable foes as Immaculata and Phillipsburg, in addition to Summit and Rahway, with Rahway the team that finished 7-3 and just missed making the grade in Central Jersey, Group 2. Rahway is back in North 2, Group 3 this year, with Plainfield dropping down into the section for the first time.

The Mid-State 39 Conference consists of six divisions this year, with three East divisions - A, B and C - and three West divisions - A, B and C. Scotch Plains is in the West B Division along with Delaware Valley, North Plainfield, Voorhees, Warren Hills and Somerville. Of those five schools, the only one that Scotch Plains played last season was Warren Hills, with the Warren County school eking-out a close 12-6 win at Scotch Plains en route to a 5-5 season that included it making the North 2, Group 3 playoffs.

"We don't know a whole lot yet about these teams we're going to be playing, so that will be a challenge for our staff to properly evaluate them," Scotch Plains head coach Steve Ciccotelli said.

Unlike last year, Scotch Plains will play everyone in its division. Non-division opponents include Union County schools Westfield, Rahway, Cranford and Elizabeth.

In the Watchung Division last year, Scotch Plains only played Linden and Westfield and lost to both teams.

"We knew that we were getting a very difficult schedule last year," said Ciccotelli, who is now in his 20th season at the helm of the Raiders. "That's the way it is. We're not familiar with many of the teams on our schedule this year and will have to be by the time we play them."

After posting a thrilling come-from-behind 26-24 win at Cranford to open last season, Scotch Plains fell into an offensive funk as far as putting points on the scoreboard. In addition, much more experienced teams began to produce plenty of offense against the Raiders except for Warren Hills.

Seeking a first winning season and playoff campaign in three years, Scotch Plains will open – for a change - against archrival Westfield. The Raiders will host the Blue Devils for the second straight season.

"Since I've been here I can't remember a year when we played them first," Ciccotelli said. "It's such a rivalry game and probably better to play later in the year, like most rivalry games are."

Westfield is coming off an 8-3 season and captured the Watchung Division championship last season. The Blue Devils reached the North 2, Group 4 semifinals, falling at Phillipsburg 35-7.

The first Raider road game will be against Rahway Sept. 16 at Veterans Field.

Scotch Plains will return home Oct. 1 to host Delaware Valley in its first conference game.

After next playing at Cranford, the Raiders will play four consecutive conference games before wrapping their regular season at home against Elizabeth on Nov. 6, which is the state playoff cutoff date weekend. After playing Elizabeth every year on Thanksgiving or the night before from 2002-2008, Scotch Plains did not play the Minutemen last season.

Elizabeth went 1-9 last year, which was its first sub-.500 campaign since 1980. The Minutemen are now coached by former New Brunswick head coach John Quinn.

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS 2010 FOOTBALL

Scrimmages:

Aug. 24 at Bishop Ahr, 10 a.m.

Aug. 28 vs. East Orange Campus and Union, 11 a.m., at Robeson Stadium in East Orange

Game-scrimmage:

Sept. 3 at Belleville, 10 a.m.

Regular season:

Sept. 11 Westfield, 1 p.m.

Sept. 16 at Rahway, 2:30 p.m.

Sept. 25 Delaware Valley, 1 p.m.

Oct. 1 at Cranford, 7 p.m.

Oct. 9 Somerville, 2:30 p.m.

Oct. 15 at Voorhees, 7 p.m.

Oct. 23 North Plainfield, 1 p.m.

Oct. 29 at Warren Hills, 7 p.m.

Nov. 6 Elizabeth, 2 p.m.

Mid-State 39 Conference - West B Division (6 schools):

Delaware Valley, North Plainfield, Voorhees,

Warren Hills, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Somerville.