Running back Jonathan Hillman returns to lead St. Peter's Prep in the inaugural I-95 New Jersey Football Classic.
File photo by Ken Inness
The battle for football supremacy in the I-95 Mid-Atlantic corridor is headed north.
After six prominent teams from Maryland and New Jersey tangled in three games at the 2012 Patriot Classic at Navy, Extra Point Productions will bring the rivalry to Kean University's Alumni Stadium in Union, N.J. on Sept. 7 as part of the inaugural I-95 New Jersey Football Classic.
Though the Saturday starting times have not been finalized, the three New Jersey vs. Maryland games for 2013 will be as follows:
Gonzaga vs.
St. Peter's Prep,
DeMatha vs.
St. Joseph Regional and
Gilman vs.
Paramus Catholic. The event will also feature at some point during the weekend a local New Jersey match-up between
St. John-Vianney and
Monsignor Donovan.
New Jersey teams will be looking to gain a measure of revenge after Maryland took two of the three games in 2012 at Navy-Marines Corps Memorial Stadium.
Good Counsel beat St. Joseph Regional and Gilman edged Don Bosco in last year's games, while St. Peter's Prep beat McDonogh (Owings Mills, Md.)
There's a good chance that by the week of the I-95 New Jersey Football Classic that four of the teams will be ranked in the Top 25 in the country.
"We've always heard the debate about who has the better football — Maryland or New Jersey," said Lamar Smith, senior vice president at Extra Point Productions. "This way they battle it out on the field. Maryland was home last year, New Jersey will be home this year. What could be better?"
The inaugural I-95 New Jersey Football Classic will highlight an already frantic time of the season for many of the participants. Gilman will be playing the previous week against
Manatee (Bradenton, Fla.), which spent most of the 2012 season as the No. 1-ranked team in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 rankings.
Paramus Catholic, which beat Bergen Catholic for the 2012 New Jersey Non-Public title, is set to head to Cleveland two weeks later to take on 2011 Ohio Division I champ
St. Ignatius. DeMatha, meanwhile, not only has to face St. Joseph Regional in New Jersey, but also has
Tallahassee Godby and
Phoebus (Hampton, Va.) on its 2013 schedule.
Jim Stout is the CBS MaxPreps Media Manager for the Eastern
U.S. He may be reached at 845-367-2864 or jim.stout@cbsi.com.
