PISCATAWAY—Unless you were in the close circle around Rob Gogerty, you couldn’t hear exactly what words the veteran Cedar Grove coach was conveying to his disappointed players over the thumpingly loud music at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium.
But Gogerty’s body language and animated mannerisms were unmistakable, and communicated the spirit of his 2025 Panthers as well as any words could have: defiant, proud, fighters until the end.
Cedar Grove did indeed fight to the last minute of Sunday’s 29-14 loss to undefeated Glassboro in the NJSIAA Group 1 championship game, giving the South Jersey powerhouse their strongest challenge of the season; Glassboro entered Sunday having won their first 13 games of the season by an average of 41 points per game.
“I wouldn’t trade Cedar Grove kids for anyone,” Gogerty said. “It doesn’t matter who we lose to graduation, what our roster looks like, we feel like we have a puncher’s chance against every team we play. We just have tough kids who want to win, and these kids, especially these outgoing seniors, they’ve won a lot.”
Sunday marked the second straight Group I final in which the Panthers (10-4) came up short against the Bulldogs, winners of 27 straight. When the teams met last November in a much-hyped battle of undefeated teams, Cedar Grove left battered and bruised on the wrong end of a 56-14 score. In the year since, the Panthers have faced their own bumps in the road, graduating a tremendous group of seniors, dealing with a plethora of injuries, and dropping one-score games to Wayne Valley and Newark Central early in the season.
And yet, here they were again, on the final weekend of the 2025 season, playing for a group title.
Having already made history as the first Cedar Grove team to ever win back-to-back NJSIAA sectional championships, Gogerty’s Panthers scratched, and clawed and competed with an opponent as fast and physical as any Group I team in recent memory.
“I’m just so proud of our guys,” Gogerty said. “With the guys we lost from last year’s team, I think a lot of people came into this season doubting these players. And, with some of the losses we had, it could’ve been so easy for us to pack it in midseason. But they just continued to work and continued to get better, and they fought and they willed us back to this game.”
By the numbers, Glassboro dominated, outgaining Cedar Grove by a margin of 392-132. The Bulldogs’ speed was evident in the big plays from speedy backs JoJo DeLecce (12 carries, 139 yards) and Amari Sabb (164 all-purpose yards, 2 receiving TDs). A ferocious defensive line overwhelmed the Panthers, sacking senior quarterback Pierce Asfalg 9 times and limiting them to minus-16 rushing yards. After Cedar Grove pulled within one score early in the second half, Glassboro responded quickly with two long DeLecce touchdowns to create a comfortable 29-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Despite all of that, Glassboro’s final margin was just two scores – though the Bulldogs certainly tried to make the scoreline more flattering, throwing an unnecessary trick-play deep pass with 23 seconds left in the fourth which fell incomplete but nonetheless enraged Gogerty and the Panther sideline.
