Boyd’s five TDs, lead No. 10 Union City past Bridgewater-Raritan – N2G5 football

Mark Boyd ran for 256 yards and five touchdowns, both career highs, on just 15 carries as top-seeded Union City, No. 10 in the NJ.com Top 20, rolled to a 61-10 victory over fourth-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan in the NJSIAA/Xfinity North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 semifinals at Roosevelt Stadium in Union City.
Boyd, a senior, had TD runs of 74, 74, 53, 13 and 17 yards for Union City (9-1), which scored on all nine of its offensive possessions.
Ja’Zaire Aurelus set the tone with a 37-yard TD run, just 68 seconds into the game, to give Union City a 7-0 lead. Aurelus, a senior ran for 93 yards and a TD on three carries.
As a team, Union City ran for 515 yards on just 22 carries. Kingston Evans (2-for-74), Kareem Hector (1-for-47) and Jahsiah Espinal (1-for-45) each ran for a TD.
On defense, Aurelus had 11 tackles with a forced fumble, Jeremiah Hayes added 10 tackles and a forced fumble, and Omar Tillman had nine tackles with a sack. Khalil Sutton also had seven tackles with a sack while Reynaldo Mercedes added nine tackles.
Union City, the defending North 2, Group 5 champions, seeks to repeat next Friday when it faces third-seeded Passaic Tech in the final. Passaic Tech ended Union City‘s season each of the past two years, defeating the Soaring Eagles in last year’s Group 5 semifinal and in the 2022 North 1, Group 5 final.
Declan Kurdlya threw a 6-yard TD pass to Nicholas DiEsso in the second quarter for Bridgewater-Raritan (4-7), which made the score 21-10. Joe Squicciarini kicked a 44-yard field goal in defeat.
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