Middletown High School South is a four-year comprehensive

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in Middletown Township, Monmouth County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, United States, serving students in

ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, it ...

through

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 1 ...

s as one of the two secondary schools of the Middletown Township Public School District. The other school in the district is Middletown High School North. The school has been accredited by the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atl ...

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1977.Middletown High School South

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed February 7, 2022. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,544 students and 125.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 student ...

of 12.3:1. There were 66 students (4.3% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 20 (1.3% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Middletown High School South

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district financ ...

. Accessed December 1, 2022.

History

Constructed at a cost of $8.7 million (equivalent to $ million in ) on an site, the school building was designed to accommodate 1,800 students. The school opened its new building in September 1976 for more than 1,400 students, after spending the 1975-76 school year as a school-within-a-school inside Middletown High School North. Middletown South and the Middletown School District received national attention in fall 2001 when its teachers, members of the Middletown Township Education Association, went on strike for the second time in three years. The strike disrupted classes for several days, and hundreds of teachers were jailed. A group of 228 teachers and other school workers were sent to jail in December 2001, marking that largest such action against school staff in over two decades, though they were released after agreeing to submit their differences with the school district to non-binding arbitration. After the strike, many members of the union leadership stepped down. There has not been a strike since 2001. In October 2006, the Board of Education of the Middletown Township Public School District voted on a random drug testing procedure that would require all students in extracurricular activities or with a parking space at the high school to submit their name to a pool for random selection.

Awards, recognition and rankings

In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 497th out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 51st among all high schools in New Jersey and 34th among the state's non-magnet schools. The school was the 92nd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in ''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey. The magazine was started in 1976. It is based in Morristown. In addition to articles of general interest, the publication f ...

'' magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 105th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 95th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 92nd in 2008 out of 316 schools. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 57th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 17 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (91.5%) and language arts literacy (96.7%) components of the

High School Proficiency Assessment The High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA, pronounced "hess-pah" (/ˈhɛspə/) or sometimes just "H-S-P-A") was a standardized test that was administered by the New Jersey Department of Education to all New Jersey public high school students in ...

(HSPA).

Athletics

The Middletown High School South EaglesMiddletown High School South

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports. State championsh ...

. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in Division A North of the Shore Conference, an athletic conference comprised of public and private high schools in Monmouth County and Ocean County along the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May ...

.Shore Conference Realignment for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020
Shore Conference. Accessed November 15, 2020. The conference operates under the jurisdiction of the

(NJSIAA). With 1,096 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 students in that grade range. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV South for football for 2018–2020. In 2015, to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of football in Middletown, alumni of North and South high schools played each other; The Middletown North Lion football alumni defeated the Middletown South alumni 6–3 at The Swamp, to claim the victory in what was the first-ever game of its kind in Middletown.Zedalis, Joe
"Football: Middletown South, Middletown North alumni ready to renew old rivalry"
NJ Advance Media for

NJ.com NJ.com is a digital news content provider and website in New Jersey owned by Advance Publications. According to a report in ''The New York Times'' in 2012, it was the largest provider of digital news in the state at the time. In 2018, comScore r ...

, August 13, 2015. "Middletown North versus Middletown South is one of the most heated Thanksgiving Day rivalries in the Shore Conference. Saturday, 7 p.m., at South's sunken treasure known affectionately as 'The Swamp,' former Lions and Eagles meet in the first Middletown North-Middletown South alumni game.... The alumni game, promoted by OT Football, figures into the celebration of 100 years of football in Middletown." Each year, students, parents, teachers, alumni, and administrators gather for the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between Middletown North and Middletown South. Through the 2015 season, South leads the series with a 27-11-1 record, including 14 straight victories in the Thanksgiving matchup. The football team won the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional title in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1995; won in Central Jersey Group III in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006; and won in 2015 in North II Group IV. Middletown South's football program holds ten state sectional championships, 17 Shore Conference Division Championships, 9 undefeated seasons and 29 state playoff berths. The football program holds the Shore Conference record for longest winning streak with 43 straight wins from 2003 to 2006, which was broken with a 19–14 loss in October 2006 to Ocean Township High School. The 1989 team finished the season with an 11-0 record and was ranked 13th in the nation by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' after defeating Madison Central High School by a score of 22-3 to win the program's first Central Jersey Group IV title. The 1990 team won the North II Group IV sectional title with a 15-14 win against

Trenton Central High School Trenton Central High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Trenton, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Trenton Public Schools. As ...

in the championship game. In the 1995 Central Jersey Group IV final at

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...

, the team defeated Piscataway High School by a score of 28-10 to finish the season with an 11-0 record. The 2001 team finished the season with a record of 12-0 after winning the Central Jersey Group IV sectional title with a 15-14 win against Hamilton High School West in the tournament final. In 2004, The Eagles were ranked #1 in the state of New Jersey unanimously by Gannett New Jersey, ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to '' The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of ...

'', and

News 12 New Jersey News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. Ne ...

polls. The team was selected again in 2005 and in 2015 as the winner of the ''Star-Ledger'' Trophy, recognizing the best team in the state. Middletown South's head coach is Steve Antonucci who had a career record of 149-34 as of November 2013. Middletown South was the high school of Knowshon Moreno, who was the 12th pick of the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. ...

.van Esselstyn, Drew
"Middletown South's Knowshon Moreno selected No. 12 overall by Denver Broncos"
''

'', April 25, 2009. Accessed July 21, 2011. "This time it was former Middletown South star running back, Knowshon Moreno. Moreno, who garnered national attention while at Georgia, was expected to go much lower in the first round. But the Denver Broncos snatched him up with the 12th pick in the first round."

listed the rivalry between Middletown North and South as 11th best in their 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football". Middletown South holds the overall lead with a head-to-head record of 29-12-1 through the 2017 season, which includes 16 consecutive wins by South from 2001 to 2016. The field hockey team won the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional title in 1980, 1982 and 1995. The Middletown South baseball program has also been recognized for their success in the 1990s. During Head Coach Steve Antonucci's tenure which started in 1996, the Eagles won two Central Jersey State Titles (1996 and 1999) and completed the first undefeated season in Shore Conference A-North history with a 14–0 record. The Eagles were led by Darren Fenster to a 25–3 record. The baseball team won the Group IV state championship in 1996, defeating Bloomfield High School in the tournament final. In 1999, the Eagles won the A-North, Monmouth County and Central Jersey state championships. The 1999 squad featured many talented players including ''

Asbury Park Press The ''Asbury Park Press'' is a daily newspaper in Monmouth and Ocean counties of New Jersey and has the third largest circulation in the state. It has been owned by Gannett since 1997. Its reporting staff has been awarded numerous national ho ...

'' Player of the Year Jarrett Sues, who set a school record with 21 home runs and earned ten victories on the hill. The Eagles offense was the most potent in the state including the single season home run record as a team. The Eagles were also led by All-State pitcher John Scala (10-1), and All-Shore selections Jon Klopacs (C) and Mark Fitzgerald (SS). Antonucci would continue to lead the Eagles until the conclusion of the 2008 season. The 2011 baseball team won the Monmouth County Tournament and the Central Jersey, Group III title, the program's first since 1999. In 2012, the Eagles clinched the A-North division title. The softball team won the Group IV state championship in 1995 (vs. Clifton High School), won in Group III in 2002 (vs. Pascack Valley High School), 2009 (vs. Ramapo High School), 2010 (vs.

Nutley High School Nutley High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the Township of Nutley, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Nutley Public Sc ...

) and 2015 (vs. Sparta High School). The program's first title came in 1995 with a 9-4 win against Clifton in the championship game. The team won the Group III state championship in 2015, defeating Sparta High School by a score of 8–1 at

Kean University Kean University () is a public university in Union and Hillside, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Kean University was founded in 1855 in Newark, New Jersey, as the Newark Normal School. Initially establ ...

, to win the program's fifth overall group championship. Softball coach Tom Erbig retired at the end of the 2016 season having led the team to 16 sectional championships and five group titles; his career record of 743-231-1 made him the winningest softball coach in the state, a title he earned in 2015 with his 722nd win, surpassing Pete Fick of Hunterdon Central Regional High School. The girls tennis team won the Group IV state championship in 1996, defeating Westfield High School in the tournament final. The 1996 team defeated

Cherry Hill High School East Cherry Hill High School East (also known as Cherry Hill East or CHE) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Cherry Hill, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as pa ...

3-2 in the semifinal round before defeating Westfield 3-2 in the finals. The girls' track team won the Group III state indoor relay championships in 1997 and 1998. The girls track team was indoor Group II champion in 1997 and 1999. The girls track team won the winter track Group III state title in 1998. The boys cross country team won the Group III state championship in 1998. The girls' cross country team won the Group III in 1998, 2002 and 2019. The team won the Meet of Champions in 1998. They won state sectionals for three consecutive years, 2011, 2012 and 2013. The girls' soccer team was Group III co-champion with Cranford High School in 2000. The boys' basketball team did not win a single game in the 2004–05 season. Three years later, during the 2007–08 season, second-year head coach Kevin Cullen led the team to the Central Jersey Group III Sectional Championship with a win over Neptune High School 45–33. The ice hockey team won Handchen Cup in 2009, 2010 and 2012 (as co-champion). The girls' basketball team won the Group III state championship in 2015, defeating Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan in the final game of the tournament playoff. The team won the Group III Central Jersey state championship in 2014 with a 38–35 win against Neptune High School in the tournament final.

Administration

The school's principal is Thomas Olausen, whose administration team includes three assistant principals.Administration Directory
Middletown High School South. Accessed February 7, 2022.

Notable alumni

* Howard Barbieri (born 1987), former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison g ...

. * Alyssa Beckerman (born 1981), former

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

and balance beam national champion. * Nicole Byer (born 1986), comedian. * Peter Dobson (born 1964), actor who had a cameo role in ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson ...

'' as

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

. * Darren Fenster (born 1978, class of 1996), manager in the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's ei ...

minor league system. *

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his '' Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,'' published in 1751. G ...

(born 1986), former professional soccer player who played for the Newark Ironbound Express and

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American ...

. * Josh Heald (born 1977), screenwriter, director, and producer best known for his work on ''

Cobra Kai ''Cobra Kai'' is an American martial arts comedy-drama television series and a sequel to the original ''The Karate Kid'' films by Robert Mark Kamen. The series was created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, and is distribute ...

'' and ''

Hot Tub Time Machine ''Hot Tub Time Machine'' is a 2010 American science-fiction comedy film directed by Steve Pink and starring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Crispin Glover, Lizzy Caplan, and Chevy Chase. The film was released on March 26 ...

.'' *

Jeff Kunkel Jeffrey William Kunkel (born March 25, 1961) is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball with the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs. The son of the late American League pitcher and umpire Bill Kunkel, after receiving All-American honors as a s ...

(born 1962), former MLB shortstop who played for the Texas Rangers and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is loca ...

. * Rick Lovato (born 1992), long snapper for the Philadelphia Eagles of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). * Brian Lynch (born 1973), film and comic book writer best known for writing the screenplays for '' Minions'' and ''

The Secret Life of Pets ''The Secret Life of Pets'' is a 2016 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Yarrow Cheney (in his feature directorial ...

''. * Melanie McGuire (born 1972), responsible for the "suitcase murder" of April 2004. * Knowshon Moreno (born 1987), former NFL

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

. * Olivia Nuzzi (born 1993), political journalist. * Christian Peter (born 1972), former NFL defensive tackle. * Jason Peter (born 1974), former NFL football player. * Moqut Ruffins (born 1984), offensive lineman for the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena L ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-running ...

. * Scott Simonson (born 1992), NFL

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

who has played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...

.Politi, Steve
"Meet the Super Bowl 2016 player from New Jersey who saved his sister's life"
NJ Advance Media for

, February 3, 2016. Accessed December 24, 2018. "Because this weekend is, and against long odds on an athletic level -- we'll get to that part of this Jersey underdog story soon enough -- Scott Simonson will take the field as a special teams player and a third-string tight end for the favored Carolina Panthers.... But the Red Bank native who played for powerhouse Middletown South will be there at Levi's Stadium, and so will a family that includes the sick little girl he helped save."

References

External links

Middletown High School South websiteMiddletown Township School District website
*
School Data for the Middletown Township Public School District

DigitalSports Middletown South HomepageMiddletown South Eagles Football
{{Authority control 1976 establishments in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 1976 Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools Middletown Township, New Jersey Public high schools in Monmouth County, New Jersey