Third place is where Hillside started Week 8 in the South 2 standings, and third place is where they look to finish after Friday night’s games, and an unofficial calculation of UPR by Central Jersey Sports Radio.
The Comets beat Carteret 41-13, but dropped in UPR from 3.8 to 5, while Willingboro – in second – went from a 3.4 to a 2.2 UPR. The gap has widened, and now it comes down to whether Hillside can recoup it on Cutoff Weekend as to whether they grab a top seed in the state tournament, which begins in two weeks.
Camden (4-3) is behind them, yet to play this weekend. They visit Cedar Creek (8-0) Saturday.
So for Hillside, they have Rahway (3-4) next week, while Willingboro has Haddon Heights (4-3). Even a Hillside win and Willingboro loss may not do it, so we’ll pencil in the Comets as No. 3. While they won’t get a top seed, the third spot will prevent them from having to face the overall top seed until the regional championships.
Elsewhere, Bernards and Delaware Valley flipped so that the Mountaineers are in 6th by 0.2 UPR over the Terriers. Both won Friday night, and both are a good bet for a top eight finish. Only tenth-place Raritan could challenge them, but only one and not the other.
Bernards is at Middlesex (2-4) next week, while Del Val visits undefeated St. Thomas Aquinas (7-0).
New Providence dropped one spot to 11th, which won’t make much difference in the long run.
Notable is Roselle’s big jump from 19th to 15th, despite a loss to Del Val, which is what we call a “good loss” – strong OSI value. That may be short-lived since Pleasantville (16th) hasn’t played yet this weekend – they have Woodrow Wilson today – but other teams they jumped like West Deptford did, and lost.
Bound Brook’s loss to rival Manville, 51-27, dropped the Crusaders seven places to 22nd., but still only 3 UPR out of the playoffs. The teams are tight there. After this weekend’s games, we’ll see where they stand, but it’s likely they’re out of contention unless something dramatic happens.
