North Brunswick held onto a top seed, but Hillsborough dropped after Week 7 play on Friday night. Here are the unofficial standings in South Group 5 as calculated after Friday night action by Central Jersey Sports Radio:
North Brunswick remains No. 1 overall in the section, and the Raiders’ UPR stays at 1.6 after their Friday night win over East Brunswick. And Lenape, which lost to St. Joe’s-Hammonton Friday night, climbed from 5th to 11th due to the multiplier. However, their UPR is higher than that of HIllsborough last week. That means there’s a bit more distance between them and North Brunswick, than there was with Hillsborough.
The big shakeup was Friday night’s upset of Hillsborough by Somerville, which knocked the Raiders from No. 2 – which would have given them the other top seed in the sectionals after North Brunswick – to No. 4, with unbeaten 7-0 Toms River North now in third. They’re just 0.4 UPR behind Lenape, but they’ll probably continue to climb in power points with another multiplier – St. Augustine – next week.
Edison moved into 8th, which would give the Eagles their first home playoff game since 2000, when they beat Steinert. Edison could lock that up with a win at St. Thomas Aquinas Friday, which hasn’t lost a Big Central game since falling to Bernards in November of 2020 – a streak of 15 straight, the best in the league.
And then there are three teams bunched up fighting for the last playoff spots: South Brunswick in 15th, Old Bridge in 16th and Hunterdon Central in 17th. The Vikings dropped four places with Friday night’s loss to Edison, while the Knights held steady with a win against New Brunswick. And the Red Devils gained big, jumping two spots after their Friday night win over Franklin. These teams are going to slug it out, and we’ll have to see if Cherry Hill East is a factor. They play a weak 2-5 Cherry Hill West today. If they don’t make up any ground there, they’re a good distance behind Hunterdon Central.
Bottom Line: North Brunswick has a good handle on a top seed. Edison will lock up a home game if they beat Aquinas Friday. South Brunswick, Old Bridge and Hunterdon Central have must win games next week. Whether all three can get in is up in the air right now.