Unofficial playoff projection matchups for Big Central teams

The NJSIAA will announce its official playoff brackets today, but here are the projections for Big Central teams based on Central Jersey Sports Radio’s calculations, as announced on our “Playoff Projection Preview” show Saturday evening, with a couple of small changes when taking into account the official Gridiron New Jersey UPR standings published last night.

In all, of 160 teams seeded in this year’s public state playoffs, CJSR appears to have correctly predicted 154 playoff slots, including the 17th/16th head-to-head tiebreaker that got Old Bridge in over South Brunswick in the South Group 5 supersection. Overall, it appears 30 Big Central teams qualified for the playoffs, with two – Phillipsburg and North Hunterdon – gaining top seeds.

Below are the projected matchups for all local teams. CJSR will have the full matchups after they are announced by the state, with breakdowns and analysis this week. The opening round begins Friday night, with sectional finals the week of Friday, November 11th, group semifinals at Franklin and Kingsway the following week, and – for the first time ever- public group champions to be crowned the first week of December at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium in Piscataway.

North 1, Group 5:

#7 Union at #2 Union City
#6 Bridgewater-Raritan at #3 Westfield

North 2, Group 5:

#8 Elizabeth at #1 Phillipsburg
#6 West Orange at #3 Watchung Hills
#5 Piscataway at #4 Paterson Eastside

Central, Group 5:

#7 Hunterdon Central at #2 North Brunswick
#6 Edison at #3 Hillsborough

South, Group 5:

#8 Old Bridge at #1 Toms River North

North 1, Group 4:

#8 Sayreville at #1 Irvington
#7 Woodbridge at #2 Ramapo
#6 Roxbury at #3 Ridge
#5 Montgomery at #4 Northern Highlands

North 2, Group 4:

#8 Middletown North at #1 North Hunterdon
#7 Rahway at #2 Randolph
#5 Morris Knolls at #4 Colonia

North 1, Group 3:

#7 Parsippany Hills at #2 Hillside

North 2, Group 3:

#7 Wayne Hills at #2 Cranford

Central, Group 3:

#8 Somerville at #1 Seneca

South, Group 3:

#5 Camden Eastside at #4 South Plainfield

Central, Group 2:

#5 New Providence at Willingboro

South, Group 2:

#6 Delaware Valley at #3 Oakcrest
#5 Johnson at #4 Pleasantville

North 2, Group 2:

#5 Bernards at #4 Ramsey

North 2, Group 1:

#5 North Arlington at #4 Brearley

Central, Group 1:

#6 South Hunterdon at #3 Glassboro

South, Group 1:

#5 Shore at #4 Manville