Which Big Central division has the most parity?

Looking at the state’s Strength Index numbers can tell us a lot about high school football teams, even if some of those numbers change dramatically throughout the year.

While we can look at them to figure out what division in the Big Central is the toughest or who plays the toughest schedule, we can also see what the parity might look like in a given division. That can be found by looking at the range of SI values in the Division.

For example, the Liberty Silver – with Montgomery, North Hunterdon, Plainfield and Watchung Hills – which had the second strongest average SI value in the league, is tops when it comes to parity: only 10.74 points separate the highest team from the lowest.

North Hunterdon is at 76.41, Watchung Hills at 72.32, Montgomery at 66.15, and Plainfield has a 65.67 Strength Index value.

On the other hand, the Freedom Gold has the widest range among the teams, a whopping difference of nearly 40 points between the highest SI value and the lowest. There’s Brearley at 70.09 leading the way, following a run to the sectional finals last year, and then everyone else: Roselle Park at 48.40, Spotswood at 47.00, Dayton at 43.99, and then Highland Park with a 30.29 SI value.

Below are the ranges of SI for all twelve of the Big Central’s divisions:

Divisions	Avg. SI	Range
American Gold	51.47	22.26
American Silver	54.81	17.51
National Gold	45.51	13.38
National Silver	46.32	27.93
Liberty Gold	47.07	13.79
Liberty Silver	52.06	10.74
United Gold	52.00	21.34
United Silver	39.31	20.91
Patriot Gold	43.93	34.39
Patriot Silver	47.94	35.22
Freedom Gold	38.27	39.80
Freedom Silver	41.42	28.21

Remember, Strength Index changes throughout the season, after every game played – including the playoffs and (whatever they call) consolation games. Some teams may see little change, others may go up, and others may go down.

Back to the Freedom Gold for a moment, Brearley would likely drop a little – unless the Bears have another run to the sectional finals. An SI of 70 is unusually high for a small Group 1 school. But, that could help a team like Spotswood, which is trying to make the playoffs – and didn’t last year, despite a 6-3 record at the cutoff date.