Montgomery, Monroe boys should grab top two seeds in CJ4 playoffs; 34 teams expected to qualify when brackets come out Wednesday

It’s already been a heck of a season for Montgomery. They won the Skyland Conference Valley Division, checking one box, with two more goals in sight: a county championship and a state title.

And the Cougars appear to have picked up as much of an advantage as possible, likely earning the top seed in the Central Jersey Group 4 playoff section, with Monroe right behind them at No. 2.

Overall, we project 34 area teams will make the NJSIAA playoffs when the brackets are announced this Wednesday.

Scroll down for a section-by-section look at how things will likely shake out. Our standings are based on NJSIAA power point standings as officially reported by NJ.com. These numbers may not have been checked for accuracy by the state or any of the participating schools, and the NJSIAA does not typically release opt-outs or teams disqualified for the tournament, so the projected matchups may change from what is printed here:

Central Jersey Group 4: Montgomery (19-2) ends the weekend right where it started, at No. 1. That would give them the potential for a home game in the CJ4 title tilt, should they get there. Their first-round opponent appears to be 16th-seed West Windsor-Plainsboro South (7-15). Monroe (15-7) held on to the second-seed, as expected, and the Falcons are projected to host No. 15 Freehold Township (8-14) in the opening round, with home court guaranteed through at least the sectional semis. Old Bridge (13-9) dropped from third to fifth at the cutoff, and should host 12-seed West Windsor-Plainsboro North (12-11). North Brunswick (14-10) also dropped two spots on the final day, and appears to have grabbed the seven-seed, which means they would host tenth-seed Sayreville (15-9) in a GMC White Division playoff matchup. The Raiders beat the Bombers twice this season, by five and six points. East Brunswick (12-13) held on to the eighth spot, and would host Hightstown (13-11) in the 8/9 game if everything holds.

Central Jersey Group 3: Only two area teams will qualify here, with both looking like they will start on the road. Somerville (10-14) is projected as the nine-seed, opening up at 8-seed Robbinsville (16-8). Carteret (14-10) looks like the 12-seed, but note they’re only a point ahead of Lawrence (11-12), so if there are any errors, that could change. As of now, they would visit five-seed Colts Neck (13-7). The top-seed here should be Red Bank Regional (17-4).

Central Jersey Group 2: Manasquan – which beat South River in the final here last years – will be the top seed at 18-5, with Spotswood (16-6) the highest CJSR-area team, checking in at No. 5. That would put them in a first round home game against 12-seed Willingboro (10-12), if everything holds. Right behind the Chargers are Bound Brook (15-10), which would host the 13th-seed Delran (9-14). Middlesex is in at No. 1, and should be at 7-seed Point Pleasant Boro (13-9) in the opening round, while 14th-place Metuchen (12-12) should open at Rumson-Fair Haven (17-6). But the next news here may be that last year’s runner up, South River (12-12), appears to have squeezed in at the last minute over Hillside by a single point, after the Rams beat Highland Park Saturday and the Comets lost to Pemberton.

Central Jersey Group 1: Henry Hudson (18-4) will be the top seed here, and the other non-CJSR area team of interest is Dave Boff’s College Achieve Asbury Park, which looks like it has the third seed at 15-7. After that, it gets complicated. In a tie for fourth are Manville (12-11) and Brearley (10-7), but the Bears won the head-to-head, so they should get the No. 4 seed, while the Mustangs drop to five. That would have Manville opening up against the 15th-seed, which we think will be Keyport in a 16th-place tiebreaker with Academy Charter. The two didn’t meet head-to-head, but Keyport beat Common opponent Keansburg twice, while Academy beat them just once. But Academy will still make the playoffs, even after falling to 17, due to the ineligibility of South Amboy and College Achieve Central, where multiple players from both teams were disqualified, automatically barring both from the state playoffs. We think that even gets Highland Park in at 6-16 at No. 18, which would put them at top-seed Henry Hudson. Elsewhere, Perth Amboy Magnet (12-8) appears to be the six-seed, which we think will have them at 11-seed Point Pleasant Beach (11-11). Dunellen (11-11) should be the nine-seed, and would open up at defending sectional champion Eagle Academy (11-11). Somerset Tech also appears to be the 13 seed, which would put them at 4-seed Brearley in the opening round.

North Jersey, Section 2 – Group 4: It has been Phillipsburg atop this section for a while now, and they look like they finish there with a 20-2 record. But in second is Watchung Hills (16-6), so it looks like the Warriors will get home court through at least the sectional semis, and would host 15-seed Columbia (11-10) in the opening round. Ridge (14-8) closes out the top four, so the Red Devils could get at least two guaranteed home games, likely opening against 12-seed Scotch Plains-Fanwood (13-10) at home. Hillsborough finished in fifth place at 14-7, climbing two spots on the final day with a win over Scotch Plains, and should host 12-seed Linden (14-10) in the opening round. Franklin fell a spot to seven as a result, and would host a very tough out in Westfield (13-11). Woodbridge (15-7) appears to have just missed a top eight seed and a first-round home game, and they should open at 8-seed Plainfield, which also is 15-7. A loss to Franklin in the Somerset County Tournament Saturday likely cost Bridgewater-Raritan the final playoff spot, as they fell to 17 with the loss at 10-14, behind Bayonne (13-11).

North Jersey, Section 2 – Group 3: Nothing changed at the top here, so Cranford should hold on to the number one seed, followed by the only local teams that qualified in this section: South Plainfield second at 1706, and Colonia third at 15-8. The Tigers would likely host 15-seed Fort Lee (9-13) in the opening round, while the Patriots would entertain Governor Livingston (10-8).

North Jersey, Section 1 – Group 2: As expected, Arts (19-6) held on to first place here, with the only area team – Bernards (14-8) – hanging on to seventh place at the cutoff. That would have them hosting 10-seed Hanover Park (14-9) if all holds here.

Non-Public North B: No major changes here, as Morris Catholic gets the top-seed are 20-2 by a good margin, while the four CJSR-area teams remain right where they were heading into the cutoff. That includes St. Thomas Aquinas in fourth place in this 15-team section, though that could get smaller, as 14th-place Wardlaw-Hartridge – which tied with 5-13 Golda Och for last – could opt out, if anyone could, at 1-19. Either way, expect the Trojans to host 13th-seed Koinonia (4-19). Timothy Christian finished in sixth place at 15-8, and the Tigers – who gave St. Joseph-Metuchen a run for their money Saturday in the GMC Tournament quarterfinals – should 11-seed Pioneer Academy (8-11) in the opening round. Right behind them in seventh is Gill St. Bernard’s (10-13), and we expect the Knights to host t0th-place Morristown-Beard (4-15) in the first round. If Wardlaw does stay in, they’ll end at 15th, and would have to go up to 2nd-seed Montclair-Immaculate (18-6). (This section was updated to project Timothy Christian playing Pioneer Academy instead of Eastern Christian.)

Non-Public South B: The only area team here is Calvary Christian (17-3), which looks like the four-seed in a 14-team section, hosting 13th-seed Moorestown Friends (5-13). Top-seed St. Rose of Belmar (23-2) would get an opening round bye before beginning play in the quarters against the winner of the 8/9 game, likely between Wildwood Catholic (9-15) and Ranney (10-11).

Non-Public South A: Christian Brothers appears to have picked up the top-seed at 17-5, while Rutgers Prep (16-6) is in third, the highest CJSR-area team. In a 13-team field where no drop-outs are expected – everyone has at least ten wins, and only two of the 14 are slightly below .500 on the season – the Argonauts would get a bye, and host the winner of 6-seed Red Bank Catholic (14-11) and 11-seed Notre Dame (11-10).  St. Joseph-Metuchen (18-7) finished fourth, and we project them to host 13-seed Immaculata (10-12) in the opening round. Right in the middle of it all is Pingry, with the Big Blue 16-4 and in eighth, likely hosting a first round game against nine-seed Camden Catholic (13-9).