It’s Cutoff Weekend in New Jersey High School Football, and only 25 games remain to determine the seeding for the playoffs. But so far, 28 teams from the Big Central appear to have made it, with Colonia and Spotswood sneaking in, but Metuchen set to do some scoreboard watching tomorrow.
We’ll get to that in a moment, but first, Phillipsburg looks to have wrapped up a top seed in North Group 5 along with Morris Knolls after a win at Bridgewater-Raritan Friday night. It was a packed top four, and all those teams – Knolls, Ridge, Woodbridge and P’burg emerged from Friday night’s action victorious, with Woodbridge (9-0) capping off an undefeated regular season for the third time in the last six years.
Somerville – the only other Big Central Conference team to cop a top seed – also finished an undefeated regular season at 9-0, and appeared to have the overall No. 1 seed locked up before the weekend even got underway.
East Brunswick 24, South Brunswick 14: The Bears picked up just their second win of the season Friday night, topping the Vikings on the road. The Bears’ last win came in Week One, when they beat Hamilton West out of the West Jersey Football League, 34-14. Since they, they had lost six straight – shut out three times – before snapping the skid to finish their regular season 2-7.
As for the Vikings, they started out 3-0, then went into a tailspin, dropping their last six games to finish the regular season 3-6.
North Plainfield 12, Metuchen 0: The Bulldogs’ playoff chances took a hit – though they still could make it – with a loss to the Canucks at Krausche Field Friday night. Not only does it snap a three-game win streak, but Metuchen fell into 16th place in the South 2 standings.
There’s only one team behind them with a shot that could knock them out. Haddon Heights (1-6) plays at home against Northern Burlington (4-4) at 11 am Saturday. That’s a must win for the Haddon Garnets because there’s a two-win minimum to make the postseason. If they do pull the upset, they’ll jump Spotswood, and Metuchen, bumping the Chargers to 16, while the Bulldogs would drop to 17 and be left out. Despite being former GMC Blue Division rivals, they did not play this year, so they couldn’t get in on the top-down head-to-head rule.
Winning Streaks…
With Central Regional and Glen Rock losing Friday night, Woodbridge, Somerville and Bernards are tied with Cherry Hill East for the third longest winning streak in the state. The Barrons, Pioneers and Mountaineers are all 9-0, as is Cherry Hill East, which is 8-0 but won their final game last season.
The longest win streak in the state belongs to Toms River North, the two-time defending Group 5 state champion, which is one of the favorites, at least, to win a third. Hopewell Valley is next, at 11, with a 9-0 record and two wins to finish last season.
In Big Central play, St. Thomas Aquinas has extended its league record streak to 31, while Bernards is next with 24 league wins in a row. Somerville is third at ten, while Woodbridge has won nine straight BCC games.
Other Friday night scores…
- No. 1 Somerville 45, Watchung Hills 7
- No. 2 Woodbridge 35, No. 8 St. Joseph-Metuchen 35
- No. 3 St. Thomas Aquinas 43, Sayreville 20
- No. 4 Bernards 35, Carteret 7
- No. 5 Ridge 28, Westfield 10
- No. 6 Phillipsburg 49, Bridgewater-Raritan 10
- No. 7 Hillsborough 28, Hunterdon Central 21
- No. 9 Rahway 28, Montgomery 3
- No. 10 Piscataway 52, Monroe 0
- Old Bridge 36, Colonia 29 (2 OT)
- Cranford 16, Hillside 6
- North Brunswick 22, Franklin 20
- Highland Park 37, South River 24
- Manville 42, Bound Brook 3
- Governor Livingston 38, New Brunswick 0
- New Providence 28, Delaware Valley 21
- North Hunterdon 56, Voorhees 21
- Johnson 56, Perth Amboy 24
- Plainfield 22, Linden 9
- Roselle 28, JP Stevens 8
- Spotswood 28, Roselle Park 6
- Summit 44, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 7
- South Hunterdon 38, Dunellen 7
- Elizabeth 26, Union 15
Saturday’s Games:
- South Plainfield at JFK, 1 pm
- Middlesex at Belvidere, 1:30 pm (Follow Marcus Borden on Twitter for updates)
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