Somerville, New Providence, Old Bridge overtake two parochials behind Phillipsburg in Big Central Power Rankings; ‘Liners edge down in NJ Top 25

Another week, another Big Central Conference Power Ranking with Phillipsburg at the top, but a few new schools have climbed up right behind them.

Somerville, New Providence and Old Bridge – all with wins this weekend, including the boys in orange knocking off unbeaten Summit Saturday – have pulled up to spots two through four, with St. Joseph dropping three places to fifth, and St. Thomas Aquinas down five places to eighth, despite wins.

Sayreville climbed five spots to sixth after winning at Piscataway Friday, while Ridge held in seventh. Bernards and Rahway each dropped a spot to ninth and tenth, respectively, while Manville fell to 16 despite remaining undefeated.

The power rankings are simply based on the state’s Strength Index formula, which helps determine a team’s OSI, which is 60% of the UPR playoff formula. SI values and will change each week as games are played. See methodology at the bottom of this page.

Statewide, Don Bosco Prep wrested the top spot away from Glassboro, with the Bulldogs dropping down to third behind idle Bergen Catholic. Winslow and Washington Township also won and remain four and five, while Phillipsburg fell a bit to No. 11 from the eighth spot after a close win over West Orange.

Strength Index Methodology: Team A and Team B are compared to find the difference between their rankings, which provides the Expected Result. The margin of the final score is figured in positive or negative terms compared to the Expected Result. The difference is divided by five, and the teams increase or decrease by the resulting number.

Example #1: Team A has an SI value of 80, while Team B has an SI value of 60. The Expected Result is +20 for Team A. When the game is played, Team A wins by 30. That is 10 points higher than the expected result. Than number is divided by 5, meaning Team A increases by 2 (Team A now has an SI of 82) while Team B decreases by 2 (Team B now has an SI of 58).

Example #2: In the same scenario, Team A defeats Team B by 20. That is the same as the Expected Result, no there is no change. Team A remains with an SI value of 80, while Team B retains its 60 SI value.

Example #2: Team A defeats Team B by 10. That is 10 points fewer than the expected result. Divide by 5 to get 2, but in this case, Team A drops by 2 points to 78 (because Team A “underperformed”) while Team B increases by 2 points to 62.

Out-of-State Opponent SI: Strength Index ratings for non-New Jersey teams are calculated by finding their MaxPreps national ranking, then averaging the SI ratings of the next New Jersey team above and below them in the MaxPreps rankings.