UNOFFICIAL Playoff Standings Update: Group 1

While most high school football teams across New Jersey played Friday night, still more have to play Saturday. But with much of Week 6 in the books, here’s a look at Central Jersey Sports Radio’s projections on updated playoff standings.

All our projections are unofficial and based on scores reported to Gridiron New Jersey – the official calculator of the NJSIAA’s UPR formula – with additional scores gathered from various media sources.

Please note, we have not performed any tiebreakers or top-down head-to-head comparisons, which is done on the final weekend within the field of 16, since future meetings could alter those adjustments. The top 16 teams in each supersection qualify for the playoffs. And while a minimum of two wins is needed, we’re not eliminating those teams yet either, as many teams still have two or three games remaining.

NORTH GROUP 1:

• New Providence beat Verona in a non-conference game Friday night, and now takes a bigger lead over third-place Kinnelon, expanding its UPR lead from 0.4 to 1.6 points. It’s looking good for the Pioneers, who close with Bound Brook next Friday and at Delaware Valley seven days later.
• Then, it’s all the way down to Brearley, which fell from 17 to 18 after a victory over winless South River Friday night. And their UPR distance from the 16 seed grew as well.
• Even though they’re a longshot, for what it’s worth, Roselle Park went from 23 to 22 with a win at Highland Park Friday night. They went from a 23.4 UPR, tied for 23rd with North Warren (which lost and fell back to 25), to 21.8, leaving them 5.4 from a playoff berth. It’s still a lot of ground to make up with JP Stevens next week, but all of a sudden, knocking off Spotswood on Cutoff Weekend doesn’t look so improbable. Stay tuned…

SOUTH GROUP 1:

• The reward for a 62-7 Thursday night win for Manville over winless Dunellen was a fall from eighth to 10, despite being 7-0 for the first time since they finished 9-0 in 1968, according to the team’s Twitter account. But with Highland Park and Bound Brook awaiting, they still could get a first round home game, but they might also need some help to do it.
• Bound Brook rises one spot to 15 overall after a 38-28 win over Middlesex, which drops the Blue Jays from 20-22 and makes them a real long shot for the postseason. But the Crusaders are headed in the right direction at 5-2. Their next two opponents are both unbeaten: at New Providence next Friday, at home to Manville for the Freedom Silver Division title a week later.
• A loss by Highland Park Friday night to Roselle Park has them out of the top 16 for now at No. 17. But they’re one OSI jump away from tying Clayton for 16th. It ain’t over ’til it’s over.