UNOFFICIAL Playoff Standings Update: Group 2

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 2:

• Bernards holds in third as Westwood and Shabazz won Friday night, while Hoboken’s win got them right behind the Mountaineers, who have a big game Saturday at Summit at 1 pm with major playoff implications for both teams.
• Dayton, which picked up a huge win over previously-unbeaten Spotswood, shot up from 20th – four spots out of the playoffs – to 12. They needed that, with a game at Dunellen next week, which could see them drop a bit, but not enough to bounce out to the wrong side of the bubble. And with Brearley winning four straight after an 0-3 start – and 15 consecutive losses dating back to the last two games of 2023 – all of a sudden, that doesn’t look like a bad win anymore either, if the Bulldogs can get it.

SOUTH GROUP 2:

• The highest-rated team here is A.L. Johnson, which beat Delaware Valley, 21-19, Friday night. They ride from eight to five overall.
• Spotswood dropped three spots to 15th, but if it weren’t for Dayton having a nice year, it could have been worse. The Bears being 5-1 now is a big help. The Chargers close at South Hunterdon, where even a win could drop them a bit, but close with a highly-respectable Roselle Park, which is 4-2 after a win over Highland Park Friday night.
• Voorhees visits Governor Livingston Saturday at 1 pm, but the deserving Vikings jumped from 17th to 14th, thanks to some help, including the Spotswood loss, which wasn’t exactly on everyone’s bingo card, considering how they’d dominated this season. The Highlanders held in 18th, and we’re not sure if the teams could flip if GL wins this matchup, but they could certainly use it. And Voorhees may not be done climbing in Week 6.
• The loss by Delaware Valley to A.L. Johnson effectively ended the Terriers hopes at a playoff berth, and Hillside is a longshot at 21, but they have some good teams down the stretch – starting with a 2 pm home game Saturday against Carteret – such that a strong finish could make it much closer. A loss would probably put them in Del Val’s shoes.