UNOFFICIAL Playoff Standings Update: Group 5

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 5:

• Bridgewater-Raritan holds on to the top spot, despite a loss Friday night at Hillsborough. West Orange moved into the two-spot over Piscataway – which beat one-win East Brunswick Friday night and, as a result, drops to third – but remains at a 2.8 UPR, with the Chiefs down to a 4.2, so the Panthers get a little more breathing room at the top.
• Elizabeth won Friday night, and moves up two spots from 8th to 6th.
• Despite a victory by Linden Friday night over winless Perth Amboy, the Tigers remain in 14th, but their UPR drops to 14.6.
• Union also won Friday night, for the first time this season, beating South Brunswick. Low-win teams stand to gain more ground with a win than higher teams do, so they jumped from 19 to a 16th-place tie with Montclair with a 16.2 UPR. The Farmers still need to win one more game to become playoff eligible.
• Plainfield, which lost Friday night to Colonia, fell from 17 to 19, but has a big game at Somerville next Friday on Central Jersey Sports Radio at 6:30 pm.

Note that with Piscataway dropping out of the top two, West Orange moves in, and since they are more North than the Bridgewater-Raritan, it moves the Panthers down into North 2 – a more southern section – with the rest of the Big Central teams.

SOUTH GROUP 5:

• Sayreville‘s win over Franklin helped boost the Bombers closer to a top-two seed, and a No. 1 seed in the sectionals. The move from fourth to third and drop their UPR from 4.2 to a 2.4. They could be in the drivers’ seat with a Cutoff Weekend game against St. Thomas Aquinas looming. That would either be a huge win, or a loss to a multiplier.
• Old Bridge moves from 7th to 6th with a win over Monroe, shaving 0.4 points off its UPR.
• Hillsborough won its second straight, beating Bridgewater-Raritan – still the top seed in North 5 – and in the process, skyrockets from 15 all the way up to 9th place, going from a 14.2 to a 10.4 UPR.
• Hunterdon Central didn’t see too much damage from a loss to Ridge Friday, though they fell to 17th. But they’re 1.4 UPR out of a playoff spot, which isn’t too tall of an order.
• Despite a loss to Sayreville Friday night, Franklin goes from 19 to 18, thanks to the Bombers’ strong SI. The Warriors have a worse UPR, but the standings also depend on what teams around them do, and Jackson Township’s loss hurt them more, dropping them behind Franklin.