Cutoff Weekend Friday Playoff Update - Group 5: Bridgewater-Raritan should earn top seed, Plainfield and Hillsborough clinch berths, Hunterdon Central eliminated with loss

With Friday night’s Cutoff Weekend high school football games all in the books, Central Jersey Sports Radio is updating the unofficial NJSIAA playoff standings as we head into Saturday action.

We’ll have further analysis late morning into the afternoon Saturday, with our 2025 “Playoff Projection Show” scheduled for 6 pm where we give our bracket projections. The full tournament for the public schools will be unveiled on Sunday by the NJSIAA via Gridiron New Jersey. We’ll have them shortly after. The brackets become official at noon on Monday.

NORTH GROUP 5

Bridgewater-Raritan holds the two-spot, despite a hard-fought loss Friday night at Phillipsburg. The Panthers should be the No. 1 seed in North 2, Group 4, while West Orange would get the one-seed in North 1, Group 4. Very little changed at the top, and it won’t Saturday since the first nine teams all finished their games this weekend.
That includes Piscataway holding in third and Elizabeth in fourth. They should be the second and third seeds in North 2, Group 4. The Chiefs lost to Bridgewater earlier this year, so there’s no head-to-head jump there.
Plainfield clinched a playoff berth with a win Friday night at Linden, 28-27. They moved all the way up from 17 to 12 in the supersection. Linden dropped one place after the loss to Plainfield, right behind them at 13. But keep reading to see the effects of the Irvington game Saturday…
The Union-City-Livingston tiebreaker will go to Union City. They didn’t meet head to head, and against common opponents, both beat all three of them, Montclair, Irvington and Columbia.
Irvington plays Seton Hall Prep Saturday, and the Marauders are a multiplier. That’s the only other significant game we’re waiting on, as Barringer plays Hackensack but was 21st in the standings, so that shouldn’t affect things. Should Irvington win, they move up one to ninth and Bayonne moves down to tenth. Should Irvington lose, they would stay where they are, but Plainfield and Linden would flip-flop, but only momentarily. While the Cardinals would then be behind Linden in 13th, since they just beat them head to head, they go back the way they were.
Also important to note, while Montclair made the top 16, they’re 1-8, and two wins is the minimum for playoff eligibility. That means No. 17 Passaic (4-4) gets in as the final team.

SOUTH GROUP 5

As predicted, a Sayreville win over St. Thomas Aquinas Friday night didn’t get the Bombers a top-seed. They should be the two-seed in Central Jersey Group 5 behind overall No. 1 seed Washington Twp., which capped a 9-0 regular season Friday night, while Atlantic City – which was idle this weekend – gets the top-seed in the South Jersey Group 5 section.
Old Bridge would be the second seed in Central 5 if it all holds, which it should, as the next team back, Rancocas Valley (4-4) plays Lenape (0-8) Saturday. While Valley should win, it’s a weak opponent, and we don’t believe they can catch the Knights.
Hillsborough solidified its playoff spot, and moved up from 13 to 9 overall with a win at Hunterdon Central, which looks like they won’t make it, finishing 20th. We think the Raiders are likely locked in as the five-seed in Central Jersey Group 5.
Franklin picked up a Friday night win, but over winless North Brunswick, and that didn’t help them move up into the top 16, despite a 5-4 season.