St. Joseph-Metuchen, Phillipsburg remain atop Big Central Power Rankings, now closer in state Top 25, which finds Don Bosco, Winslow at top

For a third straight week, St. Joseph-Metuchen leads the Big Central Power Rankings, with Phillipsburg right behind them, while Don Bosco Prep and Winslow Twp. are 1-2 on the statewide list.

New Providence – still unbeaten – has now moved into third, with Old Bridge pulling up to four and Somerville down one to fifth as the Knights and ‘Ville flip flop.

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.

St. Thomas Aquinas – which took its second Big Central loss of the season after winning 35 in a row against league competition – falls out of the top ten, as Bernards, Rahway – on the strength of a home win over Montgomery Friday – Manville, Piscataway and Woodbridge close out the first ten.

Statewide, Don Bosco Prep replaced Bergen Catholic at No. 1, with the Crusaders falling to third, and Winslow Twp. holding in second. Ramapo and Washington Twp. again round out the top five in the same spots as last week.

In the Big Central, while St. Joseph-Metuchen held at 14, Phillipsburg climbed up from 19 to 20 on the strength of a good win over Bridgewater-Raritan Friday night.

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.