Phillipsburg back to No. 1 in Big Central Power Rankings as New Providence, Old Bridge make moves; Stateliners lone rep in NJ Top 25

Phillipsburg has returned to the top of the Big Central power rankings, following a 55-14 win over Newark Central in the opening round of the playoffs, while St. Joseph-Metuchen fell to No. 3 after a loss to Donovan Catholic back on Friday.

New Providence – still unbeaten after an opening round playoff victory over Secaucus – is up again this week, now in second. The Falcons fell to third, while Old Bridge stayed in fourth, and Manville’s first playoff victory ever moved them up to No. 5, ahead of Somerville, which was upset by Matawan in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group 3 playoffs, in a section they won last year.

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.

Note that Belvidere played Wilson Area (PA) this weekend, for which an SI number was not available, so Belvidere’s SI value remains unchanged this week.

Statewide, the top three remain the same, with Don Bosco Prep, Winslow Twp. and Bergen Catholic in the same spots they were a week ago, while Old Tappan moves up from seventh to fourth, and Ramapo drops one spot to No. 5.

In the Big Central, St. Joseph’s loss to Donovan Catholic dropped them out of the Top 25, falling all the way from 14 to 43, while New Providence edged up from 35 to 33. That leaves Phillipsburg as the BCC’s lone rep in the Top 25, and the Stateliners climbed from 15 to tenth.

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.