A convincing 35-7 win over Colonia that put Phillipsburg in its fourth straight sectional final kept them atop the Big Central Conference power rankings in Week Ten, even though they dropped one spot in the overall state Top 25.
Around the league, two new teams joined the Top Ten, including Montgomery – which moved up from 12 to nine – and Bridgewater-Raritan, which shot up from eleven to five. Both won semifinal games this past Friday night, with the Cougars facing Phillipsburg in the North 2, Group 4 final this Friday at 7 pm at Maloney Stadium, and the Panthers hosting Bayonne in the North 2 Group 5 final at 6 pm.
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 flip-flop at the top continues, with Winslow back in the driver’s seat, switching places with Don Bosco. While Bergen Catholic remains in triple digits along with the two teams ahead of them, Old Tappan joined the “100 Club,” and passes the Crusaders into third. Ramapo holds at No. 5.
And for the second straight week, Phillipsburg is the lone Big Central team in the statewide Top 25, as they edge down one spot despite increasing their strength index, jumped by Camden, which went from 13 to ten.
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.
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