Bridgewater-Raritan wins first sectional title, moves up in Big Central Power Rankings; Winslow Twp. holds on to top NJ spot with near-record rating

Phillipsburg’s win in the North 2, Group 4 title game kept the Stateliners atop the Big Central Power Rankings in Week 11, while Bridgewater-Raritan’s win in the North 2, Group 5 final moves them further up, and well into the Top 50 statewide.

New Providence held in second, despite falling to Cedar Grove in the North 2, Group 1 final, while Old Bridge dropped from fourth to seventh after a loss in the Central Jersey Group 5 title tilt. Summit edged down from 13 to 11 in the BCC rankings with a loss in the North 2, Group 3 final. Montgomery held at ninth in the league after falling to Phillipsburg.

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.

Statewide, Winslow is back at No. 1 for a second straight week, after the Eagles won the South Jersey Group 4 title, 53-14 over Millville. Their SI shot up to 111.61, slightly higher than the SI they finished with last year, at 111.39.

It’s also just 4.80 points behind the highest finishing Strength Index value since the formula first was used in 2019, set by Mainland following the 2023 season, when they went 14-0 and won the state Group 4 championship. Their SI that year finished at of 116.41, and Winslow potentially has two games to go to catch them: this week against Brick Memorial in the Group 4 semifinals, and the state final – should they beat Brick – against either Ramapo or Phillipsburg.

Winslow’s highest SI ever came last year, when they peaked at 112.03 after Week 10 play.

Speaking of the Stateliners, Phillipsburg remains the lone Big Central team in the statewide Top 25, as Bridgewater-Raritan’s win moved them from 50 to 41 statewide. Elsewhere, Don Bosco Prep dropped from two to four, while Bergen Catholic – which beat St. Joseph-Metuchen in the Non-Public Group A semifinals/first round – took their place, moving up from fourth. Old Tappan held in third, and St. Joseph-Montvale moved from eighth into the top five.

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.