Two NJ multipliers lose status in Week Three, while two more drop into D category

It wasn’t a great weekend for the multipliers across New Jersey this weekend, and by extension, for those that have lost to them.

Multipliers are considered among the elite non-public teams in the state by the NJSIAA, and they are grouped into four categories: A, B, C and D.

While all multipliers are worth their regular Strength Index value to teams that beat them, those that lose to an A multiplier receive 80-percent of their SI value for a loss. B teams are worth 75, and C and D teams are worth 70 percent.

But those numbers aren’t locked all season. If a multiplier loses to a non-multiplier NJSIAA member school, teams in the A, B and C categories move down to D. Then anyone who either started as a D or got bumped down, if they lost just once, they lose multiplier status entirely.

That means a team that lost to a D multiplier earlier in the year would get 70 percent of the SI value, but if that multiplier loses to a non-multiplier, they value goes back to the normal 50 percent.

Here’s what happened this weekend:

• St. Thomas Aquinas began the season as a D multiplier, and has wins over Westfield and Franklin, but a loss Friday night at Old Bridge knocks them out of the multiplier status completely.
  • That means Westfield and Franklin only get 50 percent – rather than 70 – of STA’s natural SI value, as will future opponents Sayreville, Somerville, North Brunswick and Edison.
• St. Joseph of Metuchen began the season as a B multiplier (75%). Their loss at Elizabeth Friday night means they are now a D (70%), and one more loss to a non-multiplier would boot them out entirely.
  • The Falcons have three more such teams on the schedule before the cutoff: Phillipsburg (this Saturday), Piscataway (October 9) and Union (October 16). Losses to Delbarton (October 3) or St. Thomas Aquinas (October 23, Cutoff Weekend) would not affect St. Joseph’s status. That’s despite the fact that St. Thomas is no longer a multiplier. NJSIAA rules say non-publics that start the season as multipliers are still considered so when they play another multiplier.
  • As of now, Bridgewater-Raritan and Westfield – both of which lost to the Falcons earlier this year – will get 70 percent of St. Joseph’s SI value instead of 75, as will Phillipsburg, Piscataway and Union, if they lose those games. One more loss, and all those teams would get the natural 50 percent.
• Pope John lost to Immaculata this weekend, which knocks the Lions completely out of the multiplier, as it was their second loss to a non-multiplier. Though they have no additional non-multiplier games, they also lost to Washington Twp. in Week Zero in the Battle at the Beach in Ocean City.
• St. John Vianney also lost its multiplier status in its first game against a non-multiplier, falling to Holmdel this weekend.
  • That means the Lancers are only worth 50 percent for all future non-multipliers who lose to them, including Wall, Middletown North, Manalapan, Brick Twp. and Rusmon-Fair Haven.

Vianney’s loss also will make things much less tricky for UPR calculations on cutoff weekend. That’s because Rumson-Fair Haven had three multipliers on their schedule: Red Bank Catholic, Donovan Catholic and St. John Vianney. But the state only allows two multiplier values to be used, which means the top two values would count, while the lowest would be 50-percent.

With the Lancers no longer a multiplier, that will no longer have to be figured out, as only Red Bank Catholic and Donovan Catholic would count. That’s assuming neither drops another game between now an then.

The Caseys still have Holmdel, Winslow, Rumson and Wall, while the Griffins have Southern, Rumson, Pt. Pleasant Boro and Toms River North.