Cutoff Weekend Playoff Analysis: Bernards vying for a top four finish in North 2; New Providence likely top eight, while Hillside is in, but should be in bottom half of the field

It’s Cutoff Weekend in New Jersey, and with just under a half-dozen Thursday night games in the books, we’re taking a section-by-section look at every Big Central team in the playoff hunt.

Our pre-Cutoff analysis estimates 22 BCC squads have unofficially clinched a playoff berth, with eleven more still on the bubble.

You can find all our unofficial standings here.

This season’s playoff coverage – both leading up to and in the postseason – is proudly presented by Dayton Collision on Route 130 in South Brunswick! That includes all our analysis today, as well as our LIVE Playoff Projection Show, scheduled for Saturday at 6 pm with Mike Pavlichko and Marcus Borden.

NORTH GROUP 2:

• Bernards (6-2) and New Providence (6-1) sit seventh and eighth at the moment, and both can make moves up, but the question is how much? The Mountaineers travel to Summit (6-2) Saturday while the Pioneers welcome in neighbor Governor Livingston (4-4), which will be playing for a playoff berth in the South 2 supersection, helped out by a huge upset in the Shore Conference Thursday night, with Neptune beating Raritan. We think Bernards, with a win and losses by everyone above them, has a ceiling of three. More likely, they at least finish in the top four with a win, but they could finish as low as six if they beat the Hilltoppers, depending on what teams around them do, so there will be a good deal of scoreboard watching tonight. Either way, they look like a top eight finished. In that scenario, where Bernards gets no help, the same can be said for New Providence, which could go as high as seven with a win, or fall back to nine, which would start them on the road. But with Governor Livingston at .500, their upside as a win is not as good. They can finish in the top eight, but may need some help. We’ll get a much clearer picture after Friday night.

• The only other team even in the running here is Hillside (7-1), which after Week 5 was still in 19th place, despite a 5-1 record. But they have pulled up as of late, especially after a big win over Manville last week. They get the undefeated Cougars (7-0) of Cranford on the road Friday night, and Cranford will be playing not just for an unblemished regular season, but a top-seed in the playoffs, so there’s a lot at stake here. How high can Hillside go? At No. 13 now, we think their range is a +/-2, meaning anywhere from 11 to 15. They can’t get into the top eight, so they’ll open on the road, but they appear to have clinched and should get in even with a loss, helped out by Cranford’s seven wins and a high SI value.