Cutoff Weekend was a wild one across the Big Central Conference, that’s for sure.
Elizabeth completed an undefeated regular season, finishing 9-0 and earning likely a top-seed in the playoffs in North 5 after erasing a halftime deficit against Somerville, and that was just the start of it.
Monroe beat Carteret at The Pit to likely claim a playoff berth. Franklin won at Woodbridge to help their chances. Hillside spoiled Cranford’s unbeaten run. Manville won a wild one at home over Dayton. Linden helped its cause with a 25-21 upset win at Union. And Old Bridge picked up a huge win over Ridge up in the Somerset Hills.
This will be a quick roundup tonight, as we work on getting all the scores from around the state to post our unofficial playoff brackets early Saturday morning. Once the sun comes up, we’ll get to working on explaining what it all means, and what scenarios still may unfold with nearly three dozen Saturday games, many of which will affect playoff seeding.
Then join us at 6 pm Saturday for our live “Playoff Projection Show,” presented by Dayton Collision, Route 130 South Brunswick! Mike Pavlichko and Marcus Borden will bring the our bracket projections complete with analysis, interviews with coaches, and we’ll talk it all over with Simeon Pincus of MyCentralJersey.
Meanwhile, read on more more recaps, links, scores, Notes and Nuggets, and the rest of the weekend schedule.
Notes and Nuggets…
- Who made it into the playoffs? Well, we have to take a look at everything around the state from Friday night, but here are some of the notable bubble teams who won Friday night:
- Monroe needed a win to get in and it looks like they probably did with a 21-12 win over Carteret at The Pit to finish their regular season 5-4, their best win total since 2023. Should they make the field of 16 in North 4, it will be their first playoff berth since 2014, Chris Beagan’s last season before going to his alma mater of Sayreville, and the first under current head coach Nick Isola.
- Franklin may have played itself in with a stunning 49-40 shootout win at Woodbridge. If they qualify, it will erase Somerset County’s longest playoff drought; the Warriors last made it in 2012.
- South Brunswick certainly helped its chances with a 35-9 win at Colonia in the first season under head coach Mike Gerst. Last year, he coaches SFC Ivy program Fort Lee to an undefeated season, and the Bridgemen are perfect this year, too.
- Who dropped out? South Plainfield appears to have been eliminated with a loss to Perth Amboy, who will be in the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Colonia had a shot, but was ousted with a loss to South Brunswick. Governor Livingston should be out after a loss at New Providence, as is Brearley after a loss at North Plainfield. And South Hunterdon missed its chance, getting shutout by Lyndhurst.
FRIDAY SCORES
- #1 Elizabeth 29, Somerville 14 (Coverage via Alec Crouthamel)
- #2 Old Bridge 28, #3 Ridge 6
- #4 Phillipsburg 41, Hunterdon Central 13
- #8 Sayreville 16, #5 Piscataway 7 (Coverage via Mike Pavlichko)
- #6 Bridgewater-Raritan 28, Watchung Hills 7
- #9 Rahway 22, Edison 7
- #10 Hillside 14, #7 Cranford 3
- Highland Park 35, Metuchen 0 (Coverage via Marcus Borden)
- Franklin 49, Woodbridge 40
- Linden 25, Union 21
- Perth Amboy 34, South Plainfield 28
- Montgomery 21, Hillsborough 14
- Monroe 21, Carteret 12
- South Brunswick 35, Colonia 9
- A.L. Johnson 42, JFK 7
- New Providence 41, Governor Livingston 10
- Manville 48, Dayton 43
- North Plainfield 33, Brearley 7
- Scotch Plains-Fanwood 32, New Brunswick 15
- Roselle Park 21, Roselle 0
- St. Thomas Aquinas 37, St. Joseph-Metuchen 13
- Lyndhurst 41, South Hunterdon 0
- Secaucus 38, Dunellen 18
- Middlesex 20, JP Stevens 14
- North Hunterdon 21, Voorhees 18
- Spotswood 42, South River 0
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
- Plainfield (2-5) at Westfield (1-7), 1 pm
- Bernards (6-2) at Summit (6-2), 1 pm
- Delaware Valley (6-2) at Belvidere (7-1), 1:30 pm
THURSDAY SCORE
- North Brunswick 49, East Brunswick 21
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