Author: Mike Pavlichko

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood’s 2nd annual E4M Showcase features top-notch squads to raise money for scholarship in memory of former teammate Matthew Carlson

None of the members of the Spotswood baseball team played in high school with Matthew Carlson, but they all know his name, and pay tribute to him every home game by going out to touch third base – his position – after they break their team huddle.

On Saturday, they will honor him again – and raise money for a scholarship that goes to an SHS student in his name – as part of the second annual E4M Showcase at the place Charger fans affectionately call “The Swamp.”

“E4M” means “Everything for Matt.” Carlson was just 16 years old when he was tragically killed in an ATV crash down in Georgia on Thanksgiving in 2022. A sophomore at the time, he had already lettered in baseball, and also played basketball. Steve Mate’s Chargers put his jersey on the end of the bench at every home game that season.

Carlson would have graduated last year.

Matthew Carlson’s No. 20 jersey sits at the end of the bench in his memory. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

The event is a jumping off point to raise money for a scholarship that’s given out to a Spotswood High School senior. Donations can be made through Venmo to the account @E4Mscholarshipfund.

And the event is a pretty good one, too.

In the 10 am opener, Spotswood (8-9) will look to get back to .500 after taking a 6-0 loss at the hands of Brearley Friday when they host another Union County school, Jonathan Dayton (5-10) out of Springfield.

The 1 pm game will feature Mainland (10-3) out of the Cape-Atlantic League taking on St. Peter’s Prep (11-6) out of Jersey City, while the 4 pm finale will feature No. 1 Immaculata (11-3) taking on 8th-ranked Old Bridge (9-7).

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Spotswood head coach Glenny Fredricks:

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY: No. 2 Middlesex 4, No. 5 Colonia 0

The second-ranked Middlesex Blue Jays got four runs on three singles and a double in the second inning, and got a strong complete-game performance from starter Dom Long, to beat the No. 5 Colonia Patriots 4-0 in the GMC White Division finale for both teams.

READ THE FULL GAME STORY HERE!

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play live from Mountainview Park ion Middlesex on April 30, 2026.

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 2 Middlesex uses big second inning to get past No. 5 Colonia, 4-0, in GMC White finale

One main characteristic of the more successful Middlesex baseball teams over the years has been how they can turn what seems like an innocuous couple of hits it into an inning that changes the game.

Their hitters tend to feed off each other, a confirmation of the old adage that hitting is contagious.

And when you couple that with someone like junior Dom Long on the mound, who entered the day with a microscopic 0.78 ERA, it’s a recipe for success.

And that’s what it was on Thursday afternoon at Mountainview Park, as the No. 2 Blue Jays beat No. 5 Colonia, 4-0 – in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio – to sweep the season series and win their eleventh straight game.

All four runs came in the second inning against Colonia starter Tyler Chiola.  And it was the bottom of the order setting up the top.

Six-hitter Diego Marcano led off with a single, and after a strikeout of Chris Kozal, Lucas Blanco singled, too   Daniel Ianiero brought him in with a double, then the top of the order did its work:  a single by Marcus Lavornia made it 3-0 Jays, while a Dylan Ianiero ground out to second added another.

As for Long, he went the distamce, allowing just five hits, with six strikeouts. He got through seven innings throwing just pitches.

Middlesex improves to 15-1 with the win, their lone loss to South Brunswick.  They are up GMC White play as the division champs, 13-1.  Colonia falls to 9-5, with all of their games coming in GMC White play.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel with Middlesex junior starter Dom Long and head coach Blaze Iannetti, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

South River claims last of GMC Division titles, taking the Blue in a three-way tiebreaker over Carteret, JP Stevens

The way the Greater Middlesex Conference seeds its baseball tournaments, division titles are everything.

Actually, the whole standings are everything. In the seeding meeting – with this year’s coming up a week from tomorrow, on Friday, May 8th – teams can only be seeded in order of division finish. No division has to be seeded higher than any other, but the second place team in any division can’t be seeded ahead of the first place team, regardless of head-to-head results.

That means the only teams that can be the top seeds are division winners. And South River took the last remaining title to be decided, winning the GMC Blue in a three-way tiebreaker over Carteret and JP Stevens.

The Rams solidified that deal by virtue of an 11-6 road win at Piscataway Wednesday afternoon, giving them their fourth straight win and a series sweep against the Chiefs. But with the Rams, Ramblers and Hawks all 11-3 in the division, it came down to how all those teams did against each other.

South River went 3-1 in that group, splitting with Carteret and sweeping JP Stevens. The Ramblers were 1-3 in that group, swept by Stevens and splitting with the Rams. The Hawks went 2-2, sweeping Carteret, but getting swept by South River. The title goes to the Rams.

It’s their first division title since they shared the Blue in 2022 with St. Thomas Aquinas. Both went 9-1 in the division, and the teams split their two games, with the Trojans picking up a 16-3 win, while the Rams won the series finale two days later, 5-3.

Elsewhere in the GMC, Piscataway Magnet improved to 16-0 Wednesday with an 11-0 win at South Amboy, giving them a perfect 12-0 division record. It’s the Raiders’ first outright division title since 1996, and they’re one of just a handful of undefeated teams left in the state. The question is, will they make the Jim Muldowney Championship Tournament as one of the top 20 seeds, or play in the Ray Cipperly Invitational.

READ MORE: True team play has powered Piscataway Magnet to record season, but Raiders – the last unbeaten GMC team standing – may be just getting started

Regardless of how second-ranked Middlesex fares against Colonia at home Thursday afternoon in its GMC White Division finale (4 pm on CJSR – click here to listen live) the Blue Jays have already clinched the pennant, sitting at 12-1, while second-place Colonia is 9-4.

And in the Red Division, Edison leads the pack at 9-3, with Old Bridge in second at 8-5. The Eagles have one more with St. Thomas Aquinas Thursday, and a make-up at home against East Brunswick next Tuesday. But even if they were to drop both – and the Knights beat St. Joseph-Metuchen Thursday in their division finale, leaving both at 8-5, Edison gets the tiebreaker, having swept Old Bridge 5-2 and 2-1 in the first week of the season.

The only question is, who will get the overall No. 1 seed in the GMC championship tournament?

Edison is 9-4 overall, with losses to Monroe, Woodbridge and St. Thomas Aquinas in the conference, while Middlesex has only one loss at 14-1, coming against South Brunswick.

In that case, it could come down to crossovers in the final week of the season. Edison has three road crossovers, against North Brunswick and JP Stevens out of the Blue Division and Metuchen from the Blue. Middlesex will play up, facing St. Joseph-Metuchen and East Brunswick out of the Red, while also playing a non-conference game at Westfield (8-7) of the Union County Conference this Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY: Woodbridge 3, East Brunswick 2

After East Brunswick tied the game with a run in the top of the seventh on a passed ball with the bases loaded, Woodbridge left fielder Michael Gurovich worked out a five pitch walk – also with the bases loaded – to give the Barrons a walk-off win over the Bears in the opener of their two-game set Tuesday in GMC Red Division play.

Click below to listen to Alec Crouthamel and Nick Hart call all the play-by-play live from Woodbridge High School on April 27, 2026.

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 5 Colonia seeks split against No. 2 Middlesex Thursday after wacky Tuesday series opener

The sign things just weren’t going right for the Colonia baseball team on Tuesday afternoon came in the third inning. Dom Long hit a ground ball toward second when a collision between the umpire and a fielder allowed the grounder to make it to the outfield, scoring two runs.

What should have been a 1-0 game turned into a 3-0 game that ended up as a 4-0 win for the Middlesex Blue Jays, the first place team in the GMC White Division.

Sometimes, the breaks just don’t go your way.

But the great thing about baseball is there’s another game a day or two away. So for fifth-ranked Colonia, they’ll get back on the horse against No. 2 Middlesex Thursday afternoon on the road for a 4 pm game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Pregame starts at 3:45 with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel on the call.

The Patriots got off to a red-hot 6-0 start, but as head coach mike Scialfo explains it, the schedule got a bit more challenging, and some of their arms got a little tired. Still, all things considered, in a grueling division, they’ve held court. They’re still 9-4 (and 9-4 in the White), second place in the division behind the Blue Jays, who are 14-1 overall, 12-1 in the White.

Three-sport athlete Dylan Chiera leds the offense, hitting .455 with ten runs batted in, and he’s just six-hits shy of the century mark for his career. He was also the quarterback of the football team this year, where the team went to the North 2, Group 4 finals against Phillipsburg. And he plays point guard for the Colonia basketball team, which went all the way to the state finals for the first time ever, losing in the Group 3 title game to Ocean City.

Despite the eventual tired arms, the pitching has also been very good, with a team 2.01 ERA, and senior Tyler Chiola expected to get the ball Thursday afternoon. The Patriots No. 2 starter behind Seton Hall-bound Colin Kroner, he’s 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA, and a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Colonia head coach Mike Scialfo:

by Mike Pavlichko

Watchung Hills veteran Joe Ascolese promoted from OC to head coach of Warrior football program after departure of Rich Seubert

Joe Ascolese, the Watchung Hills football team’s Offensive Coordinator who has spent nearly two decades on the program’s staff over two stints, has been named the Warrriors’ new head coach, following the recent departure of Rich Suebert.

The move was approved Tuesday night by the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education, according to Athletic Director Dan Root.

The 45-year-old Ascolese has been the team’s OC since 2019, and also was with the program as an assistant from 2005 through 2015. In between, he coached split ends, tight ends and defensive backs at A.L. Johnson in Clark.

He has also been a physical education and health teacher at Watchung Hills for more than two decades, and was named Watchung Hills Regional High School Educator of the Year in 2024.

This will be his first head coaching job.

Seubert stepped down in late March after a ten-year run leading the Warrior football program. He turned the program’s fortunes around in a few years, getting the team to .500 at 5-5 in 2019, and went 5-2 in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

The Warriors’ best two seasons under his tutelage came in 2022 and 2023. The first of those teams went 7-3, while the ’23 squad went 8-3, with an opening round playoff win over Bridgewater-Raritan, just the program’s second playoff win ever. In 2023, Seubert was named Somerset County Coach of the Year by the Bill Denny/Rutgers Football Letterwinners Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Seubert’s squads finished 41-57 over ten seasons, and Athletic Director Dan Root says Seubert’s impact was felt more than just in terms of wins and losses, and Xs and Os on the football field.

“We were very fortunate to have him as our head coach for as long as we did,” Root told CJSR Saturday morning via text message. “He gave so much to the program, the school and the community, and for that I am incredibly grateful. I know that ultimately whatever he decides to do, he will be successful.”

Suebert was a starter on the Giants’ offensive line in their Cinderella Super Bowl XLII run that culminated with a 17-14 win over New England, the David Tyree “Helmet Catch” game. According to the Giants website, he played in 104 games for Big Blue with 88 starts over nine seasons after joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2001.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Joe Ascolese about taking over the Watchung Hills football program:

by Mike Pavlichko

With GMC Gold Division title in hand, Piscataway Magnet seeks perfect division season, a rare occurrence in rest of league

The Piscataway Magnet baseball team claimed its first outright division title this century Monday night – the last one came in 1996 – topping South Amboy 8-2 at home to move to 14-0 on the season, 13-0 in the GMC Gold Division.

This reporter had not yet graduated high school yet.

If the Raiders can finish running the table, they would be the third Gold or Silver Division team (sort of) to do so in the last six seasons. After opening play in the NJATC Tournament against Medford Tech – a 4 pm home game Tuesday – Piscataway Tech will close the division slate with one last game, Wednesday at 4 pm at South Amboy.

The Governors finished 9-0 in the Gold in 2024, but never completed the slate, only playing division foe Somerset Tech once. (Tech fell three games short that year, due to weather.) But South Amboy beat everyone they faced that year in the Gold, and reached the GMC Invitational final, falling to Carteret, ending up 14-5.

East Brunswick Magnet did it in 2021, going 14-0 in their division, finishing 16-6 overall, while Perth Amboy Magnet won the Silver in 2019, going 10-0 in divisional play, ending 16-6 overall.

The last team above the GMC’s Gold/Silver to win a divisional title with a perfect record was Monroe in the GMC White – a notch down from the top Red Division – in 2016, a decade ago. The Falcons finished 10-0 in the white, 15-6 overall, reaching the quarterfinals in both the GMC Tournament and the state’s Central Jersey Group 4 playoffs.

But the one thing none of those teams did was go undefeated, but that could be a real possibility for this Piscataway Magnet club, which has beaten all comers. And they’ve played up, too, picking up a five-inning, ten-run rule win at Group 4 Piscataway, 13-1 back on April 14th.

They’ll further challenge themselves after division play is through, with a home game against North Plainfield on Tuesday, May 5, and a road game at North Brunswick on Thursday, May 7 – both right before the May 8th GMC Tournament seeding meeting.

The top 20 qualify for the Jim Muldowney Championship Tournament, with everyone else going to the Ray Cipperly Invitational, and there’s a good chance the Raiders could make the big tournament.

READ MORE: True team play has powered Piscataway Magnet to record season, but Raiders – the last unbeaten GMC team standing – may be just getting started

They haven’t just won, they’ve dominated. In 14 games, they have scored ten or more runs nine times, and held opponents to under two runs seven times, including four shutouts. Their average margin of victory is 10.5 runs, and they’ve scored 179 times, averaging 12.7 runs per game, allowing 2.2, with a team ERA of 1.14. All but two of their 14 wins have come by six runs or more.

This is also a team with one senior – Michael Schimpf – who has had four at bats, and no senior has taken the mound yet this season. Junior Colton Lyerly has thrown 21 innings without allowing a single run, earned or otherwise.

by Mike Pavlichko

Rough week for most of Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, but Immaculata remains No. 1

While the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten went just 14-13 in the past week, leading to additional volatility in the rankings, Immaculata remains at No. 1 for a fourth straight week, a position it’s held this year for all but the preseason list.

It was also a bit of a light week, with many games rained out on Saturday.

The Spartans (9-3) went 2-1 in the week gone by, with a pair of wins over then-No. 2 Ridge, 3-0 in Basking Ridge on Tuesday, and 6-0 at Diamond Nation in Flemington, on Wednesday, in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. ‘Lata took a loss, though, on Friday, falling 8-1 at Delbarton, the top-ranked team in the state.

Meanwhile, Ridge (11-4) loses the No. 2 spot after their 1-3 week, which included those losses to Immaculata, and a Friday loss at North Hunterdon, 6-2. They opened the week with an 8-7 home win over Pingry on Monday.

That all opened the door for Middlesex (13-1) to move up to No. 2. The Blue Jays have won nine straight, including three games last week. After opening with an 8-3 win at JFK on Tuesday, Middlesex swept Sayreville with a 2-0 home win Thursday and a 9-7 road win Friday.

Edison (8-3) holds in the fourth spot after a 1-1 week. They opened it up with a 9-0 win at East Brunswick on Tuesday, but were no-hit in a five-inning loss to Woodbridge on Thursday, 14-0.

Colonia continues it’s rise, as the 9-5 Patriots move up a spot to No. 5 this week. After a 5-4 loss Tuesday at Spotswood, Colonia came back to sweep Perth Amboy,m winning 7-2 at home on Thursday, then again 6-3 on the road on Friday.

Rutgers Prep (9-2) shot up this week from ninth to sixth, after a 2-0 week that now has them on an eight-game winning streak. The Argonauts swept a pair from Somerville, winning 6-2 on the road Tuesday, then 5-0 at home Thursday. Prep also had its Saturday game at TD Bank Park against South Plainfield – originally scheduled to air live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – moved to later in the season, due to rain.

Watchung Hills (7-3) re-enters the rankings at No. 7, on the strength of a 2-0 week. The Hustlin’ Warriors were 6-2 winners at Hunterdon Central on Tuesday, then beat them back at home on Wednesday, 10-5.

In eighth is Old Bridge (6-6), down one spot after a split week. The Knights lost 4-1 Tuesday at South Plainfield, but came back home Thursday and beat Monroe, 9-5.

The No. 9 position goes to Monroe (7-6), which fell from No. 5. The Falcons were 0-2 in the week gone by, including an 8-1 loss on Tuesday at home to St. Thomas Aquinas, and a 9-5 loss Thursday at Old Bridge.

And holding in tenth is Carteret (10-3), despite a 1-2 week The Ramblers were 12-5 winners over North Brunswick on Monday, but then were swept two games by JP Stevens, including a 3-1 road loss in North Edison Wednesday, and a 10-0 home loss on Friday.

Below is the complete Bellamy & Son Paving H.S. Baseball Top Ten for Week Four:

by Mike Pavlichko

Baseball Power Points Update: Edison, Middlesex, Rutgers Prep and Immaculata in line for top seeds with three weeks left before NJSIAA cutoff

With only one Central Jersey Sports Radio-area team on the baseball schedule this Sunday, a rainy one at that, it’s time to take our first look at the power point standings in New Jersey, with the cutoff date of May 17 exactly three weeks away.

And there are two publics and two non-publics who are on the right track for top seeds in their respective sections.

Interestingly, the two publics are in Middlesex County – Edison in Central Jersey Group 4, and defending state Group 1 champion Middlesex in CJ1 – while the two non-publics are from Somerset. Immaculata sits atop South A at the moment, while Rutgers Prep tops North B.

This year’s change to the power point formula is that only the top 16 results will count toward qualification. Group points again are no longer a part of the equation, and OOWP remains in the formula. That’s the Opponent’s Opponent Winning Percentage, and for each game, that winning percentage gets .500 added to it, and the total is multiplied by the quality and residual points to get the value for each game.

For example: Team A beats Team B with 6 wins. Team A gets 6 quality points and 18 residual points. The OOWP is the average winning percentage of all of Team B’s opponents. So if that turns out to be a .520 win percentage, the OOWP is 1.020 (.520 plus .500), meaning the 24 power points (6 plus 18) is multiplied by 1.020 to get 24.48 power points.

The top 16 power point values are averaged to get the team’s power point average used for qualification.

(In a story we’re still researching from basketball season, early findings have shown OOWP does little to change power point standings compared to not using it at all, and just using quality points and residuals.)

In any event, here’s a section by section look of power point standings in sections with CJSR-area teams, with links to official standings as posted on NJ.com as of 9:45 am on Sunday, April 26th:

Central Jersey Group 4: This section has the biggest concentration of GMC and Somerset County teams anywhere, and after the top seed, many are bunched together. With the GMC Red and Skyland Conference Delaware Divisions stacked with top teams, don’t get fooled by records; strength of schedule is going to be a big factor here. Currently, Edison (8-3) is leading the pack, with easily the best winning percentage in the section at .727 and a power point average of 18.742, more than a full point ahead of second-place Hightstown (8-4, 17.726). After Hunterdon Central and Marlboro, there’s a trio of GMC Red Division squads, with Monroe (7-6, 14.867) in fifth, followed by South Brunswick (6-6, 14.252) in sixth and Old Bridge (6-6, 14.252) in seventh. The Red Division has been very good, but mostly beyond Edison – which is in first by two games over Old Bridge and, 2.5 over Monroe and three over Soouth Plainfield – everyone has been beating everyone else up. We think the Falcons, Vikings and Knights have a good shot at finishing in the top eight, but don’t count any of those teams out, even if they get an eight or a nine-seed. That’s because Hillsborough (5-6, 13.458) won this section as a nine-seed last year; currently, the Raiders sit in tenth, right above three more area teams. They’re a sliver ahead of Montgomery (7-8, 13.444), followed by Franklin (2-5, 12.663) in 12th, then East Brunswick (5-7, 12.465) in 13th. We think anyone from 11 up is going to be pretty safe here if they can continue without a dropoff in play, though even Franklin and East Brunswick are on the right side of things for now. Sayreville (5-7, 11.382) is a bubble team, but with some cushion; Trenton is right behind them, and North Brunswick in 17th (5-8, 9.967) has some real distance to make up between them and the Tornadoes (6-6, 11.003).

Central Jersey Group 2: While they may not be undefeated as they were last year, State Group 2 champion Governor Livingston is at the top of the pack this year, but not by much. But last year, Rumson-Fair Haven had a bit of an off-year. This year, not so much. The Highlanders are 10-3 (21.505) with the Bulldogs 11-2 (21.251), behind them by a pretty slim margin. This race could come down to the wire. For the first CJSR-area team, you have to get by Johnson, Point Pleasant Boro and Wall to get to South River (10-4) at No. 6 with 17.978 power points, and they’re not far out of fourth. But Allentown (7-6, 17.852) and Delran (10-4, 17.504) are also well within striking distance of the Rams from behind, so they’re not exactly guaranteed a top eight seed (and first-round home game) either. After Manasquan and Robbinsville, Spotswood (6-7, 15.381) is in 11th, but they’re just .006 points behind the Ravens, and could make a move here late. After a 1-5 start, the surging Chargers have won five of their last seven. East Brunswick Magnet (3-10, 8.573) sits in 18th place, but only about 1.2 points out of the 16th and final playoff spot.

Central Jersey Group 1: Defending State Group 1 champion Middlesex (13-1, 20.175) is right at the top of the pack again here, with Point Pleasant Beach (13-1, 20.175) in second. Those two always seem to hook up in the playoffs, including in last year’s sectional final here, a 7-1 win for the Blue Jays en route to Hamilton (then Wood-Ridge). Not far behind is Piscataway Magnet (13-0, 17.698), the only undefeated team left in the CJSR coverage area, and one of just seven statewide with an unblemished record heading into Sunday play. One of the other six, Keyport (9-0, 16.398) is very close behind, too, but with fewer games, could pass the Raiders. Then, there’s Metuchen (8-4, 16.207) and Dunellen (9-2, 14.842) who could also make a run from fifth and sixth, respectively. After Shore and South Hunterdon round out the top eight, South Amboy is just a shade back of the Eagles at 7-2, with 11.317 points, just .136 behind. The Guvs should have a shot at the top eight, but that’s likely all. The next team from the area is Manville (5-6, 8.138) at 14, followed by Somerset Tech (5-4, 7.873) and Highland Park (4-7, 7.313), rounding out the top 16. The Owls could make it with a couple more wins, with likely Keansburg (3-8, 6.22) in 17th their only real competition for that final playoff spot.

North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4: Fewer than two power points separate the top four from each other here, but there’s a little more distance to the next four. Currently, Bayonne (11-2, 22.007) holds the top spot, followed by Scotch Plains-Fanwood (8-3, 21.6), then two Skyland Delaware Division squads: Ridge (11-4, 21.335) and Watchung Hills (7-3, 20.037). We like both teams’ chances to finish in the top four, especially considering their strength of schedule. JP Stevens (9-4, 18.835) might have a shot, but they might also need some help from the teams ahead of them. Defending champion Westfield – which beat Ridge in last year’s sectional final – sits in seventh, and the next area team down is Woodbridge (5-6, 13.733) in tenth, with Bridgewater-Raritan (4-8, 13.505) in tenth, with their strength-of-schedule keeping them in the hunt right now. They should safely be in the playoffs at their current pace, but Piscataway (6-8, 12.859) is squarely on the bubble in 14th, albeit on the right side. A few more wins, maybe a run in the counties, and we think they’re a good bet to be in.

North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3: South Plainfield is the defending champ here, but the Tigers find themselves in ninth place at the moment, with a 7-7 record, and 12.917 power points. Have they been a little inconsistent? Maybe. Or maybe it’s more the nature of the GMC Red, where everyone has been feasting off one another. Swept by Edison, they swept Woodbridge, but have since split with St. Thomas Aquinas and Old Bridge, before losing a pair of high scoring games to East Brunswick. Point is, wherever they land, and they still have a good shot at a top eight seed, they could be dangerous. The highest team here is Carteret (10-3, 20.221), but it might be a stretch with their schedule to say they have a good shot at Chatham (11-2, 1st, 23.932). It’s a good deal of ground to make up, and likely not out of the realm of possibility, but the odds are likely a little on the longer side. Still, finishing top two would be an accomplishment, and guarantee home field through at least the sectional semifinals. Behind the Ramblers, North Hunterdon is almost three points back (9-5, 17.663), and Colonia (9-3, 16.622) – last year’s sectional runner-up – sits in fourth. This isn’t an easy section: Cranford (7-7, 16.502( is a shade behind in fifth, and resurgent North Plainfield (10-5, 15.233) is right there in sixth, and could also have a crack at the top four. Somerville (6-6, 12.953) is the team South Plainfield is chasing for the eight spot; how high the Tigers can go will depend if they can string some big wins together. After that, it’s all the way down to 14 for bubble team JFK (5-8, 10.657), but looking at the competition behind them, we think they’re more likely to be in than out.

North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2: Caldwell (12-1, 16.509) has a sizable lead here for the top seed over second-seed West Morris (10-3, 22.591), with the only area team here being Bernards (6-6, 10.894). The Mountaineers sit in 14th, and while nothing is set in stone (far from it), they look like they should be in the final 16 when things shake out.

Non-Public North A: The only area team here is the new co-op Timothy Christian/Roselle Catholic, which is last out of 13 teams at 0-8. Defending champ Don Bosco is second, behind No. 1 DePaul, currently the No. 3 team in the state.

Non-Public North B: Rutgers Prep (9-2, 20.574) leads the pack here, with a sizeable lead over St. Mary-Rutherford (9-3-1, 17.51). Mother Nature cost the Argonauts a shot at South Plainfield Saturday, with rain moving their game against the Tigers at TD Bank Park until after the cutoff. But they’re still in an enviable position, in front by more than three power points. After those two, and Morris Catholic, Morristown-Bears and the Hawthorne Christian/Eastern Christian co-op, Gill St. Bernard’s (5-6, 11.489) and St. Thomas Aquinas (4-9, 10.73) sit in sixth and seventh. At best, this should be a eight- or nine- team field, with 11th place Golda Och only 0-4, and who knows if Pope John will opt-out, currently at 1-10.

Non-Public South A: Immaculata (9-3) has been lights out all year, and could sweep top-seeds this season, as they are on track to be the No. 1 seed in the Somerset County Tournament. They’re in first-place in this section with 22.906 power points, but they are less than one point ahead of St. Augustine (11-4, 22.099). After that, it’s all the way down to eight for St. Joseph-Metuchen (5-8, 11.743), but keep in mind, they rallied in the GMC Tournament to win it last year after entering the tournament at 10-6, and never led, winning each game in their final at bat. The Falcons even beat Immaculata – which won last year’s SCT – in the opening round here. There are 12 teams here in what could be an 11-team field, if Camden Catholic (1-9, 12th) decides not to play. Pingry (5-6, 9.689) is in tenth, ahead of 11th-place Donovan Catholic.