Tag: division titles

April 30, 2026April 30, 2026 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.

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.

January 30, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

In final few weeks of the regular season, most GMC, Skyland boys’ division titles are settled

The Somerset County Tournament was seeded Monday night, and the Greater Middlesex Conference will take its turn one week from today. But there are still division titles up for grabs in both leagues.

So, who already has hardware, and who’s still fighting for a banner? Here’s a look at the GMC and Skyland Conference division races as we hurtle toward the postseason.

GREATER MIDDLESEX CONFERENCE

Red American Division: Despite taking its first loss on Tuesday, falling to South Plainfield in a Red National division crossover, St. Joseph-Metuchen already has the title in the bag, sitting at 7-0, with their last division game coming up next Friday – after the seeding meeting – against St. Thomas Aquinas. Division winners no longer get guaranteed top 8 seeds, so finishing up by the meeting shouldn’t matter here. Teams still must come out of each division in the order of the standings, however.

Red National Division: East Brunswick is the champ, sweeping to an 8-0 record with two wins each over South Plainfield, Sayreville, Woodbridge and Monroe.

White American Division: Perth Amboy clinched the division title last Saturday with a 74-57 win over JP Stevens, but finished off a 12-game sweep of the division on Wednesday, with a win over second-place South Brunswick.

White National Division: Metuchen is the champ, with the Bulldogs sweeping a pair of games apiece from Middlesex, Spotswood, Carteret and JFK.

Blue American Division: Piscataway Magnet and South Amboy – both 9-1 in the division – are the co-champs, as they’ve finished their division slate, and split with each other. They played back-to-back on January 14th and 16th, with the Raiders winning the opener on the road, 62-55, while the Governors returned the favor in Piscataway two nights later, with a 52-51 win. Whoever comes out first from the Blue American at the seeding meeting will be determined by the committee, which breaks all ties within a division before the seeding begins.

Blue National Division: Perth Amboy Magnet are the champs here, at 7-0 with one more game to play, but second-place East Brunswick Magnet in second at 4-4. They’ll wrap up the division slate next Thursday – the night before seeding meeting – at home against the Tigers.

SKYLAND CONFERENCE

Delaware Division: Things are a little different in the Skyland this year. Division teams only play once through the group, with crossovers against the other corresponding division (i.e., the larger schools in the Delaware and Raritan crossover, while the smaller schools do the same between the Mountain and Valley Divisions). Gill St. Bernard’s won the title here, going 5-0 against Rutgers Prep, Montgomery, Hillsborough, Ridge and Phillipsburg. However, Gill and Prep will face each other a second time – of their own accord – next Thursday night.

Raritan Division: This one is far from settled. Pingry is 3-0 and in first place, a game ahead of Immaculata and Bridgewater-Raritan, both of whom are 4-1. The Big Blue beat Immaculata earlier this year, but plays Bridgewater-Raritan February 10th. Things could get really interesting if they drop that game, and a division matchup with fourth-place Franklin (2-2) next Wednesday. Two losses would leave them 3-2, and then it would be between the Spartans and Panthers, with the Immaculata winning it on a tiebreaker.

Mountain Division: Manville is 7-0 and still has one division game left against South Hunterdon – who they beat by six at home January 13th – but the Eagles are 5-2 and can’t catch them. That makes Manville division champs for the first time in 39 years, running the table (so far) against South, Bound Brook, Belvidere and College Achieve Central.

Valley Division: This is the only division without a Somerset County school in the mix, as third-place Somerville – 12-6 overall – is is 4-4 in the division. Warren Hills (5-0) leads the pack but still has five division games left.; the Blue Streaks are two games ahead of Delaware Valley (7-2).

September 28, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

Past midway point of regular season, how are Big Central Division races shaping up? We take a look

High school football is different from the college game in many ways, but one in particular is where division games can be scattered all over the schedule.

While in college, the non-conference slate is typically reserved for the first few weeks, often “buy games” by smaller school against bigger-time opponents, in high school, they can be anywhere. And the days of superconferences have brought us smaller divisions, where sometimes a champ is decided after just two division games, with an out-of-conference game and several crossovers thrown in the mix.

In the Big Central Conference, six of the 12 divisions still remain to be decided with just four more weeks to play in the regular season.

First, here are the divisions that have been settled, with notes on tiebreakers.

American Gold: St. Joseph-Metuchen (swept all three games over Elizabeth, Westfield and Union)
American Silver: Phillipsburg (With one remaining game at home against Bridgewater-Raritan on Friday, the 24th, even a loss would leave them, at worst, tied with Ridge, if the Red Devils top Hunterdon Central at home on the 10th. Both would be 3-3, but the Stateliners have the tiebreaker based on a 28-6 home win two Fridays ago.)
Liberty Gold: Woodbridge (The Barrons are 3-0, with Colonia 2-1, and both having a game each left to play. Woodbridge has Perth Amboy home this week, while the Patriots visit Plainfield on the tenth. But Woodbridge won their head-to-head matchup, 34-21, in Week 3, so the Barrons are locked in via head-to-head result.)
Patriot Gold: Bernards (swept all three games over Delaware Valley, JP Stevens and Bernards)
Patriot Silver: New Providence (swept all three games over Johnson, Metuchen and Roselle)
United Silver: Governor Livingston (At 3-0, with New Brunswick at 0-2 in the division the only team left for them to play, even the 1-1 squads, JFK and South Plainfield, can’t catch them because the Highlanders already beat both head-to-head and own the tiebreaker.

Here’s a look at the six divisions yet to be settled:

Freedom Gold: Spotswood (5-0) leads the pack here at 3-0 in the division, with Dayton and Brearley behind them at 2-1. Spotswood visits Dayton on Friday, the 10th, and already has beaten Brearley. So likely, the only other team with a shot is Dayton. The Bulldogs are 3-1 overall, 2-1 in the Freedom Gold, and host Brearley on Saturday, the 25th, Cutoff Weekend. If Spotswood falls to Dayton, they can clinch with a win on Friday, the 24th and a Dayton loss to Brearley. But if the Bulldogs win in that scenario, they would get the title as both would be 4-1 and Dayton has the tiebreaker. A Spotswood win over Dayton would clinch it, since the best the Bulldogs could do would be a tie, but the Chargers would have the head-to-head tiebreak.
Freedom Silver: With everyone having played three of their four divisional games, this one is going to come down to Friday, the 24th, cutoff weekend, in a head-to-head as Manville visits Bound Brook, both having 3-0 records. The winner gets the crown.
Liberty Silver: Montgomery is 3-0, with three other teams behind them at 1-1: Somerville, Rahway and Watchung Hills. They’ve already beaten the Pioneers and Warriors, so the only team that could catch them is Rahway, which would have to beat Watchung Hills at home on the 10th, then beat Montgomery at home on Friday, the 24th – Cutoff Weekend – to claim the title by head-to-head with both having 3-1 division records. The Cougars only have one division game left, the one against Rahway. So, if Rahway beats Watchung Hills, that game will decide the title. If not, that game will be irrelevant, and Montgomery will take the division.

National Gold: This one is still up in the air between Piscataway and Old Bridge. The Chiefs are 2-0 with two games left, while the Knights are 2-1 with one left. That loss came to Piscataway, but the Knights could still finish ahead of the Chiefs, even though Old Bridge lost to them head-to-head. The only way that scenario works is if Old Bridge beats Monroe on Friday, the 10th at home, and Piscataway drops its two remaining divisional games: Friday, the 10th, against East Brunswick, and Friday the 24th of Cutoff Weekend against Monroe. The Chiefs clinch if they win at least one of those games – a likely scenario – regardless of what Old Bridge does.
National Silver: Both at 2-0, this one is up for grabs between Sayreville and St. Thomas Aquinas. Sayreville is at Franklin on Friday, the 10th, while St. Thomas is at Edison. If the Bombers and Trojans both win that week, it will set up a winner-take-all between the two on Cutoff Weekend at Sayreville’s War Memorial Stadium. If either or both trip up, things could get interesting, especially if Franklin beats Sayreville. They are 1-1 now, would be 2-1 in that scenario, and could finish 3-1 if they beat North Brunswick (currently (0-5) on the Friday of Cutoff Weekend. A three-way race here is still very much in the mix. Remember, Franklin gave St. Thomas a run for its money two weeks ago, falling 57-45 at home in a game that saw the Warriors score more than any other team has in a regular season game dating back to 2019.
United Gold: Summit is 3-0 in the division, with wins over Carteret (0-3), Cranford (1-1) and Hillside (1-1). But Scotch Plains-Fanwood also is 1-1 and the two will meet on Saturday, October 25 at Tatlock Field in Summit. If the Raiders can beat Cranford on the road on Friday, the 10th, they’ll be 2-1, setting up a winner-take-all showdown Cutoff Weekend. If that happens, and SPF wins, they’d be tied but would have the head-to-head tiebreaker; a Summit win takes it outright. Alternatively, A loss by Scotch Plains-Fanwood makes the Hilltoppers champs outright.