Tag: Media Poll

by Mike Pavlichko

Phillipsburg gains last first-place vote, is unanimous No. 1 for first time in Big Central Media Poll

For the first time this season, there’s a unanimous No. 1 team in the Big Central Media Poll.

In the final rankings before the season is over – with no rankings coming once the playoffs begin – Phillipsburg picked up all five first-place votes in the Week 8 Media Poll.

Cranford and Westfield joined the poll, as the Cougars knocked off previously-unbeaten and No. 2 North Brunswick Friday night with a 34-14 home win, while Westfield beat previous-No. 10 Hillsborough 17-12 Saturday afternoon.

The Raiders’ loss knocked them down to four, and out of the running for a top seed in the playoffs. That opened the door for Hillsborough to get a top seed in the South 5 supersection until their loss to the Blue Devils, which also knocked Hillsborough out of the Media Poll.

The full Week 8 rankings are below:

by Mike Pavlichko

Upsets juggle bottom half of Week 8 Big Central Media Poll; Phillipsburg remains on top

Three new teams joined the Big Central Media Poll for Week Eight, while the to four teams remained the same: Phillipsburg, North Brunswick, St. Thomas Aquinas and North Hunterdon.

The Stateliners again got four of the first place votes, while the Raiders got the fifth.

Of the three ranked teams that lost Friday night, Hillsborough was the only one to remain in the rankings, falling to tenth, tied with newcomer Bernards, which also received votes last week. Previously-No. 7 Sayreville and previously-No. 9 Westfield dropped out. Edison and Colonia rejoin the poll, at eight and nine, respectively.

Below are the full Media Poll rankings for Week Eight:

by Mike Pavlichko

Much of the same in Week 6 Big Central Media Poll, as Phillipsburg remains No. 1

The Week 6 Big Central Media Poll is nearly identical to the Week 5 version.

Phillipsburg remains No. 1, and every team in the rankings won last weekend. In fact, the only team that moved was Watchung Hills, based on the math, dropping out of a ninth place tie with Westfield into tenth place.

Below are the complete Week 6 rankings in the Big Central Media Poll:

by Mike Pavlichko

Phillipsburg holds, Aquinas rises, Ridge rejoins, Westfield and Watchung Hills debut in a topsy-turvy Big Central Week 5 Media Poll

In a week where half the Big Central Conference’s undefeated teams fell for the first time, there were big shifts throughout the Week 5 Media Poll, except at the top, where Phillipsburg again took four of the first place votes to hold at No. 1, with North Brunswick picking up one vote and staying at No. 2.

Beyond that, all bets were off after Week 5 of play.

St. Thomas Aquinas took the third spot in the rankings away from Hillside with a 17-10 home win in North Edison Friday night. North Hunterdon jumped six places to No. 4 after knocking off 8th-ranked Colonia at home 33-7, bouncing the Patriots from the rankings, though they did get votes this week.

Hillsborough held in fifth, while Hillside dropped three places to No. 6, and Sayreville moved up to No. 7.

After a weeks’ absence, Ridge is back in at No. 8, while Westfield and Watchung Hills debut for the season, tied at No. 9. The Blue Devils handed then-No. 7 St. Joseph-Metuchen its first loss of the season Saturday, a 14-0 decision at Kehler Stadium in Westfield, knocking the Falcons from the polls. Watchung Hills won at then-No. 6 Montgomery, blanking the Cougars 33-0 in Skillman Friday night, bouncing them from the rankings as well.

After the media poll had narrowed to only see 14 teams getting votes in Week 4, down from 19 in the preseason, 16 teams got votes this week.

Below are the full rankings for the Week 5 Big Central Media Poll:

by Mike Pavlichko

Stateliners grab another first place vote, still lead Big Central Media Poll, as other teams shake up

Another week, another vote for first in the Big Central Media Poll for Phillipsburg.

The Stateliners picked up a season-high 48 points and got four of the five first-place votes in Week Four, ahead of North Brunswick, which got the other first-place vote.

The teams don’t play each other this regular season, and could only meet if they both make the inaugural Group 5 final at Rutgers’ SHI Stadium the first week of December.

Hillside climbed a spot to third, while St. Thomas Aquinas jumped three spots from seventh to fourth.

The poll saw a bit of a shakeup this week, with previously-third ranked Hillsborough dropping two spots to fifth after a 34-0 loss at P’burg Friday night. Previously-No. 7-ranked St. Joseph-Metuchen dropped two spots after losing to unranked Elizabeth Saturday, 23-21. And Sayreville dropped from No. 6 to No. 9 after a 22-0 loss to No. 2 North Brunswick.

Montgomery – 5-0 for the first time ever- continued its ascent, up two spots to fifth. Colonia (5-0) dropped a spot simply by other teams making gains, and North hunterdon – which got votes last week – entered the poll in tenth.

Ridge (2-2) dropped out as well.

The full Week 4 Big Central Media Poll is below:

by Mike Pavlichko

One more first place vote puts Stateliners atop Big Central Media Poll in Week 2

After Week One, North Brunswick got three first place votes and Phillipsburg two from the Big Central media, but after Week Two – despite both teams winning – they flipped, and now the Stateliners sit atop the Big Central Media Poll heading into Week Three.

The Stateliners got 48 points from the five voters, the most of any team so far this season; the Raiders got 45 last week.

After North Brunswick in second, Hillsborough climbed a spot to third, with Hillside up two to fourth, and St. Joseph-Metuchen making its debut – after receiving votes last week – at No. 5. All the top five teams are off to 2-0 starts.

Sayreville – despite a win – dropped to sixth, while North Hunterdon’s 3-0 start got them from the also-ran category to No. 7.

Edison held in eighth, despite its first loss of the season, which came at the hands of North Brunswick, but without starting QB Matt Yascko and wide receiver Malcolm Stansbury, due to injury. Ridge dropped from sixth into an eighth-place tie with the Eagles, while St. Thomas Aquinas – which also got votes last week – also made its debut.

Dropping out were #3 Somerville, #9 Bridgewater-Raritan and #10 Delaware Valley.

The poll also got a little tighter this week in that only 15 teams received votes. Last week, 16 got nods for the top ten from the Big Central Media, down from 20 in the preseason poll.

Below are the full Week 2 rankings:

by Mike Pavlichko

North Brunswick moves into top spot in Big Central Media Poll

With a 19-0 win over South Brunswick in its season opener, North Brunswick picked up one more first place vote in the Week One Big Central Media Poll, and the Raiders used it to climb into the top spot.

Sayreville, which got one first place vote last week, fell to fifth after a 14-7 home loss to Phillipsburg in the season opener for both teams. The Stateliners got the other two votes.

It may be up to one or the other to trip up the rest of the way, as North Brunswick and Phillipsburg don’t play each other in the regular season. They’re also in separate playoff supersections, with the Raiders in South 5 and the Liners in North 5; the only way they could meet this year is if both won sectional championship and advanced to the NJSIAA’s first-ever Group Finals.

P’burg got two first place votes, just as they did last week, and came in second, up one spot. Somerville held in third. Hillsborough went up one spot to fourth.

After Sayreville, Hillside – ninth last week – and Ridge – number seven last week – tied for sixth. Edison and Bridgewater-Raritan held at eight and nine, respectively, while Delaware Valley jumped in at 10 after receiving votes last week.

Union, after a 7-6 season-opening loss to Bridgewater, dropped out.

The field of teams with votes also narrowed a bit after the first two weeks of play. The Preseason and Week Zero polls saw 20 teams get votes from the five voting members. This week, that number was down to 17.

Below is the full Week One Media Poll:

by Mike Pavlichko

Little movement in the Big Central Media Poll, with few teams playing in Week Zero

North Brunswick remained the No. 1 team and the top four teams stayed the same this week in the Big Central Media Poll, with only four teams in the top ten playing in Week Zero.

The Raiders – who again got one first-place vote – were followed by Sayreville and Phillipsburg, each of whom got two first-place votes, but had fewer overall points than North Brunswick. Somerville – which won its opener handily over Mastery Charter H.S. of Camden – pulled up one spot into a fourth-place tie with the Stateliners.

Hillsborough – which did not play – dropped to fourth, followed by Union holding in sixth, Ridge up two to seventh, Edison up two to eighth after a win over defending South 3 regional champion Cedar Creek in the Battle at the Beach in Ocean City Sunday, and Hillside and Bridgewater-Raritan tied for tenth. The Comets didn’t play Week Zero, but the Panthers lost their opener at Passaic Tech Friday and dropped from sixth.

No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas and No. 10 Cranford – which didn’t play last week – dropped out, but they and eight other teams also received votes.

Below are the complete Week 0 rankings:

by Mike Pavlichko

North Brunswick leads wide-open preseason Big Central Media Poll

One of three teams to get first place votes from reporters who cover the Big Central conference, North Brunswick takes the top spot in the 2022 preseason media poll.

The Raiders got 40 points in the poll, edging out Sayreville (38 pts) and Phillipsburg (28) points, both of whom got a pair of first place votes.

Twelve teams made the “top ten,” with Cranford, Edison and Hillside all tied for tenth with nine points, followed by eight more teams that also received votes. In all, 20 teams received votes for the preseason top ten, perhaps signaling a wide-open league in 2022.

The Big Central Media Poll includes five voters:

  • Central Jersey Sports Radio broadcasters Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe
  • former East Brunswick HS head coach Marcus Borden, analyst for MyCentralJersey.com
  • longtime Somerset County scholastic beat writer Harry Frezza of MyCentralJersey.com
  • Korbid Thompson, broadcaster at King James Radio Network

Below is the full preseason Big Central Media Poll:

by Mike Pavlichko

Undefeated Hillsborough holds top spot in Big Central Media Poll for second straight week

Though it split the six first-place votes in the Big Central Media Poll evenly with Union and Somerville, Hillsborough held on to the top spot in the Week 8 Big Central Media Poll.

The Raiders got 53 points in the poll, edging our the Pioneers and Farmers, who had 53 apiece, and tied for second. Cranford held in fourth.

After some movement in the middle of the poll, Ridge re-entered the rankings at No. 8 after a 27-6 win at Westfield Saturday, while Bridgewater-Raritan made it back in at No. 9 following a 31-14 road win over Elizabeth.

Previous No. 7 Old Bridge, which blew out JP Stevens on the road Friday night, dropped out, but also received votes. Similarly, previously No. 9 Phillipsburg fell out, but picked up the same number of votes as the Knights, after a 42-0 home win over Connecticut’s Capital Prep Harbor.

Below is the Week 8 poll: