Tag: NJ Football

September 21, 2026September 20, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Three top-ten matchups force big shuffle in Bellamy & Son Paving Week 4 Top Ten, but Phillipsburg still leads the pack

It was inevitable that at least three ranked Big Central Conference football teams would go down this weekend, with three all-Top Ten matchups on tap. In the end, no one else lost, but those three games helped reshape the Bellamy & Son Paving Week Four rankings, while Phillipsburg remains at the top of the list.

Phillipsburg (3-1) got back on the winning track against its first New Jersey opponent of the year, beating Hillsborough Friday night at Maloney Stadium, 35-7. The Stateliners are back in action at No. 5 St. Joseph of Metuchen this Saturday for a 1 pm matinee against the Falcons.

Piscataway (4-0) edged up one place to No. 2 after a 41-17 win over South Brunswick on Friday, coupled with previous No. 2 St. Joe’s taking a loss. The Chiefs will look to go 5-0 for the first time since 2018, when they finished undefeated at 13-0 – and won the North Group 5 Regional Championship – when they visit No. 4 Old Bridge Friday night at 6 pm. The Knights built an early lead but hung on to beat then-No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas Friday night, 26-24.

Moving from seven to three is Elizabeth, which is 4-0 for the first time since 2011, a year they also started 5-0, following a 62-35 shootout win at home over then-No. 2 St. Joseph-Metuchen heard Friday night on Central Jersey Sports Radio. The Minutemen visit No. 10 Ridge Friday night at 6:30. St. Joseph-Metuchen (2-1) falls to fifth with that loss, and hosts No. 1 Phillipsburg this Saturday at 1:00.

To make room for Elizabeth, Bridgewater-Raritan (3-1) and Somerville (3-1) both edge down one spot, to fifth and sixth, respectively. The Panthers were 7-3 winners over then-No. 9 Ridge Friday night, and visit Westfield for a 1:00 kick Saturday afternoon, while the Pioneers were 55-24 winners against Watchung Hills Friday, and visit Montgomery at 6 pm this Friday.

Rahway (4-0) continues to rise, and finds itself at No. 8 this week, up two spots after a 42-14 win at Linden Friday. The Indians host Cranford at 6:00 this Friday night.

St. Thomas Aquinas (3-1) edges down one spot to No. 9 after taking its first loss of the season, falling to No. 4 Old Bridge, 26-24, Friday night when a second-half rally fell just short. The Trojans are back at it this Friday night as they host Sayreville at 6 pm.

And down one spot to ten is Ridge (2-1), after their 7-3 loss at then-No. 5 Bridgewater-Raritan. The Red Devils entertain third-ranked Elizabeth Friday night, a 6:30 kickoff.

Below is the complete 2026 Week Four Bellamy & Son Paving High School Football Top Ten:

September 14, 2026September 12, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

All but Phillipsburg win, and all ten teams remain the same in Week 3 Bellamy & Son Paving Top 10

Sure, there was a full slate of games in the Big Central in Week Two, but Top Ten wise, it was very quiet.

And while No. 1 Phillipsburg (2-1) was the only team to lose, falling 32-31 to Freedom (PA) in their final Pennsylvania game before getting into the BCC slate, that loss didn’t cost them, as they retained their top spot in the Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Week Three Top Ten.

This week, the Stateliners open divisional play in the BCC American Silver Division when they come back home to Maloney Stadium to take on Hillsborough.

In fact, nobody moved this week – all ten teams remained in their same positions as last week.

That includes St. Joseph-Metuchen (2-0), which beat Westfield on the road Friday night, 28-6. They’ll be one of six teams involved in three Top Ten matchups this weekend, as they travel to No. 7 Elizabeth (3-0) Friday night to face the Minutemen in a battle of unbeatens you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with kickoff set for 6 pm. Elizabeth was a 19-7 winner at Union Friday night.

Holding in third is Piscataway (3-0). The Chiefs were 42-7 winners at East Brunswick on Thursday night, and this week are back at Kenny Armwood Stadium to face South Brunswick at 6 pm.

Old Bridge (3-0) remains in fourth after a 21-0 win at South Brunswick Thursday night, in which starting QB Aiden Rios dinged up his non-throwing shoulder. The Knights will hope he can be back Friday for a home date with No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas. The Trojans (3-0) were 40-0 winners Friday night at Franklin.

Holding at No. 5 is Bridgewater-Raritan (2-1), which beat Hillsborough for the first time since 2017 Thursday night, 40-14. The Panthers, whose lone loss came in a barnburner at St. Joseph-Metuchen last Saturday afternoon, are back in action for a Top Ten matchup against No. 9 Ridge (2-0) at Basilone Field Friday night. They won out at Hunterdon Central Thursday night, 23-17.

Somerville (2-1) maintains the sixth spot, thanks to a 54-6 drubbing of North Hunterdon at Brooks Field Thursday night. The Pioneers are back in the Ville again this week, hosting Watchung Hills at 6:30 pm.

And No. 10 Rahway (3-0) held serve with a 42-21 win at Woodbridge, the return of head coach Brian Russo to his alma mater, where he also coached. The Indians visit neighbor Linden Friday night at 7.

Below is the complete 2026 Week Three Bellamy & Son Paving High School Football Top Ten:

September 13, 2026September 13, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

CAUTION: Our very UNOFFICIAL Week 2 UPR standings; there’s a lot going on out there

Alright, here we go. Take a deep breath.

Central Jersey Sports Radio is publishing today its first unofficial – and we cannot stress this enough, so please let there be no confusion – New Jersey high school football UPR standings. These are the standings that determine playoff eligibility on Cutoff Weekend.

Before we get to the standings, a few key points:

We have been tracking Strength Index since Week Zero, and many of you have seen our weekly unofficial updates. Previously, Gridiron New Jersey would update the official values from the very beginning of the season. So far, NJ.com has not. So these numbers are very likely mostly accurate, but some may be off by smaller amounts. (Note: We encourage all coaches to check these from the very beginning of the season and let us know if you think there’s a discrepancy.)
There have been a few issues with SI values for out of state teams. In Week Zero, we neglected to find these in real time from MaxPreps, and has to recreate them with the use of AI research. We believe they are reasonably close. One other issue: the NJSIAA regulations say to find the out-of-state (OOS) team rating, then find the NJSIAA member school above and below them, find their corresponding SI and average. But for a couple of teams, we found an OOS team with the exact same MaxPreps rating as a New Jersey team. Do we still find the ones above and below, or use the exact match? Common sense might say the exact match, but the regulations do not specify. (Perhaps something to fix for next year?)
On the same topic, we are using what we project to be the out-of-state SI values that NJ.com will release this week. These are post-Week Two values, which will be used for the next several weeks through Week Six. New values will be released before Week 7, and again before Week 8 (Cutoff Weekend), when the SI values of all NJ teams are locked in. It should be noted that SI values of OOS opponents are not “calculated” based on game results throughout the year as they are for New Jersey schools. Rather, they are looked up on MaxPreps separately, regardless of prior scores. Just because a team may rise in MaxPreps rankings, does not necessarily mean they rise in SI, since the two formulas are completely different.

We also were alerted by the Pitman public address announcer that NJ.com had two different scores online as of 2:30 Sunday afternoon. The Scoreboard page said Pitman had beaten Pennsville 41-6, but the box score for the game had 41-0 Pennsville, which the Pitman P.A. man says is the correct score. It has since been fixed on NJ.com, and we adjusted our numbers with the correct score. Whether this was a reporting issue by a coach (highly unlikely, since the score in one place should automatically transfer to the scoreboard, or vice versa) or a bug in NJ.com’s software (we think that’s more likely), we are unaware of any other incorrect scores as of this publishing. Nor do we have the time to check 155 box scores around the state (after all, the NJSIAA is not paying us to do this). But it may call into question the accuracy of other games, which could affect our standings.
In past years, each week we checked our standings with Gridiron. Often, in the rare chance of an error, it may have been a game added to the schedule from out of the CJSR-area that we didn’t hear about, or it might be a different opponent compared to the schedules we entered during the preseason. However, there have been Gridiron errors as well, often due to incorrect score reporting by coaches.

All of the above means we make no guarantee on the accuracy since we have seen no prior SI values to look up and check our work. This will be a very fluid situation throughout the year, and we’ll keep monitoring as we move along.

Once NJ.com publishes its official standings – no later than noon Tuesday, though it appears they will have them Monday, we will check our work and see how we did.

That said, here are out entirely unofficial Week 2 UPR standings for public school supersections in New Jersey. (Due to the fact non-publics are seeded by a committee, with the UPR as a guide, but not strictly followed, we do not keep track of non-public standings. However, we do keep track of non-public SI values for our state and Big Central power rankings, as well as for SI calculation of public schools that play non-publics.)

September 10, 2026September 10, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Highland Park routs JP Stevens, 43-0, for Owls second 3-0 start in three seasons

There were two things certain coming into Thursday night’s game in North Edison between Highland Park and JP Stevens.

First, both teams were off to 2-0 starts in the same season for the first time since 2002. Second, one of those teams would remain undefeated at 3-0.

The Owls (3-0) left no doubt it would be them almost right from the get-go, as senior quarterback Marcus Smith rushed for a 48-yard touchdown after a fake handoff for the first score of the game.

And from there, it was all Owls. They would score twice more in the opening quarter – on a 46-yard touchdown run by Ziquan Grier and a ten-yard run by Jacob Quiros to take a 20-0 lead – then add two more scores in the second period, courtesy of a 40-yard pick-six from Grier, and a 23-yard touchdown pass from Smith to A.J. Lee, making it 36-0 at the break.

That kicked off a running clock in the second half, where Bryce Morales scored on a 13-yard touchdown run with 1:26 left in the third to make it 43-6.

JP Stevens fell to 2-1 with the loss, after starting the season 2-0 for the first time since 2003, when Frank Zarro was head coach.

For Highland Park, it’s their second 3-0 start in the last three seasons. The year after snapping a 54-game losing streak, the Owls started 3-0 in 2024 – with a four-game win streak stretching back to the last game of 2023 – and finished 6-3.

They’ll look to extend their current streak to four when they visit Roselle Park next Friday night.

Click below for postgame reaction from Marcus Borden with Highland Park head coach Shawn Harrison and senior QB/LB Marcus Smith, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!

September 10, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Rizzo, big plays key No. 4 Old Bridge past South Brunswick, 21-0, in BCC National Gold opener

After averaging 42 points a game in their first two contests, the Old Bridge offense was held in check save for a couple of big plays Friday night in Monmouth Junction.

But those big plays were enough to power the fourth-ranked Knights to a 21-0 win at South Brunswick in the Big Central National Gold Division opener for both schools, on the Bellamy & Son Paving Game of the Week heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The first big play came on the second play from scrimmage. After a six-yard run by Chase Rizzo, he hauled in a touchdown pass going 57 yards to open the scoring and give the Knights a 7-0 lead just 12 seconds in.

South Brunswick put together a five minute drive and moved the ball, but had a field goal blocked to end it, a microcosm of what their night would be like.

But their defense held firm for a while. They held Old Bridge to a turnover on downs, then had a nearly six-minute drive, but also turned it over on downs, and Old Bridge did the same on their end.

In the closing minutes of the first half, with a fourth-and-20 at the South Brunswick 39, Griffin Nugent came on to punt, but it was a fake, and a completed pass set up the Knights near the goal line, where Rizzo ran it in for his second score of the game with 1:05 left before the break, to make it 14-0 at halftime.

In the second half, it was much of the same: long drives by the Vikings, and an inability to score, but on defense, they again held firm, keeping Old Bridge to a pair of three-and-outs by early in the fourth quarter.

More late chances led to missed opportunities, including two more interceptions by South Brunswick QB Brendan Shearstone, and Old Bridge punched in one more score – on another big play, a 59-yard touchdown run by Rizzo – to provide the final margin.

For Old Bridge, they were also without the services of starting QB Aiden Rios for a bit of the first half and the entire second. The coaching staff told Central Jersey Sports Radio after the game that he banged up his non-throwing shoulder. And his status for a home game next Friday against No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas is unknown.

Click below for postgame reaction from Old Bridge head coach Matt Donaghue, junior Chase Rizzo and senior Griffin Nugent, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

September 7, 2026September 6, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Top teams win, middle teams drop games, so Bellamy & Son Paving Week 2 Top Ten sees more changes; Phillipsburg still No. 1

Four of the teams in the Bellamy & Son Paving Week One Top Ten lost last weekend, which leaves half of them still in the rankings, and the other half out, while the top four all stayed put in Week Two.

That starts with Phillipsburg (2-0) still atop the list, after a 24-10 win at Emmaus (PA) Friday. The Stateliners finish out their three-game Pennsylvania stretch to start the season this Friday when they visit Freedom (PA).

St. Joseph-Metuchen (1-0) won its season-opener in thrilling fashion Saturday afternoon, outlasting then-No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan, 43-36. The Falcons are back at it Friday afternoon at 4 when they travel to Westfield.

Holding in third is Piscataway (2-0). The Chiefs were 28-14 winners over then No. 5 Somerville Friday night in the Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Game of the Week, the first time the Pioneer offense has been held without a point since 2023. Thus week, it’s a Thursday trip to East Brunswick for Piscataway.

Rounding out the unchanged top four is Old Bridge (1-1), which got in the win column after a season-opening non-conference loss to Shawnee in the Battle at the Beach in Ocean City with a 49-21 win over Montgomery Friday. Thursday, the Knights visit South Brunswick, in our Friday night Bellamy & Son Paving Game of the Week on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Up a notch from six to five this week is Bridgewater-Raritan (1-1). Though the Panthers lost, they hung in nearly to the wire Saturday in a 43-36 loss at No. 2 St. Joseph-Metuchen. This week, it’s the Battle of Route 206 as Bridgewater welcomes in Hillsborough.

Flipping with Bridgewater and dropping one spot to sixth is Somerville (1-1), which took a 28-14 loss at No. 3 Piscataway Friday night in the Bellamy & Son Paving Big Central Game of the Week. The Pioneers host North Hunterdon on Thursday.

The next two teams both move up two spots this week, after losses by then-No. 7 Sayreville and then No. 8 Summit, both of whom dropped out. It starts with Elizabeth (2-0) at No. 7, following a 43-20 home win over Plainfield Friday. The Minutemen visit Union this Friday. And St. Thomas Aquinas (2-0) moves up to No. 8 after a 24-20 win over Scotch Plains-Fanwood, with a Friday date at Franklin awaiting the Trojans.

The final two teams join the rankings for the first time this season. Ridge (1-0) is at No. 9 after opening its season with a 21-7 win over then-No. 7 Sayreville. The Red Devils visit Flemington to play Hunterdon Central this Thursday.

And Rahway (2-0) comes in at No. 10, after a 21-10 home win over previously-No. 8 Summit. The Indians visit Woodbridge Friday as head coach Brian Russo goes up against his alma mater, where he also previously coached.

Below is the complete 2026 Week Two Bellamy & Son Paving High School Football Top Ten:

August 31, 2026September 6, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

No change atop the Week 1 Bellamy & Son Paving Central Jersey Sports Radio Top Ten, but two new teams join the list

There was little change from the preseason in the latest Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, with Phillipsburg remaining atop the rankings, while two other teams flip-flopped and two others near the bottom dropped out with losses in their opening games.

Phillipsburg remained at No. 1 after a season-opening 28-21 win over Parkland (PA) at Maloney Stadium. The Stateliners open the season with three straight Pennsylvania opponents, and this week, they cross the “state line” to go play Emmaus (PA) Friday night at 7.

St. Joseph-Metuchen was idle, and remains in the No. 2 spot. The Falcons will welcome in No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan (1-0) Saturday for a 1 pm matinee to kick off their 2026 campaign.

Piscataway won its opener, hanging on with a goal line stand to win 26-20 at East Orange, moving them up one spot to No. 3 in the rankings. They’ll play host to No. 5 Somerville – their first meeting since 1987 – Friday night at 6 in a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Old Bridge dropped a tough 43-35 decision to Shawnee out of the West Jersey Football League Friday down at the Battle at the Beach in Ocean City. The drops them one spot to fourth this week. Friday night at 6, they visit Montgomery.

Rounding out the top five is Somerville. The Pioneers beat South Plainfield in their opener at Brooks Field, 40-21, on Friday night, and this week, travel to No. 3 Piscataway. You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio at 6 pm.

Bridgewater-Raritan holds in the No. 6 position after opening the season with a dominating 28-7 win at then-No. 8 Woodbridge Friday night, in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. This week, it’s a tough test at No. 2 St. Joseph-Metuchen, Saturday at 1 pm at Brenner Family Field.

Sayreville also won its opener, beating Plainfield 23-19 Friday night. That lets them keep the seventh position. The Bombers will host Ridge this Friday at 6:30 pm.

Summit moves up a spot to No. 8 after beating Colonia at home Friday afternoon, 23-21, with Jackson Marx intercepting a two-point conversion just outside the goal line late in the fourth-quarter to help preserve a lead that ended up being the final margin. This week, they visit Rahway for a 6:00 start Friday night.

Jumping in at nine is Elizabeth, one of two new teams in this week’s rankings. The Minutemen were 53-6 winners at Carteret on Friday night, and will visit Plainfield this Friday for a 6 pm kickoff.

The other new team is St. Thomas Aquinas, which won its opener out in Sheepshead Bay over Frank J. Macchiarola (NY), 36-12. The Trojans are back in action Friday, when Westfield visits North Edison for a 6 pm kickoff.

Below is the complete 2026 Week One Bellamy & Son Paving High School Football Top Ten:

Dropping out this week are previous No. 8 Woodbridge and previous No. 10 Bernards. The Barrons lost to Bridgewater-Raritan, 28-7, Friday night, in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, while the Mountaineers fell 26-20 at Rutherford Friday night.

August 24, 2026August 22, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Phillipsburg starts 2026 where it ended 2025: Atop the Bellamy & Son Paving Central Jersey Sports Radio Top Ten

Most seasons, in most sports – at least as far as we’re concerned – are a crap shoot when it comes to preseason rankings.

It is, of course, impossible to get to see all 59 teams we cover in the Big Central Conference. There are scrimmages, but no true preseason games like in the pros. Coaches are going to talk up their teams, whether they were 1-8, 5-5, or 14-0 and state champs. Sometimes that 1-8 team will have a big turnaround, sometimes a sectional champ will lose a lot of players.

We do our best to weigh who’s coming back, and who graduated, but more often than not, we’ll give the top teams from the year before the benefit of the doubt: a place in the Top Ten is theirs to lose.

And of course, it’s never where you start, but where you finish. And rankings based on opinion are just that: opinion – no matter how objective we try to be.

Nevertheless, there’s a little bit of both in the 2026 Bellamy & Son Paving Central Jersey Sports Radio High School Football Preseason Top Ten, starting at the top.

Phillipsburg opens the season at No. 1, coming off a 10-3 season a year ago in which they reached their fourth straight sectional final, and won their second straight North 2, Group 4 title. Though they’re expected (official classifications are not out yet) to bump up to Group 5 this year due to the “success formula” for open-enrollment and similar type schools, that doesn’t affect who they play in the regular season. They’ve got a bunch back, and should be solid again.

St. Joseph-Metuchen begins the year at No. 2, up one spot, coming off a very good 8-2 season in which they beat all eight of their Big Central Conference opponents before falling in their regular season finale to Donovan Catholic, and in the opening round of the playoffs to Bergen Catholic.

Old Bridge has lost some key talent, but the Knights are coming off a 10-2 season in which they were one of only two BCC schools in Group 3 or higher to win ten games. The Knights – who went to the Central Jersey Group 5 title game last year, will start the season at No. 3.

Right behind them at No. 4 is Piscataway, which was 8-3, and beat to Old Bridge in the regular season by a touchdown, but was knocked out of the playoffs in the sectional semis. The Chiefs, however, bring back an experienced group led by Landon Pernell at quarterback.

Checking in at No. 5 is Somerville. The Pioneers had a surprising early exit from the playoffs in the first round last year, but finished 8-2 and are expected to be right back in the mix for the division and a sectional title this year. At 20-3 over the past two seasons under Matt Bloom, with a Central Jersey Group 3 title in 2024, that’s the expectation every year, and they have the horses.

Checking in at No. 6 is last year’s North Jersey, Section 2 Group 4 champion, Bridgewater-Raritan. The Panthers were 6-3 heading into the playoffs last year, but won all three games in their section – including a thriller in the final against Bayonne – to claim their first-ever sectional title. Still, they face some significant losses, and they’ll work to earn their way back up in ’26.

Sayreville will begin the year at No. 7, taking a huge blow in the loss of Shaun Jackson, who led the Big Central in rushing each of the last two seasons. Still, that’s a program, and alum Mark Poore has done a great job his first two years, and they will remain in the mix this season.

Woodbridge – which will start at No. 8 – finished out of the Top Ten at the end of 2025, but coming off an 8-3 season in Year two under veteran mentor Joe Goerge – after going 10-1 his first year – we know the Barrons are well-coached, and that Goerge can adapt his offensive system to the talent he has, and there certainly is talent in the cupboard.

Summit checks in at No. 9, coming off a 9-3 season and a trip to the North 2, Group 3 final last year, where they lost to West Morris. They dealt with all kinds of injury adversity last year, and this well-coached program will again be highly-competitive.

Bernards comes in at No. 10, and another tremendous regular season, despite a firs-round playoff loss. The numbers speak for itself: The Mountaineers haven’t lost to a Big Central opponent since September of 2022, a defeat at the hands of Hillside. Since then, they have won 32 straight BCC contests, three shy of the record 35 set by St. Thomas Aquinas, which came to an end last year. Since the start of 2022, Bernards has an overall record of 40-5, by far the best in the league over that stretch.

Below is the complete 2026 preseason Bellamy & Son Paving High School Football Top Ten:

August 19, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

NJSIAA releases official 2026 starting Strength Index Numbers

With a little more than a week to go before the start of the 2026 high school football season in New Jersey, the NJSIAA has released – via its new arrangement with NJ.com that prompted the closure of Gridirion New Jersey in June – the official starting Strength Index numbers for the season.

These differ from the final SI numbers for 2025, where we published our own estimates at the end of the season, which can be found here. However, those are not the starting numbers for 2026. Rather, they will be “centered” toward the generally accepted midpoint of 60. (For example, the average final SI of all teams last year came out to 59.82.)

Here’s how the process works: Each team’s ranking gets “centered” by one-third around a mid-point of 60. Teams above 60 are reduced by one-third of the distance they are from the mid-point (i.e., a team rated 90, which is 30 points higher than 60, would be reduced by 10 and start the year as an 80), while the opposite would happen for teams below 60; their SI value would increase. This is to make the value less reliant on historical data, since – unlike power points – the SI carries over from the previous season.

While we also released our own projected starting SI numbers back in early July, the official numbers differ slightly. Some are only off by a hundredth or thousandth of a point, and may be due to rounding. Others could have results in incorrect consolation scores initially reported to Gridiron New Jersey, or games that may not have been added.

That said, below are the official NJSIAA starting Strength Index numbers for 2026, with teams listed in alphabetical order, in a downloadable PDF format. Central Jersey Sports Radio will post these numbers each week of the season, as they change based on each week’s result.

2026 Starting Strength Index Values Download

September 26, 2025September 26, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

More than four dozen NJ football teams remain undefeated as regular season reaches midpoint; Big Central has ten perfect squads left

They surely won’t all maintain their perfect records through the end of the regular season, as many will play each other in the coming weeks as we head toward Cutoff Weekend and the 2025 playoffs, but as we head into Week Four of play here in New Jersey, there were 49 teams still yet to see a blemish on their record. (There are now 48, as Dickinson of Jersey City took its first loss Thursday night.)

Ten of those teams are in the Big Central Conference, spanning small schools and big.

There are also now 18 undefeated teams in the Super Football Conference, as well as 13 in the West Jersey Football League, three in the Shore Conference and four in the NJIC. None of the handful of independents are undefeated.

Here’s a closer look at the undefeated teams in the Big Central, followed by a list of those remaining perfect, by division, around the rest of the state.

St. Joseph-Metuchen (3-0): The Falcons are No. 8 in the Central Jersey Sports Radio/Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten. They host Westfield (2-2) Friday night before going to North Brunswick, then facing perhaps the most challenging stretch of their season: Phillipsburg home October 11th (LIVE in CJSR at 1 pm), at St. Thomas Aquinas on the 17th, and home to Woodbridge the Saturday of Cutoff Weekend. The Stateliners and Barrons are both undefeated, while Aquinas is 3-1 and has won 33 straight Big Central Conference games. (Correction: A previous version of this story had the St Joe’s-Westfield game on Saturday. It is Friday night)
Phillipsburg (3-0): The BCC’s first-ever true state finalist hasn’t skipped a beat despite losing some significant parts to graduation, and the No. 1 ranking is theirs until they decide they don’t want it anymore. Right now, they’re the class of the Big Central, even though there are some very good teams behind them. The Stateliners visit struggling Hillsborough (1-3) Saturday, and their biggest two tests likely will be the aforementioned October 11th game at St. Joe’s, and a Friday Cutoff Weekend matchup at home against Bridgewater-Raritan, which could have QB Declan Kurdyla back from a knee sprain by then.
Bridgewater-Raritan (4-0): Obviously, both the No. 6 Panthers and Stateliners won’t be able to run the table, since they’re division mates and will meet in a few weeks, but Bridgewater has looked very good. They’ll be tested Friday night at Ridge (1-2) in their first full game without Kurdyla, who’s out at least three weeks before he’ll be re-evaluated, which also includes a home game with Elizabeth next week and a road trip to Hillsborough on October 10th. And their regular season closes out at Maloney Stadium on the Friday night of Cutoff Weekend.
Spotswood (5-0): The Chargers played Thursday night, and remained perfect with a 34-3 shutout win over Highland Park. Next week, they get a much-improved Bound Brook team (3-1) at home before heading to Dayton and South Hunterdon, before closing it out with Roselle Park. Spotswood sat in 17th place in the South 2 playoff standings before the win over the Owls, which will help them. But if they can finish unbeaten, they’ll automatically be in the playoffs, regardless of where they stand. That’s a distinct possibility.
Manville (4-0): The Mustangs’ toughest remaining game might be Highland Park or Bound Brook, the first of which is home, the second of which is on the road, in the regular season finale. This week, it’s a trip to South Hunterdon (0-3). The Mustangs have allowed just six points all season – a touchdown in their opener at Keyport – but since then have pitched three straight shutouts and the defense has logged 14 consecutive scoreless quarters.

Woodbridge (4-0): The No. 2 Barrons lost a lot, too, but also seemingly haven’t missed a beat. They travel to Linden (1-3) this week for a Friday tilt, then host Perth Amboy, but the schedule gets decidedly tougher after that. They’ll be at No. 10 Montgomery, home to Summit (also considered for the Top Ten) and at No. 8 St. Joseph-Metuchen on Cutoff Weekend. They should be heading into that stretch at 6-0, but how will they come out of it?
Sayreville (4-0): The Bombers have been very consistent all season. They scored between 26 and 28 points in three of their four games, and have allowed no more than 18 and no fewer than 14 points in that stretch, with wins over Colonia, Linden, Edison and Hillsborough. All but the Patriots are below .500 though, and after a home game with North Brunswick this week, the back-loaded schedule kicks in, with trip to Piscatway next week (on CJSR) a road game at Franklin on October 10th, followed by home games the next two weeks against No. 10 Montgomery and No. 4 St. Thomas Aquinas.
Bernards (4-0): The Mountaineers lost all-world defensive end Thomas Diemar to a season-ending injury in the Delaware Valley game two weeks ago, but they still beat Voorhees in a battle of unbeatens on the road last week, 31-21. This week, it’s JP Stevens (0-4) at home, and their toughest matchup should come against a very good Summit team on the road, Saturday October 17th. The Hilltoppers have a mobile QB, and the test will be if the remaining healthy defensive players can limit Alex Schwark.
Summit (4-0): They’re not in the same division as Bernards, so, again, only one of these teams can finish undefeated since they face each other head-to-head. But the Hilltoppers’ remaining schedule is more challenging. After facing a tough Cranford team (2-2) this Friday night up in Union County, they host Somerville the week before Bernards comes to Tatlock Field, and then have a road game at Woodbridge the week after. Big tests.
New Providence (4-0): The Pioneers’ have looked very good this year, with a shutoout last week at Metuchen and a 42-7 win at Governor Livingston in Week 1. They get Roselle (1-2) at home this week, then visit Middlesex before an out-of-conference game against Verona, a home game with Bound Brook, and the regular season finale at Delaware Valley. Will that schedule – even if they go unbeaten – allow them to hold on to one of the two top seeds in the North 1 supersection? They have it now, but for how long?

Here’s a look at the rest of the leagues in the state, and their unbeaten teams:

Super Football Conference

4-0 Teams (12): St. Peter’s Prep, High Point, Dumont, Hanover Park, Northern Highlands, West Morris, Kinnelon, Hoboken, Old Tappan, Wayne Hills, St. Joseph-Montvale, Bergen Catholic
3-0 Teams (6): East Orange, Fort Lee*, Belleville*, Mount Olive, Boonton, Don Bosco Prep

West Jersey Football League

5-0 Teams (3): West Deptford, Paulsboro, Cherry Hill East
4-0 Teams (8): Washington Twp., Rancocas Valley, Glassboro, Burlington Twp., Delran, Burlington City, Sterling, Holy Cross
3-0 Teams (2): St. Joseph-Hammonton, Bishop Eustace

North Jersey Interscholastic Conference