It was a big play the practiced often and had executed once or twice, too.
North Hunterdon’s deep coffin corner pass to Luke Martini took 47% of the vote out of 1,127 votes cast in the “Highlight Reel Play of the Year” voting by Central Jersey Sports Radio fans.
Click below to hear Ryan Drwal talk about the play with Mike Pavlichko, then scroll down for the video of all six contenders, including the Lions’ play, the last of the six in this video montage:
Central Jersey Sports Radio is giving YOU the chance to weigh in on your favorite play of the 2021 high school football season!
We received a lot of entries from high school football coaches all across the Big Central. We spent days, even hours, until we finally narrowed it down to six.
Watch the video below, then scroll down to vote for your favorite!!
Voting ends at 11:59 pm on Monday, Dec. 13.
Remember: Vote early, vote often!
Can Woodbridge or Sayreville earn a top four seed? And what about the jumble of teams at the bottom? Here’s a team by team unofficial look at the scenarios for all the Big Central teams in the North Group 4 supersection:
Woodbridge: The Barrons (6-2) sit in 5th place right now, but at one point were looking at a top seed. They’re reeling a bit after consecutive losses to still-undefeated Cranford and Scotch Plains-Fanwood. But can they finish in the top four to get first-round advantage through the sectional semifinals? The short answer is “Yes.” The long answer is they’ll need some help. It starts and ends with beating Linden (3-4) at Priscoe Field Friday night. Then, it appears they would need no more than one of the following three teams to win: Ramapo, Middletown South or Morris Knolls. If only one wins, Woodbridge can end up as the four seed, maybe even a three. If any two of those schools wins this weekend, Woodbridge can’t crack the top four. There’s a crack in the door, and we’ll see what happens.
Sayreville: The Bombers (6-2) are in sixth, right behind Woodbridge, and have a big “Battle of Route 9” matchup with Old Bridge (6-2) Friday night at Vince Lombardi Field. Where will they be when the head back up North? With a win, even they have a crack at the top four, but they need even more help than the Barrons. A Sayreville victory would also need losses by Woodbridge, Ramapo, Morris Knolls, Mount Olive and Middletown South. We believe if even one of those teams wins, the Bombers still will be top eight seed with a win, giving them a first round home game, at a minimum. In fact, they can even pass Woodbridge, as the Knights are much more valuable in power points and OSI than Linden, the Barrons’ opponent.
Colonia: Sitting in 11th, the Patriots (6-2) face Scotch Plains-Fanwood this weekend. Even with a victory over the Raiders and some help, it’s likely the Patriots can only get as high as ninth, so it’s looking like they’ll be on traditional green turf when they open the playoffs next weekend.
Ridge: The Same can be said for the Red Devils (5-2), who sit in 12th, one spot behind Colonia. The best they can do, even with a home win over Elizabeth (3-5) and some help, is finish in 9th. So the Red Devils will be away from home, too.
North Hunterdon: In 15th place sits North Hunterdon (4-4), which is pretty much assured of a bottom four finish, this a 7 or 8 seed. With a trip to Voorhees (1-7) Friday night, the Vikings’ don’t provide enough power points to make a move up, but no one behind them has the wherewithal to knock them out either, by our calculations. We peg them for one of the last two spots.
Linden: The Tigers sit in 16th place behind North Hunterdon. They get Woodbridge (6-2) on the road here on Cutoff Weekend, and with a win, still are looking like a bottom four team. A loss could drop them out of the picture entirely. They trio to keep an eye on is Montgomery, Bergenfield and Warren Hills. If at least two of those teams win – and the Tigers lose to Woodbridge – we say they’re out, finishing in 18th place.
Montgomery: This won’t be easy for the Cougars (3-4), but getting help may be the easiest part. They have undefeated Cranford (7-0) at home this weekend, but Monty has been a different team of late, since moving Alex Benitez back to his natural runningback position and putting sophomore Michael Schmelzer at quarterback. Do they have a shot against the Cougars? Absolutely. We’ve always thought the Big Central’s Division 4 was tough, and full of parity. We’ve beaten that drum all year. Let’s put it this way, with a win, Montgomery could finish as high as 14, if Chatham, North Hunterdon and Linden all lose. A loss may leave them needing all kinds of help, and too many possibilities to mention here.
Heading into Week Seven of play in high school football, Woodbridge may not have been in the drivers’ seat, but they certainly had a shot at one of the top two seeds in the North Group 4 supersection, and by extension, one of the two top seeds once the teams were divided into sections.
That would have meant guaranteed home field advantage through the sectionals.
But after suffering its first loss of the season, falling to Cranford 38-28 at home last Friday night in the Big Central Game of the Week driven by Autoland, the Barrons may be out of the picture.
Last week, they were just 0.2 UPR points behind Ramapo, sitting in third place. But the loss to the Cougars knocked them down to 5th, with a 5.4 UPR. Ramapo is ahead of them at 3.8, followed by Irvington at 3.6, and Middletown South moving into second with a UPR of 2.
The Barrons may not have a strong enough schedule to make up the ground. Though they could gain in power points with wins over Scotch Plains-Fanwood (4-4) this week, and Linden (currently 3-3) next week, those teams’ SI valules are around 57, which will tick the Barrons’ OSI down a shade even if they sweep the Raiders and Tigers.
Bottom line: the Barrons should open the playoffs at home, and maybe can get a semifinal game at Priscoe Field if they advance. But they are unlikely to get one of the two top seeds, barring a major collapse by the teams in front of them.
In the middle of the pack are Sayreville, Colonia, and Ridge sitting at 9, 11 and 12 in the standings.
The Bombers – who are tied for ninth with Randolph – are most likely the only one of the trio in reach of a first-round home game. At 4-2 with an 8.8 UPR, they’re just one UPR point behind Mount Olive (7.8, in 8th) and within two UPR points of Middletown North (7.8). Add in the fact that Sayreville will pick up a forfeit win next week and get 42 power points for a win over St Joseph-Metuchen, that will give a huge boost to their 15.5 power point average, to 19.9 (not counting wins or losses by Sayreville the next two weeks). That kind of jump would be worth four places in power point rank, or 1.6 UPR points, which would put them around 7th or 8th in the standings, depending what other teams do. If they can beat Old Bridge this week and New Brunswick next – both on the road – I’d say they’ll be playing at home in the first round, for sure.
Colonia and Ridge are 2.8 and 3.0 UPR points behind Sayreville, respectively, and neither has a multiplier boost in the offing. They’re likely to get around a 5 seed in the sectionals and start on the road.
Then, at the bottom, are four teams vying for three playoff spots. North Hunterdon is in 14th, followed by Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Linden, and Montgomery. The Cougars are just 1.4 points our of a playoff spot, having won two straight after losing their first four. If they can take care of JFK this week, they get Cranford next week, and even a loss might get them in. Monty’s OSI is 39.61, and Cranford’s SI value is a 79.51, which is worth 39.78 in a loss. That wouldn’t hurt their OSI. But the power point loss would hurt them; right now it’s 27 for a win, but just six for a loss. Montgomery’s power point average is an 8.50. at the moment.
North Hunterdon is likely the safest of the group, with a UPR of 13.6 and 3.8 points away from Montgomery, 4.8 away from 18th place Wayne Hills. Only one of those teams would need to catch them to eliminate them, and that’s unlikely. Scotch Plains and Linden are in a little more of a murky situation. Best to win out and let the chips fall where they may.
NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect today’s cancellation of the Shore Conference pod championships.
The only Big Central team with any virtual certainty of their playoff positioning in the North Group 4 supersection should be the Woodbridge Barrons. With a big game Friday night against undefeated Cranford (CJSR, 7 pm), Woodbridge (6-0) currently sits third in the standings.
With the top two in the section getting home games throughout the sectional finals, the Barrons aren’t that far off. But neither is Middletown South. Both teams have a UPR of 3.2, which is just two-tenths of a point behind second place Ramapo. That means if either gains one position in power point or OSI rank, they’ll likely surpass Ramapo.
Continue reading “Week 6 North 4 Playoff Analysis: Woodbridge aiming for a top-seed, six BCC teams in bottom half”
Woodbridge and North Hunterdon were locked in a tussle, and the Barrons had yet to break through.
The Lions – coming into Priscoe Field with a 1-2 mark, but off a win against Scotch Plains – had led the Barrons 7-0 at the half, and brought that lead into the fourth quarter, where they held it past the midway point of the stanza.
But Woodbridge finally broke through with a 27-yard touchdown run by transfer quarterback Matt Stanton. Decision time and head coach Joe LaSala went for the win.
The decision paid off, as Stanton ran in the two-point conversion, and Woodbridge held on for an 8-7 win that kept them undefeated, and the only Big Central team to be 5-0.
Click below to hear Woodbridge head coach Joe LaSala talk about the win with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
by Mike Pavlichko
Zoran Milich is the only head coach Montgomery High School has ever known.
Technically, that’s still true.
Assistant Sean Carty is technically the “interim” head coach, replacing Zoran Milich in the season opener after Milich had to go to the hospital for emergency surgery. And he’s officially in the record books now as he picked up his first win Thursday night, when Montgomery beat North Hunterdon, 22-8.
Carty talked with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko about the victory, and how he’s enjoying his time but can’t wait for Milich to get back. Listen to their conversation below: