An Early Playoff Football Look for South Jersey teams
The NJSIAA football playoffs are less than a month away beginning the weekend of Nov. 1. The teams from the seven-county South Jersey area will be participating in either the Central Jersey or South Jersey playoffs. A total of eight public school teams will compete in both Central Jersey and South Jersey. Whether teams compete in South or Central Jersey will be determined at the cutoff date. The South Jersey champion will meet the Central Jersey champ in the state semifinals.
Here is a look at the public school groups and how the teams in the seven-county South Jersey area stack up. The power points are courtesy of gridironnewjersey.com and are through Sunday.
GROUP 1
Top Four Teams*
1. Woodstown; 2. Haddon Township; 3. Shore; 4. Paulsboro
Favorite: Glassboro, with the addition of Hammonton transfer running back Kenny Smith appears to be the team to beat, even though the Bulldogs began the week No. 5 in the power rankings. The Bulldogs are the reigning Central Jersey Group 1 champions. Woodstown is the defending South Jersey Group 1 champ and the Wolverines and Glassboro appear on a collusion course, likely to meet either in a sectional final or state semifinal. In addition, these two play in the regular season finale on Oct. 25 at Glassboro.Article continues below
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Darkhorse: It would be a surprise if anybody other than Glassboro or Woodstown emerged as champion.
Top Four Teams*
1. Woodstown; 2. Haddon Township; 3. Shore; 4. Paulsboro
Favorite: Glassboro, with the addition of Hammonton transfer running back Kenny Smith appears to be the team to beat, even though the Bulldogs began the week No. 5 in the power rankings. The Bulldogs are the reigning Central Jersey Group 1 champions. Woodstown is the defending South Jersey Group 1 champ and the Wolverines and Glassboro appear on a collusion course, likely to meet either in a sectional final or state semifinal. In addition, these two play in the regular season finale on Oct. 25 at Glassboro.
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Darkhorse: It would be a surprise if anybody other than Glassboro or Woodstown emerged as champion.
GROUP 2
Top Four Teams*
1. Camden; 2. Rumson-Fair Haven; 3. Johnson; 4. Point Pleasant Boro
Favorite: Camden is the defending Central Jersey Group 3 champion. The Panthers have played a difficult schedule which should help them in the postseason. Their losses were to Holy Spirit, a top five team in South Jersey and last week to the consensus No. 1 team Winslow Township. Senior quarterback Mahki Brunson is a strong leader for the Panthers, having thrown 14 TD passes. Rumson, which beat Willingboro, 35-28 in last year’s state semifinal only to lose, 21-20 to Westwood in the state championship, will be a major threat to Camden.
Darkhorse: Willingboro bears watching. The Chimeras are young, but they have the experience of winning last year’s Central Jersey Group 2 title.
Top Four Teams*
1. Camden; 2. Rumson-Fair Haven; 3. Johnson; 4. Point Pleasant Boro
Favorite: Camden is the defending Central Jersey Group 3 champion. The Panthers have played a difficult schedule which should help them in the postseason. Their losses were to Holy Spirit, a top five team in South Jersey and last week to the consensus No. 1 team Winslow Township. Senior quarterback Mahki Brunson is a strong leader for the Panthers, having thrown 14 TD passes. Rumson, which beat Willingboro, 35-28 in last year’s state semifinal only to lose, 21-20 to Westwood in the state championship, will be a major threat to Camden.
Darkhorse: Willingboro bears watching. The Chimeras are young, but they have the experience of winning last year’s Central Jersey Group 2 title.
GROUP 3
Top Four Teams*
1. Somerville; 2. Hopewell Valley; 3. Mainland; 4. Burlington Township.
Favorite: Top seeded Somerville (6-0) has already exceeded its win total of last year when the Pioneers went 5-5. Somerville will be a major threat.
Mainland is the defending Group 4 state champion, but the Mustangs were hit hard by graduation. Still Mainland should be a threat because the Mustangs have arguably played the toughest schedule among Group 3 teams.
Darkhorse: There is a lot of parity in Group 3, more than any of the other three public school Groups. Teams such as Ocean City (4-2), Seneca (4-2), Timber Creek (4-2) and Burlington Township (6-0) can’t be counted out.
Top Four Teams*
1. Somerville; 2. Hopewell Valley; 3. Mainland; 4. Burlington Township.
Favorite: Top seeded Somerville (6-0) has already exceeded its win total of last year when the Pioneers went 5-5. Somerville will be a major threat.
Mainland is the defending Group 4 state champion, but the Mustangs were hit hard by graduation. Still Mainland should be a threat because the Mustangs have arguably played the toughest schedule among Group 3 teams.
Darkhorse: There is a lot of parity in Group 3, more than any of the other three public school Groups. Teams such as Ocean City (4-2), Seneca (4-2), Timber Creek (4-2) and Burlington Township (6-0) can’t be counted out.
GROUP 4
Top Four Teams*
1.Millvile, 2. Winslow Township, 3. Brick Memorial, 4. Pennsauken
Favorite: Clearly it will be Winslow Township (6-0), which beat Millville, 35-7. Sophomore Jalen Parker has thrown 17 TD passes for Winslow Township. Millville can’t be discounted. These are two of the best teams in South Jersey.
Darkhorse: None. It will be extremely difficult for anybody else in the field to beat Winslow Township or Millville.
Top Four Teams*
1.Millvile, 2. Winslow Township, 3. Brick Memorial, 4. Pennsauken
Favorite: Clearly it will be Winslow Township (6-0), which beat Millville, 35-7. Sophomore Jalen Parker has thrown 17 TD passes for Winslow Township. Millville can’t be discounted. These are two of the best teams in South Jersey.
Darkhorse: None. It will be extremely difficult for anybody else in the field to beat Winslow Township or Millville.
GROUP 5
Top Four Teams*
1.Toms River North, 2. Washington Township, 3. Atlantic City, 4. Kingsway
Favorite: Toms River North (6-0) is the two-time defending state champion and despite losing quite a bit to graduation, the Mariners keep rolling. Washington Township could make a run, but it would be an upset if Toms River North didn’t emerge as champion.
Darkhorse: Cherokee (3-3) will play one of the toughest schedules among Group 5 schools. The Chiefs play Millville and Winslow Township leading up to the playoffs.
Top Four Teams*
1.Toms River North, 2. Washington Township, 3. Atlantic City, 4. Kingsway
Favorite: Toms River North (6-0) is the two-time defending state champion and despite losing quite a bit to graduation, the Mariners keep rolling. Washington Township could make a run, but it would be an upset if Toms River North didn’t emerge as champion.
Darkhorse: Cherokee (3-3) will play one of the toughest schedules among Group 5 schools. The Chiefs play Millville and Winslow Township leading up to the playoffs.
*According to GridIronNewJersey.com
Photo of Winslow Township's No. 7 QB Jalen Parker / Marc Narducci
Author: Marc Narducci
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