After hours of feverishly clicking refresh on the NJSIAA Web site, I stumbled upon the girls basketball pairings at about 7:30 p.m -- and it was worth the wait.
Plenty of local versus local matchups to choose from both in the opening round and down the road.
Here is my initial though on each of the local sections:
Central Jersey Group IV: Disappointed to see Hillsborough and Hunterdon Central on opposite sides of the bracket. I was hoping for a rubber match, but I'll settle for a possible Hillsborough-Montgomery quarterfinal. It's always tough to beat the same time three times in one season.
Central Jersey Group II: Governor Livingston coach Dave Boff and Somerville coach Corby Swan are old friends from their days as college assistant coaches in Pennsylvania. Now they get to match wits for the first time in a sectional quarterfinal. New Providence got the top seed in this section, and rightfully so.
Central Jersey Group I: Middlesex had sectional title hopes before the season. An up-and-down season can be salvaged if somehow those expectations are met, but it is not going to be an easy round as the eighth seed. Greater Middlesex Conference Gold Division rivals Piscataway Tech and Dunellen meet in a sectional quarterfinal.
North Jersey, Section 2, Group IV: Lots of local flavor here. Third-seeded Piscataway opens with Plainfield and could face Westfield after that. I'm thrilled about this, because I need a legitimate excuse to see Piscataway a few more times. Fourth-seeded Watchung Hills catches a tough break with an opening round game against Skyland Conference foe North Hunterdon. It's a rematch of a Dec. 19 game won by the Warriors.
North Jersey, Section 2, Group III: Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Shabazz will not be meeting in the sectional final for the sixth straight season. A quarterfinal matchup between the two seems highly likely, however. Fourth-seeded Voorhees seems never to lose, and is my early pick to face Shabazz in the sectional final.
Second-seeded South Plainfield gets two bad breaks:
1. Because Shabazz -- arguably the best team in the state -- is seeded third, South Plainfield will have a tough road to the sectional final.
2. Even advancing to that semifinal matchup with Shabazz will be tough, because the Tigers could have to face New Brunswick -- the only team to beat them this season -- in its first game.
North Jersey, Section 2, Group II: The Bernards Mountaineers will go only as far as Catherine Carr can carry them. I say it stops against Rutherford in the sectional quarterfinal.
North Jersey Non-Public A: Immaculata played a grueling early-season schedule and, because of it, gets the lowest seed in the section. We'll see just what those early losses did for this group's toughness. Sixth-seeded Pingry is in its third straight tournament, but a win will be hard to come by.
North Jersey Non-Public B: Gill St. Bernard's earned the top seed by beating up on everyone in its conference. The Knights looked very vulnerable in a Somerset County Tournament, however. It will be interesting to see which team shows up for this tournament.
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2 comments:
Ryan. Plainfield plays Watchung Hills in the first round. East Orange is part of North 1 Group 4 this year. Both papers have Plfd playing Piscataway, but I guess The NJSIAA made the correction because it has Plfd vs Watchung Hills now.
Terence (Plainfield home game announcer)
As someone who covered a high school sport for years, I have noticed that reporters look at the unveiling of the brackets like Selection Sunday.
Yes, we are all losers.
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