Bridgewater-Raritan High School Football Team Earns Berth In State Playoffs

Press release from the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District:

2022-10-24

Monday October 24

A chance to redeem themselves for three straight defeats in state sectional championship games will be one motivator for the Bridgewater-Raritan High School football team that will launch its bid for a New Jersey playoff title this weekend.

The official pairings for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) football playoffs were announced on Monday, October 24.

Bridgewater-Raritan earned the sixth seed in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 field and will travel on Saturday, October 29, to play third-seeded Westfield High School at Kehler Stadium in Westfield. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

It was Westfield that defeated Bridgewater-Raritan in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state playoff finals. Westfield also knocked out Bridgewater-Raritan in the opening round of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 playoffs in 2019.

Bridgewater-Raritan, which closed its regular season with a 34-0 victory over Old Bridge High School this past Friday, October 21, enters the first round with a 4-5 record, while Westfield is 6-2.

The teams have five common opponents this year.

In its two losses, Westfield fell to Watchung Hills Regional High School, 17-7, and Ridge High School, 31-3. Bridgewater-Raritan was defeated by Watchung Hills, 38-14, and Ridge, 35-0.

Meanwhile, Westfield defeated Union High School, 21-14, Elizabeth High School, 38-20, and Hillsborough High School, 17-12. Bridgewater-Raritan beat Union, 7-6, and Elizabeth, 17-13, while the Panthers fell to Hillsborough, 17-6.

The winner of the game between Bridgewater-Raritan and Westfield will move on and play the survivor of the playoff opener between Union and Union City High School on the weekend of November 4-5.

In the top half of the eight-team bracket, top-seeded Passaic County Technical Institute, which dealt a 32-7 setback on Bridgewater-Raritan in the season opener on August 26 in Wayne, will play eighth-seeded Morristown High and fifth-seeded East Orange Campus High School meets fourth-seeded Clifton High School.

The sectional playoff final is slated for the weekend of November 11-12.

From there, the winners of the four public school sections will collide in the group semifinals on the weekend of November 19-20.

And for the first time ever in the NJSIAA, one overall public school group champion will be determined. The state title games are slated for the weekend of December 4-5 at SHI Stadium, which is on the campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway.

This press release was produced by the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.