Win Propels Hightstown High School Football Team Into Playoff Position

HIGHTSTOWN, NJ — What a difference a week — and a win — make. After the first week of the season, the Hightstown High School football team was on the outside looking in when it came to the playoffs. Then came Hightstown's 53-18 win over Princeton. Things now look different in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 power points standings.

A team earns six points for a win, plus between one and five points, depending on what group the team it defeated is in, and a residual point for each win that team has. A team’s first eight games count toward its final point total, but the lowest point total among these games is dropped, so seven total games count toward the final tally. The top eight teams in each group qualify for the playoffs at the end of the season.

Hightstown beat fellow Group 4 team Princeton to earn 10 points and jump into seventh place in NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4, according to the standings posted on nj.com:

1. Nottingham (2-1) 22;
2. Allentown (1-1) 16;
3. Freehold Borough (1-1) 15;
4. Brick Township (1-0) 13;
5. Northern Burlington (1-2) 12;
6. Brick Memorial (1-0) 11;
7. Hightstown (1-1) 11;
8. Long Branch (1-0) 11;
9. Middletown North (1-1) 11;
10. Middletown South (1-1) 10;
11. Jackson Memorial (1-1) 9;
12. Princeton (0-3) 2;
13. Colts Neck (0-2) 1;
14. West Windsor-Plainsboro South (0-2) 1;
15. Neptune (0-1) 0.

Patch file photo