17 Shore Teams Make a Playoff Run

17 of the 25 Shore Conference football teams that took the field last weekend in the opening round of the NJSIAA Playoffs are back in action this weekend and at least four of them will advance to sectional championship games in early December.

That’s because four head-to-head meetings involving teams from the Shore highlight tonight’s semifinal schedule including three games that match teams who played one another during the regular season.

Undefeated Toms River North hosts a Howell Rebels squad they beat 58-33 six weeks ago as the Mariners try and close in on their second straight South Jersey Group 5 title. The game matching two explosive offenses will be broadcast on 105.7 The Hawk.

In Central Jersey Group 4 Freehold travels to Brick and all eyes will be on Colonials junior quarterback Ashante Worthy who set a state record last week by rushing for 465 yards and scoring 8 touchdowns in a 69-56 win over Pennsauken.  Worthy, who also threw two touchdown passes will clearly get a lot of attention from the Green Dragons defense.

Central Jersey Group 1 features an all-shore final four with Point Beach hosting Keyport and Asbury Park visiting Shore tonight. Asbury and Keyport won close regular-season games against their Class B Central rivals and both games could go either way.

Also tonight defending Central Jersey Group 4 champion Jackson Memorial visits Allentown in an Ocean-Monmouth County contest and the Jags hopes of getting back to the final rest on the legs of running back Mike Gawlik who has rushed for over 2,000 yards and scored 25 touchdowns this season.

Not to be lost on the weekend schedule is Sundays Group 3 Soccer championship game as Toms River South takes on undefeated Ramapo at Kean University (3 p.m.).

It’s the second straight trip to the finals for the Indians, who lost to Mendham last November and are trying to win an overall state title for the first time since 2009.