Sports
South Brunswick Football Hosts State Playoff Game Tonight
Vikings (8-0) host Hillsborough (4-5) in the first round of the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs at 7 p.m.
The road to a state championship in football officially begins tonight as the South Brunswick High School Vikings will battle the Hillsborough High School Raiders in the first round of the NJSIAA Central Group IV playoffs.
South Brunswick, at 8-0, is the top seed in the bracket, while the Raiders, at 4-5, are the 8th seed. The teams shared no common opponents this year.
Last week, SBHS continued rolling with a 45-20 win over East Brunswick in a tune-up for the start of the playoffs. If South Brunswick wins tonight, it will play host for the second round as well against the winner of the matchup between 5th seed Sayreville (7-3) and 4th seed Jackson Memorial (7-1).
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The Central Jersey Group IV title game will be played at the neutral site of Rutgers University.
In the win over East Brunswick last week, South Brunswick tallied 302 yards rushing and 90 yards passing. Quarterback T.J. Perkowski accounted for 91 yards on the ground and 78 yards in the air with two touchdown throws.
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Darrell Harper finished with 62 yards on five carries. Dante Strickland had five carries for 44 yards. Azim Blakey had six carries for 30 yards. Dan Gorzynski (2-19), Dion Hooper (4-21), David Flanders (1-13), Brian Lee (3-11), Jevon Tyree (2-10) and Andre Lee (1-1) also ran for positive yardage.
"I'm feeling really positive right now," South Brunswick Coach Rick Mantz told Patch after "We have a nice team and are healthy. We'll be ready for the playoffs. It's pretty exciting."
On the other side of the Central Jersey Group IV bracket, 3rd seed West Windsor Plainsboro South (8-1) will face 6th seed North Brunswick High School (5-3), while 2nd seed Manalapan (7-1) will battle 7th seed Brick Memorial (5-4).
The SBHS players are looking for a strong homefield advantage tonight, as thousands of Vikings fans are expected to fill the bleachers at SBHS.
"The amount of school spirit here has been amazing," Perkowski said last week. "I think we'll have 5,000 people here for the first playoff game. This playoff run will be unbelievable."
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at , 750 Ridge Road in Monmouth Junction.
DateOpponentResult 09/09- @ Sayreville
- Piscataway
- Edison
- @ Woodbridge
- @ Monroe Township
- Old Bridge
- @ J.P. Stevens
- East Brunswick
- Hillsborough
- North Brunswick
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