Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s football team may have to repeat as the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional playoff champion on the road this season.
According to the official power points released by the NJSIAA on Monday, October 26, Bridgewater-Raritan has received the No. 5 seed and is scheduled to play its nemesis, fourth-seeded Passaic County Institute of Technology, on Friday, October 30, in Wayne, in the first round of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional playoffs. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m.
Last fall, Bridgewater-Raritan won the program’s first state sectional playoff championship when it defeated Bayonne High School, 21-14, at Basilone Memorial Field in Bridgewater. But then Bridgewater-Raritan’s bid to win the Group 5 overall state playoff title was thwarted when it fell to the Section 1 champion, Passaic County Institute of Technology, 23-14, in the semifinals that were played at Basione Memorial Field.
Passaic County Institute of Technology was then defeated by Washington Township, 31-12, in the 2025 Group 5 state playoff final. Passaic County Institute of Technology moved from Section 1 to Section 2 this season.
Before last season’s playoff encounter, Bridgewater-Raritan was also defeated by Passaic County Institute of Technology, 32-7, in Wayne to open the 2022 season.
If Bridgewater-Raritan, which finished the regular season with a 7-2 record, defeats Passaic County Institute of Technology, which ended 6-3 but secured more power points, then the Panthers would take on the winner of top-seeded Elizabeth High School (9-0) and eighth-seeded Linden High School (4-4) in the state playoff sectional semifinals on the weekend of November 6-7.
Elizabeth, which has already defeated Linden this season, 39-18, would be the home team if it advances to the state playoff sectional semifinals.
The state sectional playoff championship game is scheduled for the weekend of November 13-14. Third-seeded Phillipsburg High School (6-2), which beat Bridgewater-Raritan 35-14 on Friday, October 16, and second-seeded East Orange Campus (6-2) are also contenders to reach the state sectional playoff final.
The other top seeds in Group 5 are Ramapo High School (5-3) in Section 1, Old Bridge High School (8-1) in Central Jersey, and the defending Group 5 state champion, Washington Township High School (9-0), in South Jersey. Washington is riding a 23-game winning streak, the longest current run in New Jersey.
The Group 5 state playoff semifinals will be played at the field of the higher seed on November 20-21, and the Group 5 state playoff championship game is set for either November 28 or 29 at MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Giants and New York Jets. Both of those NFL teams are playing on the road on November 29.