NJSIAA Football Group 1 Playoff Preview: The time is now for undefeated Shore Regional

Shore Sports Insider is breaking down the NJSIAA public school playoffs with previews on each bracket involving Shore Conference teams. A total of 22 Shore teams have qualified for the playoffs across all five groups and nine different sections. Here is what to watch for beginning this Friday night when the battle for a state championship begins across New Jersey.

 

GROUP 1

Defending Champion: Mountain Lakes

 

Central Jersey Group 1

8-KIPP Cooper Norcross at 1-Woodstown

5-Pennsville at 4-Burlington City

6-Woodbury at 3-Middlesex

7-New Egypt at 2-Shore

 

The Favorite: Woodstown

While Woodstown and Shore are neck and neck, the Wolverines are a defending sectional champion and the top seed so they get the nod as the favorite in the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs. They are coming off the program’s first sectional title in program history when they beat Woodbury 21-14 to win the 2023 South Jersey Group 1 championship. Woodstown was undefeated heading into a Week 8 matchup with unbeaten Glassboro, which dealt the Wolverines a 20-7 defeat for their first loss.

On offense, Woodstown averages 21.9 points per game and is led by senior running back Bryce Belinfanti, who has rushed for 987 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is also the Wolverines’ leading receiver with 8 catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns so beating Woodstown starts with stopping him. Senior quarterback Jack Holladay began the season as the starting quarterback but was injured during a win over Haddon Heights on Oct. 12. Senior Garrett Leyman has stepped in the past two weeks with mixed results. He was 4-for-4 for 157 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 42-13 win over Salem but just 8 of 13 for 60 yards and 2 interceptions in the loss to Glassboro. Leyman was the team’s second-leading receiver behind Belifanti so moving him to quarterback has also removed a weapon in the passing game.

Woodstown’s strength is its defense and playing complimentary football with its running game. The Wolverines are allowing 10.9 points per game with one shutout and the only team to score more than two touchdowns on them is Glassboro. They take the ball away at a high rate with 10 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries, led by Leyman with five interceptions and senior defensive back Carter Orlandini-Hart with three fumble recoveries and two interceptions. Senior defensive lineman Walter Carter has a team-best four sacks.

Woodstown also has a strong kicker in senior Jake Ware. He has kicked four field goals with a long of 37 yards and is 21-for-22 on extra points.

 

Contender: Shore

The Blue Devils are 8-0 under first-year head coach Donny Klein, who returned to lead his alma mater after a successful 17-year run at Ocean Township. The one knock on Shore is that it hasn’t played a great schedule in the Shore Conference’s Class D North division. They have played only two teams with winning records in Point Beach and New Egypt, both of which are 5-3. Outside the division, they own a 28-7 win over Pinelands (4-5) and a 37-14 win over Ocean (3-6).

The Group 1 playoffs are where Shore can show everyone how good it truly is. They open up with a New Egypt team they beat 32-0 during the regular season when the Warriors also entered undefeated and would then face the winner of 3rd-seeded Middlesex and 6th-seeded Woodbury.

After years of their identity being the run-heavy Delaware Wing-T under Shore Conference Hall of Fame coach Mark Costantino, the Blue Devils now employ a pro-style offense under Klein that throws the ball nearly as often as it runs it and is averaging 35.9 points per game. Senior quarterback Josh Moeller is approaching the 1,000-yard milestone with 983 yards and 11 touchdowns with one interception and a 70 percent completion rate. He set Shore’s single-game passing yards record with 261 in the regular-season win over New Egypt. Senior running back Brendan O’Brien has rushed for 503 yards and 13 touchdowns and sophomore running back Cole Torres has emerged as a big-play threat with 601 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns on an average of 9.1 yards per carry. In the passing game, Enzo Cagliastro, Braeden Farmer and Jack Madalone are Moeller’s top targets.

Shore’s defense has been lights out in yielding just 54 points all season, which is the second-fewest in the Shore behind No. 1 Toms River North (39). The Blue Devils’ 6.8 points per game average includes four shutouts, although they have not been as ironclad the last few weeks with 47 points allowed. O’Brien and senior linebacker Tommy Schroeder are the leaders with Schroeder boasting 90 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries. O’Brien has 66 tackles, 8 TFLs, 2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries. Torres has also been a menace along the defensive line with a team-high 5 sacks and 12 TFLs. Cagliastro leads the team with three interceptions, including one pick-6.

Junior John Mazzacco is one of the better kickers in the Shore with four field goals (long of 32) and a 33-for-38 line on extra points.

Shore is the Shore Conference’s flagship Group 1 school and has an illustrious NJSIAA playoff history with seven sectional titles and 12 trips to a championship game. Their last title came in 2015 when they went 12-0 and put together arguably the greatest season in program history.

 

Shore Shots: Shore & New Egypt

As mentioned above, Shore and New Egypt are the only area teams in the bracket and will square off in the first round. New Egypt has a lot of ground to make up if it is to reverse a 32-0 loss to the Blue Devils from the regular season.

The Warriors are making their eighth playoff appearance in program history and will be looking for just their second win. It is their first postseason berth since 2021.

 

Non-Shore Player to Watch: Dom Parenti, Sr., QB, Middlesex

Shore will see Middlesex in the semifinals if the seeds hold, and if so the Blue Devils will have to find a way to slow down Blue Jays dual-threat quarterback Dom Parenti. He has thrown for 867 yards with 10 touchdowns and only one interception and used for 758 yards and 13 touchdowns.

 

 

South Jersey Group 1

8-Point Beach at 1-Glassboro

5-Riverside at 4-Haddon Township

6-Manville at 3-Paulsboro

7-Aubudon at 2-Schalick

 

The Favorite: Glassboro

The Bulldogs are 8-0, the No. 1 seed, and were the Group 1 runner-up last season. They feature one of the top juniors in the state in Amari Sabb and one of the top sophomores in the state in Xavier Sabb. They are the clear favorite in the bracket, especially considering they have defeated No. 2 seed Schalick already this season.

Glassboro averages 32.1 points per game with a balanced offense that has thrown for 1,626 yards and rushed for 1,122 yards. Senior Kenny Smith leads the way on the ground with 745 yards rushing and nine touchdowns on an average of 9.2 yards per carry. The Bulldogs rotate quarterbacks with junior Jack O’Connell and sophomore Kristopher Foster having attempted a similar number of passes. Foster has thrown for 975 yards with 13 touchdowns and 7 interceptions and O’Connell has thrown for 651 yards with 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Amari Sabb is the leading receiver with 40 catches for 639 yards and 6 touchdowns and Xavier Sabb is second with 24 receptions for 396 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Scoring on Glassboro has been even more difficult than slowing down its offense. The Bulldogs have surrendered a paltry 39 points this season and recorded four shutouts, and no team has scored more than 12 points against them all year. Junior Brandon Simmons is their standout with a team-leading 65 tackles, 10 sacks and 22 tackles for loss. Senior Dayshaun Day and junior Tyler Bright have also had great seasons while Xavier Sabb leads the team with four interceptions and sophomore Kenny Johnson has three picks.

If Glassboro was a Shore Conference team its 12 sectional titles would be tied with Manasquan for the most in conference history. The Bulldogs’ playoff success includes 47 postseason wins and 20 trips to sectional championship games.

 

Contender: Schalick

Schalick was 11-0 last season before losing to Glassboro 20-0 in the sectional final. The Cougars enter the playoffs with a 6-3 mark and lost to the Bulldogs 20-10 in Week 7, so they are surely eager for another crack at a Glassboro program that has defeated them seven straight times since Schalick’s last win in 2013.

 

Shore Shots: Point Beach

Beach is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and qualified for the postseason by defeating New Egypt 28-14 in Week 8. It has been a great bounce-back season for the 5-3 Garnet Gulls after four straight seasons of three wins or less, but the path in front of them is incredibly difficult with Group 1 runner-up Glassboro lurking in the opening round.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Point Beach defeating Glassboro would be one of the biggest upsets in the state this season. It will take an otherworldly effort and some luck along the way, but never say never. It’s high school sports, after all.

Something to watch for is whether senior running back Liam Brosnan can become the first running back in program history with consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He needs 65 yards to reach the milestone as he enters with 935 yards and nine touchdowns.

 

Non-Shore Player to Watch: Amari Sabb, Jr., WR/DB, Glassboro

One of New Jersey’s top recruits for the class of 2026, Sabb leads the Bulldogs with 639 receiving yards and six touchdowns along with two interceptions on defense. His older brother Keon is a starting safety for the University of Alabama and his younger brother Xavier is a standout sophomore for Glassboro.

 

 

North Jersey matchups

North 1

8-Weekhawken at 1-Butler

5-Pompton Lakes at 4-Glen Ridge

6-Lenape Valley at 3-Mountain Lakes

7-Park Ridge at 2-New Milford

 

North 2

8-Walkill Valley at 1-Cedar Grove

5-Belvidere at 4-Verona

6-Wood-Ridge at 3-Hasbrouck Heights

7-Boonton at 2-New Providence