NJSIAA football Group 3 playoff preview: Holmdel shoots for its first state title

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 3

Defending Overall Champion: Delsea

 

South Jersey Group 3

8-Nottingham at 1-Hopewell Valley

5-Timber Creek at 4-Seneca

6-Oakcrest at 3-Holmdel

7-Barnegat at 2-Mainland

The Favorite: Mainland.

Mainland roared to the overall Group 4 title last season and is now in Group 3. The Mustangs (6-3) are not as stacked as they were last season but still are a formidable obstacle.

They have played the hardest schedule of any team in this bracket, and their three losses are to three state-ranked South Jersey squads: Winslow Township, Millville and St. Augustine.

Junior quarterback John Franchini (1,522 yards, 13 TDs) is a veteran who has played in big games, and his main target is one of South Jersey’s top receivers in junior Jake Blum, who has 812 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns on an average of 27.1 yards per catch. The Mustangs only have 529 yards rushing as a team, so it’s pretty much an all-out aerial attack.

Contenders: Holmdel, Hopewell Valley

Holmdel (7-1), ranked No. 7 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12, has never won a state sectional title and has only been to the final once, back in 1991. The Hornets are looking to change all that in the next three weeks.

They enter fresh off winning back-to-back division titles for the first time in program history. Junior quarterback Jack Cannon (2,550 total yards and 31 total touchdowns) already is the school’s all-time leading passer and has the single-season passing yards record (1,690 yards). No team has neutralized him for a full game all season, so he is one of the biggest offensive weapons of any team in the bracket.

Running back Matt Iulo (369-6 rushing, 15-266-2 receiving), wideouts Frankie Serini (31-564-7) and Michael Todisco (11-219-3) and tight end Alex Reyes (17-254-2) are Cannon’s main targets on an offense that averages 38.4 points per game. Holmdel also showed in its recent win over Manalapan that if a team jams up its running game and turns them one-dimensional, the Hornets can still move the ball through the air.

Senior Cipriano Bodnar (68.5 tackles, 7 sacks) is one of the Shore’s top defensive linemen, and junior linebacker Peter Berardi (67 tackles, 5 TFL) and Iulo (42 tackles) lead the middle of the defense. Serini and Todisco are also threats in the secondary with a combined four interceptions for a unit that allows 19.1 points per game. Holmdel has been mainly a bend-but-don’t-break defense against top opponents but has shown a knack for stops in the red zone and creating turnovers.

Holmdel’s first-round opponent, Oakcrest (6-3), only has two wins over teams with winning records this year and only has three playoff wins in its history. Their strength is more their defense, led by junior linebacker Donovan Linthicum, who is having a monster year with 111 tackles, 22 tackles for loss and 5 sacks. Junior Jaleel Williams also has 22 tackles for loss, so it’s an interesting matchup against one of the Shore’s top offenses.

With Cannon at the controls, the Hornets certainly have a shot at winning the section. It will most likely take one of the biggest wins in school history, a road victory at Mainland, just to get to the final. If they beat Mainland, they would have to be considered the favorite in the final, even if it was against undefeated Hopewell Valley.

Hopewell Valley (9-0) is the top seed, but the Bulldogs still have something to prove after playing a schedule not as challenging as Mainland. You could argue their schedule was similar in strength to Holmdel. Their best win is a 13-12 victory over Burlington Township, the No. 2 seed in Central Jersey Group 3.

The Bulldogs already beat fourth-seeded Seneca 35-12 in the regular season, so they have a solid path to the final. And if they get matched up with Timber Creek in the semis, the Chargers have struggled to score most of the season and would be a favorable matchup for Hopewell Valley.

Much like Holmdel, they are a high-scoring team based primarily around their offense. They average 39.5 points per game behind senior quarterback Milan Desai (1,521 yards, 20 TDs), senior running back Ben DeCore (1,169, 14 TD) and wideouts Owen Lengle (28-571-10) and Justin Klotz (26-435-7). Senior linebacker Johnny Ellis (69 tackles, 16 TFL) is their leader on defense.

 

Shore Shots: Holmdel and Barnegat.

Holmdel was covered above, so this focus is on Barnegat (6-3), which has the toughest first-round game of any team in the bracket with a trip to second-seeded Mainland. The Bengals are in the postseason for the first time since 2021.

This has been a nice bounceback year for Barnegat on the heels of a 2-8 season. The Bengals are led by the 1-2 rushing attack of Myquan Rush-Esdaile (805-8) and Johnnel Johnson (533-14). Junior quarterback Jack Haviland (837, 8 TDs) throws primarily to Todd Muhammad (21-237-1) and Stephen Griffin (14-228-3).

Defensively, senior linebacker Cole Toddings (111 tackles) leads the Shore in tackles and has a whopping 21 tackles for loss along with 4.5 sacks. Johnson (44 tackles, 6 TFL) is also a key cog at linebacker along with senior Jamison Prince (55 tackles) and Rush-Esdaile (51 tackles).

Non-Shore Player to Watch: Jake Blum, Jr., WR, Mainland

Blum is having one of the biggest statistical seasons of any receiver in the state with 812 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns. He also runs the ball and plays on defense, rarely leaving the field for the Mustangs.

 

Central Jersey Group 3

8-Absegami at 1-Somerville

5-Allentown at 4-Ocean City

6-Triton at 3-Cedar Creek

7-Delsea at 2-Burlington Township

Bracket breakdown: No need to get too in-depth here considering there’s no Shore Conference teams in this bracket. Top-seeded Somerville (9-0) is the favorite to win the overall Group 3 title and enters ranked No. 14 in the state by NJ Advance Media.

A perennial playoff contender, the Pioneers boast some of New Jersey’s top talents in Tennessee recruit Jayden Loftin at defensive end, Wake Forest commit Terrell Mitchell (1,022 yards, 14 TDs) at running back, and Marshall recruit Josh Rodriguez (23-405-6) at receiver. However, Loftin has missed the entire season due to a torn ACL.

Second-seeded Burlington Township (8-1) is most likely Somerville’s main challenger behind senior quarterback Baron Davis (1,524 yards, 16 TDs). You also can’t sleep on Delsea, the defending overall Group 3 champ, which just took a tough Mainland team to overtime last week. That’s not an easy first-round game for Burlington Township.

The only way this bracket comes into play for the Shore is if Holmdel wins its first sectional title, which would most likely mean a matchup with Somerville in the Group 3 semifinals.

 

North Jersey matchups

North 1

8-West Milford at 1-Pascack Valley

5-Sparta at 4-Montville

6-Snyder at 3-Passaic Valley

7-River Dell at 2-Mendham

 

North 2

8-Weequahic at 1-Old Tappan

5-Summit at 4-Cranford

6-Wayne Hills at 3-West Morris

7-Dwight Morrow at 2-West Essex