SPORTS

Live coverage: High school football semifinals

Joe Martino
@JMartinoMyCJ

Follow our sports reporters as they cover Friday night's high school football playoff action from the Greater Middlesex Conference and Mid-State 38. Fourteen local teams are vying for a spot in the state finals scheduled for Dec. 5-7. Scroll below for links to all our coverage including the Game of the Week preview, expert picks and more.

Manalapan at Hillsborough

Middlesex at Shore

J.F. Kennedy at Colonia

Trenton at South Brunswick

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Stay with us at MyCentralJersey.com all season long and you'll be the first to know about the bone-crushing tackles, game-breaking touchdowns and who emerges as this week's heroes.

You can become part of the action, too. Tweet us at @MyCJ_Sports with updates from the game you're at.

After the game, be sure to check out our comprehensive coverage of the night that was in the GMC and Mid-State 38 in the Red Zone; the online home of MyCentralJersey.com high school football. For details of GMC action, visit blogs.mycentraljersey.com/tufaro and blogs.mycentraljersey.com/frezza will have all the Mid-State 38 reports.

Hillsborough quarterback Ed Trimpert picks up yards as Monroe's Nick Fromhold (77) comes in for the tackle last Friday night.

SCHEDULE

Friday

Manalapan at Hillsborough

Westfield at Linden

Hoboken at Dunellen

Middlesex at Shore

South Hunterdon at Palmyra

Immaculata at DePaul

J.F. Kennedy at Colonia

Trenton at South Brunswick

Carteret at Long Branch

Woodbridge at Phillipsburg

Saturday

Elizabeth at Piscataway

Delaware Valley at Roselle

PREVIEW

As the fourth-smallest football-playing public high school in New Jersey, forgive Dunellen for having a bit of a Napoleon complex.

Dunellen often uses its diminutive enrollment as motivation but won't do so before Friday night's New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) playoff game against Hoboken.

A two-time defending North 2 Group I champion, Hoboken enters the contest with 47 percent (25 of 53) of its players enrolled at the high school under New Jersey's Interdistrict School Choice Program Act, according to Hoboken Interim Schools Superintendent Richard Brockel.

ANALYSIS

ALSO

For senior quarterback David Johnson, the Dunellen High School football team's unique double wing offense, in which players are packed tightly together at the line of scrimmage, serves as a metaphor for his close-knit hometown.

"You are working for the guy next to you, who is literally three inches away," Johnson said, referring to seven offensive linemen who front himself and three backfield mates.

"You have each others' backs in our offense. We are real tight, real close. I think that's the way the town is."