(3) Middletown South 4, (11) Middletown North 0 Once the smoke cleared, two teams from the Shore Conference and two teams from Mercer County were left standing and now, both semifinals will feature a Shore vs. The Central Jersey Group III quarterfinals were the rivalry round, with the Middletown teams going toe-to-toe, two Class A South rivals squaring off and two of Mercer County’s best doing battle in a grudge match. (4) Rancocas Valley at (1) Freehold Township Sectional Semifinal Matchups (Tuesday, Nov. Sophomore Madelyn Roberto got Howell on the board in the second half with her team’s lone goal of the game. The loss closed out a historic season for the Rebels, who reached the Shore Conference Tournament championship game for the first time in program history. Senior Kennedy Garcia assisted the first goal of the game by Joanna Marlin and scored two of her own during a four-goal first half that powered Rancocas Valley to a sectional quarterfinal win over Howell. The goal was only the second of Resker’s varsity career and both have come in 1-0, NJSIAA Tournament wins for Manalapan, with her first coming as a sophomore in a 1-0 win over Howell in the first round of the 2021 Central Jersey Group IV playoffs. Junior Kasey Resker finished the golden goal during the second overtime period off a feed from sophomore Savannah DiSabato and Manalapan pulled out a dramatic road win over Monroe to march on to the Central Jersey Group IV semifinals. In two state tournament games, Freehold Township has outscored its opposition, 13-0, which followed a four-game Shore Conference Tournament run in which the Patriots outscored its four opponents by a cumulative count of 13-1. Sophomore Gaby Parker, junior Hailey Santiago, junior Ainsley Moy and senior Kayla Wong each finished a goal and Santago collected a pair of assists to headline the win. The Shore Conference Tournament champions continued their rampage through Central Jersey Group IV behind four goals from four different players in another shutout win – this time over the Raiders. Manalapan, meanwhile, has been a battle-tested, dangerous outfit all year and has some momentum heading into this week.

Now, the field is down to two Shore teams after Howell ran into a red-hot Rancocas Valley squad that will next face a heat-check against Freehold Township – arguably the state’s most dominant team of the last two seasons. It took a golden goal for Howell to escape Marlboro in round one and join Freehold Township and Manalapan as the three Shore Conference representatives in the sectional quarterfinals. Three Class A North sides cleared the opening round of the Central Group IV bracket and it might have been four were it not for Marlboro drawing Howell in the first round. Here is a quick look back and even quicker look ahead in each of the Shore-relevant sections.

There were all kinds of highlights from the sectional quarterfinal round on Saturday and the action continues on Tuesday with the public sectional semifinals and the non-public quarterfinals. Surf Taco Boys Soccer Player of the Week.Orthopaedic Institute Brielle Orthopaedics Soccer Scoreboard.Seaview Orthopaedics Football Scoreboard.Ocean County Sports Medicine Player of the Week.Adrenaline Sports Academy Baseball Scoreboard.

Red heart roll with it melange