We close out the first weekend of playoff football with five more games from around the Garden State!

Sparta 53 Mendham 45 | North 1 Group 3 Quarterfinal

The Spartans backfield handled 50 carries and rushed for 421 yards and a staggering seven touchdown runs to stave off the Minutemen in a back and forth Saturday afternoon game. Holy Cross QB commit Austen Frattura had four touchdown runs, followed by three more from Brandon Cabrera to lead fourth-seeded Sparta in a victory. Mendham, the fifth seed, played a tough game for 48 minutes. Lucky Carton rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns in his final high school game. Sparta will go on the road next Friday night to play top-seeded Old Tappan in the sectional semifinals.

JSZ’s Jay Cook has the highlights and reaction from Sparta:

Marlboro 21 Washington Township 17 | South Group 5 Quarterfinal

The Mustangs rallied from 17-7 down in the fourth quarter for an amazing comeback win. Marlboro took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a Matt Cassidy 17-yard TD run, but lost their star running back and linebacker to injury near the end of the first quarter. Washington Township took a 10-7 lead on a 99-yard TD run from QB Jared Dziergowski and followed that with a 10-yard TD pass to Jason DiBlasio with 6.6 seconds left in the half to take a 17-7 lead. In the fourth, Marlboro turned a Jake Houston interception into a 1-yard TD by Christian LaForte and took the lead on a double pass from Alex Frank to Ryan Mendes that covered 52 yards. Marlboro produced five total interceptions including four in the 4th quarter. The Mustangs will face top seed Toms River North in the South Group 5 semifinals.

JSZ’s Rich Chrampanis has all the twists and turns from an incredible comeback win:

Westfield 28 Bridgewater-Raritan 7 | North 1, Group 5 Quarterfinal

(3) Westfield advances to the North 1, Group 5 Semifinals following a 28-7 win over (6) Bridgewater-Raritan. With two early turnovers, it was 7-0 Bridgewater-Rarian after the first quarter. Westfield would take a 14-7 lead at halftime thanks to touchdowns from running back Dylan Wragg and quarterback Trey Brown. Wragg had 177 rushing yards while Brown finished with 179 all-purpose yards and two additional scores. The Blue Devils advance to take on (2) Union City in the next round.

JSZ’s Nery Rodriguez has the highlights from Westfield:

Thank you to the office of Senator Jon Bramnick for sponsoring our Westfield coverage.

Thank you to Princeton Orthopaedic Associates for sponsoring our Bridgewater-Raritan coverage.

Oakcrest 14 Delaware Valley 0 | South Group 2 Quarterfinal

The Falcons defense dominated to lead Oakcrest to its first playoff victory since 2010. Romello Gardner and Zahir Davis combined for seven sacks in the win for the Falcons (7-3), while Tauheed Hill had an interception. Tank Williams and Zicri Forest scored the touchdowns in the victory. Ryan Neal had an interception for the Terriers (6-3) in the loss.

JSZ’s Mike Frankel has the highlights and reaction from Mays Landing:

Highland 32 Manasquan 7 | Central Group 3 Quarterfinal

The Tartans took charge on the road and came away with a dominant victory over the Warriors. Avant Stewart hauled in a pair of receiving touchdowns from Connor Leary, and added an interception on defense for fifth-seeded Highland (6-4). Long Island commit Angelo Rodriguez added two rushing touchdowns in the win. Jack Dettlinger scored the lone touchdown in the loss for fourth-seeded Manasquan (4-4).

JSZ’s James Mooney has the highlights from Manasquan: