Allentown, Lawrence earn top seeds in state tourney

The pairings for the upcoming state tournament have been announced with Lawrence and Allentown gaining the top seed in their section.

All 13 Colonial Valley Conference teams are entered in the tournament that begins next Tuesday with first round games.

No. 1 Lawrence (14-3-1), the Valley Division champion, gets a first round bye in Central Jersey Group II. The Cardinals await the winner of No. 8 Manasquan (2-10-2) and No. 9 Manchester Twp. (5-82).

Other local teams in CJ II are No. 6 Robbinsville (9-7), which hosts No. 11 Ewing (0-13) in the first round. The winner gets No. 3 Ocean Twp.

Allentown (13-1), the Colonial Division champion, gained the top-seed in Central Jersey Group 3 and gives the Redbirds home field throughout the tourney.

The Redbirds advance to the quarterfinals where they will await the winner of No. 9 Toms River East (2-12-2) and Northern Burlington (5-13).

Central Jersey III is an interesting group with Allentown, Steinert and Hamilton along with perennial section powers Moorestown and Burlington Twp.

Hamilton (4-11-1) is the 10th seed and faces No. 7 Brick Memorial (3-10-4) in the opening round. Steinert (3-14) is the No. 11 seed and will face Pennsauken (6-11-1).

Over in Central Jersey Group IV, Princeton (13-2-1) got the No. 2 seed and await the winner of No. 6 Freehold Twp. 9-9 and No. 10 West Windsor-Plainsboro South (4-7-2).

Hightstown (7-8) is the No. 9 seed and faces No. 8 Howell (87) in the first round. Should the Rams win, they’ll face No. 1 Toms River North (11-4-1).

Notre Dame gained the fifth seed in Non-Public South and travels to No. 4 Bishop Eustace (11-3).

Three CVC schools are in the North Jersey Section 2 groups as Hopewell Valley plays is Group II and West Windsor-Plainsboro North and Nottingham play in NJ 2, Group III.

No. 9 Hopewell Valley (5-9-2) hits the road to No. 8 Holmdel (8-8) for a first round game and the winner gets top-seeded Voorhees (16-3).

Over in NJ 2, Group III it’ll be No. 6 North (7-7) hosting No. 11 Nottingham (2-12) in the opening round.