This previous weekend was Peak County Event season in New Jersey, the place the custom of an in-season knockout event has been in play for about 4 a long time.
In 2023, a brand new custom started within the capital area.
The individuals operating the Mercer County Event have finished issues somewhat otherwise through the years. They as soon as denied admission to school preparatory faculties that permit postgraduate gamers on their rosters.
Beginning earlier than the pandemic, the MCT not solely featured a conventional knockout spherical, but additionally had quite a lot of different matches scheduled between groups that misplaced in earlier rounds in one-off comfort matches.
In recent times, the Mercer County Event has been restricted to eight high seeds. The remainder of the county’s public, personal and parochial faculties are positioned in a distinct group, the Mercer County Invitational. This offers groups who could not have had an opportunity to play one other match within the event the possibility to play for a trophy.
Each tournaments ended right this moment. Within the Mercer County Event, The Hun College of Princeton (NJ) defeated Princeton (NJ) 2-1 in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 tie. It was Hun’s first MCT win since a 1-1 attract 1990.
Within the Mercer County Invitational, Lawrenceville (NJ) defeated The Pennington (NJ) College 2-0. Lawrenceville, winner of 16 Mercer County tournaments in its historical past, collected its seventeenth county trophy.
With all of the emphasis on qualifying for post-season tournaments and the stress to take care of a excessive stage for prolonged durations of time, it’s refreshing to see a gaggle of coaches and directors proposing and executing a sequence of two-tiered competitions.
It is one thing that I feel may be repeated within the coming years. What do you concentrate on it?