Although there are still six weekends of games remaining until the power points cutoff, an early look at this year’s New Jersey high school football playoffs came into focus this week when the NJSIAA released the first United Power Rankings. As a refresher, teams earn their UPR based on a formula where Opponent Strength Index accounts for 60 percent and power points account for 40 percent. The top-16 teams in each grouping qualify for the playoffs, and currently there are four Mercer County-affiliated teams who fall into that category. Hopewell Valley ranks No. 3 in South Group III, Allentown ranks No. 9 in South Group III, Lawrence ranks No. 5 in South Group IV, Steinert ranks No. 11 in South Group IV and Notre Dame ranks No. 12 in Non-Public B. Robbinsville is two spots out of the playoffs at No. 18 in South Group III, while no one else is particularly close at the moment. The full rankings appear every Wednesday in The Trentonian print edition. Here’s a look at what to watch for in Week Three of the West Jersey Football League. Friday Lawrence (3-0) at Bordentown (0-2), 6 p.m. Lawrence continues to enjoy a resurgent season as the Cardinals are 3-0 for the first time in eight years and sit atop the National Division with two wins. Bordentown is another divisional opponent and has yet to score double digits in any game, so Lawrence is the clear favorite here after falling to Bordentown in each of the past two seasons. James Lyons has been Lawrence’s breakout star with 608 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. Trenton (2-1) at West Windsor-Plainsboro (0-3), 6 p.m. Speaking of hot starts, Trenton has opened with wins in two of its first three games for the first time since 2020. Keyshawn Warthen has grown into a strong quarterback as a senior with 346 rushing yards, 129 passing yards and six total touchdowns. West Windsor showed improvement last week with 20 points in a loss to Robbinsville, including quarterback Conor Sattiraju totaling two touchdowns. Trenton lost this matchup last year but is the favorite this time. Ewing (0-3) at Robbinsville (1-2), 7 p.m. Robbinsville goes for its second win in a row coming off a 32-20 win over West Windsor in which Gavin Yablonowitz passed for a school-record 355 yards and three touchdowns. The Ravens also had one rushing touchdown each from Yablonowitz and Will Raftery. Robbinsville’s quick-passing game will be tough for Ewing to slow down coming off a disappointing 20-13 loss to Princeton at home. Hightstown (0-3) at Notre Dame (1-2), 7 p.m. Notre Dame has a strong chance to regroup against a struggling Hightstown team after consecutive losses to Timber Creek and Hopewell. Quarterback Julian Matera has been electric with 607 total yards and nine touchdowns, and that should carry the day even though the Irish also need to improve defensively. Hightstown has scored only two touchdowns on the season. Nottingham (0-3) at Hopewell Valley (3-0), 7 p.m. Hopewell is clearly the team to beat in Mercer right now after the Bulldogs went on the road last Friday and dropped 47 points against Notre Dame. They’re getting good penetration up front, and quarterback Milan Desai and running back Ben DeCore are leading the way with a balanced attack. Johnny Ellis has three sacks for the defense, which has shown a few warts in the passing game but shouldn’t have any problem here. Nottingham has scored only one touchdown in each game and is coming off a 34-8 loss to Allentown. Saturday Allentown (2-1) at Steinert (2-1), 11 a.m. Allentown has started to get on a roll with 76 points in back-to-back wins over Princeton and Nottingham. Matthew Schweitzer has been a dynamic dual-threat quarterback with several reliable targets like Nick Colella, Anthony Visconti and Matthew Woode. Anthony Giglio passed for 206 yards and a touchdown in Steinert’s 32-6 win last Friday over Hightstown, so this could be a shootout. The winner of this game will keep pace with Hopewell atop the Capitol Division. Princeton (1-2) at Hamilton West (0-3), 2 p.m. Princeton finally got in the win column last Friday at Ewing with solid defense and a balanced offense. The Tigers used two quarterbacks in Travis Petrone (one rushing touchdown) and Brady Colier (one passing touchdown). They are favored to win for the first time since 2014 against Hamilton West, which has allowed 29.7 points per game in losses to Jackson Liberty, East Brunswick and Trenton.