In three of the four South Jersey public school semifinals, at least three of the four participants will be coming from the same conference.

Group 2 has upstaged everybody by having all four semifinalists from the Colonial Conference.

Group 4 will have three of the four teams from the Olympic Conference.

And Group 1 features three of the four from the Tri-County Conference.

Only Group 3 departs from the pattern. In fact, only two teams from the seven-county South Jersey area are left in Group 3, Moorestown and Highland.

Fans who are really ambitious can attend both of the Group 2 semifinals, with West Deptford traveling to Haddonfield's Scout Field at 2 p.m. and Haddon Heights visiting Haddon Township at 4 p.m.

"I think you could equate it to the smaller version of the Group 4 story," said Heights coach T.J. Ambrose. "Those schools are all familiar with each other and it boils down to how bad a team wants it."

Sometimes seedings can be misleading but in Group 2, the top four seeds have made it to the semifinals, with defending sectional champion and second-seeded Haddonfield the favorite.

Haddonfield has beaten its opponent, No. 3-seed West Deptford, twice this season, 3-2 and 3-0. That means the Eagles will have a major chip on their shoulder.

As for the other matchup, No. 1 Haddon Township beat No. 4 Haddon Heights in their only meeting, 2-0. Both teams have premier sweepers – Lauren McCutcheon for Township and Megan Roney of Heights, so goals will be at a premium.

The Group 4 semifinals belong to the Olympic Conference, although Clearview of the Tri-County Conference will attempt to crash the party.

Eastern will meet Shawnee in an all-Olympic game. In the regular season, Shawnee beat the Vikings, 3-2, in overtime.

Olympic American champion Lenape will face Clearview in the other semifinal. Clearview could be an honorary Olympic Conference member, with two wins over Cherokee, one over Eastern, and close losses to Washington Township and Paul VI.

More than its affiliation with the Olympic, one of the story lines of this playoff is whether Lenape can win a third straight sectional and state title. The Indians have beaten Oakcrest and Washington Township in their first two games by a combined 6-0 score, so complacency doesn't seem to be a problem.

In Group 1, No. 5 Schalick will visit No. 1 Pennsville, in one all-Trico semifinal. Schalick will try to avenge a 3-1 regular-season defeat to the Eagles.

The other semifinal has No. 2-seed Clayton, which won its first-ever Tri-County Classic title, hosting No. 11 seed Maple Shade. In the quarterfinals, Maple Shade got a taste of the Tri-County Conference by ousting Pitman, 2-0.

While on the topic of the Trico, Highland is representing the conference in the Group 3 semifinals, hosting always-dangerous Brick.

Moorestown, which recently won its 12th straight Burlco Liberty title, will visit top-seeded Point Pleasant Boro in tomorrow's other semifinal.

Fellow Liberty Division member Cinnaminson is still alive in the Central Jersey Group 2 race, and as the No. 2 seed will host No. 3-seeded A.L. Johnson in tomorrow's semifinal.

In non-Public A action, Paul VI will host Notre Dame, while Non-Public B has Sacred Heart at Holy Cross and St. Rose-Belmar at Gloucester Catholic.

Teams from a variety of leagues are still in the hunt for a sectional championship. Many of them happen to be familiar opponents from the same conference, which adds even more intrigue to what is shaping up as an extremely interesting day of soccer in South Jersey.

or mnarducci@phillynews.com.