Schools

NJSIAA Adds Group 5 Classification to Football

The executive committee approved a proposal to add Group 5.

Beginning this fall, 160 high school football teams around the state will have the opportunity to win a state sectional championship, under a proposal approved by the NJSIAA Wednesday afternoon.

The NJSIAA Executive Committee approved the proposal to create a Group 5 designation in the four public school sections by a vote of 22-5-3 at its meeting in Robbinsville Wednesday.

"This creates a greater opportunity for schools and for student-athletes," said Jack DuBois, NJSIAA assistant director in charge of football. "It increases the number of teams playing in the playoffs from 128 to 160. At the same time, it eliminates 16 consolation games that schools didn't want to play anyway."

Find out what's happening in West Deptfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The proposal also allows teams whose records are under .500 to participate in the playoffs if they are needed to fill an eight-team bracket.

"We fill brackets in other sports that way, such as baseball and soccer," DuBois said.

Find out what's happening in West Deptfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The four sections—North Jersey Section 1, North Jersey Section 2, Central Jersey and South Jersey—will now have 15 teams per group instead of 19, which improves the chances of a team making the playoffs, he said.

It also potentially increases revenue for the NJSIAA, which had been criticized in the past by legislators like Assemblyman John Burzichelli for what they say was ticket price gouging. The NJSIAA's playoff ticket prices have been limited by a new state law, which Burzichelli championed, and the organization must now go through the Commissioner of Education to get approval on ticket prices.

Adding the new group in football adds 28 new playoff games throughout the state, including four new championship games, which command the highest ticket prices.

DuBois said the finalized list of team groupings won't be available until after the NJSIAA receives school enrollment numbers from the state, which they expect to receive sometime in June.

, , is currently slotted in Group 2 for football, and is one of the ten largest schools in the group, with a population of 700 for the NJSIAA's purposes. Depending on how the new groups are broken up, that could potentially put the Eagles on the cusp of a new Group 3 in the fall.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here