NJSIAA Announces Major Schedule Changes for WD Teams

The NJSIAA announced more major changes to the athletic schedule as a result of the super storm Sandy. The governing body announced the statewide postponement of the entire football schedule as well as the sectional cross-country championships.

High schools are still allowed to play football games this weekend if both schools taking part agree, while others will simply have a bye week.

The football teams from West Deptford High School and Haddonfield elected to accept the postponement and will now have their pivotal Colonial Conference showdown Friday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.

The NJSIAA’s decision to push the regular season back means the opening round of the playoffs will now be held the weekend of Nov. 16-17. The semifinals have been scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 30-Dec. 1 with the state championships tentatively slated for the weekend of Dec. 7-8.

The NJSIAA released a statement saying the decision was made because many schools throughout the state are still without power and many coaches have been unable to get in contact with players because of phone service issues.

Meanwhile, the cross-country sectionals have been rescheduled for Nov. 10, at Delsea.

The postponement means that the group championships that were scheduled for Nov. 10 at Holmdel Park will now be on Nov. 17. The Meet of Champions was originally scheduled for Nov. 17, but has now been moved to a time to be determined.

Moving the Meet of Champions to Nov. 24 may not be likely, as it would then conflict with the Nike and Foot Locker Northeast Regional Championships, scheduled for the same day. Those regionals are qualifiers for national championship races, so the top runners would certainly be conflicted.

The location of the states and the Meet of Champions is also up in the air. They were scheduled to take place at Holmdel, but a confirmation on the location will not be made until officials have a chance to survey the condition of the course.