While I have mainly plied my trade in Middlesex county both athletically and professionally on the hardwood, the passion and traditions of the Friday nights on the gridiron have always held a warm place in my heart. I recall trips to the meccas of GMC football as a student at J.P. Stevens, hoping and praying that the day where the Hawks would finally knock off the likes of Piscataway and Sayreville had finally arrived (it has yet to do so). Seeing the rich traditions in those two towns especially displayed all that is good about high school football: the act of bringing a community together, which, in a time of cynicism throughout the sporting world, is an oasis of sorts to remind us why we still watch. To have bore witness on the greatest HS rivalry in all the Garden State, JP Stevens vs Edison, has also provide a spectrum into the world of the gridiron. Every Thanksgiving morning, students and alumni alike bear their green or red and head to the field to reunite with old friends, as well as root on their respective sides who’s seasons are essentially at stake. Even when both teams are bad, as has been the case in recent years, the intensity of the game and the hatred between two schools has never wavered. High school football, especially in our state, has always been a game of pride and passion, which more often than not has brought out the very best in all of us who have played or observed it.
But as the game of football itself has changed, so has the local landscape. It is more expensive than ever to run a football program, and with the dangers of the sport recently coming to light, many of the smaller schools in Middlesex County have fallen victim to the times. Cardinal McCarrick HS shut down its football program before shutting down completely, and this past year Highland Park had to forfeit its opening game due to a lack of numbers. It has taken a toll as well on the schools that have remained afloat in football, as the small school GMC Blue Division has lately been amongst the worst divisions in New Jersey. According to the Calpreps.com Freeman ratings, the Blue has been in the bottom five divisions in NJ in three of the last five years, including last year despite Middlesex’s CJ1 sectional title. The GMC’s scheduling agreement with the Shore Conference has not helped the cause, as smaller school teams were often sent to slaughter against more equipped teams from down south. The Blue is 38-62 against the Shore in the last five years, with Middlesex as the only team at .500 with a 9-9 record, which was bolstered by a 4-0 mark in this past championship season. These scheduling issues have caused many to ponder a new agreement, or even something more.
Another issue has been the imbalance of school sizes in the GMC. While the conference has ten schools in Group 5 and a Catholic school in St. Joes that is essentially G5, there are only two Group 3 schools in Carteret and South Plainfield, and three Group 2 schools in Spotswood, Metuchen, and South River. While this is not a major factor for any of the other sports, it is in football, especially considering that both of the G3 schools were grouped with three G5 teams in the unbalanced White Division, which featured powerhouse St. Joseph for reasons that remain unclear. Teams are put out to pasture each week when they face the Falcons, who are 32-8 in the division in the past five seasons including a dominating 16-0 in the previous two. The GMC has made this a self inflicting wound in its alignments, including its future one for the next two years which features horrendous JP Stevens and Perth Amboy in the Red, powerhouse Sayreville in the White, and St. Joes in… no joke, the Blue, which may trigger the Don Bosco effect that saw public school teams forfeit games rather than compete with the mighty Catholic powerhouse. Massive blowouts will be commonplace under these alignments, which will make people ponder whether the inevitable was actually in fact preventable.
Furthermore, the landscape of the New Jersey football scene has changed drastically with the formation of the North Jersey Super Football Conference two years ago. That conference combined teams from Bergen, Passaic, Sussex, Hudson, Morris, and Essex County, and formed one massive conglomerate of teams. It balanced its groupings based on school size and competitive balance, and more importantly, took its Catholic powerhouses out of the picture for its public school minnows to play. It joined the West Jersey Football League, Shore Conference, and Mid State Football Conference as football leagues which span multiple counties. It was only a matter of time before the final domino fell.
I have always been proud of the fact that the GMC was the final holdout in football. This is supposed to be a game of local pride, with neighboring towns going to war each Friday night both on the field and in the stands. With the announcement that GMC schools will be joining the Mid State conference in football starting in 2021, that sense of local pride is lost. Rivalries have gone in favor of football monopolies who’s rigid scheduling processes overlook much of what makes the game great in the first place. While the reasoning behind the move is correct in order to balance the schedule both in terms of school size and competition, it marks the end of an era in high school sports. The days of playing for local pride are gone, and we will look back on them fondly.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
But we must also look forward, for the most important time is now to salvage the situation and create the best of both worlds in the new alignment. The leaders in Middlesex, Union, Somerset, Hunterdon, and Warren counties will undoubtedly look closely upon these next three seasons in order to strike the best possible balance between school size, competitiveness, and tradition. There are two ways in which this can be done: A geographic method or a salad bowl method. The former is the likely go to method, considering that this is a main reason for the success that the NJSFC has had. Their alignments for their larger schools resembles those from their former conferences in their respective counties. Its “Liberty” divisions made up of Group 5 football schools splits them into Bergen/Passaic, Hudson, and Essex groups with few exceptions. The Mid State conference has done this to a certain extent in the last few years, putting all of the large school teams from Union County in the same division, separate from schools further west such as Phillipsburg, Hillsborough, Montgomery, and Hunterdon Central. The “salad bowl” method would throw geography out the window and group teams based on school size and competitiveness. We will take a look at both possibilities, but first there is one warning I must give to the powers that be. In order for this to be successful, two unbreakable rules must be followed:
1 School size can be a guide, but it CANNOT be a crutch.
2 When you treat Catholic schools like all the other schools, you risk damaging the fabric of your sport.
Now for my proposed alignments.
GEOGRAPHY ALLIGNMENT
Delaware
Bridgewater-Raritan
Franklin
Hillsborough
Hunterdon Central
Montgomery
North Hunterdon
Phillipsburg
Watchung
Elizabeth
Linden
Plainfield
Ridge
Union
Watchung Hills
Westfield
Red
East Brunswick
Old Bridge
Piscataway
Sayreville
South Brunswick
St. Joseph
White
Edison
J.P. Stevens
Monroe
New Brunswick
North Brunswick
Perth Amboy
Both of my rules take center stage right away in the large school divisions. On rule one: Yes, I am aware that Phillipsburg, Sayreville, and North Hunterdon are Group 4 while the rest of the schools listed here are Group 5 or Catholic. Anyone with half a brain knows that PBurg and Sayreville are blue blood programs that have beaten the very best over the years. Over the last five years, the Stateliners are 31-5 against teams in the Delaware and Watchung divisions, while the Bombers are 28-10 in their last five full seasons in the more balanced Red, with nearly all of their losses coming in close games. We are only six years removed from Sayreville’s championship three peat, and despite being rocked by scandal four years ago, their tradition of winning remains as strong as ever. As for North Hunterdon, it is not only their 11-1 season and championship victory over Phillipsburg this past year that puts them in this category. They have competed at this level before, up until two years ago when the Mid State conference realigned. They posted respectable numbers then, and their athletic tradition is strong enough to maintain that level. Most importantly, all three are still big schools. They are all in Group 4 in all other sports, and none are far off from being in G5. To put any of these schools with lower group teams would be insulting to the schools in question and unfair to the other schools who would have to contend with teams who have played at the highest level throughout their entire history. This is a case where school size cannot be a crutch.
As for St. Joseph, their place in the Red should be non negotiable. They have endless resources at their disposal, and their 958 students combined with its status as an all boys school puts them directly on par size wise with schools such as Bergen Catholic, Delbarton, and St. Joseph Regional of Montvale. They have dismantled lesser competition in the past two seasons, and will likely do so again this coming season in the Blue, where they will face four opponents (Colonia, Kennedy, Carteret, and South Plainfield) that they defeated by a combined score of 284-47 over the past two years, with an average score of 35-6. To put them against smaller schools would decimate the new super conference and defeat its purpose. They cannot be treated like any other school.
And yes, I know East Brunswick has not been good for years. They have not posted a winning record since 2010, and they have been cellar dwellers in the Red ever since. Still, their massive size of 2,051 students, one of only 13 schools in NJ with 2,000+ students, and their rich athletic tradition combined with rivalries with each of the five other schools in the new Red leaves me to stick with tradition here. The Bears are the stapleholds of the GMC, and they should be treated as such. As for the White, competitive balance reigns supreme, for despite all six participants being Group 5 schools, they went a combined 19-41 last season, with only traditionally weak North Brunswick posting a winning record. With this grouping, all six teams can compete in every game they play in, with the flexibility to schedule other teams of similar ilk within the super conference. This is the beauty of smaller divisions such as these, which is something that the GMC only recently has realized.
Now for the rest.
Group E
Colonia
Immaculata
Iselin Kennedy
Somerville
Summit
Warren Hills
Woodbridge
This division features all Group 4 schools aside from traditional Catholic power Immaculata and Summit, which until this past season was a Group 4 school and has proven more than capable against their opponents in this division. The three Woodbridge schools give me pause though. While there should be a vested interest in keeping them together, both for traditional purposes and to prevent them from wasting what could be a valuable non conference game against each other, only Colonia has had success in recent years. Kennedy finished dead last in a very weak White division this past year, while Woodbridge had its worst season in several years. Woodbridge is a Group 4 school in the other sports however, and for the sake of numbers, only one Group 4 team could afford to drop to a lower division. Speaking of which……
Group F
Carteret
Cranford
Governor Livingston
Rahway
Scotch Plains-Fanwood
South Plainfield
Voorhees
It takes an extreme circumstance to put a school that is Group 4 in the other sports amongst Group 2 schools in the same classifications, but that is where we are with Scotch Plains. The Raiders have won three games combined in the last three seasons, and eight in the previous five seasons. They have fallen to their four opponents from Group E (Immaculata, Summit, Somerville, and Warren Hills) by a combined score of 399-155 in the last two seasons, for an average score of 50-19. In the name of competitive balance, they belong in this division. Otherwise, it is fairly straightforward with Group 3 football schools filling the remaining slots.
Group G
A.L. Johnson
Bernards
Bishop Ahr
Delaware Valley
Hillside
North Plainfield
Spotswood
Bishop Ahr is an interesting case. While they are in the Non Public Group 3 section, they have lately been weak in football. They managed to go only 2-8 last season in the Blue including a forfeit win over Highland Park. Before that, they struggled in the White for several years. The emergence of St. Joes, a school less than 1.5 miles from Ahr with whom they share the same street, as a football power has not helped the Trojans’ cause. A grouping with established Group 2 schools should be appropriate. North Plainfield is the lone Group 3 public school here due to the Canucks’ recent struggles.
Group H
Belvidere
Bound Brook
Middlesex
New Providence
Roselle Park
South River
Group I
Brearley
Dayton
Dunellen
Highland Park
Manville
Metuchen
South Hunterdon
And finally, we have the Group 1 schools, with South River and Metuchen as the only G2 schools in these groupings. While New Providence has faltered in the last two seasons, going 1-9 in both, their higher level of competition and success in the years immediately preceding the last two leaves them in Group E rather than Group F. Otherwise, these are fairly straightforward.
So there you have it. Similar to the NJSFC and the current Mid State conference, geography groups together the larger schools while the smaller schools who are more starved for opponents find their dance partners throughout the five counties which make up the new conference. This is the way it should be in four years. But what about the alternative?
SALAD BOWL ALLIGNMENT
I call it this because, just like in a salad, parts that have nothing in common would be thrown and stirred together and be portrayed as something entirely singular and whole. Both unbreakable rules should still apply here.
Group A
Bridgewater-Raritan
Elizabeth
Phillipsburg
Piscataway
South Brunswick
St. Joseph
Westfield
Group B
East Brunswick
Hillsborough
Hunterdon Central
Linden
Old Bridge
Ridge
Sayreville
Group C
Edison
Monroe
Montgomery
North Brunswick
North Hunterdon
Union
Watchung Hills
Group D
Franklin
J.P. Stevens
New Brunswick
Perth Amboy
Plainfield
Scotch Plains-Fanwood
For Group A, Elizabeth has to be in just as a result of its size. It is the biggest HS in the state by far, and despite other schools having more success than the Minutemen in recent years, that is still a very significant fact. As for the GMC teams, it is tempting to put Sayreville in that mix over Joes, considering they are probably more deserving on the field. But the school size does give me a bit of pause, considering the massive nature of three of the four non GMC teams in the division, plus the unbreakable tradition of the fourth. The resources that Joes has at its disposal leads me to believe that it can compete at that level year in and year out. I’m not saying that Sayreville can’t, but it is less likely. At the very least, I want to make sure that all the cobwebs from the scandal are shaken before they can take on the Westfield’s of the world. As for Phillipsburg, again, it should be a no brainer.
The issues for me in Groups B and C are what to do with East Brunswick and North Hunterdon. EB is a massive school, but lacks on field success. NH is a smaller school, and has a championship from this past year, but aside for that they are on the bubble between B and C when it comes to on field play. I leave EB in B and NH in C for now, but I am wary of how competitive the Bears would be and how dominant the Lions would be in those respective groupings. Otherwise, again, it is fairly straightforward, with the only other issue being between Ridge and Union. I have Ridge by a whisker in Group B.
And in Group D, once again, competitive balance would reign supreme. The six schools in question here were a combined 13-47 last season. All six would at the very least hope to compete in every game, and have the schedule flexibility to schedule to their needs within the super conference.
The remainder of the conference would look like this.
Group E
Colonia
Immaculata
Iselin Kennedy
Somerville
Summit
Warren Hills
Woodbridge
Group F
Carteret
Cranford
Governor Livingston
Rahway
South Plainfield
Voorhees
Group G
A.L. Johnson
Bernards
Bishop Ahr
Delaware Valley
Hillside
North Plainfield
Spotswood
Group H
Belvidere
Bound Brook
Middlesex
New Providence
Roselle Park
South River
Group I
Brearley
Dayton
Dunellen
Highland Park
Manville
Metuchen
South Hunterdon
Yes, this is the exact same alignment as the Geographical roadmap, aside from Scotch Plains. The reason why I believe that the Geography based system would work best is because it would accomplish competitive balance while maintaining traditions that have preceded many a lifetime. It would be not only inconvenient, but also damaging to both the conference and its teams if divisions had to be overhauled every two years based on who was good and who was not. Changes must happen of course, but continuity is key, especially when teams are in a period of growth. Again, schedule flexibility is crucial here, which is one of the main purposes of the merger to begin with. The main focus is to maintain groupings of school size, competitive balance, and tradition, and the geographic alignment accomplishes all three.
Of course, I am but one person here. Those in charge must come together to strike the same kind of balance that I have attempted to do here. Of course, all of this is subject to change over the next three years. Any of the aforementioned teams could go on either a metioric rise or a complete free fall and change the whole complexion of the super conference. And of course, there is no saying whether the powers at be will make the right decisions or not. Because if the recent GMC alignment is any indication of what is to come, then we are going to be in for some long years where the same problems with the current GMC arise in the new conference and the entire purpose of the new conference will be lost in the shuffle. At the end of the day, it just takes common sense and the act of paying attention, along with the following of the two rules to make every party happy. And only then can we salvage the situation and turn the loss of tradition into an overall win for the game itself.