There will be no football for the Chiefs in 2020, another casualty of COVID-19.
According to published reports both on MyCentralJersey and TAPintoPiscataway, the Piscataway Board of Education – while adopting remote-only learning for the fall allowed by new rules issued by the state of New Jersey – has cancelled the fall sports season.
That includes both football, and the SuperChiefs marching band, both of which are widely recognized as among the best in the Garden State.
The move came as parents told the school board in a virtual meeting Thursday they were worried about a hybrid model, saying it was too soon to send their children back to school in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Chiefs become the second team in the newly-formed Big Central Football Conference to lose their fall season. Carteret made a similar decision a couple of weeks ago.
Elsewhere around the state, West Windsor-Plainsboro – which recently merged football teams from the North and South high schools due to dwindling participation in the programs – and Teaneck also have cancelled their fall football seasons.
As it stands now, the NJSIAA is allowing football to have a reduced six-game regular season schedule, with two weeks allowed for a yet-to-be-determined post-season. That post-season is not likely to include a traditional “playoff” set-up as in previous years. Thanksgiving games also would be permitted, but not count among the six regular season games.
The season’s start also was delayed by the NJSIAA, and is scheduled to begin no sooner than October 1.