The NJSIAA has officially announced its final football classifications for the two-year cycle covering its 2021 and 2022 seasons, posting them on its website at this afternoon.
The classifications are based on enrollment in grades 9 through 11, and used to group teams into sections for playoff qualification. Group size also is a factor in the traditional power point formula, which is still used to determine playoff qualification as 40 percent of the NJ United Power Ranking (UPR) formula, with the other 60 percent being the Opponent Strength Index, or OSI.
The big news is that a few Big Central teams will not make the anticipated moves that were in a draft NJSIAA classification document circulating back in August.
For example, Bernards would have moved from the South 2 supersection to North 2, but instead will remain in South 2.
North Plainfield was to move from North 3 to South 3 along with Carteret, South Plainfield and Rahway. But the Canucks will remain, while the rest go.
And Dunellen and Roselle Park will remain in North 1, instead of moving to South 1.
In all, only ten of the 60 teams in the Big Central Conference will make a move in the new cycle:
- Ridge moves down from North 5 to North 4
- Sayreville moves down and over from South 5 to North 4
- Perth Amboy moves over from North 5 to South 5
- North Hunterdon and Cranford move down from North 4 to North 3
- Bound Brook and New Providence move up from North 1 to North 2
- Carteret, South Plainfield and Rahway move over from North 3 to South 3
Click below to view or download the NJSIAA’s official 2021-22 Football Classifications: