For its fifth and sixth seasons as a league, the Big Central has released its divisional alignments for the next scheduling cycle, paring down some of its big-school divisions to four teams each, while making two divisions of six teams each for some of its smaller schools.
The American Gold Division, for example, is down to four teams – Elizabeth, St. Joseph-Metuchen, Union and Westfield – with Somerville departing for the Liberty Silver, joining Montgomery, North Hunterdon, Rahway and Watchung Hills. That division previously had just four teams.
Also shrinking is the Patriot Gold, which now has just Bernards, Delaware Valley, Voorhees and JP Stevens. The Hawks come over from the United Silver, while South River and Bound Brook depart.
The Rams – who have struggled recently – go to one of the two largest divisions, all with smaller schools. They join Brearley, Dayton, Highland Park, Roselle Park and Spotswood in the Freedom Gold. The Freedom Silver gets the Crusaders, who join Belvidere, Dunellen, Manville, Middlesex and South Hunterdon.
The league also scheduled some games against Super Football Conference opponents to fill out the schedules of teams that needed games, while still keeping Week Zero open for teams to schedule their own opponents.
Elizabeth picks up a Week One game at Bayonne and a Week Six game at Morristown. Phillipsburg gets West Orange – the team they lost to in the 2022 North 2, Group 5 finals – on the road in Week Five. Bridgewater-Raritan got an away game at Morris Knolls in Week 2. Piscataway gets a road game at Ridgewood in Week Three. Old Bridge gets Morristown away on Week Five. Edison will host paterson Eastside on Cutoff Weekend, and Franklin gets Passaic on the road in Week One. New Providence picks up Verona away in Week Five. And Manville gets Hopatcong in Week One.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Big Central Conference President Scott Miller about the new divisional alignments and scheduling:
Meanwhile, East Brunswick gets Hamilton West out of the West Jersey Football League at home on Week One.
Here are the full divisional alignments for 2024 and 2025:
- American Gold: Elizabeth, St. Joseph-Metuchen, Union, Westfield
- American Silver: Bridgewater-Raritan, Hillsborough, Hunterdon Central, Phillipsburg, Ridge
- National Gold: East Brunswick, Monroe, Old Bridge, Piscataway, South Brunswick
- National Silver: Edison, Franklin, North Brunswick, St. Thomas Aquinas, Sayreville
- Liberty Gold: Colonia, Linden, Perth Amboy, Plainfield, Woodbridge
- Liberty Silver: Montgomery, North Hunterdon, Rahway, Somerville, Watchung Hills
- United Gold: Carteret, Cranford, Hillside, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Summit
- United Silver: Governor Livingston, JFK, New Brunswick, North Plainfield, South Plainfield
- Patriot Gold: Bernards, Delaware Valley, JP Stevens, Voorhees
- Patriot Silver: Johnson, Metuchen, New Providence, Roselle
- Freedom Gold: Brearley, Dayton, Highland Park, Roselle Park, South River, Spotswood
- Freedom Silver: Belvidere, Bound Brook, Dunellen, Manville, Middlesex, South Hunterdon
Click here for the full team-by-team schedules, by division, for 2024 and 2025 in PDF format.
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