Some BCC teams move up, many move down in NJSIAA football classifications for 2024

The NJSIAA has released its 2024 and 2025 classifications for high school football, and a dozen of the 59 teams in the Big Central Conference will be in new supersections this year.

Traditional sections of approximately 16 teams each were done away with several years ago; sections are now determined by playoff seeding using a snaked formula.

Of the 14 that will find a new home this year, two are moving from South to North, with Carteret and South Plainfield remaining in Group Three. Otherwise, two schools moved up, while eight are moving down. And the moves are significant.

Keep in mind, that moves aren’t always because schools saw big growth or huge enrollment drops. The NJSIAA has “balanced” groups since the early 2000s, with ideally the same number of teams in each supersection. But one school could move up or down because another school passed them in enrollment.

Starting with the larger schools, both Linden and Sayreville are moving from North Group 4 to Group 5. The Bombers have typically been back and forth between Groups 4 and 5. For example, the Bombers were the South 5 champion in 2018, the first year of “regional bowl games,” and beat North Brunswick for the sectional title en route to winning the South 5 “bowl” against Williamstown on a fumble recovery in the end zone.

Three other prominent Group 5 schools moved down to Group 4, as Phillipsburg, Watchung Hills and Westfield remain in the North. The Stateliners have been to the sectional finals each of the last two seasons – both times as the top seed, but lost last year to Union City in North 2 Group 5, and West Orange the year prior.

Among the mid-range schools, Governor Livingston, Voorhees and Hillside both moved from Group 3 to Group 2, but the Vikings stay in North, while the Vikings and Comets go to South 2.

And of the smaller schools, New Providence and Bound Brook both dropped from Group 2 to Group 1. The Pioneers moved from South 2 to North 1, while Bound Brook remained in the South Group 1 supersection.

Dayton moved laterally within Group 2 from South to North. And in Group 1, Dunellen moved from South to North.

One other point to remember: Since Group Points are no longer part of the power point formula, no team will wind up getting hurt by an opponent moving to a smaller group size. A win over a Group 2 school is worth the same as a win over a Group 3 or 4 opponent.

The full NJSIAA classifications as released on August 26th can be found below: