Phillipsburg won the North 2, Group 4 title with a dramatic 13-11 win over Northern Highlands at Maloney Stadium on November 15, 2024. (Photo: Marcus Borden)
The formation in 2018 of the Big Central Football Conference – essentially an amalgamation of the GMC and Mid-State Conferences – was born out of necessity, intended to address scheduling difficulties.
Six years into the grand experiment, which began play in the 2020 season, league officials couldn’t be happier about where it is, and where it’s going.
The 2024 campaign brought two state sectional champions (Phillipsburg and Somerville) and the first berth for a league team in the state Group finals, with the Stateliners going all the way to the Group 4 title game at Rutgers, falling to Winslow Twp.
But it also saw JP Stevens break its long losing streak, then win a second game, while Highland Park – which snapped its own, even longer skid in the 2023 finale – put together four straight victories overall after getting off to a 3-0 start.
League President Scott Miller is just as proud of those two achievements as he is the first two. And better yet in regards to the Hawks and the Owls? They did it without being in an “Ivy” Division, and NJSIAA-sanctioned division where struggling teams can be together, with the understanding they will not qualify for the playoffs in exchange for schedule relief.
It’s meant to help struggling teams regain their footing. But HP and Stevens are getting there without it. And Miller says he never wants to tell a team going into a season they can’t make the playoffs. The Owls nearly did.
As the league embarks on its sixth season, Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko spoke with Big Central Conference President Scott Miller at the third annual BCC Media Day up at Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union.
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