More than a dozen Big Central squads do the NJSIAA shuffle as state unveils Group and Supersection classifications for next two seasons

There are a total of 14 Big Central Conference football teams who find themselves in new supersections Wednesday morning, with nine of them moving up or down into a new group based on school size.

One of the more prominent moves was Phillipsburg, due to the NJSIAA’s new competitive balance formula, which moves teams to larger sections based on playoff success according to a points matrix, if those schools are designated as being able to draw from areas outside their traditional geographic boundaries. Such schools must be open enrollment, choice schools, and the like, or charters, all of which are considered public schools (compared to non-publics) because they receive public money.

The Stateliners, who won their second straight sectional title last season, winning North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4, moved up from the North Group 4 supersection to the North Group 5 supersection. That’s where they played in the 202 and 2023 seasons, but not due to the rule, which had not been established yet. It was due to their school size, and P’burg has gone back and forth in that regard, so it’s not something that program is unaccustomed to.

Westfield – which also has been in Group 5 in the past, but was in Group 4 the past two years – also is back up to Group 5, staying in the North.

Other notable group changes include North Brunswick dropping to Group 4, while also moving into the North from the South; Carteret and Summit – with the Hilltoppers having gone to the North 2, Group 3 final last year – moving up to North 4; New Providence moving up from North 1 to 2, and Jonathan Dayton in Springfield doing the opposite; and Delaware Valley moving from South 2 to South 1.

Other teams simply got moved to different geographic sections due to the Super Football Conference “Ivy Division” teams. Those are teams that are requested by the league to be in a developmental division, ineligible for the playoffs (and ineligible to play any playoff-eligible teams). In the past, the NJSIAA had counted them in balancing out geographic supersections within a group (North vs. South), but since they were not eligible, one supersection would have more teams than the other.

That resulted in schools like Perth Amboy and Franklin moving from South to North in Group 5, for example, and explains many of the “lateral” moves geographically within a Group.

Here are the full changes involving Big Central Schools:

• Franklin: moves laterally from South 5 to North 5
• Perth Amboy: moves laterally from South 5 to North 5
• Phillipsburg: moves up from North 4 to North 5, due to the Competitive Balance Formula
• Westfield: moves up from North 4 to North 5; though enrollment fell, removing “Ivy” schools likely changed the cutoff from Group 4 to Group 5
• Carteret: moves up from North 3 to North 4; enrollment fell slightly, but likely pushed up by Shabazz moving up from North 2 to North 3 due to the Competitive Balance formula, as well as three Ivy removals in North 3. The Ramblers would have been the largest school in North 2, and instead are the smallest in North 3.
• North Brunswick: moves down from South 5 to South 4; enrollment dropped by 153
• Summit: moves up from North 3 to North 4; also one of the largest North 3 schools last year (same as Carteret, 874), enrollment dipped slightly, but likely moved for the same reasons as Carteret
• Somerville: moves laterally from South 3 to North 3; likely due to Ivy removal, this also removes the lone remaining team in South 3, leaving that and South 4 as the only state supersections without any Big Central Conference representation
• Hillside: moves laterally from South 2 to North 2; likely due to Ivy teams being removed
• New Providence: moves up from North 1 to North 2; enrollment increased from 472 to 502
• Voorhees: moves laterally from South 2 to North 2; likely due to Ivy teams being removed
• Dayton: moves down from North 2 to North 1; enrollment dropped from 496 to 458
• Middlesex: moves laterally from South 1 to North 1; likely due to Group 2 teams moving up due to Competitive Balance Formula
• Delaware Valley: moves down from South 2 to North 1; enrollment dropped from 514 to 464

Here are the Groups and Supersections with Big Central Conference teams:

• North Group 5: Bridgewater-Raritan, Elizabeth, Franklin, JP Stevens, Linden, Perth Amboy, Phillipsburg, Piscataway, Plainfield, Union, Westfield
• South Group 5: East Brunswick, Edison, Hillsborough, Hunterdon Central, Monroe, New Brunswick, Old Bridge, Sayreville, South Brunswick
• North Group 4: Carteret, Colonia, JFK, Montgomery, North Brunswick, North Hunterdon, Rahway, Ridge, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Summit, Watchung Hills, Woodbridge
• South Group 4: none
• North Group 3: Cranford, North Plainfield, Somerville, South Plainfield
• South Group 3: none
• North Group 2: Bernards, Hillside, New Providence, Voorhees
• South Group 2: Johnson, Governor Livingston, Metuchen, Roselle, South River
• North Group 1: Belvidere, Brearley, Dayton, Dunellen, Middlesex, Roselle Park
• South Group 1: Bound Brook, Delaware Valley, Highland Park, Manville, South Hunterdon
• Non-Public A: St. Joseph-Metuchen
• Non-Public B: St. Thomas Aquinas

See and download the NJSIAA’s Football Classifications for the 2026 and 2027 football seasons: