Immaculata football program seeks admission to Big Central Conference, could join league in ’28

The Immaculata football program is in discussions to join the Big Central Conference, Central Jersey Sports Radio has learned.

League president Scott Miller confirmed the Somerville Catholic school’s request to CJSR on Thursday afternoon.

While Miller says the potential admission of Immaculata is in the “extreme infant stage,” he confirmed that it’s definitely a topic that is on the table.

The process for admission is that once a school approaches the league, the Executive Committee must decide whether to present the request to the entire conference, where the league membership would vote on admission. In between, there would likely be multiple meetings to discuss any issues or concerns.

Miller says the Executive Committee did indeed vote to present Immaculata’s request to the full league, and it would be up to the 59 existing Big Central athletic directors to make the ultimate decision. That process could take several months, Miller noted.

The BCC is in the first year of a two-year scheduling cycle, so if Immaculata were added, Miller says the Spartans would not begin play until the 2028 season.

Their addition would give the Big Central an even 60 teams across four counties – at least for now – including all the Greater Middlesex Conference schools, as well as the schools that made up the former Mid-State 38 Conference, which included Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and parts of Warren Counties.

It would also give the league three non-public schools, including St. Joseph of Metuchen and St. Thomas Aquinas, formerly known as Bishop Ahr (though Aquinas was its original name when the school opened).

Immaculata was one of the original BCC members, having been in the Mid-State Conference, but over the summer of 2020, before the inaugural season kicked off, and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, they withdrew due to scheduling disagreements.

Warren Hills also was an original member of the Big Central, playing in the league in its inaugural season of 2020 and in 2021, but moved to the Super Football Conference in 2022.

And in news coming out of Robbinsville Wednesday, where the NJSIAA held its first Executive Committee meeting of the year, Bernardsville is in the process of seeking a split from the Skyland Conference in most sports, and the BCC in boys’ football and girls’ flag football, seeking to join the NJAC and Super Football Conference, with travel seemingly a key issue.

Immaculata parted ways with Mike Columbo after the 2025 season and in early February hired Class of 2011 alum Dallas Whitaker as head coach, with mentor Jeff Vanderbeek also on board as the Football Program Coordinator.

Vanderbeek took over at Somerville in 2015 as co-head coach with Chris Cassamento, then went solo the next year as the Pioneers went 10-1, falling in the Central Jersey Group 3 semifinals to Rumson-Fair Haven. They went 11-1 the next season, in 2017, and beat Rumson for the CJ3. Whitaker was his Offensive Coordinator.

Vanderbeek handed Whitaker the keys in 2018 and the team went 36-6 under his leadership, finishing with a No. 4 ranking in the state (7-0) in the COVID-shortened 2020 season with one of the highest-octane no-huddle offenses you’ll ever see at the high school level.

The Spartans are currently 1-2, with a Week One win over St. Joseph-by-the-Sea of Staten island, 50-28. They dropped a 40-20 decision in their opener to Glassboro, and fell 38-16 this past week at Archbishop Stepinac (NY). Though they are affiliated with the Super Football Conference to help with scheduling, they are considered independent within the league and do not play in an SFC division.