Tag: forfeits

by Mike Pavlichko

Sayreville, Manville among big gainers as COVID forfeits are added back into schedules, affecting power points, UPR and playoff standings heading into Cutoff Weekend

Gridiron New Jersey – which calculates power points, OSI and UPR for playoff qualification in high school football for the NJSIAA – has added 24 more games back onto team schedules, COVID-related forfeits that won’t be played.

The NJSIAA ruled earlier this season that COVID-related cancellations would be ruled forfeits, but not until after Week 8 of the season, once it was certain the games would not be made up on either bye weeks or in the event of additional cancellations.

The team that had to cancel the game would be awarded a loss, and the team cancelled upon would be awarded a win. Power points would be accorded in the traditional fashion as if the game had been played.

Only one case involved a multiplier: St. Joseph of Metuchen cancelled on Sayreville on October 1. That means the Falcons get natural power points for a loss, and Sayreville gets multiplier points – 42 – for a win.

Five Big Central games were added back as forfeits, two of them involving Brearley, which got forfeit wins over Roselle Park (Sept. 17) and Dunellen (Oct.21). Phillipsburg picked up a forfeit win over Somerville (Oct. 8), and St. Thomas Aquinas got a forfeit win over South River (Oct. 1).

Other forfeits around the state included:

  • Hopewell Valley def. Allentown (Oct. 15)
  • Willingboro def. Buena (Oct. 8)
  • Triton def. Cherry Hill West (Sept. 10)
  • East Orange def. Newark East Side (Oct. 9)
  • Florence def. Pennsville (Oct. 8)
  • Lenape Valley def. High Point (Oct. 8)
  • Millville def. Highland Regional (Sept. 17)
  • Hightstown def. Robbinsville (Sept. 17)
  • Immaculata def. Hoboken (Sept. 10)
  • Hudson Catholic def. Morris Catholic (Oct. 9)
  • Lakewood def. Manchester Twp. (Oct. 16)
  • Morristown-Beard def. Montclair-Kimberley (Oct. 9)
  • Newark West Side def, Orange (Sept. 10)
  • Newark West Side def. North Bergen (Oct. 23)
  • Bishop Eustace def. Schalick (Aug. 27)
  • Whippany Park def. Wallkill Valley (Oct. 15)
  • Dickinson def. Weehawken (Sept. 3)
  • Boonton def. Weequahic (Sept. 3)

(Note: The Sterling-Paulsboro game was removed from the forfeit list after the teams agreed to schedule the game this weekend.)

Sayreville was one of the big beneficiaries of the changes that came down Tuesday afternoon, jumping from 10th place – with a first-round road game – all the way to 6th in the North Group 4 standings, shifting the Bombers home. And with a strong opponent in Old Bridge this weekend, it remains to be seen if even a loss could bring them back outside the top eight.

Somerville dropped from 4th to 7th in the South Group 3 standings, meaning the Pioneers could be in danger of losing a first-round home game unless they beat Summit Friday night at Brooks Field. That game can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio starting at 6:45 for the pregame, with kickoff at 7:00 for the Big Central Game of the Week driven by Autoland.

The changes also boosted Manville. The Mustangs were in 18th in South Group 1 before Week 8, with a 5-1 record. Beating Bound Brook Friday night helped them climb to 16th place, and now they have moved up to 13th, according to the latest Gridiron New Jersey standings.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will be breaking down all the moves over the next day or so, and the various scenarios for Big Central teams as we head into Cutoff Weekend. Join us for a LIVE projection show at 5 pm this Saturday, hosted by Mike Pavlichko at cjsportsradio.com. He’ll be joined by longtime Somerset County sports scribe Harry Frezza, as well as Korbid Thomspon of the King James Radio Network.

by Mike Pavlichko

NJSIAA confirms power points for forfeits involving “multiplier” teams

NJSIAA Executive Director Colleen Maguire – who also handles football – confirmed to Central Jersey Sports Radio Thursday morning its policy on how to handle power points arising from forfeits this season.

Public schools who take a forfeit win when a non-public multiplier school cancels a game will get the multiplier points as if they had won the game.

However, public schools who take a forfeit against a non-public multiplier will only get natural power points.

When the NJSIAA announced its plan devised by the Football Leagues & Conferences Committee Tuesday in an email to Athletic Directors across the state, there was no mention of what would happen with multiplier teams. But Maguire confirmed the policy to CJSR today.

Continue reading “NJSIAA confirms power points for forfeits involving “multiplier” teams” →
by Mike Pavlichko

NJSIAA devises plan to deal with COVID forfeits, but it won’t take effect just yet

In an email to athletic directors around the state, the NJSIAA has announced that games cancelled due to COVID will be recorded as forfeits, but not until Week 8 of the football season.

The ruling by the Football Leagues and Conferences Committee comes as a number of teams across New Jersey – though not nearly as many as in 2020 – have had to cancel games due to COVID cases in their schools, on their teams, or due to contact tracing.

Two such cancellations occurred last week in the Big Central. St. Joseph-Metuchen had to cancel on Sayreville, while South River bowed out against St. Thomas Aquinas.

The forfeit ruling is important – compared to issuing a “no contest” – because NJSIAA football regulations for 2021 state that a minimum seven games will be used to average power points and OSI this season. Any team playing fewer than seven games would still have their total divided by seven, which would lead to an artifically low power point average.

Issuing forfeits – if the games can’t be resecheduled – maintains the proper math in power point averages.

What remains a question mark, however, and is unclear in the communication sent to ADs yesterday, is whether or not multiplier points will be awarded. For example, Sayreville would have gotten 42 multiplier power points for beating St. Joe’s, but only 12 under natural power points.

Central Jersey Sports Radio has reached out to the NJSIAA for a clarification, but did not immediately receive one. This post will be updated as information becomes available.

The question is: should a multiplier – an incentive for playing certain non-public teams – be awarded if the game is never played? A team’s schedule may be dependent on that game being played, and it might be perceived as pulling the rug out from under those teams to change it mid-season.

There’s precedent for awarding the multiplier when things don’t work out as planned. In 2017, Camden Catholic was a multiplier team, but after a slew of problems in the program including the departure of the head coach and several players, they went 0-7 but the state kept them as a multiplier so as not to affect the teams that had them on their schedules.

The email sent to ADs by the NJSIAA states: “Gmes canceled due to COVID, or the inability to field a team, that were unable to be replaced will be awarded a forfeit.”

It adds those forfeits “will not be reflected in a team’s records or UPR until the completion of Week 8 games.”

The idea is to allow teams a chance to reschedule those games. Even if they have a full schedule through the end of the regular season, those games could be made up if other cancellations happen, or even later on or around Thanksgiving. In the latter case, the games would not be forfeits; they would have just been played later in the season.

“In the best interest of our student-athletes, NJSIAA staff continues to encourage all schools to strive to replaace any cancelled game.”

The Leagues & Conferences Committee also made a ruling on Week 1 games cancelled due to the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which devastated many communities, and forced a slew of postponements and cancellations.

The email states “Games cancelled Week 2 due to Hurricane Ida that were unable to be replaced will be removed from the schedule and treated as a no contest.”

by Mike Pavlichko

NJSIAA still working on plan to account for COVID forfeits in power points and OSI formula

While COVID has not wreaked nearly the type of havoc on the high school football schedule in 2021 as it did last year, it still has the potential to make things messy when it comes to playoff qualification.

And for some teams, it could downright keep them out of the playoffs.

That said, the NJSIAA is in the process of devising a plan on how to handle those situations, according to sources.

One key issue is how to handle teams that only manage six games this season for one reason or another. In its 2021 football regulations, the NJSIAA set a seven-game minimum for calculating power points and OSI. But that could affect teams that had no choice in whether they meet the minimum, due to the continuing effect of COVID.

The NJSIAA’s football regulations state that “7 games will be the minimum number of games used when averaging both the Power Points and OSI totals for use in the UPR system. For instance, if your team only plays 6 games, then both the Power Points and OSI totals will be divided by 7 games for UPR purposes.”

That means a team that managed only six games will have a much lower power point average when dividing by seven instead of six.

But it doesn’t just affect the team that had to give up a game because of COVID, but also the team that was cancelled on.

And what about schools that had to cancel due to Ida, which flooded many communities, like Manville, Cranford and others in the Big Central?

Earlier this year, Piscataway had to cancel on Phillipsburg due to damage from Ida, but the Stateliners quickly found a replacement game in St. Joe’s of Montvale.

But last week, South River had to cancel a game last minute with St. Thomas Aquinas and the Trojans had no time to find a replacement.

Then there’s the question of how to deal with multipliers. St. Joseph-Metuchen had to cancel its scheduled game with Sayreville due to COVID. The Falcons are a “multiplier” team in power points. The NJSIAA needs to figure out how to account for that.

The Bombers should get credit for a win, but do they get the normal power points? Or the multiplier points?

All of those questions will need to be settled in the next week or two before we get to the final few weeks of the season.