NJSIAA Announces Major Schedule Changes, West, East Sports Affected

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) has postponed the entire football playoff schedule and made major changes to the sectional cross country championships following the trail of destruction from Superstorm Sandy.

High schools are still allowed to play football games this weekend if both schools taking part agree, while others will simply have a bye week. The teams that play this week will be on bye next week.

The decision to push the season backs means the opening round of the playoffs will now be held the weekend of Nov. 16 and 17. The semifinals have been scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, with the state championships tentatively slated for the weekend of Dec. 7 and 8.

The NJSIAA released a statement saying the decision was made because many schools throughout the state are still without power and many coaches have been unable to get in contact with players because of phone service issues.

As of Wednesday night, the teams from Cherry Hill East and West were still going ahead with their games this weekend. East is now scheduled to travel to take on Cherokee, next Wednesday at 7 p.m., while West will hit the road to take on Camden Catholic, Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games were originally scheduled for Friday.

Meanwhile, the cross-country sectionals have been rescheduled for Nov. 10 at Delsea.

The postponement means that the group championships that were scheduled for Nov. 10 at Holmdel Park will now be on Nov. 17. The Meet of Champions was originally scheduled for No. 17, but has now been moved to a time to be determined.

Moving the Meet of Champions to Nov. 24, may not be likely as it would then be conflict with the Nike and Foot Locker Northeast Regional Championships, scheduled for the same day. Those regionals are qualifiers for national championship races, so the top runners would certainly be conflicted.

The location of the states and the Meet of Champions is also up in the air. They were scheduled to take place at Holmdel, but a confirmation on the location will not be made until officials have a chance to survey the condition of the course, which isn't far from many affected communities on the Jersey Shore.

Both West soccer teams will be able to compete in their Group 4 first-round playoff games today, thanks to the contests being held on turf. The boys will be in action at Washington Township, while the girls will be at Eastern. Both games are slated for 2 p.m.

The East boys' soccer team's first-round game has yet to be announced, but the Cougars will face Lenape on the road.