Realignment Could Help Hopatcong Football

Beginning this fall, 160 high school football teams around the state will have the opportunity to win a state sectional championship, under a proposal approved by the NJSIAA this afternoon.

The NJSIAA Executive Committee approved the proposal to create a Group V designation in the four public school sections by a vote of 22-5-3 at its meeting in Robbinsville, according to Jack DuBois, NJSIAA assistant director who's in charge of football.

"This creates a greater opportunity for schools and for student-athletes," DuBois said. "It increases the number of teams playing in the playoffs from 128 to 160. At the same time, it eliminates 16 consolation games that schools didn't want to play anyway."

athletic director Tom Vara agreed, but had his concerns.

Vara said it would give the Chiefs a better shot at a state title. But that title could come at a cost, he said.

"Clearly, any time something gives our school a chance to be competitive, I'm certainly for it," he said.

But Vara said allowing more teams into the playoffs could dilute the meaning of reaching the postseason.

"But the purist in me says you water it down a little bit," he said.

Vara also said that while reaching playoffs gives a school bragging rights, a team earning the final spot in the bracket only to get wiped out by a top seed might be hesitant to accept the bid.

"I don't know if you get a lot out of that," he said. "If you don't make the playoffs, you could play a consolation game and possibly get more out of that in terms of building your program."

The proposal also allows teams whose records are under .500 to participate in the playoffs if they are needed to fill an eight-team bracket.

"We fill brackets in other sports that way, such as baseball and soccer," DuBois said.

The four sections -- North Jersey Section 1, North Jersey Section 2, Central Jersey and South Jersey -- will now have 15 teams per group instead of 19, which improves the chances of a team making the playoffs, he said.

DuBois said the finalized list of team groupings won't be available until after the NJSIAA receives school enrollment numbers from the state, which they expect to receive sometime in June.