New format coming for NJ public football playoffs?
South Jersey Group 8 champions? As odd as that sounds, players from teams such as Cherokee or Washington Township or Rancocas Valley could be wearing that designation on championship jackets as soon as the completion of the 2018 football season.
South Jersey Group 8 champions?
As odd as that sounds, players from teams such as Cherokee or Washington Township or Rancocas Valley could be wearing that designation on championship jackets as soon as the completion of the 2018 football season.
Jack DuBois, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association associate director who oversees football, confirmed Wednesday that the organization is considering a new format for public playoffs that would significantly change the postseason system.
DuBois said the NJSIAA's football committee is leaning toward recommending the creation of a new playoff system that would reduce the number of sections from four to two and increase the number of groups from five to eight.
In addition, 12 teams would qualify for the playoffs, with the top four seeds receiving byes in the first round.
Previously, the football committee had floated the idea of seven groups in two sections with 16 teams qualifying for the playoffs.
"But a lot of people were opposed to the idea of a 1-16 game" in the first round, DuBois said.
Under the current system, the NJSIAA separates public football into four sections - South, Central, North 1, and North 2 - with competition in five groups.
That results is 20 sectional champions.
Under the proposed format, there would be 16 sectional champions.
In addition, the format would move the state one step closer to a state championship in public football.
Public football is the only NJSIAA-sponsored sport that doesn't crown a state champion.
Thanksgiving Day games would be preserved under the new proposal, and championship games still would be played on the first weekend in December.
But teams that have a Thanksgiving Day game would need to start the season on so-called "Zero Week" - which in most years is the weekend before Labor Day - if they want to maintain the bye in the schedule because the playoffs would start in Week Nine, usually the first weekend of November.
Teams that don't have a Thanksgiving Day game would need to start "Zero Week" and play every week in order to have nine games before the start of the playoffs.
DuBois said NJSIAA officials planned to meet Monday with the state football coaches association to discuss the proposal.
DuBois said the proposal likely would be presented to the NJSIAA's advisory committee as well as the executive committee, then placed on the ballot for vote by the general membership in December.
If approved by majority vote, the new playoff format will take effect for the 2018 season.
In other football news, the NJSIAA announced the elimination of the controversional power-point multiplier for teams that compete against North Jersey non-public superpower programs.
In its place, the NJSIAA will award a set number of power points for games involving those teams. For instance, when Bergen Catholic plays Don Bosco, the winner will receive 32 power points and the loser 16.
Also, the executive committee tabled proposals aimed at regulating football in the summer, including the establishment of a "summer period" from June 11 to Aug. 6 and the limitation of three hours of practice - including weight-room sessions - per day during that period.
In addition, the NJSIAA wants each league to require every team to designate one of the weeks in the summer period as a "blackout week" with no football activity.
The executive committee is likely to pass those proposals in future sessions but decided to take more time to review the proposals with administrators and coaches.
Pitch counts
The NJSIAA did approve a rule change that will limit the number of pitches an athlete can throw in baseball.
The rule replaces the current rule that limits the number of innings that a pitcher can throw.
The rule change was implemented after the National Federation of State High School Associations directed each state to develop new rules for pitch counts. Coaches from each team will be responsible for keeping track of pitches at every level, including junior varsity and freshmen.
The proposal requires pitchers who throw the following number of pitches to rest the following amount of days:
1-30: zero days.
31-50: one day.
51-70: two days.
71-90: three days.
91-110: four days.
Also, athletes may not throw more than 140 pitches in a five-day period.
NJSIAA associate director Larry White, who oversees baseball, said the five-day period begins on the pitcher's first day of rest.
So, for example, an athlete who throws 100 pitches on a Monday would be required to rest for four days and could throw just 40 pitches on Saturday.
In many cases, the new rule will be a greater limitation on the availability of an athlete than the current system and likely will require teams to use more pitchers and require coaches to be more creative in their use of pitchers.
@PhilAnastasia
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