Football: Big Central Conference releases re-aligned divisions for next two seasons
The Big Central Football Conference released its realignment for the 2024 and 2025 high school football season Tuesday, making some much-needed changes to some of league’s 12 divisions to account for changes in competitive balance.
The new alignment, which is good for the next two seasons, saw 11 teams change divisions, including three moving up, six moving down, and two changing divisions, but staying in the same group. The divisions are based on a combination of program size and strength of program.
The other big move is compacting the two Group 2 divisions – Patriot Gold and Patriot Silver – from five teams to four teams, and expanding the two Group 1 divisions – Freedom Gold and Freedom Silver – from five teams to six-team divisions.
More: Football awards: Central Jersey and Big Central Conference postseason honors index
Moving on up
These are the teams who have moved up into divisions populated by bigger schools (This past season’s record and school’s group size in parenthesis):
St. Thomas Aquinas (10-1, Non-Public B) – From United Gold (Group 3) to American Silver (Group 5)
Rahway (3-7, Group 4) – from United Gold (G3) to Liberty Silver (G4)
Hillside (6-3, Group 3) – from Patriot Gold (G2) to United Gold (G3)
Falling down
Here are the teams moving down into divisions populated by smaller programs:
Somerville (5-5, Group 3) -- From American Gold (G5) to National Silver (G4)
New Brunswick (0-9, Group 5) – From National Silver (G5) to United Silver (G3)
J.F. Kennedy (1-8, Group 4) – From Liberty Gold (G4) to United Silver (G3)
J.P. Stevens (0-11 – lost 42 straight, Group 5) – From United Silver (G3) to Patriot Gold (G2)
Bound Brook (2-7, Group 2) – From Patriot Gold (G2) to Freedom Silver (G1)
South River (0-9, Group 2) – From Patriot Gold (G2) to Freedom Gold (G1)
Shifting over
Plainfield and Carteret move into divisions of the same size, as the Cardinals (6-5, Group 5) go from the Liberty Silver to the Liberty Gold, while the Ramblers (7-3, Group 3) go from the United Silver to the United Gold.
The alignment
Here are the division-by-division alignments for the next two seasons:
AMERICAN GOLD: Elizabeth, St. Joseph-Metuchen, Union, Westfield
AMERICAN SILVER (no change): Bridgewater-Raritan, Hillsborough, Hunterdon Central, Phillipsburg, Ridge
NATIONAL GOLD (no change): East Brunswick, Monroe, Old Bridge, Piscataway, South Brunswick
NATIONAL SILVER: Edison, Franklin, North Brunswick, Sayreville, St. Thomas Aquinas
LIBERTY GOLD: Colonia, Linden, Perth Amboy, Plainfield, Woodbridge
LIBERTY SILVER: Montgomery, North Hunterdon, Rahway, Somerville, Watchung Hills
UNITED GOLD: Carteret, Cranford, Hillside, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Summit
UNITED SILVER: Governor Livingston, J.F. Kennedy, New Brunswick, North Plainfield, South Plainfield
PATRIOT GOLD: Bernards, Delaware Valley, J.P. Stevens, Voorhees
PATRIOT SILVER: A.L. Johnson, Metuchen, New Providence, Roselle
FREEDOM GOLD: Brearley, Dayton, Highland Park, Roselle Park, South River, Spotswood
FREEDOM SILVER: Belvidere, Bound Brook, Dunellen, Manville, Middlesex, South Hunterdon
Simeon Pincus has been covering New Jersey sports since 1997. He can be reached at SPincus@GannettNJ.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Football: Big Central Conference releases re-aligned divisions
