UNION COUNTY, NJ — No football in December?
State championship games will be played on weekday nights?
Wow, most of us did not see that coming from the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.
That will be the case this fall for, pretty much –the first time in New Jersey.
When these changes were approved last week by the NJSIAA’s Football Tournament Regulations committee, you can be sure that many basketball and wrestling coaches were jumping up and down.
That means, in several cases, for schools that advance that far during the football season, basketball and wrestling coaches will get their athletes back sooner than later.
The news came out last week that the season will end before Dec. 1 and that the group state championship games will be contested at either MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford or SHI Stadium at Rutgers University in Piscataway the week of Monday, Nov. 27, the Monday after Thanksgiving.
The NJSIAA moved all seven group finals, five public and two non-public, to the week after Thanksgiving. For schools that do not have a game scheduled for Thanksgiving, the finals will be on Sunday, Nov. 26, through Tuesday, Nov. 28. Schools that are scheduled to play on Thanksgiving will play on Wednesday, Nov. 29, or Thursday, Nov. 30.
The group semifinal games, played last year at Franklin High School in Somerset County and Cherokee High School in Camden County for the first time, will be played at the higher seed this year, based on regular season-ending rankings. These games are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 17, or Saturday, Nov. 18.
Thursday, Nov. 30, is now the last possible day of the football season for 2023, barring inclement weather that might push it back.
The final day of the regular season is Sunday, Nov. 26, the final day of Thanksgiving weekend. Some schools may play final regular season games Thanksgiving week, but not on Thanksgiving, rather on any of the three days after Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, 25 or 26.
Union County games still scheduled for Thanksgiving this year include Abraham Clark High School at Roselle Park High School and Westfield High School at Plainfield High School. Abraham Clark last won a state championship in 1989, Roselle Park in 1993, Westfield in 2017, and Plainfield never in the playoff era that began in 1974.
NJSIAA Executive Director Colleen Maguire explained that the decision to move the state finals schedule up and consider title games to be played on weeknights was the lack of availability for its two championship sites.
MetLife has the New York Jets home against the Miami Dolphins on Friday, Nov 24, which is the first time the NFL has scheduled a game on Black Friday.
The New York Giants are then scheduled to host the New England Patriots two days later on Sunday, Nov. 26.
Rutgers University is scheduled to host the University of Maryland in its regular-season finale the day in between on Saturday, Nov. 25.
The season starts much sooner now as official shoulder pads practice begins Wednesday, Aug. 9, and ends much sooner. This year, the latest end will be Thursday, Nov. 30.
The first weekend of games has been in August for several years. Many school districts also begin classes now before Labor Day for the first time.
Some playoff championship games in the past were moved to weekday nights after they were originally snowed out. On a Thursday night at the old Giants Stadium in East Rutherford 20 years ago, Piscataway High School came back to beat Union High School 29-7 in the 2003 North 2, Group 4 final and then, in the game immediately after on the same field, Ridge High School blanked Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School 27-0 in the North 2, Group 3 title contest.
Those games that season were played as late as Dec. 11.
That won’t be the case this year and probably never again.
Seven of Union County’s 17 football playing schools open the final weekend in August, which is called Week Zero. The rest open Labor
Day weekend, known as Week One.
Here are the revised 2023 Public Tournament and Non-Public Tournament schedules from the NJSIAA:
Public tournament
• Round 1: Friday, Oct 27, or Saturday, Oct. 28, at the higher seed
• Round 2: Friday, Nov. 3, or Saturday, Nov. 4, at the higher seed
• Sectional finals: Friday, Nov. 10, or Saturday, Nov. 11, at the higher seed
• State (group) semifinals: Friday, Nov. 17, or Saturday, Nov. 18, at the higher seed
• State (group) finals: Sunday, Nov. 26; Monday, Nov. 27; or Tuesday, Nov. 28, at MetLife or SHI Stadium at Rutgers University for schools that did not play on Thanksgiving
• State (group) finals: Wednesday, Nov. 29, or Thursday, Nov. 30, at MetLife Stadium or SHI Stadium at Rutgers University for schools that did play in Thanksgiving
Non-public tournament
• Round 1: Friday, Nov. 3, or Saturday, Nov. 4, at the higher seed
• Round 2: Friday, Nov. 10, or Saturday, Nov. 11, at the higher seed
• State semifinals: Friday, Nov. 17, or Saturday, Nov. 18, at the higher seed
• State finals: Sunday, Nov. 26; Monday, Nov. 27; or Tuesday, Nov. 28, at MetLife Stadium or SHI Stadium at Rutgers University for schools that did not play on Thanksgiving
• State finals: Wednesday, Nov. 29, or Thursday, Nov. 30, at MetLife Stadium or SHI Stadium at Rutgers University for schools that did play in Thanksgiving
Photos by JR Parachini