The NJSIAA football committee approved changes to its qualification system and sent a proposal to blow-up the current playoff format back for revisions
ROBBINSVILLE – The NJSIAA Football Committee approved changes to its power points system on a trial basis and sent a proposal that would revamp the playoff format back for revisions before being voted on by the general membership next December on Wednesday.
Multiple members of the football committee, speaking to NJ Advance Media on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting, said discussions about power-point amendments and the Westwood High School proposal for playoff expansion “were tense and lengthy.”
“What we need is a qualification system and a playoff format that is equitable for most of the kids playing football in New Jersey,” said Marlboro athletic director Dave Ryden, a football committee member. “You are never going to get a perfect system.
“It isn’t going to be solved in a day, a week or a month, but there are enough intelligent people in this state to come up with an equitable plan. This is about the 15 to 18-year-olds playing football in our state. It isn’t about North vs. South.”
The committee approved a power-point adjustment plan submitted by the North Jersey Super Football Conference.
Under the adopted plan, NJSFC Red and White division teams will still gain automatic entry to the playoffs. However, there were significant changes. Gone are the double power points for games featuring Red Division opponents and victories being awarded to both teams.
Here are the changes:
• In games involving United Red vs. United Red, the winner would get 32 power points and the loser 16 points. In the event of a tie, both teams get 24 points.
• In games involving United Red vs. United White: The United Red team would get “natural” power points for a victory. If United Red loses, it would get 12 points. In the event of a tie, United Red gets natural power points. United White teams would get 36 for a win, 24 for a loss and 30 points for a tie.
• In games featuring an out of division team against United Red, the out of division team would get 54 points for a win, 36 for a loss and 45 for a tie.
• In games featuring out of division teams against United White: the non-divisional team would receive 48 points for a win, 32 for a loss and 40 for a tie.
• Out of division teams that use the power point incentive (play a team from United Red or United White) and lose to a team within its section head-to-head can jump the loser even if it has a lower power-point total. If No. 8 was an incentive participant and lost to No. 6, it could jump No. 6. It would have a trickle-down effect – No. 6 would move to No. 7, No. 7 to No. 8 and the original No. 8 could be forced out of the playoffs. This rule does not impact non-incentive teams.
• Out of division teams that use the power-point incentive and have a 2-6 record or lower can be jumped in their section if teams below them have a lower power-point total.
Last season, Linden missed out on the playoffs despite having a better record than Columbia.
"There has to be some failsafes in it where teams with losing records just because they have a, let’s just say, a super conference team on their schedule, they shouldn’t be guaranteed the points simply for playing them," said Linden head coach Albert Chiola.
Sources told NJ Advance Media the power point proposal passed unanimously, although it was the only proposal under consideration.
“It's a crock,” said one committee member. “It was either accept this proposal or go back to what we have now. At least this proposal was a little better than the one they used this year.”
“These other schools down there need to wake up because they are where we were 10 years ago,” said Montclair coach John Fiore. “So why not get these extra points and take a shot one game a year?”
“Why don’t they do it then,” said Ewing athletic director and WJFL president Bud Kowal, a committee member, in response to Fiore's quote “They are right across the street and won’t play those teams (United Red and United White), but they want people two hours away to come up and play them.”
“We’re trying to schedule one of those guys,” said St. Augustine head coach Mark Reardon. “We can’t play a full schedule of them. I don’t want to take four bus rides over two hours a year.
“We have been actively trying to add or strengthen our schedule for a long time, if that’s a team from New Jersey or Maryland or Pa. But with the WJFL, we have a set schedule and we’re fine with that.
“It’s easier for a private school to schedule another private school. First we need a public school on our schedule to agree to drop the game and we have a team who might be willing to do that. But then we need to find a game on that date and they need to find another public school, probably, on that date for a 2-year commitment and that’s really hard to do. It’s hard for a public school to find a game. It’s almost impossible.”
The proposal drafted by Westwood athletic director Danny Vivino, River Dell athletic director Denis Nelson and the North Jersey Super Football Conference, is aiming to revamp the entire playoff structure in an attempt to make regular-season scheduling fairer and more equitable.
The plan would blow-up the football format as we now know it.
RELATED: Read about the NJFSC's playoff proposal
“There were major concerns with playoff expansion and No. 1 playing No. 16,” one committee member told NJ.com. “There were also some concerns expressed by some members about starting on zero week.
“The plan will not be voted on as it was submitted. There will be revisions about what was discussed today and probably even more changes moving forward. They are going to run some mocks to see how things would have turned out.”
Once the revisions are made and approved by the football committee, it would go to a vote of the full membership in December. If passed by the membership, the new playoff format would be implemented for the 2018 football season.
Joe Zedalis may be reached at jzedalis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephzedalis. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.