On Wednesday, the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association membership voted 318-12, with six abstentions, in favor of allowing a playoff system that will allow the Garden State to play-down to a single state champion in all of the state’s groups. The vote removes a decade’s old clause in the governing body’s constitution that prohibited the crowning of state champs.
The next step will be to establish a structure that allows for a complete state championship. The New Jersey Football Coaches Association has proposed an 8-game regular season with 32-team brackets in the five public school divisions. There would also be non-public school champs in three divisions, which basically exists now. The NJSIAA’s advisory committee will need to approve the playoff structure, which may not be put into play until 2022, at the earliest.
