North Jersey Interscholastic Conference

The North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, or NJIC, is a high school athletic conference located in New Jersey. It is one of the so-called "super conferences" created by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) as a part of a realignment of high school sports leagues in North and Central New Jersey announced in 2009. The conference is composed of small-enrollment schools.[1]

A total of 36 public and private high schools are part of the NJIC. Most of the schools are located in Bergen County (27), with the rest in Passaic County (6) and Hudson County (3).[2] Butler High School, in Morris County, was added starting in the 2018–19 school year.[3]

Formation

Increasing conflict over competitive imbalance in New Jersey high school sports leagues led to the formation of a committee to study the issue in 2008. The group proposed to disband the 11 athletic conferences in the northern part of the state and create six larger "super conferences".[4]

After a lengthy series of meetings and revisions, final implementation of the plan took place with the start of the 2010–11 school year. In the northeast corner of New Jersey, two super conferences emerged: the Big North Conference for larger schools and the NJIC for smaller schools.[5]

Almost all of the NJIC schools that originally joined the league were previously associated with either the Bergen County Scholastic League (BSCL) or Bergen-Passaic Scholastic League (B-PSL). The only exception was Pascack Hills High School of Montvale, which had been associated with the BCSL for football but had belonged to the North Bergen Interscholastic Athletic League (NBIL) for other sports. The BCSL schools that joined the league mostly came from its National and Olympic divisions, while Rutherford High School was the only member of the league's American division that did not join the Big North Conference.[6]Paterson Catholic High School(a member of the B-PSL) closed in the spring of 2010 and therefore never joined the NJIC.[7]

Three other schools—Hawthorne Christian, Mary Help of Christians and Saddle River Day—had been independent prior to the start of the realignment process. Hawthorne Christian and Saddle River Day were placed in the BCSL National/Olympic and Mary Help of Christians Academy was placed in the B-PSL as a transitional step before the NJIC began play.[8]

In 2011-12, Pascack Hills left to join the rest of the former NBIL schools in the Big North for all sports. Several years later, the league added Butler High School from the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference.

Member schools

Bergen County public schools

School Location Team Name
Becton Regional High School East Rutherford Wildcats
Bergen Arts and Science Charter School Garfield, New Jersey Yellowjackets
Bogota High School Bogota Buccaneers
Cresskill High School Cresskill Cougars
Elmwood Park Memorial High School Elmwood Park Crusaders
Emerson High School Emerson Cavaliers
Garfield High School Garfield Boilermakers
Glen Rock High School Glen Rock Panthers
Hasbrouck Heights High School Hasbrouck Heights Aviators
Leonia High School Leonia Lions
Lodi High School Lodi Rams
Lyndhurst High School Lyndhurst Golden Bears
Midland Park High School Midland Park Panthers
New Milford High School New Milford Knights
North Arlington High School North Arlington Vikings
Palisades Park High School Palisades Park Tigers
Park Ridge High School Park Ridge Owls
Ridgefield Memorial High School Ridgefield Royals
Rutherford High School Rutherford Bulldogs
Saddle Brook High School Saddle Brook Falcons
Waldwick High School Waldwick Warriors
Wallington High School Wallington Panthers
Wood-Ridge High School Wood-Ridge Blue Devils

Bergen County non-public schools

School Location Team Name
Dwight-Englewood School Englewood Bulldogs
Immaculate Conception High School Lodi Blue Wolves
Saddle River Day School Saddle River Rebels
St. Mary High School Rutherford Gaels

Hudson County Public Schools

School Location Team Name
Harrison High School Harrison Blue Tide
Secaucus High School Secaucus Patriots
Weehawken High School Weehawken Indians

Morris County public schools

School Location Team Name
Butler High School Butler Bulldogs

Passaic County public schools

School Location Team Name
Hawthorne High School Hawthorne Bears
Manchester Regional High School Haledon Falcons
Pompton Lakes High School Pompton Lakes Cardinals

Passaic County Non-Public Schools

School Location Team Name
Eastern Christian High School North Haledon Eagles
Hawthorne Christian Academy Hawthorne Defenders
Mary Help of Christians Academy North Haledon Blue Jays

Sports offered

Conference Divisions

The NJIC is divided into four divisions, largely along geographic and enrollment lines. Divisional alignments are reviewed every 2-year scheduling cycle by the conference. Because not all conference members participate in bowling, cross-country, football, golf, tennis and wrestling, different divisional alignments exist for those sports. Football and wrestling are sports specific and do not fall into the traditional divisional alignments.[9]

Colonial Division

  • Elmwood Park
  • Garfield
  • Glen Rock
  • Lodi
  • Rutherford
  • Eastern Christian
  • Hawthorne
  • Manchester
  • Pompton Lakes
  • Mary Help of Christians

Meadowlands Division

  • Becton
  • Hasbrouck Heights
  • Immaculate Conception
  • North Arlington
  • Saddle Brook
  • St. Mary
  • Wallington
  • Weehawken
  • Wood-Ridge

Patriot Division

  • Bogota
  • Cresskill
  • Emerson
  • Hawthorne Christian
  • Midland Park
  • Palisades Park
  • Park Ridge
  • Saddle River Day
  • Waldwick

References

  1. ↑ Mattura, Greg. "Small-school NJIC may debut its own league championship", The Record, January 9, 2017.Accessed August 30, 2020. "The small-school North Jersey Interscholastic Conference may debut its own boys basketball tournament this season, one season after introducing its girls hoops championship. The NJIC is composed of schools from Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties and the event offered to the 36 boys teams would serve as an alternative to likely competing against larger programs in a county tournament."
  2. ↑ Member Schools, North Jersey Interscholastic Conference. Accessed August 30, 2020.
  3. ↑ Havsy, Jane. "Butler off to smooth start in new small-school conference", Daily Record (Morristown), September 28, 2018. Accessed August 27, 2020. "Butler High School’s athletic teams wandered into uncharted territory this fall. The Bulldogs are taking on the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, an allegiance of NJSIAA Group I schools in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties. As the league's first Morris County member, Butler began its transition from the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference in January 2016."
  4. ↑ "NJSIAA Proposed Realignment," , accessed January 25, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Realignment Architects," http://www.northjersey.com/sports/hs_sports/football/102511419_Architects_behind_realignment.html
  6. ↑ "Realignment will mean new matchups for teams". NorthJersey.com. August 27, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Paterson Catholic to close by end of school year". NorthJersey.com. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Schools are ready to deal with realignment". NorthJersey.com. August 27, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
  9. ↑ "New football realignment finally agreed upon". NorthJersey.com. March 18, 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
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