Corrections: Irvington will play at Bergen Catholic and will host North Bergen.
IRVINGTON, NJ (corrected Saturday Dec. 23, 6:23 a.m.) – The North Jersey Super Football Conference released the 2018 schedules.
Irvington High School will open the season on Week Zero against Orange at home on August. 31.
Irvington will remain in the Freedom Division. However, the division has been changed. Wayne Hills, Wayne Valley, and Passaic Valley have moved out of the division, replaced by Barringer, Ferris and Orange.
The remaining teams in the division are Belleville and Milburn, in addition to Irvington. However, Irvington will not play Belleville.
Irvington won the Freedom White Division title this fall and finished with an 8-3 overall record.
Irvington will host Bergen Catholic in a non-division game. Bergen Catholic won the Non-Public Group 4 state title and finished as the No. 1 team in the state by The Star-Ledger/nj.com this season.
The Blue Knights will also host Montclair in the final regular-season game. Montclair beat Union City in the North Jersey Section 1, Group 5 state final, finishing with a 12-0 record this season. Irvington will face Union City in the second game of the season.
On Monday, Dec. 4, a day after the state finals were completed, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association member schools voted in favor of a proposal to allow 10 regular-season games, which will allow the possibility of expanding the current state playoff format.
Under the proposal, the top 32 teams in the power-point system will be seeded in each Group, and then broken into four sections with eight teams in each bracket. The top six teams will receive quarterfinal-round byes. The power-point formula also will be changed.
Non-public schools will have an extra round of playoffs.
The details of the plan will be finalized by various football committees in the next several months. The plan then will be presented to the NJSIAA Executive Committee in April. If approved, the plan will take effect for the 2018 season.
The state playoffs currently have five Groups with four sections (North Jersey Section 1, North Jersey Section 2, South Jersey and Central Jersey), with the playoffs ending in sectional finals.
Under the proposal, the playoffs will be expanded to one more round, which will be two Bowl Games that pit the sectional champions in each Group. One Bowl Game will pit the two largest teams in terms of enrollment, and the other Bowl Game will pit the two smallest teams.
The NJSIAA crossover games for teams that do not qualify for the playoffs will remain. Under the proposal, those non-playoff teams will be allowed to play a second crossover game. The playoff teams that lose in the quarterfinal round also will be allowed to play a crossover game.
The first eight games will count toward the playoffs, rather than the current system of the best seven of eight games.
The sectional finals will be played at neutral sites during the week prior to Thanksgiving. The Bowl Games will be played at neutral sites the week after Thanksgiving, which is currently when the sectional finals are played.
Irvington HS
2018 schedule
Aug. 31, Orange
Sept. 7, Union City
Sept. 14, at Ridgewood
Sept. 21, at Millburn
Sept. 28, at Bergen Catholic
Oct. 5, North Bergen
Oct. 12, at Ferris
Oct. 19, Barringer
Oct. 26, Montclair
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