West Jersey Football League

The West Jersey Football League (or the WJFL) is a 96-school superconference that stretches from Princeton, New Jersey, to Wildwood, New Jersey, encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference (New Jersey), the Tri-County Conference (New Jersey), the Colonial Conference (New Jersey), and the Cape-Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of 16 divisions: (American, Capitol, Classic, Colonial, Constitution, Continental, Diamond, Freedom, Independence, Liberty, Memorial, National, Patriot, Royal, United, and Valley) with divisional alignments being based on school size, geography, and a strength-of-program component. The league operates under the auspices of the Leagues and Conferences Committee of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Three new schools (who are debut programs) were added to the league in the 2024 season. Those schools are Mastery High School of Camden, first-year program Atlantic County Institute of Technology, and KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy. New Egypt High School left the WJFL in 2024 to join the Shore Conference. The league covers teams from counties ranging from Mercer to Cape May.

History

The league comprises 96 teams from public and private high schools in South Jersey and is the second-largest high school football league in New Jersey. The league was created in 2010 as a better way to balance teams that had faced imbalances in the size and quality of teams within conferences. While some regretted the loss of old rivalries, the conference made an effort to establish crossover games between teams that had traditions under which they had played each other regularly in the past.

With a decline in the number of student athletes playing football at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North that would be inadequate for the school to field a team of its own, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District attempted to combine the teams from the two schools to have them operate as a single co-operative football team for the 2017–18 school year based at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South. Given that the size of the schools is larger than the threshold established by the state for co-op programs (North is classified as Group 3 and South as Group 4 based on the size of the enrollment of each school), the proposal was rejected in a 76–16 vote by the West Jersey Football League and by the Leagues and Conferences Committee of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, before an appeal of the decision was rejected by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education.^[1] In August 2017, the district announced that WW-P North would cancel its program. The members of the canceled program will be eligible to play for the North junior varsity football team, but will not be able to play for the South team.^[2]

Divisions

Here is the 2024–25 West Jersey Football League divisional alignment. The new divisions were announced by the WJFL on November 29, 2023. Division alignments change every two years depending on school size. The schools are organized into their 2024–25 NJSIAA group classification. Each division’s number of teams range from 5 to 7.

American Division

Cherokee High School (New Jersey) (Group V, South)
Mainland Regional High School (New Jersey) (Group III, South)
Millville Senior High School (Group IV, South)
St. Augustine Preparatory School (Non-Public, Group A)
Winslow Township High School (Group IV, South)

Capitol Division

Allentown High School (Group III, South)
Hightstown High School (Group IV, South)
Hopewell Valley Central High School (Group III, South)
Notre Dame High School (New Jersey) (Non-Public, Group B)
Nottingham High School (New Jersey) (Group III, South)
Steinert High School (Group IV, South)

Classic Division

Delsea Regional High School (Group III, South)
Kingsway Regional High School (Group V, South)
Timber Creek Regional High School (Group III, South)
Washington Township High School (New Jersey) (Group V, South)
Williamstown High School (New Jersey) (Group V, South)

Colonial Division

Camden High School (New Jersey) (Group II, South)
Eastside High School (Camden, New Jersey) (Group II, South)
Lenape High School (Group V, South)
Rancocas Valley Regional High School (Group V, South)
Shawnee High School (New Jersey) (Group IV, South)

Constitution Division

Camden High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 3)
Camden Catholic High School (Non-Public, Group A)
Haddonfield Memorial High School (South, Group 2)
Haddon Heights Junior/Senior High School (South, Group 2)
Sterling High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 2)
West Deptford High School (South, Group 2)

Continental Division

Clearview Regional High School (South, Group 4)
Holy Spirit High School (New Jersey) (Non-Public, Group B)
Kingsway Regional High School (South, Group 5)
Vineland High School (South, Group 5)
Washington Township High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 5)

Diamond Division

Paulsboro High School (South, Group 1)
Penns Grove High School (South, Group 1)
Salem High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 1)
Woodbury Junior-Senior High School (South, Group 1)
Woodstown High School (South, Group 1)

Freedom Division

Bordentown Regional High School (South, Group 2)
Burlington City High School (South, Group 1)
Cinnaminson High School (South, Group 2)
Maple Shade High School (South, Group 1)
New Egypt High School (South, Group 1)
Pemberton Township High School (South, Group 3)

Horizon Division

Eustace Preparatory School (Non-Public Group B)
Gloucester Catholic High School (Non-Public Group B)
Lindenwold High School (South, Group 2)
Riverside High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 1)
Arthur P. Schalick High School (South, Group 1)
Wildwood High School (South, Group 1)

Independence Division

Cedar Creek High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 3)
Delsea Regional High School (South, Group 3)
Ocean City High School (South, Group 4)
St. Joseph Academy (New Jersey) (Non-Public Group B)

Liberty Division

Burlington Township High School (South, Group 3)
Delran High School (South, Group 2)
Pennsauken High School (South, Group 4)
Willingboro High School (South, Group 2)
Woodrow Wilson High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 3)

Memorial Division

Eastern Regional High School (South, Group 5)
Hammonton High School (South, Group 4)
Highland Regional High School (South, Group 3)
Rancocas Valley Regional High School (South, Group 5)
Timber Creek Regional High School (South, Group 3)

National Division

Cherry Hill High School West (South, Group 4)
Moorestown High School (South, Group 4)
Northern Burlington County Regional High School (South, Group 4)
Paul VI High School (Non-Public, Group A)
Seneca High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 3)
Triton Regional High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 3)

Patriot Division

Buena Regional High School (South, Group 1)
Clayton High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 1)
Glassboro High School (South, Group 1)
Middle Township High School (South, Group 2)
Pleasantville High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 2)

Royal Division

Cumberland Regional High School (South, Group 3)
Gateway Regional High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 1)
Lower Cape May Regional High School (South, Group 2)
Pennsville Memorial High School (South, Group 1)
Pitman High School (South, Group 1)

United Division

Absegami High School (South, Group 4)
Atlantic City High School (South, Group 5)
Bridgeton High School (South, Group 5)
Egg Harbor Township High School (South, Group 5)
Oakcrest High School (South, Group 2)

Valley Division

Lawrence High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 3)
Robbinsville High School (New Jersey) (South, Group 3)
Steinert High School (South, Group 4)
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (Co-op program with West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North) (South, Group 5)

References

^ Miller, Sean. "State denies West Windsor-Plainsboro's appeal in football merger", The Times (Trenton), July 12, 2017. Accessed September 25, 2017. "The New Jersey Commissioner of Education's office on Wednesday rejected an appeal by the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district for emergent action in its plan to merge the North and South High School football teams.... The district wanted the two school football teams, WW-P North and WW-P South, to combine into a 'co-op' for the upcoming 2017 season. But the NJSIAA denied the action, because North is classified as a Group 3 school and South as a Group 4."
^ Kahn, Lea. "West Windsor-Plainsboro North varsity football season canceled", CentralJersey.com, August 10, 2017. Accessed September 25, 2017. "West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North will not field a varsity football team this season because of a lack of players, according to West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District officials. The varsity football program at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South will continue but players from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North will not be allowed to play for that team."

External links

[1] Miller, Sean. "State denies West Windsor-Plainsboro's appeal in football merger", The Times (Trenton), July 12, 2017. Accessed September 25, 2017. "The New Jersey Commissioner of Education's office on Wednesday rejected an appeal by the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district for emergent action in its plan to merge the North and South High School football teams.... The district wanted the two school football teams, WW-P North and WW-P South, to combine into a 'co-op' for the upcoming 2017 season. But the NJSIAA denied the action, because North is classified as a Group 3 school and South as a Group 4."

[2] Kahn, Lea. "West Windsor-Plainsboro North varsity football season canceled", CentralJersey.com, August 10, 2017. Accessed September 25, 2017. "West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North will not field a varsity football team this season because of a lack of players, according to West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District officials. The varsity football program at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South will continue but players from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North will not be allowed to play for that team."

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