NJSIAA Announces 2020 HS Football Postseason Format

After weeks of uncertainty surrounding the exact nature of the postseason for the 2020 New Jersey high school football season, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association on Wednesday announced the plans for its modified playoffs.

The two-game postseason will be known as the "Football Postseason Groupings" and will be played during Week 7 (Nov. 13-14) and Week 8 (Nov. 20-21). Since it is not a championship playoff, participation will be open to any team regardless of record. The NJSIAA will oversee certain aspects of the postseason but the five football conferences around New Jersey will be in charge of organizing their member schools into four-team groupings based on competitive balance, school size and geography.

The NJSIAA also said it will "facilitate coordination between leagues and conferences whenever such coordination is necessary to complete groupings", an indication that the postseason could be played across conferences as long as they align with the regions laid out by the NJ Department of Health.

The cutoff for schools to submit their intent cards indicating they want to be included in the postseason is Nov. 2. The NJSIAA will host a seeding meeting with the representatives from all five conferences the weekend of Nov. 7, which, unlike the usual state playoff seeding meetings, will be closed to the press.

The NJSIAA will announce the postseason groupings on Sunday, Nov. 8 and will assign and schedule all games. Awards and trophies will not be provided.

Also, the United Power Rank will not be calculated and maintained during the 2020 season but Gridiron NJ will continue to update the strength index weekly on its website.

Managing editor Bob Badders can be reached at bob.badders@townsquaremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bob_Badders. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest video highlights.