If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Grammatically, that sentence is wrong – but the sentiment is 100 percent right.
If your wife is beautiful and you’re in love with her … what would be the point in leaving her?
If you love everything about your job … then why would you move on?
If your teeth are perfect … what would be the point of having them pulled?
If grandma’s lasagna is delicious … would she add paprika for no reason?
And that leads me to the Super Football Conference.
If you’re the SFC and the 2025 alignment was fine … why shake things up for 2026?
The ink has barely dried from the current high school football season and the SFC tinkered with the divisional alignments for next year.
The SFC didn’t take a wrecking ball to the 2025 alignment, but there were enough changes for next year to leave me scratching my head.
Most divisions, as they stood, were fine. We were growing used to them … until we are no longer used to them.
Change for the sake of change is not the way to go.
Unless it is an away state playoff game, fans should not need WAZE.
Memo to the SFC: There is nothing wrong with a small change here and there. Improvement is always good. Change is not necessarily good.
Here are the new divisions with my thoughts:
United White: Delbarton, Pope John, DePaul, Seton Hall Prep.
Comment: St. Peter’s moves up to the United Red (joining Bergen, Joe’s, Bosco, Paramus Catholic). Immaculata went from the public-school National White to Independent. I think they would have been a perfect fit for the United White. They were 9-3 and absolutely destroyed most Public and Catholic schools on their schedule with the exception of Paramus Catholic, Shabazz and Weequahic. (Shabazz and Weequahic are similar to Catholic schools in that they get their kids from all over Newark, but that is a story for another time).
Ivy Gold: Dover, Belleville, Bergenfield, Bergen Tech, Kennedy (Paterson), Millburn.
Comment: Dover makes a return to the Ivy Division. The Tigers were 3-17 the last two years and were winless this year, so this is a good move for them. A better move would be if they could save themselves a TON of travel and insert them in a small-school league in Morris-Sussex. (See below).
Liberty White: Chatham, Morris Knolls, Morristown, Mount Olive, West Morris.
Comment: This league belongs at the top of the If-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it department. Why, oh why, were Randolph and Roxbury moved away from Knolls-Morristown-Mount Olive-West Morris?? And why was Chatham dumped in here? Makes absolutely, positively no sense. None. History and traditional rivalries shouldn’t be broken up with a sledgehammer. Kids in Roxbury grow up wanting to play kids from Long Valley (West Morris). Rockaway-Denville kids get extra pumped for Randolph. And what we have here are bureaucrats from Bergen County moving things around willy-nilly. It ain’t right.
American White: Caldwell, Hanover Park, Madison, Mountain Lakes, Pequannock.
Comment: Caldwell keeps getting jerked around.The last two years, the Chiefs were with neighboring schools West Essex, Millburn, Passaic Valley and Nutley. The two years before that, the Chiefs were with Hanover, Mountain Lakes and Madison for two years. Now, they are back with Hanover, Mountain Lakes, and Madison. That is no way to build history and meaningful rivalries.
National White: Boonton, Hopatcong, Indian Hills, Kinnelon, Parsippany, Whippany Park
Comment: Dover should be here, not Indian Hills. Dover would have been PERFECT for the National White. What on earth is Indian Hills doing here? Answer: They are Group II. Dover is … good heavens … Group IV. But the SFC likes to keep big schools completely shielded from smaller ones. Doesn’t matter if the big school has been struggling. That would take research, and the ones who designed this obviously didn’t do as much as they should have. Or could have.
Liberty Blue: Mendham, Morris Hills, Randolph, Roxbury, Warren Hills.
Comment: Pulling Randolph and Roxbury away from the Liberty White (West Morris, Mount Olive, Morristown, Knolls) simply boggles the mind. What, exactly, is the point?? Now, people will say, “Well, Randolph and Roxbury can schedule those other schools.” But schools don’t automatically get the teams they request on their schedule. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Coaches have told me that TWO teams have often agreed to face certain schools and have NOT gotten their request granted.
American Blue: Hackettstown, High Point, Morris Catholic, Jefferson, Newton, Vernon.
Comment: Can you spot the square peg in the round hole here? Yup, it’s Morris Catholic. They are a better fit for the National White than Indian Hills. And Warren Hills is better suited for the American Blue.
Liberty Gold: Montville, Par Hills, Passaic Valley, Sparta, West Milford.
Comment 1: What a hodgepodge! Montville and Par Hills were yanked out of the Liberty Blue, Sparta and West Milford from the Patriot Red, and PV from the Patriot White. Again, history and tradition are thrown overboard. It’s okay to face an unfamiliar opponent every now and then, but a school’s schedule and league should be switched around every other year.
Comment 2: Another thing with the SFC. What is up with these five-team leagues (or four-team, if you are the United White)? Two weeks ago, I published the SFC’s all-division teams for Morris and Sussex schools. Some schools had more than a dozen kids represented on the first and second team. Back in the day of the 10-team leagues (SCIL, IHC-Iron and IHC-Hills) you had to earn first or second team because there was a lot of competition. It is so watered down now.
National Blue: Kittatinny, Lenape Valley, North Warren, Sussex Tech, Wallkill Valley.
Comment: If you combined this league with the new American Blue (minus Morris Catholic), you’d be on to something.
I know that schools can go to the SFC and request changes, and some of those changes will be granted. But not all will be.
Which leads me back to my original point: Why mess with something that didn’t need to bne messed with?
