Shabazz And Camden In Group 3
As Projected Classifications Reveal

The football group classifications should become official in the next few days with the start of the 2026 season next week, and while the current projected compositions of who is where is still not totally certain, the work is nearly done in terms of determining what teams will be among each other vying in November for sectional and group supremacy.

One certainty is that teams such as defending Group 2 champion Camden, runner-up Shabazz and 2-time defending Group 1 champion Glassboro will be moving up a group size in North, Group 3, and South, Group 3, respectively, as will Cedar Creek, Ramapo (North, Group 5) and Phillipsburg (North, Group 5).

In an interesting move this past January the NJSIAA executive committee re-classified Shabazz as an ‘open enrollment’ school as it now joins Camden in Group 3 this fall.

Shabazz could potentially face quality teams such as Old Tappan, West Morris, Wayne Valley or West Essex in North, Group 3.

Newark residents can apply to the different high schools in the city which have football teams and choose where to play the gridiron game if their school does not have it, which can certainly help a school such as Shabazz, which has outscored its opponents 241-89 in their eight playoff victories the last two years, and tied a school single-season record for victories when it finished 12-2 last fall ending with a 27-8 loss to Camden in the Group 2 state final at Rutgers.

Shabazz might be just as strong if not even superior this fall even with the graduation of supreme talents such as all-state LB Zaiden McDonald (Stanford) with nine starters set to return on each side of the ball in 2026, including veteran senior QB Karriem Coston (1.739 yards and 20 TDs through the air in 2025), talented senior running back Faheem Ausbon, highly-regarded junior WR Nosym Brown (34 receptions for 538 yards and 8 TDs in 2025), Power 4 Conference Vanderbilt commit Adekunbi Adetayo (52 tackles, 14 TFL, 10 sacks), who is a 3-year starter at DE, and 3-year starting LB Zykir Best (team-leading 135 tackles including 14 TFL last fall).

Second-year head coach Nasir Gaines has picked up where his predecessor Naz Oliver left off in terms of producing championship caliber teams. Oliver’s Bulldogs were edged by Rumson-Fair Haven, 26-24, in the 2024 Group 2 state final, and then Gaines’ Bulldogs returned to Rutgers last fall where the Brick City team fell to Camden.

Shabazz defeated Madison, 26-16, for the North 2, Group 2 sectional title and then produced perhaps its best performance of the season in the Group 2 semifinals when the Bulldogs traveled up to Bergen County and rolled past Westwood, 36-6, in dominant fashion.

The Newark gridiron powerhouse opens up the 2026 season in the Battle at the Beach in Ocean City, facing Atlantic City on the first day of the showcase, 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27.

The next two games for the Bulldogs also promise to be supreme challenges as they travel to face an always-loaded Passaic Tech squad on Friday night, Sept. 4, and then -after a bye week -beginning the home schedule by hosting an ultra-talented West Orange Mountaineers squad on Friday, Sept. 18. 

Now a look at the tentative classifications for North Jersey schools as first reported by northjersey.com and shoresportsinsider.com:

Tentative Classifications In North:

North, Group 5
Barringer, Bayonne, Bloomfield, Bridgewater-Raritan, Clifton, Columbia, East Orange, Elizabeth, Franklin, Irvington, J.P. Stevens, Linden, Livingston, Montclair, Morristown, Passaic, Passaic Tech, Paterson Eastside, Perth Amboy Phillipsburg, Piscataway, Plainfield, Ramapo, Ridgewood, Union, Union City, West Orange, Westfield

North, Group 4
Carteret, Chatham, Colonia, Fair Lawn, Garfield, Hackensack, JFK-Iselin, Middletown North, Middletown South, Montgomery, Morris Knolls, Mount Olive, Newark Central, North Brunswick, North Hunterdon Northern Highlands, Nutley, Orange, Palisades Park/Leonia, Rahway, Randolph Ridge, Roxbury, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Summit, Teaneck, Watchung Hills, Woodbridge

North, Group 3
Cranford, Holmdel, Lincoln, Matawan, Mendham, Montville, Morris Hills, Newark West Side, North Plainfield, Old Tappan, Paramus, Parsippany Hills, Pascack Valley, Passaic Valley, River Dell, Shabazz, Snyder, Somerville, South Plainfield, Sparta, Warren Hills, Wayne Hills, Wayne Valley, Weequahic, West Essex, West Milford, West Morris

North, Group 2
Becton, Bernards, Caldwell, Cresskill/Emerson, Dumont, Elmwood Park, Glen Rock, Hackettstown, Hanover Park, High Point, Hillside, Hoboken, Indian Hills, Jefferson, Lakeland, Lenape Valley, Lodi, Lyndhurst, Madison, Mahwah, Manchester Regional, New Providence, Parsippany, Pequannock, Ramsey, Rutherford, Sussex Tech, Vernon, Voorhees, Waldwick/Midland Park, Westwood

North, Group 1
Belvidere, Bogota, Boonton, Brearley, Butler, Cedar Grove, Dayton, Dunellen, Glen Ridge, Hasbrouck Heights, Hawthorne, Hopatcong, Kinnelon, Kittatinny, Middlesex, Mountain Lakes, New Milford, Newton, North Arlington, North Warren, Park Ridge, Pompton Lakes, Roselle Park, Saddle Brook, Secaucus, Verona, Wallington, Wallkill Valley, Weehawken, Whippany Park, Wood-Ridge

Non-Public A
*Public school equivalent of Group 3, 4 and 5
Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco Prep, Delbarton, St. Augustine, St. Joseph (Metuchen), St. Joseph (Montvale), St. Peter’s Prep, Seton Hall Prep

Non-Public B
*Public school equivalent of Group 1 and 2
Bishop Eustace, Camden Catholic, DePaul, Donovan Catholic, Gloucester Catholic, Holy Cross, Holy Spirit, Hudson Catholic, Immaculata, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Morris Catholic, Morristown Beard, Notre Dame, Paramus Catholic, Paul VI, Pingry, Pope John, Red Bank Catholic, St. John Vianney, St. Joseph Academy, St. Mary’s Rutherford, St. Thomas Aquinas

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