South Jersey Schools Sweep Five Public Championships in State Football Finals

South Jersey public schools claimed every state football championship last week. Five teams crushed North Jersey opponents by double digits in each contest. Cedar Creek, Glassboro, Camden, Winslow, and Washington Township seized titles from Group 1 through Group 5.

Camden completed the sweep Wednesday night. They beat Shabazz 27-8. This victory marked the first state championship for the program and ended a week where South Jersey teams went 5-for-5 against Northern opponents.

Cedar Creek demolished defending champion Old Tappan 34-7 in the Group 3 final Friday. The Pirates had trailed by 16 points in their state semifinal against Holmdel before rallying to advance.

"It's been unbelievable to watch," said Cedar Creek coach James Melody, according to NJ.com. "Obviously the guys down here believed in it. Our brand of football is elite honestly and to be able to do it on a big stage and the teams we've all been beating (has been impressive), I'm not here to throw shade at people up North, but it's more a testament to what we do down here."

The tournament splits 32 schools into two 16-team fields. One comes from the North. The other draws from South and Central regions. Since public-school state championships started in 2022, 17 of the 20 winners have come from South and Central sections. Only three titles went to the North.

Melody played and coached at Union High School in North Jersey before taking the head job at Cedar Creek in 2020. He thinks the depth of competition in South Jersey prepares programs for championship games.

"The West Jersey Football League has done a great job getting us big-time games every week, we're tested week in and week out," said Melody per NJ.com. "We were battle-tested from our postseason run."

Breaking down the 20 state championships since 2022 reveals an interesting pattern: 11 have come from the South, six from Central Jersey, and three from the North. Winslow coach Rob Belton said the next goal is competing with top non-public programs.

"The publics down here are really good, and the privates up there are really good," said Belton, according to NJ.com. "I hope we get to the point where our publics down here are competing with the privates up there."