Phillipsburg rejected on bid to waive rule to join state playoffs Thursday, July 12, 2007 • BY MIKE FRASSINELLI • Star-Ledger Staff Phillipsburg School District's plan to join a Pennsylvania sports conference and still qualify for the New Jersey state playoffs has been sacked again. A New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association subcommittee determined Phillipsburg should not be granted a waiver of a rule that requires New Jersey schools to play 70 percent of games against Garden State opponents to qualify for the state playoffs. Like the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association's executive committee two years earlier, the association's special committee on leagues and conferences was not compelled by Phillipsburg's arguments that longer trips against fellow Skyland Conference schools were causing a hardship for student-athletes. "To the committee, Phillipsburg is seeking the best of both worlds," wrote Philip Heery, committee chairman. "It wants to play regular season contests in Pennsylvania, with different starting dates and rules, and then be eligible for participation in post season tournaments in New Jersey because, being an out-of-state school, it cannot qualify for any post season Pennsylvania tournaments." The subcommittee has made its recommendation to the executive committee, which has the final vote on Sept. 12. Phillipsburg, home of the state's winningest high school football team, with 595 victories, is a Warren County community that borders Pennsylvania. Its team even goes by the nickname Stateliners. The district, which plays against schools in Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties in the Skyland Conference, wants to return to its traditional rivalries in a conference in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. David B. Rubin of Metuchen, a lawyer representing Phillipsburg, said the so-called "70 percent rule" was designed as a response to New Jersey basketball powerhouses who were traveling to distant states and using those trips as recruiting opportunities. But, he said, the rule punishes Phillipsburg student-athletes who could be playing against closer opponents in Pennsylvania. "The irony is that a rule intended to keep schools playing closer to home is now being applied to force us to play schools that are farther away," Rubin said. But Joseph S. Novak of Clinton, a lawyer representing the Skyland Conference, said Phillipsburg's claims of hardship are not extraordinary. "Skyland Conference students in general all have the same difficulties in participating in athletics," he said. "Whether Phillipsburg is going to Hillsborough or Hillsborough is going to Phillipsburg, they are going to experience a traffic situation on one end of the trip or the other." Mike Frassinelli may be reached at mfrassinelli@starledger.com or (908) 475-1218. © 2007 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.