See the 2026 Shore Conference Football Divisions

Shore Conference football will feature one less division in 2026 under the new alignments released on Wednesday by the conference’s executive committee. 

The Class D South division, which was won by Point Beach this season, has been eliminated, and the teams have been realigned into other divisions. 

A notable change includes 2025 Class B South champion Southern, which returns a strong team next season, moving back up to its traditional home in the rugged Class A South. 

Middletown South and Middletown North drop out of the ultra-competitive Class A North and have been replaced by Class B North champion Wall and second-place finisher Manalapan. St. John Vianney also makes the move from Class B North to Class A North. 

Class C North co-champion Manasquan has moved up to the new Class B North, which now includes Middletown North and Middletown South. Group 1 Shore Regional continues its rise from a D division to a C division and now to the Class B North as it returns first-team All-Shore running back Cole Torres and a host of other up-and-coming talent. 

Marlboro, which finished last in the ruthless Class A South, dropped two division levels to Class C North. Howell has also dropped from Class B North to C North. Toms River East and Pinelands, which finished 1-2 in Class C South, are now in Class B South. Class D North champion Neptune is now in Class C North.

The reigning division champions in Class A North (Red Bank Catholic), Class A South (Donovan Catholic and Brick Memorial) and Class C North (co-champion Red Bank) remain in the same division. All the other division champions have been realigned into higher divisions.

Here are the new alignments for the 2026 season. 

 

Class A North 

Holmdel

Manalapan

Red Bank Catholic

Rumson-Fair Haven

St. John Vianney

Wall 

 

Class A South

Brick Memorial

Donovan Catholic

Jackson Twp. 

Point Boro 

Southern 

Toms River North 

 

Class B North 

Freehold Twp. 

Manasquan

Matawan

Middletown North

Middletown South

Shore Regional

 

Class B South 

Brick 

Central

Lacey

Pinelands

Toms River East

Toms River South

 

Class C North 

Howell

Marlboro

Neptune

Ocean

Raritan

Red Bank

 

Class C South

Freehold 

Keansburg

Keyport

Lakewood

New Egypt

Point Beach

 

Class D North

Asbury Park

Barnegat

Colts Neck

Long Branch

Manchester 

Monmouth 

Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point. 

Email: scottstump25@gmail.com