New Jersey’s high school sports landscape is entering a remarkable moment where championship ambition, elite athletic development, and the future of youth sports are...

By Pamela E. BarnettThe Presidential election is next Tuesday, which means many of us will spend the rest of the month obsessively analyzing the victor’s path and reading informed accounts about what the future could hold.I hope some of us will take a break from the exhausting news cycle and turn to the arts, which are exactly what we all need in the wake of this highly polarizing and divisive campaign and election season. Artistic experience affirms and expands our humanity. Art connects us.We need that now more than ever. In an “Arts Talk” for the National Endowment for the Arts, singer and composer Josh Groban made the case that “art matters because it...

As October winds down, New Jersey high school athletics are reaching a critical juncture. Football teams across the state are jockeying for playoff positioning as the public school regular season concludes, while non-public programs have a few additional weeks to secure their seeds ahead of next week’s NJSIAA postseason kickoff. Alongside football, other fall sports—including girls’ volleyball, field hockey, and cross country—are gearing up for tournament play, and a standout soccer showdown in Hightstown captured the attention of prep league fans. Football: Last Week Drama and Key Matchups The final week of the public school football season features high-stakes matchups that could dramatically affect playoff seeding. Among the most anticipated games is the heavyweight clash between No....