District's bid to play in Pa. is weighed NJSIAA considering Phillipsburg request Friday, June 15, 2007 • BY MIKE FRASSINELLI • Star-Ledger Staff ROBBINSVILLE -- The call on whether Phillipsburg High School sports teams can play in a Pennsylvania athletic conference and remain eligible for New Jersey state championships is in the hands of the referees. Opposing legal teams from Phillipsburg and New Jersey's Skyland Conference ran their final series of downs yesterday before a New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association committee that plans to make a recommendation to the NJSIAA's executive board within 30 days. A walking bridge away from Easton, Pa., Phillipsburg officials want to leave the Skyland Conference and return to their traditional rivalries against schools in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley Conference. But New Jersey has a rule requiring teams to play at least 70 percent of games in-state to qualify for a state championship. Officials of the Skyland Conference, composed of schools from Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties, say Phillipsburg's departure would cause a scheduling hardship for the 23-team league. Phillipsburg officials say the real hardships are on their student athletes who have to make the longer trips against Skyland teams. "In this case, we see it as more about kids than adults," said David B. Rubin of Metuchen, a lawyer representing Phillipsburg. "We hope that preserving the status quo will take a back seat to alleviating some of the hardships being suffered by Phillipsburg's students athletes, given its unique geographic location." But Joseph. S. Novak of Clinton, a lawyer representing the Skyland Conference, said Phillipsburg's case is not unique. "Relatively speaking, all schools in the Skyland Conference have these same concerns," he said. The NJSIAA executive committee in January 2005 voted 32-0 to deny Phillipsburg's appeal of New Jersey's "70-percent rule," but state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy eight months later punted the case back to the NJSIAA, saying the executive board relied on evidence not shared in advance with Phillipsburg. Lawyers yesterday made their arguments before the association's Special Committee for Leagues and Conferences at the NJSIAA headquarters near Trenton. Mike Frassinelli may be reached at mfrassinelli@starledger.com or (908) 475-1218. © 2007 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.