Hammonton one step closer to joining Tri-County Conference

Hammonton High School has officially applied to join the Tri-County Conference, Pitman athletic director Mike McAleer said Friday.

McAleer, president of the Tri-County Conference, and other conference officials toured the Cape-Atlantic League school's athletic facilities on Friday.

The tour was part of the process by which Hammonton could be admitted to the Tri-County Conference for the 2014-15 school year.

McAleer said Tri-County officials would discuss Hammonton's application during an athletic directors meeting in February and again during a principals/superintendents meeting in March.

Hammonton AD Frank Torcasio confirmed the visit Friday by Tri-County officials.

"We're still in the beginning of the process," Torcasio said.

Hammonton has until July 1 to formally notify the Cape-Atlantic League of its intention to leave the league as of September 2014.

As a member of the Tri-County Conference, Hammonton automatically would become a member of the West Jersey Football League.

The Cape-Atlantic continues to struggle with football scheduling. League president Mike Gatley, the Mainland athletic director, said Thursday that a new committee had been formed and met for the first time Wednesday in an effort to develop new division alignments and set a football schedule for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Gatley also said that Cape-Atlantic officials would meet with West Jersey Football League officials in the spring to discuss the possibility of a merger of the two leagues, starting in 2014.