Police Advise on Parking For Friday's Football Game

Even with thousands of football fans for the Ridge High School Red Devils or Immaculata High School's Spartans likely to attend tonight's televised game at Ridge High School, township police said they expect there will be plenty of parking at nearby schools and the municipal lot.

Township patrol officers will monitor traffic and parking and intervene only if necessary, said Township Lt. Jim Anthony.

He said the police department anticipate people attending the game will be able to find sufficient parking either at the expanded high school lot at 268 S. Finley Ave., the nearby Cedar Hill School at 100 Peachtree Road or at the municipal lot at 1 Collyer Lane. 

Anthony said police are asking fans not to park on residential streets near the high school.

In the past, the nearby parking lots have been able to support parking for other major football games at the high school, including last year's contest between Ridge and the varsity football team from Immaculata High School in Somerville.

However, this year's game has attracted extra attention because Cablevision MSG Varsity station will televise the game, in high definition, to kick off its new Friday night series with live coverage of 12 high school games throughout the New York area. A pre-game show is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with kickoff to be 7 p.m.

With all of the pre-game publicity, Anthony said the school has hired four officers to monitor tonight's expected crowd, instead of the usual three.