As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 619 students and 54.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.3:1. There were 139 students (22.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 74 (12.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]
The new high school opened in September 1959 with students in ninth and tenth grades. Prior to that time, students from Middlesex had attended Bound Brook High School. Middlesex students entering eleventh and twelfth grades continued their education at the Bound Brook school through graduation.[3]
The school was the 177th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.[4] The school had been ranked 155th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 183rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[5] The magazine ranked the school 169th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[6] The school was ranked 148th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[7] Schooldigger.com ranked the school 158th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 3 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (83.6%) and language arts literacy (92.4%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[8]
The Middlesex High School Blue Jays[2] compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, which includes public and private high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[9] With 462 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[10] The football team competes in Division 1A of the Big Central Football Conference, which includes 60 public and private high schools in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset, Union and Warren counties, which are broken down into 10 divisions by size and location.[11] The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 185 to 482 students.[12]
The school participates as the host school / lead agency for a joint wrestling team with Dunellen High School. Middlesex and Somerville High School are partners in a co-op ice hockey program with Bernards High School. These co-op program operate under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year.[13]
The football team won the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II state sectional championship in 1974, then in Central Jersey Group I in 1981, 1982, 1984 and 2017.[14] The 1974 team finished the season with a 9-0-1 record after winning the first Central Jersey Group II sectional title of the playoff era with a 24–6 victory against Hillsborough High School indoors at the Atlantic City Convention Hall.[15] The 1994 team defeated four-time defending champion South River High School by a score of 14–7 to win the Central Jersey Group I title and finish the season 10–1.[16] In a turnaround from winning only one game in 2016, the football team won the 2017 Central Jersey Group I state sectional tournament with a 33–21 win at Alumni Stadium at Kean University against seventh-seeded Point Pleasant Beach High School in the tournament final.[17][18] Middlesex ended its Thanksgiving Day rivalry with Dunellen High School in 2019, after 21 games in the annual series.[19]
The boys' wrestling team won the Central Jersey Group I state championships in 1985 and 1986.[20]
The softball team won the Central Jersey Group I state sectional titles from 2001 through 2004. The team won the New Jersey State Group I championship in 2004, defeating Cedar Grove High School in the playoff finals.[27][28] Increased enrollment made Middlesex a Group II team in 2005 and they won the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament (GMCT) championship in 2005 with a 2–1 win in extra innings against East Brunswick High School.[29]
The boys' basketball team won the Central Jersey Group I state sectional title in 1994, the program's first championship, with a 55–35 win against Piscataway Technical High School in the tournament final.[31]
The boys cross country team won the Mountain Valley Conference championship in 1982, 1983, 1989, 1991, and 1992.[citation needed]
^Geraghty, Gloria. "Record 30,000 Ready for School Bells", The Daily Home News, September 5, 1959. Accessed February 16, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Bound Brook will lose 9th and 10th graders from Middlesex to the new Middlesex High School. Eleventh and 12th graders from Middlesex will continue in Bound Brook High School until they complete their secondary school education."
^Kinney, Mike. "Big Central revises 2020 football schedule for its shortened inaugural season", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, August 12, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. "The newly formed Big Central Football Conference has released a revised 2020 schedule for its inaugural season.... the BCFC is comprised of schools from Middlesex, Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties."
^"Middlesex, Ramapo Capture Jersey Football Titles", The New York Times, December 9, 1974. Accessed December 28, 2020. "Middlesex defeated Hillsborough, 24-6, for the Central Jersey, Group 2 title, and Ramapo routed Dumont, 46-14, for the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 3 crown today in Convention Hall. This was the final day of the state's first high school football playoffs. Bob Parlo, the Middlesex quarterback, scored one touchdown on a plunge, threw his 14th scoring pass of the season—to Carl Mayer—intercepted two passes and averaged 40 yards a punt to spark his team, which finished with a 9-0-1 won-lost-tied mark."
^Merrill, Everett. "Middlesex silences South River", Courier News, December 7, 1981. Accessed January 20, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Not only was the South River High mascot resting, but just a short 30 yards up the bench the entire football team was quiet. A dynasty had just been silenced. Middlesex High School had just ended South River's four-year domination of Central Jersey Group 1 football by stopping the Rams 14-7. The victory gave Middlesex its first state championship since 1974, when the Blue Jays bumped off Hillsborough.... Middlesex ended its season at 10-1, the best fall it has since '74."
^Lanni, Patrick. "Middlesex fights off Point Pleasant Beach to win CJ1 title, caps turnaround season", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, December 2, 2017. Accessed December 5, 2017. "Middlesex won one game in 2016.... Middlesex never trailed Saturday as it had an answer every time Point Pleasant Beach threatened and held on for a 33-21 victory Saturday in the Central Jersey, Group 1 final at Kean University's Alumni Stadium in Union.... That challenge ultimately secured Middlesex's first sectional title since 1984."
^Tufaro, Greg. "NJ football: Middlesex-Dunellen Thanksgiving rivalry comes to an end", Courier News, October 25, 2018. Accessed November 18, 2020. "Next month’s 21st annual meeting between the Middlesex and Dunellen high school football programs will mark the last Thanksgiving Day game for the border rivals. Middlesex athletics director Mike O’Donnell said the NJSIAA’s revamped postseason format, which creates a three-week layoff to Thanksgiving Day for nonplayoff qualifiers who don’t play two regional crossover games, led to the end of his school’s holiday meeting with Dunellen."
^Tufaro, Greg. "Middlesex tops Shore for Central Group I title", Courier News, May 31, 2013. Accessed June 11, 2013. "Price celebrated his final home game with yet another round-tripper – his ninth of the season – to put the finishing touches on Middlesex's 4-0 victory over Shore Regional in Friday's NJSIAA Central Group I final. The Blue Jays, who won their first sectional title since 2007, the same year they last won a state crown, advanced to Tuesday's Group I semifinals (4 p.m. Tuesday at Rutgers University) against Pitman, the South Group I champion."
^Tufaro, Greg. "Middlesex, Spotswood break GMC's 14-year state-title drought", Home News Tribune, June 30, 2007. Accessed June 12, 2012. "Blue Division powers Spotswood and Middlesex help put the GMC back on the map, winning the NJSIAA Group II and NJSIAA Group I crowns, respectively.... Middlesex won its state title in dramatic come-from-behind fashion, erasing a five-run deficit in the seventh before posting a 14-12 victory over Hoboken."
^Idec, Keith. "H.S. Baseball: Pompton Lakes falls to Middlesex in Group 1 final", The Record, June 9, 2013. Accessed June 11, 2013. "But three runs was as close as Pompton Lakes could get to Middlesex, which defeated the Cardinals, 9-5, in the Group 1 final at Toms River South. Middlesex (26-4) won its third Group 1 championship and denied Pompton Lakes (25-5) what would've been its first group baseball championship."
^Haley, John. "Middlesex (10) at Sayreville (4), Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, Final Round - Baseball", The Star-Ledger, May 31, 2012. Accessed June 4, 2012. "That's what happened yesterday when Tommy Marcinczyk and Chris Petiya blasted back-to-back homers in the third before pinch-hitter Brennan Price broke the game open in the sixth with a grand slam as third-seeded Middlesex, No. 19 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, knocked off top-seeded and No. 2 Sayreville, 10-4, in the championship game of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament held at East Brunswick Tech High School."
^Holobowski, Bill. "Middlesex wins 1st CJ I crown; Routs Piscataway Tech as Feath pours in game-high 23 points", The Home News, March 8, 1994. Accessed May 11, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Middlesex High School boys basketball coach Gary Feath used it to describe the play of his son, senior forward Kevin Feath, in last night's 55-35 win over Piscataway Tech in the Central Jersey Group I championship game. With the way Kevin played, father and coach Gary could have used 'stepped on' to be more exact, because Kevin exploded for a game-high 23 points in the Blue Jays' first sectional title after losing to Perth Amboy Tech and Keyport in the last two finals."
^La Gorce, Tammy. "In Person; Gotcha! Stay Tuned", The New York Times, January 1, 2006. Accessed November 27, 2017. "One, Mr. Scharpling, who went to Middlesex Community College after Middlesex High School and graduated from Trenton State is a self-professed Jersey guy."