The Morris Hills High School Scarlet Knights compete in the
Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Morris,
Sussex and
Warren counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). The school had previously participated in the
Iron Hills Conference, which included schools in
Essex, Morris and
Union counties. With 985 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Patriot White division of the
North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 700 to 884 students. Interscholastic sports offered at Morris Hills include baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrestling. The boys cross country running team won the Group III state championship in 1954, 1975–1977, 2004 and 2005, and won the Group II title in 2003. The boys track team won the Group IV spring / outdoor track state championship in 1962, in Group III in 2007 (as co-champion) and in Group II in 2012. The baseball team won the North II Group III state sectional championship in 1966. The baseball program won 135 games in a span of six seasons with a Morris County Tournament Championship (2002), a North I Group III state sectional title (2004), and five Iron Hills Conference (Hills Division) championships (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007). The boys fencing team was the overall state champion in 1975. The football team won the NJSIAA North II Group III state sectional championship in 1975 and 2016. After finishing the 1974 season with a 1–8 record, the team won the 1975 North II Group III state sectional title with a 7–0 victory against
Phillipsburg High School in the tournament final to finish 10-1 for the season. In 2016, the team won the North II Group III state sectional title, the program's second title and its first in 41 years, with a 27–14 win in the tournament final against
Parsippany Hills High School. As a
homecoming event, the Hills football team plays against Morris Knolls in an annual rivalry game played at the beginning of every school year. The teams have played each other since 1972, with Morris Knolls winning 15 of the 25 games through the 2017 season.
NJ.com had the rivalry at 26th on their 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football". The boys' track team won the indoor track public state championship in Group III in 1978, and won the Group II title in 2006, 2008 and 2009. The girls team won the Group III title in 1983 (as co-champion). The boys' wrestling team won the North II Group III state sectional title in 1987. The 1997 softball team finished the season with a 29–2 record after winning the Group II state championship after defeating
Delaware Valley Regional High School by a score of 2–1 in the tournament final. The field hockey team won the North I Group IV state sectional championship in 2001. The boys' track team won the Group II state indoor relay championship in 2006 and 2008. The boys' basketball team made the state tournament for the first time in 10 years in 2006, though it lost in the first round to 6th-seeded
Passaic Valley High School 67–45. The boys' ice hockey team, established in 1958, was one of the first high school teams in New Jersey along with the Morristown School (now
Morristown-Beard School),
Montclair High School,
Livingston High School, and
West Orange High School. They won the state championship for the 1960–1961 season. They have also won seven divisional titles including two Charette Division titles (2003, 2017), four Haas Division titles (1991, 1996, 1997, 2004), and one Halverson Division title (2005).
Cross country / track and field Perhaps the most successful athletics program at Morris Hills is its men's cross country and track and field teams, both of which have been very successful in the state, under head cross country coach Sean Robinson, who took the position in 2002. Robinson took the head indoor track and field coaching position in 2006. In that year, the Scarlet Knights won every major championship they entered (conference, county, state group and state group relay), the first time that had happened in county history. The Scarlet Knights repeated the feat in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Since becoming head coach, Robinson has led the Scarlet Knights to six NJSIAA state championships, 11 NJSIAA Sectional Championships, two NJSIAA State Relay Championships, nine Conference Championships, and seven county titles. He also has two State Coach of the Year, 1 NFHS State Coach of the Year Honor, five Area Coach of the Year Honors, and seven Excellence in Coaching Awards under his belt. He was inducted into the NJSCA Hall of Fame in March 2015. Morris Hills has also had over 34 All-American honors distributed to its XC/TF athletes since 1999, largely with the success of the school's 4 x mile relay, 4 x 800 relay and shuttle hurdle relay teams. At the 2009 Nike National Outdoor Track Championship the Morris Hills 4x800 won the race to secure the title of national champions after having the US#2 All-Time Performance of 7:31.60 (breaking the national record) at the Penn Relays. Keith Lindsley, the 2007 NJSIAA Athletic Assistant Coach of the Year, is the current sprint/hurdles coach. Morris Hills was selected to participate in the inaugural
Nike Team National Cross Country Championship in 2005, where they finished 13th. The following is a list of championship titles in Morris Hills cross country/track and field history. ==Marching band==