The Pioneers football team has won eight Central Jersey Group II sectional championships: 1976, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1994 and 2017, and won the Central Jersey Group III title in 1979. The team won the program's first playoff-era title in 1976, defeating Red Bank Regional High School by a score of 27–6 in the Central Jersey Group II sectional championship game. The 1977 team finished the season with a 10–1 record after winning the Central Jersey Group III state sectional title with a 28–6 win in the playoff finals against Hightstown High School, becoming the first team to win consecutive titles in different groups in the playoff era. With a 27–14 win against Manasquan High School, the 1979 team won the Central Jersey Group III title and finished the season 11–0. The 1983 team finished the season 11-0 and extended its unbeaten streak to 14 after winning the Central Jersey Group II sectional title with a 30–6 win against West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in the championship game. The 1994 team finished the season with a 8–3 record after winning the Central Jersey Group II state sectional title with a 21–14 win against Manasquan High School in the championship game at Giants Stadium, a turnaround from an 0–9 season in 1993. Pioneer football teams reached the Central Jersey Group II sectional playoffs in 1994, 1999–2001, 2004, 2005, 2016 and 2017, winning seven Skyland Conference championships over that time period. In January 2015, former Devils owner Jeffrey Vanderbeek was named head football coach. On October 2, 2015, Somerville won its first home game in nearly three years. In the following 2016 season, Vanderbeek led the Pioneers to an undefeated regular season, the fourth in the program's history. The 2017 team won Somerville's eighth sectional championship, its first in 23 years, against Rumson-Fair Haven High School in the playoff final of the Central Jersey Group III state sectional tournament, in a game played at High Point Solutions Stadium on the campus of Rutgers University. Rumson-Fair Haven had defeated Somerville in the 2016 sectional final.