Section III football in 2017: Leagues shuffled; 8-man football is back

[OrangeXtreme]

Leagues have been re-shaped, schools have changed classes, and eight-man football is back for the first time in decades, the Section III football committee announced today.

While the big-school league - Class AA - changes little - the Class A league has shrunk by three schools and will be one nine-member division in 2017.

Central Square moves back up to Class AA, and Cortland and New Hartford dropped out of Class A and into B because of lower enrollments.

Lower enrollment forces Skaneateles to drop back down into Class C, and a new Class C West division entry, called Southern Hills, is a merger of the LaFayette and Tully programs.

The Class B league expands to 15 schools but will remain two divisions, said Section III football co-chairman Keith Kempney.

Section III football in 2017: Leagues shuffled; 8-man football is back

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

Ugh... Central Square does not belong in AA.

 

[OrangeAggieArmy]

Make RFA Great Again

 

[Newhouser]

NYSPHSAA needs to save the smaller schools from themselves. Their should be more jumping into the 8 man league. Stop shrinking the minimum number to field a team and increase it to a meatier number. The mid or late season forfeits would be eliminated and the 8 man would have decent numbers, with much more even competition.

 

[upperdeck]

for class D schools 8 man makes a ton of sense.. it also would make many schools more competitive. schools with less good players could compete against schools with bigger rosters much easier. it would also open up more space and probably make it less of a power game and hopefully less injuries.

I wonder if some Class C schools shouldnt be pushing harder for this.

Nebraska made a killing for years getting kids out of 7-8 man leagues in the state and getting them to play for the State School.

Around here some really athletic kids dont even play football because of the lack of bodies many small schools have..

 

[Trueblue25]

Thought FM was gonna drop to A

 

[TexanMark]

Ugh... Central Square does not belong in AA.

Bow down to your Masters at CNS

 

[orangenauburn]

Thought FM was gonna drop to A

FM Aub and CS should be A

Then A has 12 teams, two divisions of 6, and top 3 each division advance

AA should be top 2 each division advance

 

[CU44SE]

Bow down to your Masters at CNS

I wish I had a good comeback, but there is literally no comeback for this

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

New Hartford is moving down to class B & has no room for their annual rivalry game vs Whitesboro in 2017. Pretty sad. Always a fun game between neighboring schools in front of 3K fans...even if W'boro has won 20 of the last 23

 

[upperdeck]

they can play it if they dont make a deep run in the sectionals.

 

[GoCuse14]

Ton of 8 man here in Iowa.

 

[SWC75]

Combine A and AA - there aren't enough schools for two divisions and these schools have historically always played each other.

Combine the B, C and D teams with the best records over the least several years into a new class B for smaller schools.

Have a new class C, perhaps an 8 man league, for the smaller schools who have done the worst in recent years.

Of course the changes would have to be made at the state level, too but so be it.

 

[MSOrange]

Ton of 8 man here in Iowa.

That's true. Iowa has recruited several guys who turned out to be really solid players from 8 man leagues.

 

[JoeCollege]

Section 4 had the old Tri-Valley League of 8 and 9 man football long ago. Folded in the 90s I think. At one time, back in the 40s, there was even a 6 man league. I have advocated for years for a return to 8 man. What we have now is a hodgepodge of "merged" teams amalgamated just to play. At one point, teams like Greene and Sherburne-Earlville dropped down to 8 man (the league went to 9 for some stupid reason) in order to preserve their programs in lean years. Having multiple sections with 8 man leagues would be great as there could be a playoff season.

 

[AZOrange]

What has happened to HS football in upstate NY? It's so big here I guess I had no idea this was happening. It was so competitive when I played

 

[SWC75]

What has happened to HS football in upstate NY? It's so big here I guess I had no idea this was happening. It was so competitive when I played

I think the state championships caused schools who couldn't expect to compete for it to fall back because their kids wouldn't spend the time in the off-season to get good: they preferred to take jobs and get some money.

 

[Pyle]

My alma mater joining forces with our arch-rival makes me want to vomit.

 

[upperdeck]

for a school like ours. once you take 15-20 kids to go play soccer there just arent enough kids left to find 20-30 to play football too..

back in the day we had Jv with Fr/So and the Varsity with Jr/SR and rarely if ever did kids play up. now we have many schools around here with modified 7-9 and varsity 10-12 and still have kids playing up to fill out he rosters which are sometimes half what they used to be.

if only half the soccer kids played football the teams would be ok.

going to 8 man means a 20 man roster can actually practice and have some depth..

 

[ForCuseSake]

Ton of 8 man here in Iowa.

A Uhaul with Chip & Millhouse just sped passed me heading west with a bumper sticker saying "Des Moines is for Lovers"

(Sorry, Virginia)