Leading off today: Some observers saw it as a game-changer in March when five Section 3 schools decided
they would not schedule games against Syracuse CBA, the three-time defending NYSPHSAA Class AA football champion.
Cicero-North Syracuse, Henninger, Liverpool, Rome Free Academy, and Utica Proctor were able to do so in a way that did not cost them the opportunity to participate in sectionals at the end of the season. Thus, their protest was arguably closer to symbolic than strategic and perhaps disingenuous since at least one will almost certainly have to go up against CBA in the postseason anyway.
Nevertheless, it was a significant moment in what was then a heated statewide flare-up in New York's discussion about the proper was to handle the postseason. And it was clear-cut: Public schools on one side, private and charter schools on the other.
The NYSPHSAA Executive Committee resolved a large piece of the issue in votes between October 2025 and May of this year and stakeholders could be ready o ponder the next phase in December. (More on that below.)
At this moment, though, the people in charge of high school sports in Tennessee have to be saying something to the effect of, "If only our problem was as simple as New York's."
This week, a long-simmering potential schism there moved out of the shadows and into the light. And here's the twist: There's private-on-private violence brewing.
Administrators from around a dozen private schools met Tuesday to consider playing an independent football schedule beginning next fall rather than compete in Division II-AAA, which is the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association classification for its largest private schools. Their goal is to get out from under domination by three other private schools that have accounted for the last 11 state championships in the division: Baylor School, Brentwood Academy, and McCallie School.
"Let's be blunt, if you're in that AAA division, you know what it is," one coach from the division one notch below told the Times Free Press in Chattanooga. "You're part of a league of football factories. There's a view out there that some schools in the state have just started buying the best players they can bring in."
Unlike the Section 3 scenario, the teams bowing out of the regional scheduling in Tennessee are ineligible for the postseason.
Now, here's where it gets especially wild:
TSSAA rules require DII-AAA to field at least 12 teams. If 12 teams do not voluntarily move into the classification, then the TSSAA will begin filling the vacant spots with smaller schools in order of enrollment.
The schools designated to back-fill DII-AAA could also withdraw and go independent, creating a domino effect and massive headache until a 12th school agrees. At least four DII-AA administrators involved in the discussions this week are leaning in that direction.
"Nobody wants to be told they have to move up to DII-AAA, and some of the teams already in that class want out, too," a coach from DII-AA told the paper.
The NYSPHSAA's next step
The Schools Without Boundaries
ad hoc committee was upgraded to full status earlier this year after it's seventh meeting over two years advanced the plan that led to the Classification Oversight Committee (COC) being given final say in disputes over where to place private and charter schools in the postseason.
The committee is next scheduled to meet on Dec. 9, and it's not going to be just some sort of social gathering.
"This not a dead issue," NYSPHSAA Executive Director Robert Zayas said last month while meeting with Section 5 athletic directors.
The lingering concern from a sizeable faction of New Yorkers is that there is a limitation on the power of the COC, namely that there's nowhere to move a private or charter school that's simply overwhelming the competition in Class AA football or Class AAA basketball.
That's why part of the December discussion is almost certain to center on revisiting the idea of creating a Class AAA in football and a Class 4A in basketball in the state tournaments.
Problem No. 1 -- and this has already proven to be a significant stumbling block in past discussions -- is going to be populating it with enough schools at the outset to make it both feasible and a comparable experience to the existing classes.
For instance, the best-case scenario in football right now is to place eight private or charter schools in football's new class. Even getting to eight is going to be a stretch unless one or more of three things happen:
• Section 6 absorbs Monsignor Martin Association teams. (That's not going to happen.)
• Schools like Iona Prep and Archbishop Stepinac break ranks with the CHSFL. (That's also not going to happen.)
• Public schools capable of playing at a high level, like Buffalo Bennett, volunteer to move up. (Unlikely, but more plausible than the other options.)
Even with eight members, the best that Class AAA could offer is three postseason contests for finalists as opposed to five or six for Classes AA through D. Thus, filling multiple weeks off and dealing with potential additional travel constitute big concerns right out of the gate.
As I've repeatedly told people who ask, finding a solution shouldn't be regarded as impossible. But it's not nearly as simple as a lot of critics seem to think.
Rough week for Section 1 football
Week 1 took a toll on three football programs in Section 1, resulting in who Haldane, Croton-Harmon and Briarcliff/Hamilton canceling their games this week.
LoHud.com reported Croton-Harmon didn't even make it to the second half of its 23-0 loss to Hendrick Hudson last Friday after losing three starters to injury by halftime. Two other players came were on crutches the next day, AD Bari Suman said.
Haldane forfeited to Tuckahoe, the section's only other Class D team. The rivals are already scheduled to meet in the sectional final.
The latest forfeits came after Hastings forfeited its opener last weekend against Dobbs Ferry due to a lack of eligible players.
WEEK 2 FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD
This caught my eye
Combining with other schools has been the solution for many teams in many sports over the years, and football in New York needs to look in that direction more than ever while also addressing the falloff in participation in the feeder youth programs feeder system.
While scouring newspapers sites across the state looking for blog fodder the other day, a boys volleyball note caught my eye because Midlakes has long been one of upstate's best small-school programs. The Screaming Eagles are three-time defending Section 5 Class B-2 champions.
This season, however, Midlakes is fielding a combined team with Bloomfield and Romulus.
Midlakes' BEDS number this year is 339, which puts it squarely in Class B in sports like soccer, basketball, and baseball. With that as the backdrop, Midlakes is already in the first phase of a football merger with Red Jacket. The schools will field their first combined varsity team in 2027.
