Leading off today: The status of the Section 5 Class B football final remains up in the air following Sunday's announcement indicating that the East/World of Inquiry School squad might still be able to play for a championship.
The Eagles' fate has been a subject of conjecture and speculation since Saturday's 14-6 victory over defending NYSPHSAA Class B champion Monroe ended in a bench-clearing fracas that also involved spectators.
Section 5 released this statement at mid-afternoon on Sunday:
"Section V is working closely with the Rochester City School District and the administrations of the schools involved to review and address the unfortunate incident that occurred at the Class B football semifinal between East/WOIS and Monroe on Saturday, November 7.
"All member schools of Section V and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) are required to comply with NYSPHSAA rules and regulations, including those pertaining to sportsmanship.
"Section V continues to work with school administrators to review the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the involvement of individual student-athletes and any applicable eligibility considerations.
"The status of the Section V Class B Football Championship game remains under review.
"Unsportsmanlike conduct has no place in education-based athletics and is inconsistent with the values of respect, responsibility, and sportsmanship that we expect all student-athletes to demonstrate, both on and off the field."
The first indication of potential consequences for East/WOIS came when the final score did not show up on the Section 5 scoreboard and online brackets by mid-afternoon Saturday. By early evening, the
Democrat and Chronicle had reported both schools were informed they had been disqualified from the remainder of the postseason.
That seemingly handed Honeoye Falls-Lima the Section 5 berth in the state tournament in two weeks against West Seneca East or OC Rivals following the Cougars' 28-14 victory over Wayne in the other Class B semifinal. HF-L is 7-3 after playing a largely Class A schedule and losing to Monroe 58-0 during the regular season.
Now, it appears Section 5 is caught in no-man's land. There are proscribed penalties for individuals ejected during a game, but dealing with an incident after time has expired is more of a gray area for sectional and state administrators -- and gray areas attract lawsuits like picnics attract ants. And removing a team from the postseason is a more decision by several orders of magnitude.
On the other hand, there is nothing stopping school administrators from disciplining student-athletes up to and including telling everyone to turn in their uniforms.
Some related thoughts
(1) At the state level, the Sportsmanship Committee has been working on an addendum to the rules that would allow for disciplinary measures when a section or the NYSPHSAA is presented with "credible evidence of unsportsmanlike conduct and/or flagrant actions by a student-athlete that was not observed or addressed by game officials during the contest."
It's on a path for potential adoption in time for the 2027-28 school year.
Credible video evidence would play a role, and the emphasis is on evaluating acts that could reasonably be grounds for disqualification.
It's currently left to respective school administrators to self-police -- which opens the door to suspicions of "situational ethics" -- i.e., behavior worthy of a game suspension in the regular season might be overlooked during the playoffs. On the other hand, there is some concern that the proposed rule would lead to administrators abdicating responsibility entirely and letting the section or the state office take the heat for an appropriate but unpopular decision.
(2) I believe each section in the NYSPHSAA tracks the number of incidents resulting in ejections during contests.
Last week's Section 5 Executive Committee meeting included a report of 85 such incidents so far this fall. Some were relatively innocuous, such as soccer red cards for intentional handballs to prevent an all-but-certain goal, but most had a physical contact element.
Of the 85 total incidents, 35 took place in football games. Of those, only one involved a Monroe player. None involved East/World of Inquiry players. The Excel spreadsheet does not have nearly enough lines to accommodate the number of players who deserve to be added after Saturday's mess.
(3) The Rochester City School District also released a statement on Sunday:
"Both teams have worked hard throughout the season, and it is disappointing that the game ended this way. This type of behavior is unacceptable and does not reflect the sportsmanship we expect from our student athletes.
"The District is reviewing what occurred and will address any violations in accordance with our Code of Conduct. Our expectation is that students compete with respect for one another, both on and off the field."
For what it's worth, the Rochester CSD website includes a 76-page PDF that lays out the
code of conduct. The document goes into great detail in spelling out administrative responses to misbehavior in the building, including violent acts.
In a cursory reading of it Saturday night I could not find anything addressing consequences for any act on a playing field (or in any extracurricular activity, actually) as serious as what transpired in the Section 5 Class B semifinal.
Losing this opportunity would be ironic for East
Though the 2025 Monroe squad became the first Rochester CSD team to earn a NYSPHSAA football championship, East has long been the standard by which city programs were measured. The Eagles have won four Section 5 championships, including three in the largest classification.
After years of competitive seasons in Class A, the combined East and World of Inquiry enrollment finally landed the team in Class B, and it held the defending state champions to a 12-7 victory on Sept. 18 to set up what was almost certainly going to be a rematch in the sectionals.
But the September game at East was followed by fights involving fans leaving the stadium, something that has been commonplace there for years. Dispersing the unruly crowd tied up multiple police officers, some of whom were subsequently sent scrambling to investigate two stabbings -- one of which was fatal -- within half a mile of the campus.
Now, after years of city and school district officials turning a blind eye to violence by fans after games, it falls to Section 5 to determine what, if anything, it can do about an East High on-field incident.
