Leading off today: What's the difference between the Green Tech football team headed into its first varsity season and the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers?

   Not much in the eyes of Section 2.

   In a move flying in the face of all logic and most precedent, Green Tech will almost certainly play in Class AA when it makes its varsity debut in September, The Times Union reported this week.

   Green Tech, an all-boys charter school with 263 students who land classroom seats by lottery, has been placed in the Liberty Division alongside the likes of Schenectady (2,140 students), Shaker (1,563) and Colonie (1,390) based upon decisions by the Section 2 football committee in December and the Section 2 classification committee on Thursday.

   The organization's Athletic Council still needs to sign off on the decision, but sectional football coordinator Gary VanDerzee doesn't believe that will be an issue. "Generally, the Athletic Council supports the recommendations from the other committees," VanDerzee told the newspaper.

   If that happens in this instance, it calls into question the judgment of the governing body of Albany-area schools within the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. Evidence suggests the placement of a first-year team into the highest class might be more a matter of convenience than one rooted in logic.

   With 2010 state finalist Troy dropping down to Class A based upon enrollment this fall, moving Green Tech into Class AA allows the section to set up two seven-team divisions in the largest class. Meanwhile, Class B tentatively has 11 teams, meaning one school each week will have to look outside its class or outside Section 2 for a game; the football committee has already drafted an distributed its proposed 2011 schedule.

   But VanDerzee said the football committee's rationale revolved around two key factors.    "Being a charter school, the state treats them like a private school," VanDerzee said. "The school has no tuition fees and is drawing kids from the Albany School District."

   Assuming that's true, it seems a contradiction then to have four existing private-school programs play at less one class below the highest level: Bishop Maginn in Class A, Albany Academy (which played in a NYSPHSAA final as recently as 2006 and has an enrollment virtually identical to Green Tech) in B, and Bishop Gibbons and Saratoga Central Catholic in D.

   And it's not as though Green Tech is blessed with either the resources or the track record to leave the likes of Schenectady or Colonie shaking in their cleats. Though the Eagles JVs were 7-1 for coach Pete Porcelli last fall, two of the victories were by forfeit. In addition:

   •The JV schedule consisted of Class A Averill Park and a blend of opponents from classes B, C and D. Green Tech lost to Class B Cobleskill and allowed 28 points or more in four of its six games, the paper reported. Further, the Green Tech roster included several juniors, somewhat rare among JV programs, because there was no varsity team yet.

   •The school has neither an adequate practice field nor a weight room. Administrators are seeking to hold home games at Bleecker Stadium.

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   •There's an overall lack of numbers within the program. Green Tech lost at least half a dozen of the 35 players who began the season there and obviously doesn't have a large student body from which it will be able to call up reserves when it takes on opponents with 40-man varsity rosters plus robust JV and modified turnouts. As a charter school, there is no junior high that serves as a feeder school.

   What's especially puzzling about the decision to rush Green Tech up to the highest class is that the school's basketball and wrestling teams are allowed to compete in Class B, more in line with its enrollment. The Times Union noted that Cairo-Durham and Ichabod Crane were allowed to debut their varsity football teams vs. a schedule of opponents below what their enrollment sizes would normally dictate.

   "We're not here to jeopardize anyone," VanDerzee told the paper. "In turn, we're not going to give (Green Tech) an unfair advantage."

   Perhaps, but I don't think it's out of line to wonder whether they are they being dealt an unfair disadvantage.

Many reporters use Twitter to deliver updates from fall sports contests. We track those tweets from a variety of venues 24/7. Visit the page to see what's going on.

   More later: I'll be back later Saturday to catch up on a whole bunch of stuff that's been piling up the last few days. In the meantime, be sure to click the link to the right, which will allow you to track much of the day's action in wrestling, basketball, track and hockey from around the state via Twitter updates from reporters on the scene.