Week One Games

[jayjay6218]

I'll be at the Backyard Brawl, haven't missed one in years. It is THE way to start out the HS Football season in central PA.

[footballfan11111]

State college @ spring ford

[bison1987]

Richland and BG... How will Richland stack up this year against the returning state champs? Richlands scheme is always top notch with bailey, and a few of their younger players showed a lot of promise last year

[PrimetimePlayer]

Pretty sure that I'm the only one on this board that will be at West Middlesex for there opener against Cambridge Springs.

[fdc173]

I'll be at the Richland @ BG game to see if the marauders have enough left to play at a high level

[BlueDevil12]

Tyrone Bellwood doesn't get any better for the first weekend.

[Sykotyk]

PA Week 1? I'll be in Syracuse, NY. Doubleheader on Thursday at the Carrier Dome, a Friday morning game at the Carrier Dome, a Friday night game somewhere in the area, a quadrupleheader on Saturday at the Carrier Dome and on Sunday a tripleheader at the Carrier Dome. 11 Games in four days. Should be fun.

Is playing in the Carrier Dome supposed to be a "treat" to these teams ???......just kidding.....I guess I'm just an old fashioned kinda guy and rather be playing outside and no inside an old dome. Especially during Week 1 of the season where the weather is usually very nice and you won't get many of those in upstate NY during the season I'm sure.

They've been doing it for years. Number of games varies, but they tend to try to get three days worth of games in. Syracuse is at home on Friday night, hence the oddly placed Friday morning game. NY football is.... different. To put it nicely. They only play 7 regular season games, and have a rather extensive, and systematic elimination tournament with preselected rotating sites.

A quick run-down for those who might not know the NYSPHSAA:

http://www.nysphsaa.org/portals/0/Image ... on_Map.png

The NYSPHSAA (New York State Public High School Athletic Association) is the state-wide association for HS sports in the state. It is made up of 11 Sections. These are very similar to how the PIAA has districts (they are autonomous). Sections 8 and 11 make up Long Island. Sections 10 and 7 are very small. Section 3 is the Syracuse area, Section 5 is the Rochester area, and Section 6 is the Buffalo area. Section 4 is the Elmira/Binghamton area, Section 2 is the upper Hudson area around Albany, and Sections 1 and 9 make up the two sides of the lower Hudson to NYC.

There's three groups of schools that aren't part of the NYSPHSAA. The most notable is the PSAL, which is the Public School Athletic League in New York City. They aren't members of the NYSPHSAA and don't compete for state championships. The City has a 'championship, bowl, and cup' level for championships amongst its 50 or so high schools. And playing level is devised by previous ability, not students/school size, etc.

The next group that aren't members are the private schools in and around New York City. Mostly they make up the Catholic High School Football League (CHSFL). These include teams from NYC, Long Island, and the northern suburbs such as Westchester, etc. Next is the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association (MMAA) which is made up private schools in the Buffalo metro area. Six play football (St. Francis, St. Joseph, St. Marys, Canisius, Bishop Timon-St. Jude, and Cardinal O'Hara).

Now, you may be thinking it's normal for the private schools not to be part of the NYSPHSAA given that the name refers to "public high schools". However, only the CHSFL and MMAA teams aren't members. There's several private schools around Syracuse (Utica Notre Dame or Christian Brothers Academy come to mind) that are part of the NYSPHSAA.

Generally, now, the MMAA and CHSFL hold a 'state championship' between their two champions. Now, there's two other oddities. Just like Philadelphia, the Buffalo public schools just recently started playing in the NYSPHSAA Section 6. Previously, they competed independently and played for the "Harvard Cup".

And lastly, is Long Island. Though Section 8 and 11 cover the island outside of NYC, and they are full members of the NYSPHSAA, they do not participate in the state championship tournament. Instead, they hold a combined playoff for the Long Island Championships.

Now, the NYSPHSAA has 5 classifications for teams. The largest is AA. Then there's A, B, C, and D is the smallest. There's also DD, D-DD, and NFF, but I'll get to those in a moment. At least Section 6, realigns with enrollment numbers. You are played into a league based on your playoff participation. The smallest is an 8-team league for Class D. The top four teams make the playoffs. The bottom four, generally being the absolute smallest teams in the area, advance to their own playoff, as Section 6 calls them: Class DD. These teams do not get to compete beyond Section 6. They simply hold a semifinal and then their championship game is played first at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Section 5, on the other hand, has a Class D-Class DD playoff game. Because Section 5 has 17 Class D teams, they split them into D and DD. The winners face off on the same weekend when the AA, A, B, and C championship games are held (at Sahlen's Stadium in Rochester).

Section 6 has AA, A, B, C, and D. And has an 'opt-out' league for teams who choose not to participate in the state playoffs. These teams compete under the National Football Foundation banner. There's 11 teams for 2015 that have 'opted out'. These are basically the smallest of small schools that choose just to compete amongst themselves. There's an NFF East and NFF West league, and the championship is held the same weekend at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse as the rest of the Section 6 finals.

Now, as I've eluded to, the Sections hold all their championships at the same play (generally). Section 6 at Ralph Wilson Stadium, Section 5 at Sahlen's Stadium in Rochester (built for the Rochester Rhinos soccer team), and Section 3 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Section 5 plays in Kingston, and at out east they tend to do the same thing. Section 2 plays their big games at Albany U. while the other classifications play elsewhere. And I think the two northern sections just play at the higher seed).

In AA, the Regionals (aka quarterfinals) pit the Section 1 and 9 champions against eacher while Section 2 gets a bye. Out west, Section 3 and 4 play while Section 5 and 6 play. Now, 5 and 6 play in all 5 levels, and alternate either at Buffalo's All-High Stadium or Rochester's Sahlen's Stadium. Section 3 and 4 alternate, though Section 3 will host their turn, usually, at Cicero-North Syracuse's stadium.

The next round is the Semifinals, with the East playing at Dietz Stadium and the West alternating between Sahlen's Stadium or a stadium near Syracuse.

And the championships are held back at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.



So, going back to the topic: is it a 'treat' to play there? In a way yes and no. Partly because that's just the way the state tends to do things. A lot of games at one venue is normal to them (Section 6 wanted to do that at RWS, but backed out due to Bills scheduling last year and I think gave up the idea completely this year).

Also, a lot of the stadiums in NY tend to leave little to be desired. A TON of teams play on Saturday afternoons because of poor facilities. Even big city area schools don't have great venues. I drove up to Williamsville two years ago for a Thursday night game. The city has three schools (East, North and South), but play all their games, generally, at South because they have lights. Well, the game was cancelled without any real notice to be played on Saturday at 'the Rock Pile' which is the nice name fans gave the old War Memorial Stadium where the Bills once played. Once it was demolished, they built a small sports complex on the site.

http://tinyurl.com/pas2dhz

My favorite note about the stadium:

Ron Fimrite, writing in Sports Illustrated (May 7, 1984, p. 100), quoted another writer, Brock Yates, as having once said that this stadium "looks as if whatever war it was a memorial to had been fought within its confines." That look contributed to the oft-used nickname Buffalo residents gave to the stadium: The Rockpile.

Anyways, my fun little sidetrack is over. The only downside to playing at the Carrier Dome in August is that despite being named for the company who was named and founded by the man who invented modern air-conditioning... the stadium has no air-conditioning.

[SportsLover61]

Meyersdale @ Ferndale on Saturday NIGHT (Sept. 5). First ever night game at the Hive. Tailgate before, along with honoring the 94-95 District Title team. Should be an exciting night.