With enrollments falling across the state, the NYSPHSAA considers adjustments to its five-class format.
Class is dismissed.
Well, at least last year’s classes are.
The executive committee of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association is scheduled to vote this week on proposed new enrollment cutoff numbers to be used in determining playoff classes for the state football tournament.
The NYSPHSAA relies on BEDS numbers for grades 9-11 reported to the New York State Education Department to balance the number of teams in each playoff class.
The NYSPHSAA has already approved revised numbers for boys and girls soccer and basketball, as well as baseball and softball, to reflect the fact that enrollment numbers have for the most part been in steady decline across the state:
Class AA: 925 and up (was 950)
Class A: 525-924 (was 550-949)
Class B: 305-524 (was 325-549)
Class C: 175-304 (was 193-324)
Class D: 174 and under (was 192)
Also, ice hockey will begin using enrollment numbers to replace the existing Division I-II format that had been pegged to the ability of programs. Now, Division I will be for schools with enrollments of 1,100 and above.
Schools in all sports have the right to move up one or more classes in order to seek out tougher competition, and some sections require private schools to play at least one class higher than enrollment would otherwise dictate.
Under the proposed changes in BEDS, numbers for football would look like this:
Class AA: 1,001 and up (was 1,051)
Class A: 601-1,000 (was 626-1,050)
Class B: 401-600 (was 441-625)
Class C: 261-400 (was 276-440)
Class D: 260 and under (was 275)
Based on preliminary BEDS data, dozens of football teams will be affected by the vote. Notable among them, reigning state large-school champion North Tonawanda, McQuaid, Union-Endicott, Troy and Hilton would play in Class AA next season rather than A if the changes are approved.
New Hartford, Lansingburgh and Geneva would be in A rather than B. Also, Bath and Croton-Harmon would play in B rather than C; and Westmoreland would play in C rather than D.
Boys basketball: Class A takes the spotlight
Much of the week’s major news on the court involved the best teams in the second-largest state tournament class:
* Top-ranked Jamesville-DeWitt, the defending NYSPHSAA Class A champion, played three demanding games in as many days to improve to 10-0.
On Friday, Lamar Kearse scored a team-high 15 points to lead the Red Rams to a 46-41 victory rival Syracuse CBA. It avenged J-D's only regular-season loss of a year ago.
"Every day this week, thats all we've been hearing: 'They beat you last year,' " Kearse told The Post-Standard. "My father put the picture that was in the newspaper last year of CBA beating us on my computer screen. I had to keep looking at it. It made me want to win this game even more."
J-D led 14-8 after the first quarter (in which the teams combined for 14 turnovers) and 34-26 after three quarters.
One night later, Kearse scored 19 points and made a free throw with three seconds left in overtime to give unbeaten J-D a 65-64 victory over defending state Class B champion Bishop Kearney in Utica Notre Dame's tournament semifinals. Tyler Cavanaugh added 18 points for J-D.
In Sunday’s final, 6-foot-9 sophomore Dajuan Coleman put up 35 points and 20 rebounds to carry the Red Rams past Albany Academy 76-70. Kearse chipped in with 19 points.
* Iona Prep erupted for 33 third-quarter points en route to an 84-72 victory over visiting Mount St. Michael in a likely preview of the CHSAA Class A final in March. Vermont recruit Brian Voelkel posted 18 points, 21 rebounds and seven assists in his second game back following a two-game suspension for being ejected from a game last month.
Iona Prep made 15 of 22 shots in the third period.
* No. 3 Buffalo Nichols lost senior guard Ron Canestro for at least six weeks – and quite likely the remainder of the season – with a broken finger on his right (shooting) hand suffered in practice. Canestro, who underwent surgery last week, is a two-time All-Western New York selection. Nichols won its first game minus Canestro by topping Erie (Pa.) Cathedral Prep 68-57 to advance to the McDonald's Tournament final. The next night, the Vikings took a 65-53 loss to Pennsylvania powerhouse Penn Wood.
* Aquinas made all eight of its fourth-quarter field-goal attempts in a 78-65 win over Wilson Magnet, the Rochester area’s best Class AA team. Alex Baron scored 18 points to pace the Little Irish, who shot 72 percent for the game. Here’s how unsettled the Section V landscape is in Classes AA and A at the midpoint of the season: Aquinas beat Wilson, which defeated East. East beat Rush-Henrietta, which beat Greece Athena. Athena beat Gates Chili, which beat the Franklin team that defeated Aquinas. All seven schools except Gates Chili (5-5) sport records of 9-3 or better.
More basketball: No easy pickings for larger-school powers
There is almost (pay attention, because "almost" is the operative word) no such thing as a clear-cut favorite for either the NYSPHSAA or Federation titles in Class AA following Rice’s convincing 71-56 victory over Bishop Loughlin in CHSAA action. Forward Kadeem Jack produced 24 points and 20 rebounds in the clash with Villanova-bound Jayvaughn Pinkston (29 points).
"I think it’s a big statement coming to Loughlin’s home gym and beating them," Rice's Jermaine Sanders (20 points) told The New York Daily News. "Kadeem made a statement."
And then on Sunday, Jeffland Neverson scored 24 points and ripped down 14 rebounds as Boys & Girls was convincing in a 68-52 victory over Wadleigh, which had been riding an 11-game winning streak. With 6-foot-5 transfer Leroy Fludd not due to become eligible until Feb. 1, Boys & Girls (14-4) might absorb three more losses and still be the PSAL postseason favorite.
Traditional NYSPHSAA contender Mount Vernon lost to defending Pennsylvania AAAA champion Penn Wood 61-53 in an out-of-state tournament, and Niagara Falls actually absorbed two losses in the same week, including an overtime thriller at North Tonawanda.
That leaves two possibilities at the top of Class AA: Half Hollow Hills West, led by Tennessee recruit Tobias Harris in his first season back following a stint at Long Island Lutheran, and defending NYSPHSAA champion Newburgh Free Academy.
Newburgh returned virtually everyone from the title squad, and the outlook got even better last week, as 5-11 Devon McMillan became eligible. McMillan, a senior guard headed to Hofstra, made his season debut with four points, four assists and three rebounds in barely a quarter of action to help rout Warwick 87-46. As a Uniondale junior, McMillan averaged 12.9 points and 11.1 rebounds following his transfer from Abraham Lincoln.
"He seemed to be very unselfish," Warwick coach Tom Folino told The Times Herald-Record. "If the chemistry stays the way it should with them, he's going to make them a much better team."
Milestones: Three coaches hit the 400 mark
Tuxedo girls basketball coach Dave Powers picked up career win No. 400 on Thursday in a 51-30 nonleague win over Livingston Manor. Powers has 156 wins in nine seasons at Tuxedo after previous stints at Immaculate Heart (N.J.) for two seasons and Nanuet for 14.
Two days later, Canandaigua girls coach Bob Guy did likewise as the Braves beat Penfield 54-39. Guy is 400-82 in 21 seasons. Amityville boys coach Jack Agostino earned his 400th with an 86-50 victory over Westhampton Beach.
Odds and ends
* Glastonbury (Conn.) junior Lindsay Crevoiserat won at the wire to hold off Shenendehowa sophomore Lizzie Predmore in the girls Millrose Mile qualifier at the Yale Invitational. Crevoiserat finished in 4:57.15 to edge Predmore (4:57.16). In the 3,000 meters, Roslyn's Emily Lipari wired the field in 9:44.85. Colonie sophomore Kyle Plante took over the national lead in the girls 400 in 0:55.43.
* Billy Coggins earned his 200th career wrestling win for Rocky Point in a dual loss to John Glenn. The 171-pounder's feat gives the Eagles three 200-match winners on their roster.
* Officials with the Beacon City School District have ceased pursuing a move from Section I to Section IX, citing concerns over additional travel expenses. Beacon began investigating a move over dissatisfaction with the recent Section I realignment into geography-dictated divisions for most sports.
* A potential girls basketball championship season at Olean is at risk following an injury to Rachel Bantelman. The University at Buffalo recruit suffered torn ligaments and cartilage in her right wrist this month and will be out until at least late February.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
