How will football realignment shape Section II?
In the spirit of Sunday’s Super Bowl, we’re keeping the theme of football going in this week’s Face-Off. Section II football that is.
With the 2016 Basic Educational Data System (BEDS) numbers released for all Section II schools recently, three programs will have homes in new classifications next fall — Troy, Lansingburgh and Bishop Maginn.
Both Troy and Lansingburgh are each moving up a class while Bishop Maginn is moving down to Class B.
Now the question looms, how will this effect the Section II football landscape moving forward?
Sportwriters DJ Eberle and Stan Hudy are here to settle the debate.
DJ Eberle says:
The new realignment immediately reshapes the Section II landscape.
The Flying Horses will have an opportunity to step into Class AA in the fall and compete for a Section II title.
Each of the semifinalist from this past season — Saratoga Springs, Shaker, Shenendehowa and Guilderland — will return to action without major pieces from the 2015 season. The Blue Streaks will return just two starters, the Blue Bison will have lost three Division I athletes to graduation, the Plainsmen is losing a handful of talent on both sides of the ball to graduation and the Dutchmen’s best two players — quarterback George Marinopoulos and two-way starter Marquis Chisom — in 2015 were seniors.
While Troy will be losing a solid chunk of starters to graduation as well, its starting quarterback John Germinerio will be back for his senior season. Only one other final four team can say that — Shaker’s Wahid Nabi returns. If all goes to plan for head coach Bob Burns and his team, the Flying Horses could be one of the Class AA favorites in 2016 depending on which division they play in.
Lansingburgh and Bishop Maginn on the other hand might not have as much luck.
The Knights were one of the better teams in Class B this past fall, as the No. 3 seed from the Reinfurt Division, but had trouble competing with the teams at the top. Lansingburgh finished the season 4-5 after starting 4-1, and four of the five losses came to teams at the top of the conference — Schuylerville, Glens Falls, Schalmont and Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk.
After losing some top players, including quarterback Jason Agostino, running backs Danny Lopez and Andrew LaBelle and wide receiver Derek Gamache, it could be hard for the Knights to compete with the top of Class A as well.
While Bishop Maginn is coming off of a winless season, after finishing 7-2 in 2014, the Griffins have plenty of youth coming back next fall.
Two-way lineman Kase McMullen, running back/ cornerback Najaleik Uptegrow-Turner and wide receiver Taevon Wallace will all be seniors and running back/quarterback/safety Joey Ward, tight end/defensive end Ayyub Ward and two-way lineman Jake Marrone will be back as just juniors.
Bishop Maginn will be a fun team to watch evolve in 2016 in Class B.
Stan Hudy says:
I think DJ is missing the big picture and looking at it only from a one-year scenario for the Flying Horses. The question is how will this effect not only Troy High, but the rest of the Class AA landscape with the move up.
I agree that it works for Troy High and credit to the school district as its growth is a credit to its educational system and the surrounding school district’s economy, people want their kids to go to Troy High.
I think the move is challenging and will bring even more prestige to the Flying Horses program and is another win following its inclusion into the Suburban Council at the beginning of the fall 2015 season.
As a note, the numbers are set utilizing a statewide format taking into consideration the number of schools in all five classes and each section will have movement similar to Section II.
My inquiry is how it will shape the Empire and Liberty Divisions next year? Will Troy re-enter the Liberty Division and create a heavy Rennselaer- centric division with Columbia and LaSalle, adding a new school into a division that is often considered to be the little brother to the Empire Division. I don’t want to demean Shaker’s success in the past, but their inter-division schedule in the past has almost guaranteed a winning record.
The move also will now impact the smaller Class AA schools, which Troy will be one of, just 39 students over the cutoff, but similar to Ballston Spa (953), Columbia (934) and LaSalle (896 when doubled), they gain a new potent competitor.
With Ballston Spa ready to perform an open search for a new head coach, LaSalle’s numbers being the smallest in Class AA and Columbia battling in a large school division, all three programs have their work cut out for them.
Regarding Lansingburgh, the learning curve is over for the Knights and they will have to find their way past Class A powerhouses like Queensbury, Green Tech, Burnt Hills and Gloversville. Like the Flying Horses, welcome to the big leagues.
Bishop Maginn continues to deserve credit for playing up in class. With just 100 students under the recently published BEDS numbers, the Griffins are eligible to play in Class D against schools with 239 or fewer students including Rensselaer, Cambridge, Fort Edward and Salem, but took a shot at playing up against teams with at least 570 students.
The move down to Class B will still provide them with challenges in the talented pool with state finalist Schuylerville, Glens Falls, Cohoes and Albany Academy.
For the three teams that moved in Section II I think it’s a win-win for the programs and their fans. We’ll know more when the realignments are announced later in the year.
How do you think the Section II football landscape will change after the new alignment? Voice your opinion and give us your thoughts on our Sports SoundOff hotline at 518-889YELL(9355). Make sure to check out our FaceOff podcast for DJ and Stan’s full take on this week’s podcast and their thoughts about the Super Bowl.