Morrisville-Eaton, Adirondack, Dolgeville, among top seeds in Section 3 football playoffs
The paths to Section 3 championships are much clearer now after Sunday's formal announcement of seeds and schedules for six divisions of competition, classes AA-D and the section's eight player division.
Top seeds went to Syracuse's Class AA Christian Brothers Academy, Class A Fayetteville-Manlius, Class B Indian River, Class C Adirondack, Class D Dolgeville and the eight-player Morrisville-Eaton squad.
Defending champions Dolgeville and Christian Brothers Academy will be trying to add to the section's largest collections of football championship plaques while Morrisville-Eaton takes another shot at winning its first.
In all 46 of 47 playoff teams will take the field next weekend for quarterfinal games hosted by higher seeds; Christian Brothers Academy has a bye to the semifinals of the seven-team AA tournament. Semifinals will be played at neutral sites the first weekend in November − Christian Brothers Academy will be playing at home − and champions will be crowned at tripleheaders Nov. 11 and 13 at Syracuse University's dome, the days before and after the nationally-ranked Orange takes on Florida State's Seminoles.
A handful of the area's non-playoff qualifiers will play season-ending crossover games Thursday. Herkimer hosts Waterville/Hamilton in what amounts to make-up game for a game that was forfeited by a short-handed Waterville/Hamilton squad in the second week of the season; Clinton travels to play at Lowville Academy; Westmoreland/Oriskany plays at Onondaga; and Canastota plays at Cortland.
As for the playoff teams, here is a look at each class.
More:Section 3 football scores for the 2022 season
Class AA
All seven of the section's AA teams advance to the playoffs and each of the games repeats one played during the regular season.
Baldwinsville (4-2), last year's runner-up is the third seed and plays at home Friday against No. 6 Rome Free Academy (1-7), a team the Bees beat 55-13 in their season opener.
Defending champion Cicero-North Syracuse (7-1), the No. 1 seed last year, is seeded second and takes on No. 7 Henninger (1-7) in the other Friday game. Then Northstars won 44-22 at Henninger during the season.
Utica's Proctor Raiders (4-3) is seeded fourth and plays at home Saturday against No. 5 Liverpool (2-5). The Raiders won 32-20 at Liverpool at the end of September. The winner advances to play 12-time champion Christian Brothers Academy (8-0) in the semifinals; the Brothers won the Class A title as the sixth seed last year and have three previous AA titles over the past 10 years.
Class A
New Hartford, the No. 1 seed and runner-up to Indian River in Class B in 2021, enters the Class A postseason seeded fourth this year with a 5-3 record. The Spartans (5-3) play at home Friday against No. 4 Corcoran (4-4). The game is scheduled for 14 days after Corcoran beat New Hartford 13-7 in Syracuse.
The winner in New Hartford advances to meet the winner of the game between No. 1 Fayetteville-Manlius (7-1) and No. 8 East Syracuse-Minoa (1-7).
On the other side of the bracket, Whitesboro (6-2) is seeded second and plays at home Friday against No. 7 Auburn (3-5), a team the Warriors beat 49-26 on the road Oct. 14.
The final quarterfinal pits No. 3 West Genesee (6-2) against No. 6 Carthage (3-5).
Class B
Indian River, a top seed and finalist in Class A last fall, is No. 1 again this season after swapping spots with New Hartford, last year's No. 1 seed in Class B. The Warriors (8-0) play one of four Friday quarterfinals at home against No. 8 Westhill (4-4).
Central Valley Academy (4-4) is seeded fifth and plays at the fourth-seeded Syracuse Institute of Technology (4-4). The teams previously played a Sept. 23 game in Ilion that Central Valley Academy won 35-7 after taking a 29-0 lead before halftime.
No. 7 Oneida (3-5) plays at No. 2 Homer (6-1), and No. 3 Camden (6-1) plays at home against No. 6 Chittenango (3-4). Homer previously beat Oneida 56-30 at home in September. Camden beat Chittenango 43-24 in its season-opening game.
Class C
Like classes A and B, Class C has a newcomer as its top seed, Adirondack. The unbeaten Adirondack Wildcats (7-0) were runners-up to Dolgeville in Class D last fall and return the core of a team that graduated only four seniors in June.
"After losing that game in the dome last year, the kids and the staff felt like we were a young team that had missed an opportunity," Adirondack coach Ray Hennessey said after his team completed a second consecutive unbeaten regular season win a win at Holland Patent Saturday. "We wanted to get that (opportunity) back."
The Wildcats play at home Friday against No. 8 Marcellus (3-4).
General Brown (6-1), a finalist last year, earned the other home game for Class C2 as the No. 3 seed and plays Friday against No. 6 Skaneateles (3-4), a rematch from last year's championship game won 35-14 by the top-seeded Lakers.
Holland Patent (6-2), seeded fifth after finishing the regular season with back-to-back losses, plays at No. 4 Bishop Ludden/Syracuse Academy of Science (6-1) which has won five games in a row.
No. 7 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill (4-4) heads to No. 2 Cazenovia (7-0) Saturday for a second shot at an unbeaten foe it challenged into the fourth quarter at home Oct. 14.
Class D
Dolgeville won its 18th Section III title last year begins the hunt for No. 19 as the No. 1 seed in Class D. The unbeaten Blue Devils (7-0) play at home on Bynon Field Saturday afternoon against Utica-Notre Dame's eighth-seeded Jugglers (2-5).
Dolgeville and the D East won seven of 10 crossovers against D West and took four of five in the second weekend of non-league contests.
Joining Dolgeville from the East are No. 3 Little Falls (6-2), No. 5 Mt. Markham (6-2) and No. 7 Sherburne-Earlville (2-6) which all play Friday.
Little Falls, winner of three games in a row since its Dolgeville game, plays at home against Cato-Meridian (3-4) which had lost four in a row before beating Notre Dame Friday.
Mt. Markham has lost only to Dolgeville and Little Falls heading into its trip to play No. 4 Sandy Creek (4-2) which started 4-2 before losing both of its games in October.
Sherburne-Earlville heads to Beaver River (6-1) where the No. 2 seed suffered its only loss at home in a crossover against Dolgeville.
Eight Player
Morrisville-Eaton starts the eight player sectional playoffs as the No. 1 seed for the second year in a row. The Warriors (6-1) play No. 8 Cooperstown/Milford (3-4) Saturday, an opponent they beat 44-0 on the road during the regular season.
Defending champion West Canada Valley (6-1) is seeded fourth and opens the playoffs at home Saturday with a rematch against No. 5 South Lewis (2-5), a team the Indians defeated 40-0 Oct. 15. If the seeds hold, West Canada Valley and Morrisville-Eaton would meet for the first time since last year's championship game in the Nov. 5 semifinals at Sauquoit Valley.
New York Mills (6-1), the sixth seed and the one team that has beaten Morrisville-Eaton this season, plays in Syracuse Saturday at No. 3 Bishop Grimes (4-3), the team the Marauders beat 38-22 at home to start the season.
The attention-grabbing eight player quarterfinal might be the one Friday game: No. 7 Thousand Islands (3-5) at No. 2 Frankfort-Schuyler (5-2). Frankfort-Schuyler is playing in its first sectional playoffs since winning the 2019 Class D title after not fielding a varsity team last year, and Thousand Islands gave up 94 points in its quarterfinal loss to West Canada Valley last year. The teams will be playing seven days later on the same field where Thousand Islands won 56-54 Friday to finish the regular season.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Section 3 football playoffs: Several area teams are No. 1 seeds
