There are two main Catholic Leagues in the State of New York. There is the New York Catholic High School Football League (NYCHSFL), and the Monsignor Martin High School Athletic Association (MMHSAA). Together, for football, they make up the NYCHSAA. For some context, these two leagues center around the major city they are based in, with the Monsignor Martin Schools based around Buffalo, and the NYCHSFL members based around New York City. 

The Monsignor Martin League consists of just two divisions, an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ Division. The teams are: 

‘A’

• Canisius High School- Buffalo, NY; 600 boys Grades 9-12
• St. Joseph Collegiate Institute- Buffalo, NY; 650 boys Grades 9-12
• St. Francis High School- Hamburg, NY; 410 boys Grades 9-12

‘B’

• Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School- Buffalo, NY; 320 boys Grades 9-12
• Cardinal O’Hara High School- Tonawanda, NY; 267 students Grades 9-12
• St. Mary’s High School- Lancaster, NY; 375 students Grades 9-12

Link to Google Map

While not as robust of a league, the MMHSAA competes well. The two leagues have coexisted, competing in State Championships since 2014. But there are many other Catholic Schools that compete in the NYSPHSAA. These schools, in my opinion, should be part of one of the two leagues, or should work together to make another Catholic league, so the CHSAA champion can truly call themselves State Champion. 

The NYSPHSAA is dominated by these schools, with a collective record of 68-41 in 2024. Most noticeably the Christian Brothers Academies, in Albany and Syracuse, both went to the State Championship with both teams having 14 wins. CBA Syracuse’s program has won the NYS public school championship at the highest classification level many times. This does not go unnoticed with public school advocates complaining over the fact that a private school is winning the public school football championships. I do agree with them that there is a competitive imbalance, and that these teams should find new homes. The main issue, of course, is logistics. New York is actually a pretty large state and logistically for a team in Albany to play a team in Staten Island would be costly, and not doable week in and week out. The seven game league schedule is far too demanding for a team like the Christian Brothers Academy in Albany to make the three/four trips to the Archdiocese of New York, and Syracuse is even further from the CHSFL. 

But there is another option. These two are not the only Catholic High Schools that have football in NYS that compete in the public school league. I can think of a few more off hand. When exploring the viability of an additional upstate league, I found that an independent league would not work. There simply are not enough Catholic Schools upstate to sustain a full league. They are too far apart from each other, and the competition level would not be fair. So this makes me go to my next idea, perhaps expanding the MMHSAA.

Long term, I would love to see a Public vs Catholic Championship game. The NYSPHSAA already crowns a team in Syracuse, but that champion does not include the Long Island Sectional Champions, or the NYC PSAL Champions. Why not have the PSAL and Long Island Champions play each other for the chance to play the NYSPHSAA Championship? Even after this game, we could pit them against the Catholic Champion, and get a true New York State Crown. 

Anyways, back to the Catholics. Here is the list I could find, with their location, and enrollment (as found online):

• The Aquinas Institute of Rochester- Rochester, NY; Approx 775 students grades 6-12
• McQuaid Jesuit High School- Rochester, NY; 800 boys grades 9-12
• Albertus Magnus High School- Bardonia, NY; 485 students grades 9-12
• Bishop Kearney High School- Irondequoit, NY; 415 students grades 6-12
• Bishop Ludden Junior-Senior High School- Syracuse, NY; 280 students grades 7-12
• Christian Brothers Academy- Albany, NY; 570 boys grades 5-12
• Christian Brothers Academy- DeWitt, New York; 750 students grades 7-12
• John S. Burke Catholic High School- Goshen, NY; 370 students grades 9-12
• La Salle Institute- Troy, NY; 372 students grades 9-12
• Notre Dame High School- Batavia, NY; 220 students graded 7-12

Link to Google Map

A lot of these schools are very small, and I don’t know if a league like this would be competitive with the CHSFL, or even the MMSHAA. The schools that are closest to the CHSFL are John S. Burke Catholic High School and Albertus Magnus High School. Both of them are in the Archdiocese of New York, and it would be appropriate to add them to the NYCHSFL. This would bring the NYCHSL to 25 teams. 

Now there are two programs in Albany, two programs in Syracuse, three in Rochester, and one in Batavia, between Rochester and Buffalo. With only six teams in the football league of the MMHSAA, I would think adding all of these teams to the MMHSAA, and splitting them regionally, would be the best move. Because MMHSAA teams only play 3 league games, these programs would be able to make it work. 

How I would change the MMHSAA:

• MMHSAA East Division would be the teams in and around Buffalo, adding Notre Dame High School to the B Division of the MMHSAA due to its size. 
• The West Division would include:
  • The three schools in Rochester, McQuaid Jesuit, Aquinas Institute, and Bishop Kearney, 
  • The two schools in Syracuse, Christian Brothers Academy, and Bishop Ludden, 
  • The two schools in Albany, Christian Brother Academy, and La Salle Institute
• McQuaid, Aquinas, CBA Syracuse, and CBA Albany would make up the ‘A’ Division. 
• Bishop Kearney, Bishop Ludden, and the La Salle Institute would make up the ‘B’ Division. 
• The West division would never play more than one game in past Syracuse, which would be the de-facto dividing line in the division– for example, CBA Albany would never be compelled to go to Rochester twice in one season. 
• Each division champion would play in the MMHSAA Championship, and the champion would then play the CHSFL Champion, as has happened for the last 10 or so years. 

In this new upstate league, I think we could finally determine a true Catholic State Champion. The CBAs definitely think they could compete with the best of the NYCHSFL, and vice versa. 

Here would be my new created MMHSAA:

MMHSAA
A’ West Division	‘A’ East Division
Canisius High School	Aquinas Institute of Rochester
St. Francis High School	Christian Brothers Academy- Syracuse
St. Joseph Collegiate Institute	Christian Brothers Academy- Albany
	McQuaid Jesuit High School
‘B’ West Division	‘B’ East Division
Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School	Bishop Kearney High School
Cardinal O’Hara High School	Bishop Ludden High School
Notre Dame High School	La Salle Institute
St. Mary’s High School

Could we do a State tournament involving the ‘AA-1’ and ‘B’ Division? Who knows? The size of the ‘B’ Division schools is much more comparable to the ‘AA-2’ schools, so I am not sure this is that good of an idea. Perhaps you could have the winner of the ‘B’ Division play the ‘AA-2’ champion to determine that state champion. But this leaves out the ‘AA-1’ from further postseason play. 

Anyways, this would create a 25 team league in the NYCHSFL, and a 14 team league in the MMHSAA. What do you think? Could this be done? Just putting it out there. And what of the other leagues in the state, I know that the MIFL exists– though those schools cross state lines. I am unsure if any of the independent leagues can compete with the NYCHSFL, MMHSAA, PSAL, or the Public league. 

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my musings and thoughts on all this. Let me know what you think.

Happy Easter everyone!