It is the offseason! I shift to more “stream of consciousness” type posts now, and perhaps some “Look Back” posts, but most importantly, I will be resting for the rest of the year. Of course, if something major happens, Pete will be here, just drop me a DM or email. Always willing to talk shop, meet with coaches to chat, clear the air, etc. I have appreciated the connections I have made this past season with parents, and coaches around the league. Take a look at the community that WE have built. This blog would not exist without followers and readers.

Of course, I am on Twitter/X , on Tiktok (I just started this one, trying to figure it out) and am always available via Instagram, and of course, email (sneakypete1841@gmail.com).

I am going to cover a lot in this post, and it may be reactionary. I want to talk about ways to improve competitiveness across all three divisions and solutions that I think would work well for everyone. This also ties into scheduling. I was not a fan of how scheduling is done this past seasons, particularly with how many cross divisional games there were. I also would like to get into possible partnerships the league should explore with other leagues in the State, especially because of that ever awkward weeks 0-3. Lastly, I will bring up expansion of the NYCHSFL.

Realignment

This past season, the NYCHSFL had 22 (supposed to be 23) programs spread over three divisions, the ‘AAA’, ‘AA-1’, and ‘AA-2’. The ‘AA-2’ is what used to be the ‘A’ division. While the three division split has been standard in the past, I think that due to competitiveness, and safety, that this should be tweaked. First off, I do not think that programs that have only 1 team should be competing with programs that have a JV or even three levels. There are safety issues when you have 14 and 15 year old kids competing with 16-18 year old kids.

If it were up to me:

• I would increase the size of the ‘AAA’ to 8 teams, with the ‘AA-1’ champion and runner up automatically moving up.
• For the ‘AA-1’, I would expand the division, incorporating the top 5 programs of the ‘AA-2’ into the ‘AA-1’ division. I would rename it back to the ‘AA’.
• The final four programs would make up the ‘AA-2’, and I would rename it back to the ‘A’ division.
• I would make competing for your division’s championship the goal of the regular season, not an entitlement. Example:
  • Only the top 6 teams in the ‘AAA’ would make the playoffs. The bottom two teams would be reseeded based on power points and compete in the ‘AA’ playoffs.
    • This would make the top of the ‘AAA’ work to compete for those 1st round byes
    • This would make the bottom of the ‘AAA’ work to stay in the ‘AAA’ playoffs.
  • The ‘AA’ would be an 8 team playoff with two teams being from the ‘AAA’, and the top six of the ‘AA’ making up the rest of the bracket.
  • The bottom four of the ‘AA’ would make the consolation tournament.
  • The ‘A’ would have their own playoff with the four programs there.

This would allow every team to compete in a postseason, but also there would be real consequences to the regular season.

In this reimagined league, the 2026 league breakdown would be:

‘AAA’

1. Monsignor Farrell
2. Iona Prep
3. St. Anthony’s
4. Chaminade
5. Archbishop Stepinac
6. Cardinal Hayes
7. Xavier
8. St. Joseph by the Sea

‘AA’

1. St. Peter’s
2. Fordham Prep
3. St. Francis Prep
4. St. John the Baptist
5. Kellenberg Memorial
6. Xaverian
7. Holy Cross
8. Christ the King
9. Holy Trinity
10. Mount St. Michael

‘A’

1. Kennedy Catholic
2. Cardinal Spellman
3. St. Dominic’s
4. Nazareth

Scheduling

With divisions realigned, I do think that there are issues with scheduling. It makes no sense that NYCHSFL teams are playing up to four opponents on their league schedule that they will never see in the playoffs. In fact, ‘AAA’ teams were 12-2 vs ‘AA-1’ opponents with an average score of 32-16, and ‘AA-1’ teams were 13-2 vs ‘AA-2’ opponents with an average score of 30-13. With the new divisions, this can be worked out though.

Here is what I would do:

• ‘AAA’ with 8 programs, would do a simple round-robin type play. This would require every ‘AAA’ team to play every team in their division.
• The bottom four ‘AA’ programs would have 1 game vs a ‘A’ opponent, and 6 games in their division. The top 6 ‘AA’ programs, would play all 7 of their league games in their division.
• The ‘A’, with just four teams, would play each team in their division twice + a ‘AA’ team

This would keep everyone happy as far as safety, and competition. Of course, league play is one element of the puzzle, as there are 10 weeks in the season.

This is really school specific, but if I were the NYCHSFL, I would push for each program to have at least 2 non-league matchups in the regular season. While most ‘AAA’ teams and even some ‘AA-1’ and ‘AA-2’ teams participate in the Battle of the Bridge, the lower divisions could look to strike some agreements with other local area leagues.

A few ideas:

• Connecticut
  • There are some great Catholic programs in CT– like Fairfield Prep, Xavier in Middletown, CT, St. Joseph HS, Notre Dame Prep, etc.
  • Being a state that is close, I do think there is an opportunity to have a partnership like the Battle of the Bridge
• Metro Independent Football League (MIFL)
  • This league involves schools like Hackley in Tarrytown, The Pingry School in New Jersey, Rye Country Day School, Fieldston School, Riverdale Country School, Hopkins, and Poly Prep in Brooklyn.
  • The NYCHSFL should try to set up appropriate games with this league early in the year as these are all private schools, just like the NYCHSFL.
• Public School Athletic League (PSAL)
  • A natural opponent, I would like to see more NYCHSFL schools play PSAL neighbors, especially schools in the city. I think becoming more ingratiated with the local public schools in competition can only make the NYCHSFL more well known to prospective parents.
  • The good thing about the PSAL is they have four classifications, so a there are levels that you can match up with. Note that the NYCHSFL and PSAL have been playing each other for years already in week 0 and 1 matchups, organized by member schools, but nothing official.
• New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA)
  • For schools, especially in Westchester, or Long Island, I feel there should be an effort to play the local area public schools. For schools like Iona and Stepinac– they used to have long standing rivalries with Section 1 opponents, New Rochelle for Iona and White Plains for Stepinac, and Kennedy Catholic was literally part of Section 1 until 2013.
  • For schools that are on the border of Westchester and the city, or schools that pull a lot of kids from Westchester, like Fordham Prep, Cardinal Spellman, Xavier, and Mount St. Michael, this could be an additional way to continue to be a known name in the region.
  • From what I understand, the relationship between NYCHSFL schools on Long Island and the Long Island public schools is a bit more strained.

Expansion

I am going to continue to advocate for the expansion of the NYCHSFL to include three more programs north of the city. The teams are:

• Albertus Magnus High School (Section 1 Hudson Valley)
• Burke Catholic High School (Section 9 Class D)
• Our Lady of Lourdes High School (Section 9 Class A)

While I am not exactly sure where these programs would fit into the NYCHSFL divisions, they fit right into the footprint of the league, all being located in the Archdiocese of New York. This goes back to my last post on this, where I encouraged the Catholic schools in upstate New York to join the MMHSAA, or make a new league. This includes:

• Christian Brothers Academy- Albany (Section 2 Class AA)
• Christian Brothers Academy-Syracuse (Section 3 Class AA)
• McQuaid Jesuit High School (Section 5 Class AA)
• Aquinas Institute of Rochester (Section 5 Class AA)
• Bishop Kearney High School (Section 5 Independent)
• Bishop Ludden Junior-Senior High School (Section 3 Class C)
• La Salle Institute (Section 2 Class A)
• Notre Dame High School (Section 5 Class D)

The existing league in upstate New York is the MMHSAA, which is based in Buffalo. The Monsignor Martin League is below:

‘A’

• Canisius High School- Buffalo, NY
• St. Joseph Collegiate Institute- Buffalo, NY
• St. Francis High School- Hamburg, NY

‘B’

• Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School- Buffalo, NY
• Cardinal O’Hara High School- Tonawanda, NY
• St. Mary’s High School- Lancaster, NY

Pete’s Vision for the NYCHSFL and MMHSAA

NYCHSFL

MMHSAA

What do you all think? Is this feasible? Is it a pipe dream? Who knows, it’s still fun to speculate. Next post will explore the feasibility of actually crowning state champions across classification, and the different leagues that are in the great state of New York. Stay tuned!