Nassau high school football to include a non-conference game on the schedule this season
Nassau County high school football approved a dramatic scheduling change Monday night that adds an out-of-conference game to each team's schedule and sets up some high-powered matchups.
Beginning this fall, all Nassau teams will play seven conference games and one "crossover" game in Week 3 of the season. The crossover schedule will be determined by seedings and pit Conference I against Conference II, and Conference III against Conference IV.
That means two Long Island powerhouses — Massapequa and Garden City — will square off on Sept. 26
Massapequa has won three straight Long Island Class I championships and owns a 23-game winning streak.
Garden City is the winner of five consecutive Long Island titles and has the longest current winning streak in the country at 66 games.
One of those streaks will end thanks to the new scheduling concept approved by Section VIII.
“I think it’s good for Nassau football,” Massapequa coach Kevin Shippos said. “It shakes things up a little bit and we get to play an opponent that wouldn’t normally be on our schedule. As a high school coach, I want to seek the highest level of competition and Garden City is that level. We’re excited to play them because there’s no better opponent. It’ll be a great atmosphere.”
Garden City coach Dave Ettinger agrees.
“With Nassau County going to a seven-game league schedule I wish there was a way for us to play for a state championship,” Ettinger said. “Obviously, our players are excited to play against an incredible program like Massapequa. But our focus to start the season will be on our opponents from Calhoun and MacArthur. We’ve always played it one week at a time and looked past no one.”
The concept of adding a crossover game in lieu of a regular-season conference game was proposed by the Nassau County Football Coaches Association. The proposal was then moved forward by the Nassau County Athletic Directors Association and finalized by the Section VIII Championships Advisory Committee.
The final seedings and schedules for the 2026 season were finished at a Nassau Coaches meeting Monday night.
“Ninety-two percent of the coaches liked the proposal and moved it up the chain for approval,” said Joe Martillotti, the Nassau County football coordinator and director of athletics at Lynbrook High School. “It’s a good thing for Nassau football. The crossover games will eliminate the mismatches that come with the highest seeds playing the lower seeds like the 1-9, 2-10 and 3-11 games. We’re always looking to improve the game.”
Martillotti said the idea behind the crossover games is to bring more competitive balance to the schedule.
“In plenty of high school sports we blend schools with varying enrollments for ability-based schedules and competitive reasons,” Martillotti said. “From top to bottom it gives every team a chance to play a competitive game in the schedule. You got to try something to see if it works.”
There are other interesting matchups during the crossover week, including Lynbrook vs. Plainedge, Farmingdale vs. Long Beach and Carey vs. Oceanside.
Massapequa opens the season at home against Port Washington and then plays Syosset.
“Those are very tough games to open the season,” Shippos said. “We can’t look past them and toward Week 3. That’d be a big mistake.”
Suffolk football teams will continue with their division-only schedules.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
