Long Island high school football teams could play in state championships
Long Island’s high school football teams do not participate in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
That could change in 2024.
Matt McLees, the Section VIII football chairman for Nassau schools, was more than a little optimistic after Monday’s meeting with state officials about Long Island teams playing for state football titles.
“The state committee is very excited that we’re talking seriously about it,” McLees said. “We are in the preliminary stages of how it would work. And how would it impact all the teams in our section. Would it have a negative impact overall or a positive impact? We are meeting with our Nassau coaches Tuesday to discuss. But the thought of state competition is really exciting.”
Tim Horan, the Section XI football chairman for Suffolk, said the potential of playing in the state football championships is a fascinating topic.
“Of course, we feel our teams would do very well against upstate programs,” he said. “But when you look at the specifics of transitioning from the Long Island Championships to the state tournament, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Right now, we have 52 teams playing football in four classifications in the Long Island Championships. If we voted to play in the state tournament, we’d have to compress 50 of those programs into three classifications.”
Horan went on to explain that Suffolk is a membership-driven organization and everything comes down to a majority vote.
“We’ve been down this road before and the possibility of joining the state football playoffs has never been close in Suffolk,” he said. “We had 98% of our membership vote against the idea years ago because it had a negative impact on the total membership. The scheduling changes would be a challenge and there is no reason to believe that the majority of our membership would want state championships.”
While Suffolk continues to identify all the pros and cons of the possibility of joining the state tournament, Nassau is looking for creative ways of mapping out a schedule that includes state playoffs.
“It would be drastically different than what we’re used to,” McLees said. “Look at all the excitement generated when St. Anthony’s won the Catholic state title. It was phenomenal. We would be doing our players a disservice if we didn’t seriously look at the possibilities to make it happen. But it would have to be good for all of our schools.”
Pat Pizzarelli, the executive director for Section VIII, which governs Nassau schools, has been an advocate for inclusion in the state football playoffs.
“We’re looking at it and I want it to happen,” he said. “I told the state football chairman I would love to see it happen. I did ask for some considerations. I would like to see the Long Island champions go immediately to the semifinal round of the state playoffs. I would like them to rotate the state semifinals and finals to Long Island, where we can host the games at Hofstra University. I’ve challenged the state committee to show me how we would fit in.”
Pizzarelli said that without the vision of Suffolk’s Nick Schroeder and Nassau’s Bill Piner, the football coordinators in each county in 1991, the Long Island Championships never would have been established. Those games started in 1992 and still carry an exciting yearly buzz.
Pizzarelli said a seven-game regular season followed by local playoffs, including quarterfinal, semifinal and county final rounds, would set up the LIC and ultimately the state playoffs.
Nassau administrators would be tasked with a similar issue as their Suffolk counterparts. There are 23 Nassau schools that fall into the Class A enrollment structure. Only one team would advance to the state tournament.
“We’ve looked into the feasibility of joining the state tournament and how we fit into the six classifications,” McLees said. “The numbers are broken down by the state and the issue that we’re presented with is that we have a lot of schools that fit into the A class. We’re so densely populated and don’t have many teams in the smaller enrollment classes.”
Horan said playing in the state tournament never gained traction in his seven years as chairman. But what happens if Nassau moves to support inclusion and votes to go?
“We’d have to pivot and go back to the membership and lay it out for them,” Horan said. “There would have to be open dialogue, full transparency and come up with something creative that’s in the best interests of our student-athletes.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
