SYRACUSE — Seeds are set for Section III’s 2025 football playoffs and the postseason gets started one day earlier than usual this fall.
Eighteen of 23 quarterfinals in five 11-player classes and the eight-player division are scheduled for Oct. 30 with three games Nov. 1 and only two on Halloween, the typical Friday of sectional quarterfinal weekend.
The No. 1 seeds include defending champions Syracuse-Christian Brothers Academy and Whitesboro in classes AA and A, and Frankfort-Schuyler for the eight-player division. Class B New Hartford, a finalist the last two years, Class C Cazenovia, and Class D Lowville Academy, down from Class C in previous seasons, are the other No. 1s in a field with eight teams in each bracket except Class AA which is limited to seven available squads.
Semifinals are scheduled to be hosted by higher seeds Nov. 7 and 8 for all classes except D which will play a November 8 doubleheader at Westmoreland High School.
Classes A and D, and the eight-player division, will play their championship games in Syracuse University’s JMA Wireless Dome Nov. 14, and the AA, B and C games will be played the following day.
Section III champions will meet their Section IV counterparts for regional playoffs at Vestal High School Nov. 21 and 22. Western state semifinals for classes AA-D will be played at Cicero-North Syracuse High School Nov. 28 and 29 with eight-player teams contesting their final there Nov. 28. Play returns to the dome for 11-player championship games the first weekend in December.
Class AA
The Proctor Raiders are seeded fourth and Rome Free Academy’s Black Knights sixth in a seven-team field.Rome Free Academy (2-6, 1-5 AA-1) plays at No. 3 Cicero-North Syracuse (5-3, 4-2 AA-1) Oct. 30.
Cicero-North Syracuse’s Northstars were 41-6 winners at home when they last played the Black Knights on Sept. 26, and they enter postseason play coming off a loss to Christian Brothers Academy, the undefeated No. 1 seed and two-time reigning state champion; the Northstars had won their four previous games, a streak that started against Rome Free Academy.
The Black Knights were beaten Friday by Section IV Elmira Free Academy and enter the playoffs with five consecutive losses after starting the season 2-1.
Proctor (3-5, 3-3 AA-1) plays an afternoon game at D’Alessandro Stadium Nov. 1 against West Genesee (2-5, 2-4 AA-1), a team the Raiders defeated on the road earlier this season.
Proctor’s Raiders beat winless Baldwinsville 52-32 Saturday for their first win at home this season and snapped a three-game losing streak. They had previously won 44-35 at West Genesee on Sept. 26 when three Proctor players – Dennis Allen, Micah Jasper and Jai Phillips – each ran for more than 100 yards and combined to score five touchdowns.
West Genesee’s Wildcats were shut out by Liverpool Friday in their regular-season finale.
The winner in Utica Saturday advances to play Christian Brothers Academy which has a bye into the semifinals with only seven Section III schools competing in Class AA this fall. The Rome Free Academy/Cicero-North Syracuse winner gets the winner of a game between Liverpool and Baldwinsville.
Class A
Whitesboro (7-1, 5-0 A National) has won seven games in a row and enters the Class A sectional playoffs as a No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion. It’s Oct. 30 opponent will be No. 8 Central Square (4-4, 2-3 A American).
Whitesboro beat Central Square’s Redhawks 68-32 at home when last the teams met during the 2024 regular season.
A 28-12 road win over Class A newcomer Carthage on Friday completed a third consecutive unbeaten run through league play for Whitesboro, which has outscored its seven Class A opponents 244-73 this fall.
Central Square was beaten 30-22 by Corcoran Friday and has two losses after posting its four victories in succession through the middle of the season.
Thursday’s winner advances to play the winner of a game between Carthage and Auburn.
Class B
Top seed New Hartford (8-0, 4-0 B East) has been a sectional runner-up the past two seasons and starts the climb back to the championship game Oct. 30 with a home game against South Jefferson (2-6, 1-3 B West).
New Hartford’s Spartans have outscored opponents by an average of 28 points this fall and won 42-18 at Camden to complete a third consecutive unbeaten regular season that included a 41-14 win at South Jefferson in Week 2.
South Jefferson’s Spartans enter the playoffs with three consecutive losses.
Thursday’s winner advances to the semifinal against the winner of a game between Central Valley Academy (4-4, 2-2 B East) and Indian River (5-3, 3-1 B West). New Hartford has beaten both teams this season, including a 50-48 victory in its season opener against Indian River, the No. 4 seed and two-time defending champion.
Elsewhere in Class B, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill (6-2, 3-1 B East) is seeded third and plays at home against Homer (5-3, 2-2 B West) Oct. 30.
Vernon-Verona-Sherrill has won four of its last five games and beat Chittenango Friday following its only league loss against New Hartford. Central Valley Academy had won back-to-back games before a crossover loss at the Syracuse Institute of Technology in its regular season finale.
Class C
Canastota, Little Falls and Holland Patent are seeded fourth, sixth and eighth with defending champion General Brown seeded second as the Class C East champion.
Little Falls (3-5, 3-2 C East), winner of its final two regular-season games to grab a playoff spot and finish third in its league, plays on the road at Marcellus (6-2, 5-1 C West) Oct. 30. Marcellus beat Little Falls 43-21 at home to start the season.
Canastota (7-1, 4-1 C East) plays at home in one of the Oct. 31 games against Skaneateles (5-3, 4-2 C West). Canastota was unbeaten entering Friday’s regular-season finale, a 48-13 loss at General Brown, after opening the season with a 30-27 win over Skaneateles.
Holland Patent (3-5, 2-3 C East) plays at Cazenovia (8-0, 6-0 C West) for the second Saturday in a row Nov. 1. Holland Patent enters the playoffs with back-to-back losses, including a 38-0 shutout at Cazenovia in Week 8.
Class D
Competing in a single league during the regular season, Section III’s Class D teams have all played each other and will fill their playoffs with rematches.
Undefeated Lowville Academy (8-0, 7-0 D-1) beat four-time defending champion Dolgeville (7-1, 6-1 D-1) 22-6 in Week 3 and that game determined the top two seeds, both of which play Oct. 30 home games.
Lowville Academy hosts Mt. Markham (2-6, 1-6 D-1) while Dolgeville plays Herkimer (2-6, 1-6 D-1) for the second week in a row. Dolgeville beat Herkimer 68-14 Friday for its fifth win in a row – Herkimer enters the playoffs with a three-game losing streak – while Lowville gets a second shot at a Mt. Markham team it shut out 27-0 to start the season.
Utica’s Notre Dame Jugglers (5-3, 4-3 D-1) take their five-game win streak on the road to Sandy Creek (5-3, 4-3 D-1) Oct. 30 with the winner advancing to meet the winner between Lowville Academy and Mt. Markham in Westmoreland the following weekend. Sandy Creek’s Comets were 35-14 winners at home in Week 3; Notre Dame has not lost since then while Sandy Creek has won three of its last five games, including two in a row to finish the regular season.
The Dolgeville/Herkimer winner gets the winner of a game between Beaver River (2-6, 1-6 D-1) and Cato-Meridian (5-3, 4-3 D-1).
Eight Player
Defending champion Frankfort-Schuyler (8-0, 5-0 8 South/East) enters the playoffs unbeaten for the third year in a row and has previously beaten five of the other seven teams head-to-head.
Frankfort-Schuyler’s Maroon Knights play an afternoon game at home Nov. 1 against Clinton (3-5, 1-3 8 North/West), one of the teams it has not met this season. The Maroon Knights have won 26 consecutive games within Section III and 21 in a row overall.
Morrisville-Eaton (6-2, 4-0 8 North/West) and Waterville (7-1, 4-1 8 South/East), seeded second and third, respectively, play home games Oct. 30, and Sauquoit Valley (5-3, 3-2 8 South/East) travels to Thousand Islands (4-4, 3-1 8 North/West) on Halloween.
Morrisville-Eaton, last year’s sectional runner-up, has won six consecutive games and hosts Cooperstown (4-4, 2-3 8 South/East) which has not won on the road this season. The teams have not met since 2022 when Morrisville-Eaton 44-0 at Cooperstown and beat the Hawkeyes again in the playoffs on the way to its first sectional championship.
Waterville, winner of four games in a row, hosts South Lewis (4-4, 2-2 8 North/West), the team it beat 48-20 in its season opener.