If New York’s high school football can start on time, teams will have the option to play one week earlier, adding an eighth regular season game Sept. 4 or 5.
Following a vote by the NYSPHSAA committee to expand the high school football season by one week, the Section 6 Football Federation made plans to add games in “Week 0,” one week prior to the originally scheduled opening weekend. The new rule allows teams to play 11 games through the sectional championship round.
Of course, the fall sports season will depend on whether New York’s reopening phases continue on track for schools to open in the fall.
Jay Sirianni, the new Section 6 Football Federation co-chairman out of Southwestern, said the additional game is optional for all teams, but most coaches support it under normal circumstances.
“The rationale was kids don’t get enough games,” Sirianni said. “A seven-game regular season isn’t enough, and football, a super majority of teams, are doing offseason work. It’s not like you show up that first day of practice and this is it, the first time I’ve seen this kid and now we’re going to install our offense. There’s 7-on-7 opportunities in the summer, teams are doing workouts, team camps; their rationale was that once you start official practice in August, by the second week of practice, you’re ready to play a game. That was the rationale there. We understand that this year is a little bit different, depending on when teams can resume their offseason team activities.”
FOR THAT reason, Sirianni said some teams may hold off on trying to play in Week 0.
“I’ve already heard from some coaches that are a little apprehensive,” he said. “They love the idea, everybody loves the idea, they’re just a little apprehensive right now of playing that Week 0, because they might not feel like they’re going to be ready this year because of the circumstances that nobody foresaw.”
As to what the summer will look like for teams hoping to resume offseason workouts and 7-on-7 competition, Sirianni bluntly admitted, “I don’t know anything.” So the federation is making backup plans for possible delays in the fall, but planning to begin as scheduled.
“The more I watch the news, the more I pay attention to stuff, the less I think I know about anything, to be honest with you,” he said. “So I’m not going to make predictions. It would be wishful thinking for me to sit here and say, ‘Yeah, teams are going to be ready to be on campus and doing their offseason work by June 29.’ Isn’t that the day that if all goes well, then we’re in phase four? That would be awesome, but we’ll have to wait and see. It just seems like things are changing very quickly and we’ll see.
“We have contingency plans if the season gets maybe delayed, or whatever, we’re working on that and we’ll have a Plan B for some things. But as of right now we’re scheduling the season like a normal season and wish for the best.”
— Sirianni joined Akron’s Ken Stoldt as co-chairman for this season, as Stoldt plans on retiring in the next “year or so,” and wanted to plan ahead with his eventual successor.
A state championship-winning coach at Southwestern, Sirianni comes from a family of coaches: His father, Fran, coached at Southwestern for decades and his brothers Nick and Mike currently coach in the NFL (Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator) and college (Washington & Jefferson College head coach) levels, respectively.
Stepping down as Southwestern’s coach after the 2014 season, Sirianni didn’t anticipate taking a leadership role in the federation. But he remained on the committee as a league representative for now 11 years.
“Basically, I had been on the committee, it wasn’t that time consuming to do that, it kept me involved in football,” he said. “I enjoyed it. The guys on the committee are all great guys and everybody has the same goal of doing what’s best for our student-athletes and for football in Section 6 and around the state, if you will. So it was never my intention that I had my eyes on doing this but I stayed on the committee, I coach youth football here, because I get to coach my own kids and I love it.”
Sirianni said Stoldt approached him about his retirement plans last fall.
“So I thought about it and decided to do it,” he said. “One of the biggest (things), what sold me on it is that we’re going to be co-chair for at least this year and maybe next year and see how everything goes. It’s not like he’s just dumping everything on my lap. That definitely makes it more appealing to work with Ken and make sure going into the future, when I’m on my own, that things are running smoothly.”
