High School boys lacrosse in Section III, and everywhere else, will look quite different in 2017.
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association approved the addition of a fourth class to boys lacrosse, and that expansion means that two local teams, Westhill and Jordan-Elbridge, will move into that new class next spring.
Revisions of the BEDS figures used to determine enrollment cutoffs for each class were made, too. The new numbers define Class A as any enrollment 1,050 or higher. Class B covers enrollment of 750 to 1,049, Class C from 425 to 749 and Class D is anyone 425 or lower.
Thanks to those numbers, Westhill and Jordan-Elbridge whose enrollment is under 425, is now part of the newly created Class D. Joining them are 14 other schools once part of Class C, including powerhouses Cazenovia, Skaneateles, LaFayette and Christian Brothers Academy.
Meanwhile, Marcellus stays in Class C, where 10 other programs are present, none bigger than Jamesville-DeWitt, who won last spring’s state Class B championship. Just six schools remain in Class B.
Finally, Class A is relatively unchanged, with West Genesee part of the mix, joined by Cicero-North Syracuse, Liverpool, Baldwinsville, Syracuse City, Utica Proctor, Rome Free Academy and Fayetteville-Manlius.
What this also does is change the structure of the state tournament. Previously, state semifinals for West (Section III, IV, V and VI) and East regions were all held in a single venue, with three games in one day.
Now those semifinals will go to two venues, with two games held at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium and the other two at St. John Fisher College near Rochester, also the venue for the state title games for the next three years.
Up until 1986, there was just one state champion for boys lacrosse, and Class B was added that year, with Class C introduced in 2000. West Genesee claimed four titles in the-one-class category before adding 11 more in the multi-class system.
