I spoke to Section 1 executive director Jennifer Simmons this afternoon. She said there is no hard-and-fast deadline for Yonkers to determine whether or not it will field football teams this season, but the district has been told it will have to come to a decision before the end of July.
That’s when the Section 1 football committee will meet to re-work the schedules, if necessary.
“There is a point coming up soon at the end of July where we’re going to have to make a decision as to whether or not we’re going to have to redo everything,” Simmons said. “We’re trying to be as supportive and helpful as we can be in this tough time, but there are other schools that we have to service as well.”
As most of you know, Section 1 is home to 87 high schools, the majority of which play varsity football. Yonkers currently has six of them — Gorton, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Saunders, Yonkers and Palisade Prep — and they are spread throughout three classes. No football in Yonkers would disrupt the power rankings and schedules from Class AA to Class C.
In the case that Yonkers has fall sports but does not commit to football by the end of the month, one plan — albeit not one she or the football committee want to enact — would be forming a league that consists only of teams from the city.
“It’s absolutely not what we want to do, but what we have to do is come up with a schedule without them in it because the possibility is there that they won’t have athletics,” Simmons said. She also noted the possibility of using Yonkers schools that do field teams to fill open dates in the new schedule.
The district has said it won’t field teams since its budget was defeated. But, as I reported earlier this week, administrators have communicated the opposite to Section 1. That has prevented the section from re-working the football schedule to this point.
“We can only go by what they’re telling us,” Simmons said.
While some of the football programs in the city have participated in summer workouts, two are currently without coaches. Mike Meade left Roosevelt to become the head coach at Woodlands and Anthony Fiorelli left Saunders to coach football at sprint football at Army.
Additionally, rumors have swirled that Roosevelt wouldn’t have enough players after the 2009 Class A champ graduated the majority of the 23 players on last year’s playoff team. Still, the district has assured Simmons that it has coaches in place for those teams and an adequate number of players if or when sports return.
Right now, however, the clock is ticking.
“This was a huge undertaking,” she said of the new football structure. “We can’t leave it until the last minute. it’s not fair to those people who worked on it and it’s not fair to those other schools.”
Yonkers district athletic director Jim Rose did not return a call seeking comment.
10 Comments
Mt. Vernon 7on7 at 6pm at Mt. Vernon high school.
Josh,
This is an absolute joke !!!!!! I asked you the past three weeks about coaches never got an answer until today. Now you tell us that they can field teams and coaches are in place. WHAT !!! Why would Meade leave. Here is what is going to happen IMO they pull it off by letting them play but are not able to field proper teams and don’t have enough players then what!!!!!! The section lets them hang around and lets them try to pull it off. We went through this the past two years years with saunders, they couldn’t field a team forfeited two years ago to eastchester couldn’t finish games this year . Come on section 1 pull the trigger now and make every ones else life easier. Read through this nonsense Josh your smarter then this.
One day Jennifer Simmons will step down and Section one will stop being help back by a clueless person
I neither follow the politics nor the machinations and inner workings of Section 1 but I do have a question. Given the budget problems and the lack of resources of the city of Yonkers and its schools what should Section 1 do at this point in time?
be prepared everyone to have forfiets and open dates that each school wil have to fill on their own… eastchester went to conn. to play a game a couple of years ago and their best player blew out his knee. rye lost to eastchester by an inch after a bye week (bye saunders) and were stale until the 4th qtr of that game. I have scouted three games with saunders in the last three years, and at each game an ambulance took a saunders kid to the ER….. developemental is where some of these teams belong, regardless of class enrollments. section 1 football should worry about the majority of its schools and stop trying to be so politically correct with this piner stuff. Come on Tappan Zee can win in hoops and baseball but d o not have the athletes to play class a football? My Byram Hills friends who went there in the 80’s are embarrassed! Make leagues based on enrollment, take the politics out of it, do not let those with agendas take control of the debate. Competition makes us all strive to be better, not giving every kid a trophy at the end of the season!
I feel bad for these yonkers kids, hopefully some will be able to go to iona or stepinac to play in the fall.
isn’t it 7?
gorton, saunders, roosevelt, yonkers, lincoln, riverside, palisade prep.
every time we mention yonkers football we list 6 (riverside and palisade being alternated between the listings)
sorry just had to point that out.
either way 6 or 7 or 9 or 10 or 2 an “end of july deadline” is pretty much a hard-fast deadline since the month is over in about a week or so…
and i’m sure if the district says no sports due to money, that’s the final say. The other coaches and the section can be in denile and think all is well, but if not enough money is present to field a team and pay the necessary costs of 7 schools of multiple sports, then I would tend to agree and listen to that source.
Did anyone attend the Yonkers BOE meeting last night? Or go to hear the Superintendent address the public about the budget problem before hand?
The superintendent speaks from both sides of his mouth
Is “denile” anywhere near Egypt?
DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO THE SECTION ONE ADMINISTRATORS ARE AND THE ROLE THEY PLAY IN THIS CIRCUS ACT CALLED YONKERS???????