Border Country Sports-August 11th
Good Morning! With the Border Country Sports Report, I'm Keith Harrington.
The Changing Landscape of High School Football
Last night when I took my dog out before bedtime it was cool enough that I actually felt a bit of a shiver. That started me thinking, it is almost high school football time. When practice begins in less than two weeks the landsacpe of high school football on the New York side of the border will once again look differerent. Locally there are three new mergers among high school football programs that will debut in 2022.
First, age-old rivals Granville and Whitehall will join forces.This on again, off again merger has been in the works for a few years now and finally came to fruition. The Golden Horde and Railroaders formerly faced off in one of the longest running and most heated rivalries in Section II, dating back to the days of legendary coaches Ambrose Gilligan and Sam Eppolito.
Both teams have struggled with numbers. Granville barely made it through last season and Whitehall played a junior varsity schedule. The teams will go without a nickname this year but will combine the school's colors of maroon and gold uniforms similar to those worn by the Florida State Seminoles.
Speaking of rivalries teaming up, Lake George and Warrensburg will also merge for the first time this year. North Warren and Bolton will also provide players to the program. Both the Warrirors and the Eagles have suffered from declining numbers the last few years making it diffiuclt to sustain pariticipation at three levels.
Lake George was previously merged with Hadley-Luzerne to form the War Eagles. Warrensburg received players from North Warren and Bolton in the past.
The new program has unveiled their uniforms, color scheme and mascot. They will wear blue and gold and be known as the Wolverines, similar to the University of Michigan.
The third new merger this fall reunites former partners and adds the rival of one of the participants. Corinth, Hadley-Luzerne and Fort Edward will combine this season. Corinth and Fort Edward previously teamed up and were called the C-FE War Hawks. Corinth and Hadley-Luzerne have been rivals for several years.
The new team will be called the Mountaineers and will combine the orange, blue and black colors of the schools with a newly designed Mountaineer logo on the helmets.
Granville-Whithall and Lake George-Warrensburg will play in Class C. Corinth-Fort Edward-Hadley-Luzerne will compete in Class D.
With the three new merged programs joining Cambridge-Salem there are now no Adirondack League schools with stand alone high school football programs.
It will be interesting to keep an eye the level of success of these mergers and how they impact the future landscape of high school football.
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With the Border Country Sports Report, I'm Keith Harrington.
Photo Credit-Stacie Arnhold
