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Friday, July 28, 2017 | BataviasBest.org
A big change is coming to local high school football this season, as the longstanding Genesee Region and Livingston County Leagues have agreed upon a merger which will bring 6 GRAA and 16 LCAA teams together to form four new divisions in 2017.
DIVISION I – Livonia, Hornell, Wellsville, Bath, Dansville
DIVISION II – Le Roy, Cal-Mum/Byron-Bergen, Wayland-Cohocton, Avon, Letchworth/Warsaw
DIVISION III – Perry/Mt. Morris, Geneseo, York/Pavilion, Cuba-Rushford, Canisteo-Greenwood, Bolivar-Richburg
DIVISION IV – Attica, Alexander, Holley, Pembroke, Oakfield/Elba, Notre Dame
My first reaction to this news was that now local GR teams will not be forced to look for non-league games during the regular season, and will instead be able to fill their seven regular season contests with 5 divisional games, and 2 crossover games within the LCAA/GRAA league. Not only will this allow for more-reasonably geographical matchups, but it will also allow potential rivalries to develop for the duration of this merger – no matter how long it lasts – or perhaps even beyond that.
In previous years, although LCAA teams already were able to field 7 league contests if that were their prerogative, GRAA teams were only able to schedule 5 unique league matchups during the regular season – and were often forced to look to non-league opponents such as CG Finney, Barker/Roy-Hart, Nichols, among others, to fill their regular season slate.
This season, for example, Attica will look forward to tough crossover matchups vs Hornell and Livonia, while defending Sectional Champion Alexander has Bolivar-Richburg and Canisteo-Greenwood on their schedule.
I’m really looking forward to this newly-formed league and believe it will only improve the competitive balance for each team within the four divisions.
The season is just a few weeks away. Get ready for a great year.
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