Section 3 released its high school football schedule for 2023 this week, with only one notable major change as far as local teams.
Carthage, which has competed in Class A in football in recent years, will compete in Class B in the upcoming season.
The Comets will play in Section 3’s Class B East Division, while rival Indian River will compete in same class for the second consecutive season, this time in the Class B West Division.
Carthage will open its season when it plays at rival Indian River at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8 in a Friday night meeting.
Prior to that, the Comets will host traditional rival Watertown in a scrimmage on Sept. 2.
Along with Carthage, the Class B East Division also includes Camden, Central Valley Academy, New Hartford, Oneida and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
Indian River, which reached a second straight Section 3 final in Class B in November, will open its season when it plays Beekmantown of Section 7 in a neutral-site game at Potsdam High School on Sept. 2 at a time to be announced.
The Class B West Division is also made up of Chittenango, Homer, Syracuse Institute of Technology and Westhill. Homer defeated Indian River in the Class B final.
Also in Class B, South Jefferson will play in the Class B2 Division along with Cortland, Jamesville DeWitt, Mexico and Oswego.
Meanwhile, Watertown will play in Class A for the second straight season after returning from Section 10 last year.
The Cyclones will compete in the Class A2 Division and will open their season in a nonleague game at West Genesee at 6 p.m. on Sept. 8.
Watertown will face Central Square, Fulton, East Syracuse-Minoa, Nottingham and Fowler in Class A2 Division play.
Reigning Section 3 Class C champion General Brown will compete in the Class C East Division. The division also includes rival Lowville, as well as Adirondack, Holland Patent and Little Falls.
The Lions will open their season against Cazenovia at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8 at home, with Lowville kicking off its season by playing at Skaneateles on the same day at 6:30 p.m.
Last year, General Brown defeated Holland Patent to claim Section 3’s Class C championship before defeating Waverly and Lackawanna to reach the state title game, where it was defeated by James I. O’Neill of Section I at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Beaver River, which also reached a Section 3 final last year, will compete in the Class D1 Division, along with Sandy Creek. The division also includes Cato-Meridian, Dolgeville, Herkimer, Mount Markham, Pulaski and Westmoreland/Oriskany.
The Beavers will open their season with a game at Pulaski at 1 p.m. Sept. 9, while the Comets will host Dolgeville at 7 p.m. on Sept. 7 in a Thursday game.
Last year, Beaver River won six consecutive games to reach Section 3’s Class D final, where it fell to Dolgeville.
Also, South Lewis and Thousand Islands will once again compete in eight-man football in Section 3, this time in the North/West Division.
South Lewis will open its season by hosting Weedsport at 7 p.m. Sept. 8, while Thousand Islands kicks off by hosting Moravia in nonleague game at 7 p.m. Sept. 9.
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