CBA vs. CBA: How 2 private high schools will play for NY state’s public football crown

Syracuse, N.Y. — Two Christian Brothers Academy football teams — one from Syracuse and one from Albany — shared the field for a friendly scrimmage at the beginning of this season.

Now two months later, those same teams will share the turf at the JMA Wireless Dome with a Class AA state title on the line. The game is set for 6 p.m. Saturday.

“They were here in the building,” CBA Syracuse coach Casey Brown said. “Our scrimmage was cut short due to a thunderstorm and now we’re going to finish that.”

Many questions surround this title matchup. Some of those questions are at the forefront of the conversation among coaches, players and state officials.

Should two private schools be competing for a New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship? How does NYSPHSAA discourage non-public and charter schools from gaining an unfair advantage with recruiting? Is there a fair alternative to the current system?

Brown, CBA athletic director Buddy Wleklinski, CBA Albany coach Bob Burns and NYSPHSAA Executive Director Dr. Robert Zayas talked to syracuse.com about these issues and more ahead of Saturday’s highly anticipated Class AA final.

School backgrounds

Both schools are private Catholic schools that are members of the NYSPHSAA.

The two schools were founded by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a ministry of St. John Baptist de La Salle.

CBA Syracuse was founded in 1900 and is coed. CBA Albany opened in 1859 and is a more military-based, boys-only school.

There are Lasallian schools throughout the country, including La Salle College in Philadelphia and De La Salle High School in California, which is known for its 151-game win streak.

CBA Syracuse enrolls just under 800 students between seventh and 12th grades.

The school’s Basic Educational Data Survey (BEDS), a source of enrollment numbers used in high school sports classifications, is 295. That would place CBA Syracuse in Class C, according to the NYSPHAA.

CBA Albany has a BEDS number of 550 and would be playing in Class B according to state regulations.

Both CBA teams compete in Class AA, the largest division for the state, which requires public schools to have a BEDS number of at least 1,025.

Gameday operations

Even though the game is in Syracuse, CBA Syracuse is technically the road team.

The Brothers from Albany are the designated home team and will wear their black jerseys in the championship game. CBA Syracuse will wear white.

CBA Albany will have its color guard present the colors for the National Anthem. CBA Syracuse will have two female students sing the anthem.

Football dominance

Everyone in Section III knows of the Brothers of Syracuse’s dominant run, which includes winning 42 of its last 43 games and two state crowns.

Since Brown took over in 2015, he has led CBA Syracuse to a 73-27 record, four sectional championships and two state titles.

This year marks CBA Syracuse’s fourth state final appearance.

In section II, CBA Albany has won four straight section championships during Burns’ four-year tenure at the school.

Saturday will be the first time the Brothers from Albany play for a state championship but not the first time for Burns. He won two state championships as a head coach with Troy, a public high school about 10 miles northeast of Albany.

Both teams enter the state championship game with an unblemished 13-0 record.

This will be the first time the teams have played each other in football.

“We certainly have relationships and you have respect for each other and you have all of that, but for the two and a half hours that you’re on the football field, none of that’s really going to matter,” Wleklinski said.

Connected by coaches

The relationship between Brown and Burns goes back to their college years. They both attended SUNY Brockport during the 1990s and met during their time there.

Since then, the pair have become dominant high school football coaches.

With both schools being connected and CBA Syracuse being one of the top schools in the state, Burns reached out to Brown in the offseason to set up the preseason scrimmage.

“I thought it was going to be my best team here at CBA (Albany). So I wanted the kids to scrimmage the best team that we possibly could,” Burns said. “I thought it was a beneficial thing.”

The scrimmage was cut short because of a thunderstorm, but it’s something Burns hopes to continue.

After the scrimmage, Brown told Burns he hoped to see them in the state playoffs. Now he gets that chance.

Private vs. public debate

Since both schools are private and part of NYSPHSAA, there has been a lot of backlash on social media about the two teams playing for a state championship as members of an NYSPHSAA organization in which the “P” stands for “public.”

Among those complaining are parents and coaches.

In a podcast with GameDay One, Zayas said these complaints are typical for the discussion surrounding private schools playing with public schools.

Zayas said 71 non-public/charter schools are part of NYSPHSAA and they are treated just like any public school. The only difference is that sections are allowed to move non-public/charter schools up and down in classification when they see fit.

While private schools are allowed to play with public schools, both groups must adhere to the same NYSPHSAA rules, Zayas told syracuse.com.

Some of the public’s dismay is the perceived advantage for private schools. Zayas acknowledged the perception but said the same augment could be made against many public schools in the state.

One of the biggest concerns is recruiting at the high school level.

While it may be occurring, Zayas said, that if there’s any evidence of it, that school will be punished and he has done so during his tenure with NYSPHSAA.

“We have gone and we have unfortunately told a non-public school, you’re no longer going to be in the playoffs because there’s evidence of undue influence,” Zayas said. “We went to court in that specific situation ... And we still prevailed because of the sound evidence that we had towards the non-public school.

“So a lot of people always say non-public schools are recruiting. OK, if they’re recruiting, then we need evidence of it and then we can take action (under) our bylaws to address that recruitment and undue influence, same as we would with any public school that would be found in violation or has evidence (of) recruitment and undue influence.”

One example of the state taking action against a non-public high school accused of violating recruiting rules came in 2022 when Watertown IHC’s boys soccer team was booted from the playoffs with a near-perfect record.

>> Watertown IHC loses appeal; accusations emerge about school recruiting boys soccer players

The NYSPHAA accused the team of playing regular-season games with three players who were recruited by the school, according to court documents filed in the state Supreme Court.

Watertown IHC lost an appeal of the decision and was forced to miss the 2022 section and state playoffs.

Recruiting accusations

In recent years, both CBA Syracuse and CBA Albany have been accused or suspected of recruiting by coaches, parents and section officials.

“All these people around here seem to think that as soon as I got here, all of a sudden I was going to be recruiting everybody, which is not allowed and I really haven’t done,” Burns said. “I mean the school with the success that we’ve had the past few years, kind of recruits itself now.”

In the case of CBA Albany, Section II found that an assistant coach spoke with the parent of an athlete from a different school and that violated the rules. The team was forced to forfeit a Week 0 game this season and was placed on probation.

CBA Syracuse was accused of recruiting and undue influence, but Section III and Zayas said more evidence was needed from those making the claims. CBA did not face any penalties.

Proposed compromises

Zayas told syracuse.com that one of the most common proposals he hears is to put all non-public/charter schools in their own classification for playoffs and call it something like AAAA.

In theory, it could work, but Zayas believes that model would be inequitable as all non-public/charter schools are not created equal.

“You have CBA Syracuse with over 400 kids in their enrollment number,” he said. “And then they would be forced to play in the same exact classification as Adirondack Christian with 18 kids in their enrollment number. That’s not really fair.”

He also stated that if the best interest of student-athletes is at the center of this proposal, that is not accounted for with this proposed model.

In the postseason, teams would have to travel to schools hours away to play a first-round playoff game and that benefits no one, in his opinion.

“You can have a situation where Smithtown Christian in Suffolk County is playing Aquinas in Rochester,” he said. “That’s a seven-hour drive. So expenses are going to increase for these non-public and charter schools. And then like I already referenced the mismatch of ability. Smithtown Christian has 81 kids, and Aquinas has 341. Does anybody really think that that’s going to be perceived as fair and beneficial?”

While this is just one proposal and it has its flaws, Zayas said there is a committee that is accepting proposals from its members.

Who can be in NYSPHSAA?

Any school that is accepted by a section and pays membership dues is accepted as a member of NYSPHSAA.

Membership dues are based on a school’s enrollment size.

Zayas said the idea of just telling non-public/charter schools they are no longer members has been brought up to him. That’s not a possibility, he said.

“That’s going to be perceived as discriminatory and punitive,” he said. “They haven’t broken any rules. So are you going to tell them they’re no longer a member?”

The ultimate decision on whether or not non-public/charter schools can participate is made at a section level.

In Western New York’s Section VI, only public schools are allowed. Other sections allowed non-public/charter schools to join their membership and that is why they are NYSPHSAA members.

Championship Saturday

The outside noise may be on the public vs. private school debate, but both teams have tuned that out and are prepared for battle.

“You’re trying to do the best you can to win a state championship,” Wleklinski said. “But when it’s over, there’s going to be a connection just even a little bit deeper than maybe another game if you played someone else.”

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