Upstate Section III Playoff Breakdown

Chad Boyles | Friday, February 27th, 2026

Our second featured section of our Sectional breakdown is Section 3.  A few wide open classes and a lot of individual talent headline what should be a competitive couple of weeks across classes.  We will continue to preview each bracket, highlight potential matchups, and outline some players to watch. 

Note: Play-ins and first-round matchups may have taken place prior to this article going live.

The Class AAA eight-team bracket in Section 3 will see each team participating in round one, with Alex Trombley and Liverpool as the number one overall seed.  Three of the four games take place Wednesday, February 25th and feature some compelling matchups, most obviously the four/five game between CBA and Cicero.  The Tuesday game saw Rome Free Academy (3) handle Utica Proctor (6) comfortably - and now the Knights await the winner of the two seed Bishop Ludden-Grimes and Baldwinsville (7).  Bishop Ludden-Grimes guard Jahzar Greene just committed to Manhattan, so he will look to answer the call like he has all season in an attempt to lead his team to the title for a potential second try at Liverpool, which got the better of Greene and Ludden earlier in the season.  Remember, it was Greene and co. that won this tournament a season ago.

Players to watch: Alex Trombley (Liverpool), Kaden Bullock (Liverpool), Jahzar Green (Bishop Ludden-Grimes / Manhattan), Winston Jones (Bishop Ludden-Grimes), AJ Wade (Bishop Ludden-Grimes), Surafia Norries (RFA), Luke Hamilton (RFA), Gino Bullock (CBA), Frank Ford (CBA), Ayden Stevens (C-NS), Matthew Pope (B’Ville)

Class AA already has one semifinal set - #1 Nottingham, who handled Carthage (9) in their quarterfinal matchup, will play Fulton (4) who recently took down 12-seeded Central Square after their first round upset over Fayetteville-Manlius (5) led by senior Jack Bukowski.  The bottom half of the bracket however is all chalk through the quarterfinals, as three seed West Genesee prepare to take on sixth-seeded Henninger and 18-2 East Syracuse Minoa (2) will play host to #7 Watertown.  The top four seeds here all have six losses or less - making for some highly anticipated matchups.  If it is those four teams that advance to the class final four it is worth making note that one of ESM’s two losses did come at the hands of West Genesee in the season opener.  I’ll be eager to see if recent history can repeat itself while 15-6 Fulton will try to knock off Nottingham.  Fulton, led by a trio of talented juniors, most notably Xavier Doty, can certainly cause problems, but Avi Camby, Bol Garang and Nottingham have the depth, experience, coaching, and skill that warrant their accomplishments to this point.  

Players to watch: Avi Camby (Nottingham), Bol Garang (Nottingham), Deyor Smith (Nottingham), Anthony Bryant (ESM), Ezra Wilson-Hefti (ESM), Robbie Clifford (ESM), Ty Ervin (ESM), Finley Ball (West Genny), Liam Kelly (West Genny), Xavier Doty (Fulton), Wyatt Watson (Fulton), Koby Drake (Fulton), Milen Williams (Henninger), Micah-Jarrell Stewart (Henninger)

Over in Class A, Eli Prince and top-seeded Westhill have already punched their ticket to the sectional semifinals following a win over Indian River (8), while CVA and Jamesville-DeWitt are set to square off in the four/five matchup for a spot to meet them there. Neither team had any issue in the opening round.  CVA actually has the second best record in this bracket at 18-3 (10-0 in league).  Well coached and talented, I’ll be curious to see if the Thunder can cause some chaos here.  Phoenix (7), toppled Mexico (10) 67-60 behind a strong performance from Eli Bailer and are now prepared to face second seeded Syracuse Institute of Technology Central.  Lastly, New Hartford (3) and South Jefferson (6) both won with ease in their opening round matchups - keeping this bracket all chalk to date.  ITC has a strong resume given their schedule, even the losses are in closer games with good teams - it’s why they are seeded ahead of New Hartford despite having three less wins and two more losses.  Nyquan Gilbert and Tyquanne Harris both average north of 16 per game.  That should be a fun two/three semi - but the real focus here is whether either team could knock off 21-0 Westhill, which will be trying to make it four straight Section 3 championships (Class B in 2023).  

Players to watch: Eli Prince (Westhill / Cushing Academy), Eli Welch (Westhill), Nyquan Gilbert (ITC), Tyquanne Harris (ITC), Liam Noonan (New Hartford), Geovanni Frattasio (New Hartford), Calvin Jacquays (CVA), Brayden Smalls (CVA), Stephen Bazile (JD), Russell Hazard (South Jefferson), Eli Bailer (Phoenix)

The 17-team Class B bracket has already seen two full rounds of gameplay and one semifinalist so far.  #2 Skaneateles handled the 10 seed Cazenovia and will wait to play the winner of Mount Markham (3) and Solvay (6).  At 19-2, Mount Markham will try their hand in beating Solvay in order to issue a rematch with Skaneateles, a team they fell to 76-75 just a few weeks ago.  The number one seed here to no surprise is defending state champion Marcellus, who after starting 3-7 have lost just once since January 14th.  Having lost senior forward Dominic Gosh-Sandy after just one game, several Mustang players have answered the call in helping senior guard Tucker Burnett.  They’re slated to take on Herkimer (8) for an opportunity to advance to the semi-finals and face the winner of our four/five matchup between Lowville and General Brown.  I’ll be excited to see who comes out of the bottom half of this bracket, though both Skaneateles (twice) and Mount Markham have fallen to Marcellus during regular season play. 

Players to watch: Tucker Burnett (Marcellus), Henry Lawrence (Marcellus), Reid Danforth (Skaneateles), Joe Delmonico (Skaneateles), Owen Jones (Mount Markham), Toran Zehr (Lowville), Vinny Sinko (Solvay)

Cooperstown, the 21-0 number one overall seed, will be the heavy favorite here in Class C, but I do consider Caito-Meridian (2) a serious challenger behind Sophomore Perry Planck.  The two teams did faceoff just weeks into the season in which Cooperstown won 80-67.  Miles Nelen went for 25 on seven threes made in that one.  We are two rounds into this bracket now too, with quarterfinal action slated for the 25th.  Cooperstown will take on eighth-seeded Onondaga (14-7), Caito-Merdan faces Utica Notre Dame (10), Dolgeville (4) plays Tully (5), and Frankfort-Schuyler (3) will take on Weedsport (6). Some very impressive seasons have been had here - Frankfort-Schuyler is 18-2, Dolgeville is 17-3, Tully is 15-6, Weedsport is 16-5, and Onondaga is 14-7.  Now with the season on the line, we will be focused on who can rise to the occasion.

Players to watch: Miles Nelen (Cooperstown), Jackson Crisman (Cooperstown), Perry Planck (Caito-Meridian), Dylan McGetrick (Caito-Meridian), Jerome Bowen (F-S), Theo Williams (Dolgeville), Blake Kraszewski (Dolgeville), Nathan Best (Tully), Mason Kocur (Weedsport), Brady Docteur (Weedsport)

Lastly, Class D - where Oriskany (1), Sackets Harbor (2), and Madison (4) have all punched tickets to the semis.  The only quarterfinal matchup remaining is a date between 18-3 DeRuyter and 14-6 Copenhagen with Sackets Harbor, the back-to-back Section Champion, waiting.  All impressive records and resumes for the teams remaining here in Class D, and other than DeRuyter / Madison and Sackets Harbor / Copenhagen splitting their regular season series’, there is potential for new matchups, making for an entertaining finish to the season. 

Players to watch: Edward Wright (Oriskany), Daniel Kosakowski Jr. (Oriskany), Spencer Oliva (Sackets Harbor), Devens Whalen (DeRuyter), Daniel Holl (DeRuyter), Justin LaMunion (Madison), Bryce Spaulding (Copenhagen), Logan L’Huilier (Copenhagen / SUNY Jefferson)