Lowville earns top seed in new Section III Class C football playoff format

Lowville is the top seed in a new 16-team Section III Class C football playoff format released Sunday, Oct. 18. The expanded field begins play during Week 8 so the sectional tournament can finish before regional playoff games start Nov. 20.

Lowville finished the regular season 6-1 and will host No. 16 Weedsport/Jordan-Elbridge in the first round Thursday, Oct. 22. The game time was not included in the available schedule information.

Section III divided Class C into four groups this season: C-1, C-2, C-3 and C-4. The groups were based on each team's Bradley-Terry Model score over the previous three seasons. Those scores were also used to seed the 16-team bracket.

The other teams listed as first-round home teams are No. 2 General Brown, No. 3 Bishop Ludden-Grimes/SAS/CSAS, No. 4 Holland Patent, No. 5 Cazenovia, No. 6 Solvay, No. 7 Marcellus and No. 8 Skaneateles. Their regular-season records were 5-2, 7-0, 6-1, 4-3, 5-2, 3-4 and 2-5, respectively.

The format is a change from last season's Class C championship, when General Brown defeated Cazenovia 51-49 at the JMA Wireless Dome on Nov. 15, 2025. It was General Brown's second consecutive Class C sectional title.

For Northern New York, Lowville is the main local connection to the first Class C bracket. The Lewis County team will open at home as the tournament's top seed. Other North Country schools, including Watertown, Carthage, Indian River, Thousand Islands, Sandy Creek and Beaver River, are assigned to other Section III classifications and will be affected by later bracket releases.

The Class C championship is scheduled for noon Nov. 14 at the JMA Wireless Dome. Regional playoff games are scheduled to begin Nov. 20. Section III is expected to release the Class AA, A, B, D and 8-man brackets Sunday, Oct. 25. Updates are available through the Section III football page.