Section 3 filled with changes for upcoming season

High school football will have a different look and feel for several Frontier League teams this season as they deal with the loss of veteran coaches and, in some cases, switches in class and divisions within their class.

The biggest change is at General Brown, which saw 43-year-head man Steve Fisher retire and hand the reins over to long-time assistant Tom Frears. The Lions won their fourth Section 3 Class C crown last year before losing in the state quarterfinals to Chenango Forks.

Fears has a relatively small squad, but returns several talented skill players and enough linemen to become a Class C North contender again.

Lowville also welcomes a new coach in Josh Coffman, who ran the offense for coach Rob Goss the last few seasons.

Immaculate Heart Central, a perennial Class D contender, was moved up to Class C by Section 3 despite being one of the smallest schools in the section playing football. Paul Alteri's team should become an immediate challenger.

Thousand Islands also has moved back to Class C North after a year in Class D, leaving only Beaver River, South Lewis and Sandy Creek as area Class D schools.

Watertown, which won four games last year after going winless in 2008, looks to be a contender in Class A for the first time in a long time with an abundance of talent. Carthage and Indian River are in the midst of major rebuilding jobs, as is South Jefferson in Class B.

As for individual standouts, there are several to watch. They include WHS tailback Tevion Cappe and Cyclone quarterback Tyler Augliano, Carthage two-way performer Thomas Grimm, South Jefferson standout A. J. Chartrand, Lowville quarterback Jeremy Kingsley, General Brown running back Nick Klusacek, IHC running back Kyle Hauk, South Lewis record-setting tailback Dylan Peebles and Beaver River wideout Evan Buckingham, among others.

Here's a summary of how the Section 3 alignments affect Frontier League teams:

Class A: Nottingham and Fowler have moved up to Class AA, leaving two six-team divisions. Carthage, Indian River and Watertown are still in A National with New Hartford, Whitesboro and Camden. Oswego will play Class A for another year, but the Buccaneers' games will count as nonleague games and they will not be eligible for the playoffs. They are in A American with Fulton, East Syracuse-Minoa, Jamesville-DeWitt, Cortland and Mexico.

Class B: Cazenovia and Holland Patent have moved up from Class C and rejoin B East along with South Jefferson, Chittenango, Oneida and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill. Phoenix moves down to B West and Hannibal joins the B West up from Class C.

Class C: The largest class in the section (25 teams) has new looks in all four divisions. The North, consisting of mainly Frontier League teams, welcomes Immaculate Heart Central as well as Thousand Islands and Pulaski from Class D. It lost Adirondack (C East) and Altmar-Parish-Williamstown (C West) to other C divisions. Little Falls and the combined Utica Notre Dame/Rome Catholic team join C East, Cato-Meridian moves up from D to C West and the newest team in the section, Syracuse Institute of Technology, also moves into C West. The combined LaFayette/Fabius-Pompey team will remain in C West, but will not be eligible for the playoffs. Westmoreland moves back into C East.

Class D: This class has been cut from four to three divisions. With IHC and Thousand Islands leaving, D North is no more. Beaver River and South Lewis are now in D East with perennial power Dolgeville, Mohawk (which is no longer merged with Richfield Springs) and West Canada Valley. Sandy Creek is in D West with Onondaga, Port Byron and Weedsport. Bishop Grimes was supposed to be part of that division, but has dropped football due to low numbers. Hamilton has also scraped its program because of low turnout, so Class D Central consists of only Cooperstown, down from Class C, Morrisville-Eaton, New York Mills, Oriskany and Waterville.

With two teams dropping out, Section 3 has redone several of the Class D schedules to give every team at least seven games. Sandy Creek is the only local team affected. The Comets will host Waterville on Sept. 17 instead of Grimes.