Third week of high school football includes busy Thursday schedule in Mohawk Valley

The Whitesboro Warriors and Proctor Raiders combined to score 122 points when they met last fall at Utica's D'Alessandro Stadium. With a scheduling change finalized, 2023 sends the football teams to Whitesboro's Chiz Frye Field to see how many points they put up this time.

The Saturday morning showdown between the Warriors (1-1) and Raiders (1-0) is one of the area highlights on this week's area schedule. A busy weekend gets started with four Thursday games, including two-time defending Section III Homer (1-0) at New Hartford (2-0) for a rematch of the 2021 Class B title game. Dolgeville (0-1) travels to Beaver River (0-2) Friday for a rematch of last fall's Class D sectional final. West Canada Valley (2-0) hosts Frankfort-Schuyler (1-0), the only team it lost to during the 2022 regular season, Saturday.

The schedule also sends Holland Patent and Solvay to the JMA Wireless Dome Friday, and Little Falls and Cazenovia to the Syracuse University facility Saturday.

More: Photos: Utica Proctor defeats Whitesboro. See the highlights

Homer at New Hartford, Thursday, 6 p.m.

New Hartford was a Section III finalist in Class B two years before a one-year move to Class A. While Spartans (2-0) were gone, the Homer Trojans (1-0) repeated as sectional champions.

New Hartford is back in Class B this season and clashing with the team to which it lost 34-20 in what had been an unbeaten run in 2021.

Having beaten Oneida 28-8 in its opening game this season, Homer has now won 19 of 22 games since the start of the 2021 season, having lost two regional playoffs and only to Indian River within Section III.

New Hartford plays at home for the first time after putting up 96 combined points in wins at Section II Scotia-Glenville and Chittenango. The Spartans, winners of their first nine games en route to the 2021 sectional final, went 6-4 last fall while competing in Class A.

Adirondack at Canastota, Friday, 7 p.m.

Adirondack (2-0) and Canastota (2-0) enter their Class C crossover with two victories each.

Adirondack has gone unbeaten through the last two regular seasons, reaching the Class D final in 2021 and losing at home in the Class C semifinals last year.

Canastota also started 2-0 last fall before losing four games in a row.

Dolgeville at Beaver River, Friday, 7 p.m.

Section III's last two Class D teams last fall are both seeking a first win this season when two-time defending sectional champion Dolgeville (0-1) travels to Beaver River (0-2) Friday.

Dolgeville's Blue Devils defeated Beaver River's Beavers 44-24 in the championship game, claiming their Section III-leading 19th title. Since that time, Dan Zilkowski has stepped down as Dolgeville's head varsity coach and Justin Daukontas has been promoted from within the staff.

The Blue Devils made two trips to Sandy Creek to complete their season-opening game, a 14-12 loss to the Comets, and will head back into Frontier League territory for the third time in nine days.

Beaver River was beaten on the road in its first two games at Pulaski and Class C Lowville Academy.

Utica-Proctor at Whitesboro, Saturday, 9:30 a.m.

The unusual start time is the result of a scheduling change announced Tuesday. The teams had been scheduled to play Friday evening but following a shooting in the parking lot following Proctor's season-opening 60-30 win over Binghamton, security precautions were taken for a game at a neighboring school and the game was moved from the setting sun to soon after the next one rising.

The 60 points against Binghamton were the most scored by Proctor (1-0) since its 62-60 win over Whitesboro one year ago. Whitesboro (1-1) enters its home opener having scored 48 points in its first win over East Syracuse-Minoa.

Frankfort-Schuyler at West Canada Valley, Saturday, noon

Frankfort-Schuyler (1-0) and West Canada Valley (2-0) were part of a three-way tie for first place in the Eight Player East Division last fall when Frankfort-Schuyler dealt West Canada Valley, the 2021 sectional champion a 46-34 defeat.

West Canada Valley beat New York Mills, the third team in that tie, last week and has outscored its first two opponents 96-8 this season. Frankfort-Schuyler, the sectional runner-up in its first eight player season last fall, scrimmaged two weeks ago and shut out Cooperstown 46-0 in its season-opening victory.

Holland Patent vs. Solvay, Friday, 8 p.m.

Little Falls vs. Cazenovia, Saturday, 5 p.m.

at JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse

In what has been hailed as Kickoff Classic in past years, a select group of Section III teams will play games in the JMA Wireless Dome this weekend with Syracuse University playing on the road at Purdue University.

Holland Patent (1-1) takes on Solvay (1-0) in Friday's nightap, following a game between Marcellus and General Brown. Both teams are coming off their first wins; Holland Patent defeated Marcellus 34-14 in its home opener, and Solvay came back from down 21-7 in the second half to beat Little Falls 35-21.

Little Falls (0-2) and Cazenovia (1-0) head to the dome Saturday for their first meeting in more than a decade.

Cazenovia, which went unbeaten into the Class C semifinals last fall, avenged its only 2022 defeat with a 30-20 win over defending champion General Brown in its opening game last week. Little Falls had a 21-7 lead in the second half on the road last week before Solvay rallied for a victory.

Carthage and Westhill kick off earlier in the day at 11 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Mohawk Valley high school football schedule for Sept. 14-16