STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — For various reasons, SIHSL president Charlie Donohue and vice president Danny Lee had to do plenty of juggling in order to make this year’s Borough President Vito Fossella SIHSL Tournament schedule work.
For the most part, everything is finally set in stone and if you’re a junkie for tourney time, the next 10 days will keep you busy.
The varsity tournament’s format has changed a handful of times through the years and the 2025-26 season will see another revision.
For the first time, there will be a two-game, play-in round for the last four seeds (11 through 14). The new setup gives the top four seeds — in this case Susan Wagner, St. Peter’s, Monsignor Farrell and St. Joseph by-the-Sea — a double bye.
The “First Four’s” two winners advance to a second round of four play-in games. Those who emerge victorious from those second-round contests will then move on to meet to the top four seeds in the quarterfinals.
In addition, the championship games will see a minor change this season. For the first time, the freshman and junior varsity title games will be played back to back on the same night.
Since the tourney’s inception during the 1992-93 season, the JV title game has traditionally played before the varsity contest on the same night. But this season, the varsity championship will be played by itself.
Here’s a look at the entire schedule for the SIHSL Tournament’s varsity, JV and freshman divisions (remember: dates, times and venues are always subject to change).
St. Peter’s Nico Parlanti, left, attempts to pressure Susan Wagner’s Charles Gambino after the latter grabbed a rebound during a SIHSL Tournament varsity semifinal last season.(Kara Buzga for the Advance/SILive.com)Varsity schedule
(Top 4 seeds receive byes)
Feb. 4: Play-in round
Petrides (13) at Eagle-SI (12), Dreyfus Intermediate school, 5
Port Richmond (14) at CSI/McCown (11), 5
Feb. 5: Second round
At Port Richmond HS
SIA (5) vs. Petrides-Eagle SI winner, 430
New Dorp (6) vs. CSIM-Port Richmond winner, 6
At Staten Island Tech
Curtis (8) vs. Moore (9), 4:30
MSIT (7) vs. Tottenville (10), 6
Feb. 7: Quarterfinals
At Petrides
Susan Wagner vs. Curtis-Moore winner, 11
Sea vs. 5-12/13 winner, 12:45
St. Peter’s vs. MSIT-Tottenville winner, 2:30
Farrell vs. 6-11/14 winner, 4:15
Feb. 9: Semifinals
At Petrides
5 and 7 pm
Feb. 12: Championship game
At Petrides, 7 p.m.
***
JV schedule
(Top 3 receive a bye)
Feb. 3: First round
At SI Tech
Susan Wagner (5) vs. MSIT (12), 4:15
Tottenville (6) vs. SIA (11), 5:45
Moore (4) vs. CSIM (13), 7:15
At Port Richmond
New Dorp (8) vs. Port Richmond (9), 4:30
Sea (7) vs. Petrides (10), 6
Feb. 4: Quarterfinals
At SI Tech
Curtis (1) vs. ND-PR winner, 4:30
Moore-CSIM winner vs. SW-MSIT winner, 6
At Tottenville
St. Peter’s (3) vs. Tottenville-SIA winner, 4:30
Farrell (2) vs. Sea-Petrides winner, 6
Feb. 6: Semifinals
At Curtis
Feb. 10: Championship
At Petrides
***
Freshman schedule
(Top 2 get byes)
Feb. 3: Quarterfinals
Sea (5) at Curtis (4), 4:30 p.m.
Feb. 5: Quarterfinals
Petrides (6) at Moore (3), 5
Feb. 8: Semifinals
At S.I. Tech
St. Peter’s vs. Sea-Curtis winner, 1
Farrell vs. Petrides-Moore winner, 2:30
Feb. 10: Championship
At Petrides, 5