Happy championship Friday. 🏈 It’s Dec. 5, and Rye plays for its fifth state football title tonight.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. against Brighton (11-2). The setting — Syracuse’s JMA Wireless Dome — is fitting, considering Rye has blown the roof off several school and section records this season.

The 13-0 Garnets already matched the highest win total in school history and set a Rye record for most points scored. Tonight, the 2025 team can further cement its place in Garnet history by claiming the school’s first championship against Class A competition.

Let’s go “Between the Lines” to look at how the undefeated football team can get it done in the Dome.

“Between the Lines” is curated by sports editor Chris Marshall.

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State Championship Preview: Rye vs. Brighton

With a win in tonight’s title game, Rye would become the fifth school in New York with at least five state football championships, passing Somers for the most in Section 1.

The Garnets punched their ticket to Syracuse’s JMA Wireless Dome in commanding fashion, beating Cornwall 35-7 in last Friday’s semifinals, their 11th straight game with at least 35 points scored. Rye has won 33 of its past 34 games, with one remaining to achieve the team’s ultimate goal.

“We’re on the doorstep to greatness,” senior quarterback Carson Miller said last Friday. “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to the Dome; we need to get it done now.”

For many of the state’s football programs, the chance to finish out the season in the Dome truly is once in a lifetime. For the Garnet seniors, it’s the second time in three years. Although the uber-talented class of 2025 will play a much larger role tonight than they did for the 2023 title team, familiarity with the 49,000-seat Division I stadium could help calm the nerves.

Rye won each of its past four appearances in Syracuse’s Dome (2005, 2007, 2008, and 2023), with the most recent losses coming in 2003 and 2004 against Chenango Forks.

Brighton, which lost in the 2024 semifinals, is playing for its first state championship. The team got here by winning its past six games, after losing two of its first three to start October. Like Rye, the Bruins have been happy to play teams outside of their own section this postseason. After escaping Section 5 playoff games with one- and 10-point victories, they’ve put up big numbers in the state tournament, beating Section 6 champion McKinley 42-14 on Nov. 21, and Section 4 champion Union-Endicott 47-14 last Friday. The two wins were their most lopsided since Week 2 in mid-September.

Section 6 opponents (located in the western-most part of New York) may have posed a challenge for the Bruins, but no region has fared better in the postseason than Section 1. Mamaroneck lost in the Class AA semifinals last weekend, but Sleepy Hollow (Class B), Bronxville (Class C), and Tuckahoe (Class D) are all playing for state titles Friday or Saturday, giving Section 1 four teams in Syracuse for the first time since 2004.

One cause of concern for Rye’s record-setting offense is the potential loss of its starting running back. Senior Charlie Garnett, who rushed for over 1,000 yards and 22 touchdowns this season, suffered an injury on his second carry against Cornwall and is doubtful to play tonight.

If Rye’s leading rusher misses the title game, a committee will aim to carry the load in his absence. Fellow senior Ben Stigliano rushed 11 times for 50 yards against Cornwall, and junior Jagger Fenton had three carries and a touchdown. The biggest threat, both on the ground and through the air, is Miller. In between completing 15 of his 18 passes for 300-plus yards and three touchdowns last week, the senior captain also carried the ball 10 times for 85 yards and a score.

Garnett was a major piece of the Garnets’ undefeated run. It will take a total team effort to finish the campaign 14-0.

“It means so much for us to make it back to the Dome,” said senior captain Carsten Steinmann. “This entire team has worked so hard. We’re all excited for the chance to win that first Class A championship.”

Weather Report: Tonight’s forecast inside the Dome is a toasty mid-70 degrees.

The weather in Rye will be much colder. Check out the weekend forecast here.

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Performers of the Week: Carson Miller & Henry Shoemaker

🏈 Congrats to Carson Miller and Henry Shoemaker — co-winners of the Sportech Performer of the Week.

The senior co-captains and Harvard commits have contributed a majority of Rye’s single-season record 542 points. Last Friday, both moved to the top of the Section 1 record books in their respective stat categories.

Miller has 3,279 passing yards this season, and Shoemaker has 1,665 receiving yards, surpassing the section records set in 2015 by Our Lady of Lourdes quarterback Dean Rotger and receiver Luke Timm.

Miller needs just one touchdown pass to tie Rye’s Declan Lavelle for another single-season section record (36). Shoemaker’s 19 receiving touchdowns are already a section record, and one more would make him the seventh player in state history with 20 in a single season.

While the gaudy statistics will make Miller and Shoemaker memorable names in Rye, and the state as a whole, for years to come, the best part of last Friday’s record-setting performance is that it guarantees one more opportunity to add to the totals.

Rye won its latest state championship in 2023, when Miller and Shoemaker were sophomores. Now, the record-setting seniors lead undefeated Rye in the pursuit of its first Class A crown. Based on the numbers the Garnets have posted to this point, they may be in a class of their own.

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