The New York State Public High School Athletics Association or the NYSPHSAA divides the state of New York into 11 geographic sections. Pearl River High School plays football in Section I, Class A of the NYSPHSAA. This highly competitive, very successful Section includes many strong public school athletic programs as well as one private, parochial school.

New York City schools are not part of th NYPSHSAA and thereby do not participate in the state football championship series. The Long Island sections consisting of Section 9 (Nassau County) and Section 11 (Suffolk County) have decided not to participate in the NYSPHSAA state football championship series either.

All schools are currently divided into classes, determined by the student enrollment population size of the entire school. In October of each year, the enrollment of grades 9, 10 and 11 are combined to determine the "classification placement for the following football season as the seniors will have graduated and the juniors, sophomores and freshmen then will have moved up a grade and are eligible to play varsity football. NYSPHSAA attempts on a statewide basis to have an equal number of schools in each classification (AA, A, B, C and D) and therefore periodically reviews cutoffs delineating classifications."

There are 23 high school football teams in Section I, Class A. This year they have been divided into four leagues on the basis of location:

Section I - Class A-WEST
Nyack Indians
Ossining Redhawks
Pearl River Pirates
Sleepy Hollow Horsemen
Spring Valley Tigers
Tappan Zee Dutchmen

Section I - Class A-NORTH
Beacon Bulldogs
Brewster Bears
Horace Greeley Quakers
John Jay
Our Lady of Lourdes Warriors
Poughkeepsie Pioneers

Section I - Class A-SOUTH
Eastchester Eagles
Fox Lane Foxes
Harrison Huskies
Port Chester Rams
Saunders Blue Devils

Section I - Class A-CENTRAL
Hen Hud Sailors
Lakeland Hornets
Peekskill Red Devils
Somers Tuskers
Walter Panas Panthers
Yorktown Huskers