Photo courtesy of UB Athletics For the first time in 46 years, Section VI will play its football championships at the University at Buffalo’s Broadview Stadium, not Highmark Stadium.

For the first time in 46 years, the Section VI football championships will be played at a different venue this fall.

That was made official Saturday when section officials announced that the public high school title games will be hosted at Broadview Stadium at the University at Buffalo.

The site change coincides with the closing of the old Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park and the planned opening of the new home of the Buffalo Bills across the street.

“You’ve heard me talk about how special it is to play at an NFL stadium, but with the new stadium that was not feasible right now,” Section VI football chairman Jay Sirianni said. ” … We’re happy to play at a Division I venue. UB took care of us.”

Sirianni noted that discussions on a sectional championship relocation began last spring and UB was deemed the “logical site.”

“We didn’t want to have the sectional championships at a high school,” Sirianni said. “That’s not a knock on any high school facility, but you can’t go from the home of the Bills to playing at Southwestern, home of the Trojans. It just doesn’t translate.”

Sirianni has a fond personal memory of the Amherst campus, too.

In 2008, when he was the head coach at Southwestern, the Trojans defeated Section V LeRoy 38-35 at what was then known as UB Stadium in a wild, turnover-plagued Class C Far West Regional.

“That was our first regional win (on the way) to our first state championship,” Sirianni said. “That was pretty special. … I like that venue.”