Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013: Hoosic Valley board considers football options

   A special meeting updated parents and community members on concerns by district officials that Hoosic Valley may have to drop either varsity or JV football this season based on low participation numbers, with the varsity appearing to be the one most likely on the endangered species list.

   The Indians forfeited their last two varsity games last season due to a lack of players. On June 17, the school board opted to move forward with fielding varsity and JV teams for 2013 based on having 38 players sign up as being interested in participating.

   With the number practicing this fall hovering around 30, the depth is not there to field two teams unless at least half a dozen underclassmen come out once classes start.

   “The board is going to review the numbers and the decision to keep safety in mind,” interim Superintendent Amy Goodell said. “We wanted to get the input from all the constituents and it looks like the roster has changed, so we’ll take that into consideration as well.”

   Neither Section 2 nor any scheduled Hoosic Valley opponents have been informed of forfeits. Hoosic Valley is scheduled to open Sept. 7 vs. Whitehall. Week 2 is supposed to be against Salem, which is forfeiting its opener due to a low turnout and could see its record reach 1-1 without having stepped on the field if Hoosic Valley folds its varsity.

   Record book updated: There are still a few files to be finished, but the vast majority of files in our New York state high school football record book have now been updated on the RoadToSyracuse.com website, following thorough research by Paul Hutzler.

   A few pages, such as the list of longest winning streaks will be cleaned up this week, then it's just a matter of some cleaning up here and there next week.

   What's in a name? A Times Union story this week about merged Section 2 football squads noted that Bishop Gibbons and Saratoga Central Catholic have united under the "Sainted Knights" nickname. That reminded me of a couple of stories on nicknames in New York that I never got around to mentioning this month.

   Yahoo.com began its feature by declaring the Somers Tuskers the state's best nickname. Tuskers is a nod to the town's connection to circuses and elephants themselves. Circus pioneers Hachaliah Bailey and P.T. Barnum had connections to Somers.

   MaxPreps.com's story turns its focus to the Utica Notre Dame Jugglers, a name derived from "Le Jongleur de Notre Dame," a story from French Medieval times.

   This could be interesting: Speaking of MaxPreps, that online sports organization announced Thursday that it is launching 40 hyper-local sites concentrating on major

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

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U.S. cities as a complement to its already immense site.

   Each site will feature local rankings, upcoming schedules, recent scores, coaches and players of the week, and stat leaders. New York City is

the only metro area in the state scheduled to have a local site among the first 40 being rolled out in the next three weeks.

   California leads the way with five metro areas picked to debut by Sept 5: Los Angeles, Sacramento, Fresno, San Diego and the Bay Area. Four Texas cities and four in Florida are also among the first 40.

   Worth a look: ESPN is showing a high school football game Monday at 3 p.m. with an interesting New York connection. When Godby (Fla.) travel up the coast to the University of Maryland to take on DeMatha, the host Stags will be quarterbacked by John Lovett.

   Lovett attended St. Anthony's on Long Island for two years but did not play as a sophomore due to a knee injury. He moved to Maryland last year and quickly stepped into the starting the quarterback role at DeMatha, finishing with 2,200 yards and 22 TD passes in 12 games.

   Lovett, who is 6-2&189; and 200 pounds, already holds a scholarship offer from the University at Buffalo and has received interest from Big Ten and ACC schools as well.

   Extra points: Retired Albion and Alden football coach Dick Diminuco has been named quarterback coach at Brockport State.

   Basketball point guard Jaquan McKennon is transferring from St. Raymond in the CHSAA to Cardozo in the PSAL, Community Newspaper Group reported.