Leading off today: East Syracuse-Minoa used two fumble recoveries to help roll up 32 points in the game's first eight minutes Thursday to
open the New York football season with a 47-21 win over Watertown.
Senior quarterback Sean Richardson was 15-for-26 for 216 yards and three TDs, and junior tailback RiQuelle Othman ran for 110 yards and three more scores. Othman, a transfer from Syracuse Henninger, broke around the left end on the first play from scrimmage to score on a 63-yard run.
Watertown committed six turnovers. One play after the first turnover, Richardson threw 24 yards to Ryan Underwood (five catches for 90 yards and two TDs) for another TD and a 13-0 lead.
Breaking through: The Niagara Falls girls soccer team registered its first Niagara Frontier victory in 10 years by beating host Kenmore West 3-0. Alexa Caputo scored all three goals for the Wolverines.
Tragic start to year: A funeral service was held Friday for DeRuyter coach Steve Camelbeek, who died last on Friday at the age of 66.
Camelbeek coached track and cross country coach at the Section 3 school for more four decades -- during which time he coached two of his grandchildren. Though he continued coaching, Camelbeek retired from teaching agriculture, technology and physical education.
"Stephen was incredibly well known and incredibly loved," district Superintendent Charles Walters told The Post-Standard. "You couldn't say enough good things about the guy. Even though he had retired after 40 years of teaching, he still subbed here, coached a couple of different sports, his grandkids were here. He had tons and tons of connections. The man gave his life to the kids and education."
Exploiting the loophole: Add Corning to the list of school districts doing not-so-cool things to take advantage of this year's NYSPHSAA rule change in the way enrollment figures are calculated for combined teams.
Corning East and West had already been combining teams in several sports before a 2010 vote by residents to overhaul the district and merge the two high schools into one building. The football programs have played the past three seasons as one Class AA squad, but they're dropping down to Class A this fall because the graduated scale used in the new rule allows them to do so.
When the new high school finally opens next fall, the loophole will close and the Hawks will revert to Class AA.
Dealing with low numbers: Does anyone see the return of eight-man football to New York in the not-too-distant future? Based on enrollment trends noted by two upstate newspapers this week, "small ball" may come out of mothballs out of necessity.
Class D Port Byron and Union Springs merged football teams this fall to form a Class C team in Section
3. Port Byron would have had just nine veterans back from last fall's playoff team, and Union Springs offered up 10 returnees from its division-winning squad.
Elmira Heights Edison had to scrap its 2012 season after two games and Elmira Notre Dame has forfeited its 2013 opener. Cato-Meridian dropped its JV team last fall in order to keep the varsity roster stocked and cut expenses.
In 2010 and 'll, it was Section 4's small schools feeling the pain from small rosters that led to forfeits. Lansing, Newfield and Watkins Glen forfeited games in 2010, and Southern Springs couldn't field a team.
You can read more about Central New York enrollments in this article from The Citizen in Auburn. You can read The Star-Gazette's story here.
On cable this season: Time Warner Cable has announced its schedule for regional football telecasts across its New York systems this fall.
