Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013: Cornwall loses receiver Bauer to injury

   Leading off today: Cornwall's hopes for a deep run in the Class A football playoffs has suffered a blow with the news that receiver Chris Bauer's season is over due to an injury.

   Bauer attended practice Monday after being hospitalized eight days with a punctured lung, The Times Herald-Record reported. However, he will not be sufficiently healed in time to add to his 34 catches for 746 yards and 13 TDs.

   Cornwall, ranked fourth in the state this week (full rankings here) by the New York State Sportswriters Association, takes on Port Jervis in the Section 9 Class A semifinals on Friday.

   "I'm all right now. I'm just a little sore," Bauer told the newspaper. "I was in bed for eight days, I didn't walk for eight days. But I'm feeling better. This is a tough situation, but there is nothing I can do about it."

   Ironically, Bauer sustained the injury during a 49-0 win at Saugerties on Oct. 15 in which he caught five touchdown passes from quarterback Mike White in the first half. Late in the second quarter, Bauer was hit unintentionally with a knee to the chest. The initial diagnosis was broken ribs, but he was summoned back to the hospital when the punctured lung was detected.

   Speaking of painful injuries: Pioneer field hockey coach Jana Landahl ruptured her right Achilles tendon Monday while running onto the field to celebrate a 2-1 overtime victory against Williamsville East, The Buffalo News reported.

   “It felt like I had been shot in the back of the leg. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t walk and the pain was intense,” said Landahl, who's in her 27th season. “This is just ridiculous, and I’m not old, sorry, this is just not right.”

   Senior Becca Lambert scored eight minutes into the extra session to advance Pioneer into the Section 6 Class B semifinals vs. unbeaten Amherst.

   More field hockey: Meghan Fonfara became Iroquois' all-time scoring leader with a hat trick in a 6-0 win vs. West Seneca East in the Section 6 Class B quarterfinals. The record had been 91, held since 2003 by Kelly Johnson.

   In Section 1, ninth-seeded Clarkstown South beat No. 8 seed Fox Lane 3-2 in the Class A first round to mark the Vikings' first field hockey playoff victory in more than two decades. Freshman Colleen Geyer scored two goals, including the game winner.

   Cuevas to South Carolina: Three-time all-state point guard Bianca Cuevas has committed to continue her basketball career at the University of South Carolina next year, Rivals.com reported. The Gamecocks are coached by former WNBA star Dawn Staley, a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

   Cuevas, who was second-team all-state as a freshman and sophomore and a sixth-team pick for Nazareth in 2013, selected South Carolina over numerous Division I suitors including Connecticut, Georgia Tech, LSU and Louisville.

   More girls basketball: Dave Powers is compiling a list of girls basketball coaches who have amassed 300 career wins in New York. Submit into to Dave at dpowers@tuxedoufsd.org.

   Milestones: Thanks to Joe Glus for the reminder that Archbishop Stepinac's 36-0 football win over Fordham Prep was career victory No. 150 for coach Mike O'Donnell.

   And Tom Doherty caught that Pearl River girls soccer coach Tim Peabody won his 300th game Oct. 18 vs. Albertus Magnus. Peabody's first 91 wins came while he

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coached Albertus Magnus from 1988-93.

   Interesting stat: The Post-Standard crew poured over results from the first round of the Section 3 football playoffs over the weekend and noted five games requiring teams to make round trips of 150 or more miles.

   Of the five -- Thousand Islands 275 miles to play Sherburne-Earlville, Dolgeville 210 to play Weedsport, General Brown 210 to play Frankfort-Schuyler, Skaneateles 180 to play Watertown Immaculate Heart and Sandy Creek 150 to face West Canada Valley -- all but Skaneateles came home victorious.

   Coach on leave: The Buffalo News reported Friday that Springville football coach John Sopko has been placed on administrative leave. The fifth-year coach was not on the sidelines for a 34-0 victory Friday over Gowanda.

   “Here’s the deal. There’s no firing,” Superintendent Dr. Paul Connelly told the paper. “At this point in time all it is is a letter that I gave him that puts him on an administrative leave from his position as head coach as we continue to investigate some alleged incidents throughout the season.”

   A week earlier, residents speaking at a school board meeting alleged Sopko responded inappropriately after being heckled at a game.

   “The whole thing comes down to unsportsmanlike conduct," Connelly said. "We’ve got a whole bunch of people who have said some pretty bad things have happened the past few weeks. In Springville, we have some parents who should shut up at games and a coaching situation I have to deal with on a personnel level.”

   'Poughkeepsie Popper' dies: Wes Bialosuknia, who starred for the Franklin D. Roosevelt High basketball team before setting records for the UConn men's program and playing professionally, died last week at the age of 68.

   Bialosuknia, nicknamed the “Poughkeepsie Popper,” averaged 23.6 points during a three-year career at UConn. The guard averaged 28.0 points his senior season and went on to play one season in the ABA.