Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014: Carrington pours in 42 in Loughlin win

   Leading off today: Allow me to borrow a line Bum Phillips used to describe Earl Campbell, his amazing running back with the Houston Oilers:

   Khadeen Carrington may not be in a class by himself, but the class he is in has a mighty short roll call.

   Carrington, the Bishop Loughlin senior heading to Seton Hall next fall, demonstrated Friday why he was selected the league MVP, pouring in 42 points to beat Christ the King 90-71 in the championship game of the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens tournament.

   Carrington was 15-for-19 from the field.

   "The kid is an amazing player and the performance that he displayed today was unbelievable," Loughlin coach Edwin Gonzalez told The Daily News. "There's a certain look in his eye, I know that look, he had it in the last game and he had it this game, so I knew he was up for a big performance."

   Earlier this season, Carrington had another memorable knight against the Royals. He scored the 2,000th point of his career in the teams' Jan. 31 contest.

   Brackets released: Individual pairings for next weekend's state wrestling championships in Albany have been released. You can view the brackets in PDF for Division I and Division II on the NYSPHSAA website.

   Speaking of brackets, we've posted first drafts for the NYSPHSAA hockey and boys basketball tournament on our site. You can check them out here.

   I'll get to work on the girls basketball brackets in the next 48 hours and will start filling in teams in all sports ASAP after that.

   Norwich saluted: Norwich has hauled in first place in the inaugural NYSPHSAA Battle of the Fans contest, the organization announced Friday.

   "Our fan section did only what they know best to win this award and that is cheer for the Norwich Purple Tornado," AD Joe Downey said in a statement. "Throughout this experience our fan section has learned that sportsmanship is an important part of educational athletics. They have also learned how to create a fun and positive environment while cheering for their team."

   Pleasantville and Skaneateles were the other finalists.

   Unexpected about-face: Officials from Brooklyn's Poly Prep issued a formal apology Friday to a dozen men who have said they were sexually abused by longtime football coach Phil Foglietta.

   The apology in the aftermath of a December 2012 settlement of civil lawsuits may finally bring a close to several years of contentious battles between the victims and school representatives.

   "We offer our deepest apologies to the survivors of Coach Foglietta's abuse," the statement signed by headmaster David Harman and board of trustees chairman Scott Smith said. "We also apologize to their families and to anyone else who may have suffered in some manner as the result of his horrific misconduct. We recognize that sexual abuse is, and always has been, a terrible crime that leaves permanent scars."

   Smith's younger brother Philip was one of the men who claimed in the suit that they had been assaulted by Foglietta, The Daily News reported.

   Harman and Smith acknowledged the school should have investigated allegations that prompted them to force Foglietta into retirement in 1991, the paper reported. Some of the allegations go back more than 40 years ago.

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   Attorney Kevin Mulhearn, who represented the victims, credited the school for the apology. "Poly Prep appears to be moving in the right direction of reconciliation," he said. "Poly Prep at long last is coming to terms that its conduct towards these students was less than acceptable."

   Fitting tribute: When I die, I think I want Kevin Stevens to write my obituary.

   In Friday's Press & Sun-Bulletin, Stevens did a superb job of capturing the life and spirit of Michael Rubino, an avid Binghamton-area sports fan who died Thursday at the age of 81.

   Here's the lead:

   "The man had a soft side, exquisitely camouflaged as it was, but it existed.

   "'You got a cold, don't ya?' Michael "Jingles" Rubino might inquire during one of our many telephone conversations. We'd chat, about this game and that player, about what he'd decided should be spotlighted in the following day's newspaper and what he deemed a glaring omission from that morning's edition.

   "We'd talk -- mostly, I'd listen -- about strategy this coach should have employed, or what angle that reporter should have taken, because the man never shied from sharing opinions regarding sports and its characters. And make no mistake, he knew his stuff.

   "Before hanging up, he'd instruct: 'You feel better, Buddy -- and dress warm! Can't have you sick during the season.'"

   The rest of the story completed painting a complete picture of Rubino, a man local sports fans came to recognize though perhaps not really know. It's completely worth 10 minutes of your time to read.