Leading off today: Maine-Endwell played without starting quarterback Kyle Balmer but still rolled up its
40th consecutive football victory by beating Susquehanna Valley 27-14 on Friday.
Senior Adam Gallagher rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns to help offset the absence of Balmer, who suffered a wrist injury last week, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported. Gallagher's 3-yard TD run with 2:33 to play closed out the scoring.
M-E quarterback Kevin Barrett ran for 53 yards and had a big fourth-and-6 completion from the SV 12 that kept alive the game-clinching drive.
More football to come: We'll catch up to some other Friday football highlights with another blog later Saturday. For now, check out the list of scores on RoadToSyracuse.com.
'Mr. Basketball' dies: George Davila, a mainstay of Long Island basketball as an assistant coach, statistician and historian, died Thursday in Northport after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 62.
"He was Mr. Basketball. Every coach in Nassau and Suffolk knew who George was," Jericho basketball coach Wally Bachman, the Section 8 coordinator, told Newsday. "He was involved with every team in Nassau and Suffolk in a non-pay way. He was like our right-hand man. From coach to athletic director to coordinator to officials, we all respected him so much. He was everywhere and he touched everybody."
Davila was also the latest in a line of Long Islanders who provided valuable assistance to the New York State Sportswriters Association over the years in compiling weekly rankings and all-state teams.
A handyman who also worked in real estate, the Queens native attended dozens of games each season and kept meticulous records. Gerard Smith recalled that as an assistant to his father, former West Islip coach Jerry Smith, Davila would coach the summer league team, drive players to games, take them for burgers afterward "and never ask for a cent. He was a giving person and Long Island basketball was his life's passion."
Said former Newsday reporter Jason Molinet: "He cared about the minutia of the box score and about the last kid on the bench. I wish more people were as passionate about something as George was about LI hoops."
Lining up commitments: College coaches got back into high school gyms this week to observe players, and they were most certainly busy.
ESPN recruiting analyst Adam Finkelstein reported Iona College has picked up commitments from all-state guards Kai Mitchell (third team) and Ricky Mitchell (seventh team), who averaged 20 and 18.5 points a game, respectively, as a junior.
McGill decommitted from Manhattan in April in the aftermath of coach Steve Masiello being placed on leave by the college while he completed work on his four-year degree at Kentucky.
Bethlehem senior forward John Sica told nychoops.net he's committed to Columbia following a weekend visit.
"It feels nice to have made this decision," he told the website. "I'm excited and happy and now I'm looking forward to our high school season."
On the girls side of the game, Murry Bergtraum point guard Ashanae McLaughlin has opted for Seton Hall. McLaughlin was fifth-team all-state last winter.
More basketball: Multiple reports say 6-foot-6 Dimencio Vaughn did not return to Thurgood Marshall Academy in the PSAL and will play his senior season at a Mississippi school.
