Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015: A's prospect from Yonkers 'critical' after shooting

   Leading off today: Former Yonkers Saunders baseball player Michael Nolan, a prospect in the Oakland A's organization, was listed in critical condition Saturday after being shot in the head and torso the previous day.

   Nolan, 23, was shot in a Burger King parking lot by an unknown person. The Journal News reported no arrests had been made and police were examining video footage from the scene. Police suspect the shooting could be related to an argument that developed following a drag race Wednesday night, according to the New York Daily News.

   Nolan, a left-handed pitcher who played at Oklahoma City University, was drafted in the 18th round in 2014 by the A's. Most recently, he was pitching for the minor-league Arizona Athletics, but has been on the restricted list since June 2014 following Tommy John surgery.

   Boys soccer: Nick Juan scored on a shot from about 20 yards out with 6:10 remaining in the second overtime to give Horseheads a 3-2 victory over host Vestal in Southern Tier Athletic Conference boys soccer Friday.

   Horseheads is ranked 19th in Class AA and Vestal 14th in Class A in the first set of New York State Sportswriters Association ratings.

   Tyler Morehouse made 18 saves for the winners.

   Suspended: Reporter Kurt Semder of News12.com in New York City tweeted Friday that Grand Street Campus football coach Bruce Eugene has been suspended by the PSAL for three games. Semder said Eugene told home the ruling has to do with a preseason scrimmage at Rutgers and that he plans to appeal.

   Eugene's Grand Street teams went 1-7 in 2012, 6-3 in 2013 and 11-2 last fall.

If 3 game suspension holds up, Eugene will miss games against JFK, New Dorp and Magnet. His return would be 10/9 at defending champs Lincoln

— Kurt Semder (@KurtSemder) September 19, 2015

   Read of the week: The New York Times took an in-depth look as IMG Academy, the private and for-profit sports boarding school in Bradenton, Fla., on the premise that "prep football talent is being consolidated on powerful public, private, parochial, charter and magnet school teams."

   IMG Academy, founded by a global sports management conglomerate (their logo adorns the team's football helmets), had already attracted attention based on its for-profit model and sports-centric focus. Interest intensified with the arrival of Shea Patterson, considered the nation's top quarterback prospect and now playing for his third high school. His teammates include receiver Drake Davis, a

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

national indoor sprint champion, and tight end Isaac Nauta, rated the nation's No. 1 prospect at that position.

   "Every day in practice is just a grind against our own guys. That's probably the best competition we're going to face all year," Nauta said.

   Though IMG Academy, which evolved from the tennis boarding school founded by Nick Bollettieri in 1978, has fielded a varsity football team for only three seasons, its roster includes six of the nation's top 100 senior recruits and players from 21 states and six countries.

   The tuition sticker price to attend IMG Academy is $70,800, although need-based financial assistance is offered.

   IMG Academy officials said 186 athletes from the 2015 graduating class were playing various college sports, including six at Ivy League schools and four at service academies.

   "It is the best preparation for a high school kid to get to the next level quick," said Kevin Wright, IMG Academy's first-year head coach.

   You can read the full article here.

   Extra points: Greg Brownell noted in his girls soccer roundup that Hadley-Luzerne;s wins this week over Whitehall and Salem may have marked the first back-to-back wins in program history.