Sunday, March 6, 2016: Recapping Saturday's hockey, bowling and swimming

   Leading off today: Sections 1 and 3 each advanced both their representatives to the NYSPHSAA boys hockey final fours by winning quarterfinals Saturday.

   In Division I, Mamaroneck defeated Massena 5-1 and West Genesee eliminated Ithaca 6-2, setting up semifinals against Pittsford and West Genesee, respectively.

   In Division II, red-hot Pelham defeated Batavia Notre Dame 4-2 to set up a semifinal with defending champion Skaneateles, a 5-0 winner over Victor at Rochester Institute of Technology.

   Skaneateles got two second-period goals from Ray Falso and a shutout from goaltender Bennett Morse, who lowered his goals-against average to 1.20 with his second straight whitewash. Falso leads the Lakers with 32 goals and 62 points this season.

   Pelham hadn't been able to get beyond the quarterfinals the past two seasons, but the Pelicans paved the way for a trip to Buffalo by pumping in three first-period goals, including a pair from defenseman Gib Smith.

   "We wanted this one," Smith told The Journal News. "It feels great, but we're not done yet."

   Goalie A.J. Gugliara finished with 22 saves, including five during a four-man penalty kill in the third period after a boarding call.

   In Division I, Patrick McDonald scored a hat-trick to highlight the West Genesee win. McDonald had just six goals heading into the game.

   More hockey: Jeremy Ienco's goal at 4:25 of overtime lifted St. Joe's to a 2-1 win over St. Anthony's just moments after the Friars thought they had captured the CHSAA title.

   St. Anthony's captain Tyler Barrow appeared to have scored off a feed from Patrick Cozzi only to have the goal waved off because the net had been dislodged.

   State bowling tournament: Seniors Nick Caruana and Anthony Naujokas rolled six-game blocks of 1,384 and 1,325, respectively, to top all competitors and lead Sachem's combined district team to the NYSPHSAA boys bowling championship at Airport Lanes in Cheektowaga.

   The Flaming Arrows (6,166) and Lansingburgh (5,921) easily ran away from the rest of the field.

   Caruana, the 2014 individual champ from Sachem East, rolled a 263 in his final game of the day, and Naujokas, of Sachem North, put down a 254 in the same game.

   "It's just a good way to go out," Naujokas told Newsday. "I think Sachem East alone had a good chance of winning counties, and when we combined we knew we were going to have a really good team."

   Bobby Ramsey of Sachem was seventh, giving the winners three competitors in the top 10.

   In the girls competition, Columbia (5,563) fought off 2014 winner East Islip (5,507) and Union-Endicott (5,463) for the team championship. Columbia's Rachel Steele was the top individual with a 1,243 pinfall for six games.

   Carly Licht of Bethpage rolled a 279 game to finish her day in second place at 1,239.

   Sachem's boys won NYSPHSAA championships in 1996, '97 and 2000 before the district split into two schools. The Columbia girls previously triumphed in 2001.

   Boys swimming: St. Anthony's won its first Federation team championship and Half Hollow Hills earned its first NYSPHSAA title at the state championship meet at Erie Community College.

   "I've been to every meet since 1986 so it's been 30 years

2016 NYSPHSAA boys basketball brackets 2016 NYSPHSAA girls basketball brackets 2016 NYSPHSAA boys hockey brackets 2016 N.Y. complete wrestling brackets (PDF) 2016 N.Y. boys swim championships N.Y. indoor track championships: Boys | Girls

for me, never in my wildest dreams thought that I'd have a team like these guys," coach Dan McBride told Newsday. "I could cry over it."

   The Friars' only win came in the opening 200-yard medley relay, in which Half Hollow Hills placed second to earn the top spot on the NYSPHSAA awards stand. That race was the first of Alex Park's three wins for HHH on the day.

   Park successfully defended his 200 IM championship in 1:51.21 to touch out North Rockland's Matthew Zugibe by .01 seconds. He also swam on the winning 200 freestyle relay, which set a Section 11 record of 1:25.94.

   Duke recruit Noah Stevens of Brighton won two overall individual crowns, including defense of his 100 butterfly championship from a year ago. Stevens finished second in 2015 in the breaststroke, but a nearly two-second drop to :54.95 got the job done in that race as well even though he trailed midway through the event.

   "I love racing. That's where my passion is in the sport," he told the Democrat and Chronicle. "Some people just love to train but when it comes down to racing, I excel at that. ... I love competing."

   The day's other big performance came from Ithaca senior Kevin Miller, the Federation champ in the 200 freestyle, the NYSPHSAA champ in the 500 free and part of the Little Red's 400 free relay that topped the public-school field.

   Also, Jamestown's Matthew Marsh became a three-time state champ with wins in the 50 and 100 freestyles in :20.62 and :45.51, respectively.

   "In the 50 free I hit my start really well, so I was pretty sure I was going to do well in that one," Marsh said. "But in the 100 free I died pretty hard. Last year I had more in me."

   The complete rundown of swimming results, including Friday's prelims and diving, can be viewed here in PDF format.

   More to come: I'm breaking the day's blogging into small pieces in order to make the job of recapping a very busy Saturday a little easier. I'll be back later Sunday with basketball, track, cheerleading and whatever else may be out there.