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season meet since 2001.

   When the Fayetteville-Manlius girls won their 10th straight NYSPHSAA crown in the fall, their score of 28 points -- normally an impressive showing in a state with so much talent -- was actually not up to the Hornets' standards. F-M's average score during the unprecedented string of championships has been a gaudy 26.8 points.

   Eden also continued to streak, nailing down its seventh straight NYSPHSAA title in girls volleyball.

   Fifth-year varsity player Dana Bozek scored twice for Lakeland in a 4-1 win over Garden City for the NYSPHSAA Class B field hockey championship. It marked the seventh straight state crown and the 10th overall for coach Sharon Sarsen.

   At the local level, the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake girls volleyball team wrapped up its 28th consecutive Suburban Council division championship, extending their league winning streak to 375 matches since 1990.

Wild stat of the year

   The Lackawanna girls soccer team won a game in the first round of the Section 6 Class B tournament, edging I-Prep 1-0.

   We never did uncover the full extent of the Lackawanna program's futility, but the Steelers had been winless for at least 11 years until sophomore Trista Higgins scored in the 24th minute off a free kick by senior Sarah Bialek.

   Buffalo News season records go back only to 2005, and there is no evidence of Lackawanna winning a game in that time. Coach Jeff Patronik, 0-82-2 in six seasons entering the landmark sectional game, estimated the winless streak spanned at least 125 games.

   The Lackawanna district includes a large Yemeni community, and many of those students play for a successful boys program in the school. The girls are a different story, Patronik said.

   "Some of the Yemeni girls are athletic, and they don't play," he said. "Right there, we lose about a third of our school population to draw from. The girls we do have don't play outside of school. Some of them are softball players who come out only because I'm the coach."

The award for bad optics

   "The Jets have a long history of picking the wrong coach. The tradition continues."

   That was the opening line of a New York Daily News story, and it was pretty much on the mark after the NFL team selected Bruce Eugene of Grand Street Campus as its high school coach of the year for guiding the Wolves to their first PSAL city football championship.

   Eugene began his season with a two-game suspension (reduced from three games on appeal) after his team participated in an unapproved scrimmage against a New Jersey team over the summer. He ended the season by allowing Rahmel Ashby to continue playing following revelations the star running back was facing two sets of serious criminal charges -- including attempted murder -- related to separate incidents.

   Grand Street Campus received $4,000 from the Jets and sponsor Chase.

Always happy to help

   Tom Flatley retired from coaching at Garden City after the 2014 season, but all that meant was that he went from top guy on the sideline to a valuable set of eyes from above in assisting new head coach Dave Ettinger.

   Flatley made a great call that sealed a midseason 15-13 win against then-unbeaten MacArthur. With 1:22 left, he suggested having QB Tim Schmelzinger run a naked bootleg on a critical second down. Schmelzinger faked a handoff to the left, beat the containment and raced 76 yards down the visitors' sideline, sliding to a stop at the 5-yard-line. The Trojans ran out the clock and went home with the win.

   "Who would argue with him? I listen to (everything) he has for me," Ettinger said of Flatley.

Take a seat, coach

   Louis Kail's night on a girls basketball Friday was over before it even started. (Double) technically, it started before it started and then it was over, if that makes any sense.

   The Harrison varsity coach was barred from coaching his game after being issued two bench technicals and banished from the junior varsity contest. The ejection triggered enforcement of the rule calling for an automatic one-game suspension. Harrison won the varsity game 74-62.

More coaches on the hot seat

   Kail's situation was relatively minor. Unfortunately, some of his colleague's found big, big trouble related to events taking place on the field.

   Fifth-year Mexico girls basketball coach Dave Passer became embroiled in controversy over an apparent sportsmanship issue in midseason. During a Dec. 29 game,

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Passer allegedly tried to distract a Carthage free-throw shooter first by shouting a loud remark and then by slamming a clipboard to the floor.

   "It was something I'd never quite experienced coaching before," 13th-year Carthage coach Randi Smith said. "I looked at my assistant coach and said, 'What's going on here in this game?' It was bizarre."

   In July, the school board named Dominick Anthony as the permanent replacement as coach.

   Yorktown boys lacrosse coach Dave Marr was suspended for the 2017 season after his meltdown late in the Huskers' state-final loss. Marr was ejected with 1:31 left in the 9-6 loss to Jamesville-DeWitt in the NYSPHSAA Class B game when hit with his second unsportsmanlike penalty after vehemently protesting an offsides call.

   Syracuse Nottingham did not renew the contract of football coach Nick Patterson after the season. Patterson took the blame for the brawl that caused its Section 3 Class AA quarterfinal contest to be terminated in the third quarter. Four Bulldogs were among five players ejected following the incident that took place with Utica Proctor holding a 38-0 lead.

   Bob Elmer, who coached West Genesee to 313 victories and seven state championships in 16 seasons, resigned and retired from teaching in November after a former babysitter accused him of inappropriately touching her more than 23 years ago. Syracuse.com reported. The accuser placed a call to Elmer in the presence of an Onondaga County sheriff's deputy from the Abused Persons Unit and provided a copy of the tape to the website.

   A day after the 12-minute call, Elmer was suspended with pay by school Superintendent Chris Brown. The next week, Elmer submitted a letter of resignation that was accepted by the school board.

   Avoca was 8-0 and state-ranked in boys Class D basketball when the wheels came off. Gerard Conyers' sudden departure as the coach and as a teacher was acknowledged by district officials but never explained.

Calling it a day

   The list of retirements announced during the year was led by a number of highly successful boys basketball coaches.

   New York Mills' Mike Adey, the winningest boys basketball coach in Section 3 history, announced his departure after a 566-200 record, two NYSPHSAA titles and 11 sectional championships.

.    North Rockland's Chris Roff left with a 467-148 record in 29 seasons, making him the winningest boys basketball coach in Rockland County history.

   Greece Athena veteran Jim Johnson retired with a 428-221 mark.

   Croton-Harmon's Bill Thom, who chalked up 396 victories in 31 years, also retired.

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