Leading off today: Canisius registered its second state Catholic High Schools Athletic Association football championship in three seasons by rallying in the final 1:36 for
a 50-44 win over Cardinal Hayes on Sunday at Fordham University.
Zeke Margaritis' 17-yard touchdown catch with :12 to play followed by his catch of the conversion pass capped a wild day of scoring. The winning drive started after Cole Burniston jumped a route and made an interception near the goal line to give the Crusaders the ball at their own 7.
Crusaders junior Paul Woods caught three TD passes during a nine-catch, 179-yard afternoon as QB Jayce Johnson (18-for-21, 287 yards, five TDs) outdueled Cardinals counterpart Christian Anderson, who came up 30 yards short of the state record for passing yards in a season. Johnson completed six passes for 85 yards on the winning drive.
Cardinal Hayes outgained Canisius 514-505 but trailed for most of the game. With Canisius up 42-38 midway through the fourth quarter, Hayes' Lucus Nunez (five catches, 146 yards, two TDs) blocked a field goal attempt and returned the ball to the Crusaders' 34. Three plays later, Anderson (23 for 34, 380 yards, three TDs) and Elijah Jones hooked up for a TD on a screen pass.
Fatal hit-and-run crash: Binghamton University tennis player Stefani Lineva, 20, was killed in a hit-and-run accident over the weekend. She was found lying on Route 434 around 2 a.m. Saturday and pronounced dead at UHS Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, police said.
Lineva was in her first semester at Binghamton after transferring from Adelphi University, where she was
the Northeast-10 rookie of the year in 2014-15, going a combined 31-6 in singles and doubles.
Lineva, a Queens resident and graduate of Forest Hills High, was runner-up in the Public Schools Athletic League singles championships as a senior.
"The loss of someone so young and talented is almost impossible to imagine and impacts our entire community," Binghamton President Harvey Stenger wrote on Facebook.
The school and the city are offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest.
Fired coach arrested: A former Honeoye Falls-Lima assistant track coach was arrested Monday by New York State Police and accused of trying to get a 16-year-old student to send him naked photos, Rochester-area media reported.
Jeffrey Utegg, 32, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child after allegedly using Instagram Messenger to request nude photos from the teen. He was arraigned Mendon Town Court and released on his own recognizance. Utegg is scheduled to return to court Jan. 3.
Utegg was fired by the school district at the end of October.
