Friday, April 21, 2017: Victor winning streak reaches 50 after close call

   Leading off today: The Victor boys lacrosse team won its 50th straight game on Thursday, but it was by no means easy for the Blue Devils.

   Junior midfielder Connor Keenan's goal with 50 seconds remaining carried the two-time defending NYSPHSAA champions to a 5-4 win vs. Wilmette (Ill.) Loyola Academy, which continues a three-games-in-three-days road trip it Ithaca on Friday and West Genesee on Saturday.

   Junior goaltender Chayse Ierlan made 12 saves as Victor extended the nation's longest active winning streak. Keenan and junior attackman Mitchell Cain each finished with two goals apiece.

   Loyola cut an early 3-0 deficit to 4-2 at halftime before midfielders Najee Taylor and Chris Mancini scored 1:16 apart in the third quarter to tie.

   Victor's final possession started with about three minutes left. Junior attackman Sam Lambert took a pass behind the cage. When the Loyola defense cheated his way, Keenan slid in from 10 yards in front of the goal to accept the feed and fire past goalie Dom Eurukalo.

   "We have things to work on," Victor coach Jim Andre told The Daily Messenger. "We're learning more and more about ourselves."

    • In case you were wondering, Loyola Academy is one of the better programs in Illinois rolling up a 121-38 record from 2010-16. The Ramblers are 5-4 this spring, but the previous losses were accumulated during another three-games-in-three-days trip, through the Washington, D.C., area against top-notch competition.

   What's behind this week's road trip through Upstate New York? Coach Rob Snyder is a 1990 Geneva graduate.

   More boys lacrosse: Devin Andrews had five goals and five assists for Canandaigua in a 17-10 win over Orchard Park. Carson Greene added four goals and five assists.

   Canandaigua is rated eighth in Class B and Orchard Park 12th in Class A this week by the New York State Sportswriters Association. (Full rankings here.)

    • One day after the funeral for former teammate Sean Grogan, John Jay/Roy C. Ketcham earned a 7-4 win over Clarkstown South. James Pratt had three goals to lead the Warriors and added an assist.

   "After what these boys have gone through the last few days losing a former teammate, and to be able to perform the way we did against a hot goalie, I cannot be prouder," coach Brian Kuczma told Hudson Valley Sports Report. "Although we didn't play our best lacrosse, we stuck together and persevered."

   Grogan, 18, died last week after jumping in the path of an Amtrak train in Rensselaer County, according to the Rensselaer Police Department.

   Girls lacrosse: Junior Amanda Fedor's school-record 10 goals carried Vestal past Binghamton Seton Catholic 17-6. Fedor has committed to play lacrosse at the University of North Carolina.

   Baseball: Saratoga picked up its third walk-off victory in five games by rallying past Albany 6-5.

   Devin McArthur drove in the trying run and Alex Henderson plated the winner with a bases-loaded single to deep centerfield.

   Saratoga improved to 7-1 on the season.

   All in the family: The Walton school board approved Adam Hoover as the new varsity football coach Thursday.

   Hoover is the son of longtime Walton coach Jim Hoover, who announced his retirement after 41 seasons at the end of last season.

   Adam Hoover coached at Oneonta for seven seasons, compiling a 25-36 record, before returning to Walton as an assistant on his father's staff.

   "From the beginning of this process, it was my hope that Adam Hoover would be interested,"AD Andy Gates said in an announcement from the district confirming the hire. "We had to let the process play out. I thought he was best suited to lead the program."

   Though officially retired, don't expect Jim Hoover to stray too far from the practice field.

   "He'll be around as much as he wants to be," Adam Hoover said. "It's kind of like how my grandfather did it with him."

   Caught up in the drama: 518Sports.com founder Dylan Rossiter was among the Maple Hill students who found themselves very close to Thursday's terrorist attack in Paris.

   "Everyone in our group here is just kind of in shock as to what happened, I mean you hear about this happening all over the world you know, you think it will never happen to you," Rossiter told WNYT-TV from his hotel room. "And then it does. Crazy situation."

The Champs Elysees is closed, as seen on far left pic.twitter.com/m6s1rsmoRB

— Dylan Rossiter (@ByDylanRossiter) April 20, 2017

   A police officer was killed after gunmen opened fire in the early evening. Two other officers and a passerby were wounded. The gunman was shot dead in a hail of bullets and a second suspect was being hunted.

   "We noticed lots of police activity," Rossiter said. "And then there was widespread panic amongst people there, not sure what was going on."

   Rossiter said the Maple Hill group went underground to exit the Arc de Triomphe area and got onto a subway back to the hotel as police began to shut the area down.

   The group arrived in Paris on Tuesday after earlier stops in Italy and the south of France. They'll arrive in London Friday for the final leg of the trip.

   Extra points: Craig Gross of Hilton was named national coach of the year as USA Today unveiled its American Family Insurance ALL-USA Wrestling Team.