Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017: St. Anthony's girls avenge loss to Sacred Heart

   Leading off today: Brianna Passaro scored 10 minutes into the second half on Friday as St. Anthony's edged Hemptead Sacred Heart 1-0 in girls soccer.

   The game was a rematch of the 2016 CHSAA downstate championship game, won by Sacred Heart on penalty kicks after 100 minutes of scoreless action.

   "The feeling last year walking off the field knowing that we lost, it completely hurt," defender Jenn Bonifazio told Newsday. "It stinks and I think this year, we really wanted to make a statement to let them know who's coming and who's going to win this year."

   Friars goalkeeper Vanessa Cole had 10 saves, including a stop on a free kick from barely outside the 18-yard box with two minutes remaining. Sara Micheli made 14 stops for Sacred Heart.

   "You lose a league final, you want revenge," St. Anthony's coach Sue Alber said. "There was an extra chip on our shoulder today."

   Locastro gets 'The Call': Auburn native Tim Locastro, whose minor-league season ended more than three weeks ago, received a surprise call-up by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.

   Locastro learned of the promotion Thursday night in a phone call from Gabe Kapler, the Dodgers' director of player development, The Citizen reported.

   "He called me earlier in the day and we were talking about the offseason ... then later he asked me if I had any plans this weekend," Locastro said. "Now I'm meeting them in Colorado."

   Locastro,25, split the season between Class AAA Oklahoma City and Double-A Tulsa. Primarily playing second base, he hit .388 with 10 doubles, two homers, nine runs batted in and 12 stolen bases in just 31 games with Oklahoma City.

   He was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 13th round of the 2013 draft out of Ithaca College, but was traded to the Dodgers organization in 2015.

   Fight back against infringement? Ken McMillan of The Times Herald-Record did an interesting column this week playing off the trend of the past few years that has seen colleges schedule more football games on Friday nights, traditionally the domain of high schools.

   McMillan pitched the idea of going head-to-head with the National Football League on Thursdays.

   "I propose that Section 9 set up a schedule of Thursday night showcase games to offset the glut of games on Friday and provide a jump-start to the weekend," he wrote. "Is the savvy football fan going to stay home to watch the Bengals, the Buccaneers or the Browns, or watch the best local match-up?

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   "The coaches and schedule makers should be smart enough to recognize which games have the most value and broad appeal to the general fan. Opening week could have had Warwick at Monroe-Woodbury, or the match-up of defending sectional champs John S. Burke Catholic and New

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

Paltz. Last week could have been another champion showdown between Newburgh Free Academy and Cornwall. In week seven, we have Marlboro and New Paltz on a collision course for the Class B Division I title and top seed in sectionals."

   You can read the whole column here.

   Calif. cancellation: Laguna Hills (Calif.) High canceled its football game Friday against Garden Grove because of an outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, which causes painful sores in the mouth and on the hands and feet, the Orange County Register reported.

   Laguna Hills coach Mike Maceranka said several of his players have been diagnosed with the disease, which usually runs its course in a week.

   School custodians are in the process of cleaning and sanitize all athletic areas and equipment, Laguna Hills said in a release.

   Too raunchy? If you've lived in both states, you know high school football is generally played at a different level in Florida than in New York.

   It's sideline dance routines on football sidelines apparently are also at a different level -- namely DefCon 1.

   The Miami Northwestern Golden Girls dance team is taking heat for last weekend's performance, featuring costumes too closely resembling strippers' attire during the school's game against crosstown rival Booker T. Washington    "I'm old-fashioned, and I believe that's too sexy," Jerry Byrd, the father of a Northwestern student, told WSVN-TV. "There are a lot of bad people out there that will look at that and take it a different way. I have two daughters I deal with, and I don't allow that."

   A school statement said that parents of all the dancers signed off on the costumes but conceded that it was understandable some would see the outfits as too risque.

   "Looking ahead, we will implement a more comprehensive and stringent uniform approval process to ensure an appropriate representation of our school," the statement said.

   Former Miami Heat dancer Tracy Young Byron is the squad's coach.