Monday, Oct. 16, 2017: Ineligible player costs Sayville a football win

   Leading off today: Sayville has forfeited its Sept. 16 football victory over East Islip for using an ineligible player, Newsday reported Monday.

   Sayville, ranked 18th in Class A last week by the New York State Sportswriters Association, falls to 4-2 with the change.

   The school self-reported the infraction last week after it learned a transfer student from Ward Melville had used up his eligibility. The player also appeared in a Sept. 23 loss to West Babylon. The player was used for three plays on special teams in each contest according to Dennis Maloney, the director of athletics in the Sayville Public Schools District.

   Maloney said the school is contemplating a second appeal after being turned down by Section 11.

   And then there were six: Christian Izien has become the sixth Erasmus Hall senior to commit to a FBS program, disclosing over the weekend that he has picked Rutgers.

   "I've been waiting for this to happen for a long time." Izien said. "Me being basically a no one last year, it really inspired me to come in here from Jersey and make a name for myself fast."

   Izien is projected as a defensive back.

   Erasmus Hall players who'd previously committed are:

• Kessawn Abraham, DB, Rutgers
• Aron Cruickshank, WR, Wisconsin
• Matt Jones, OL, Ohio State
• Shamel Lazarus, DB, UConn
• Sean Ryan, WR, Temple

   Aside from Izien and Abraham, Rutgers has commitments from Amad Anderson (Curtis), Zihir Lacewell (Tottenville), Steve Scott (Syracuse CBA) and Paul Woods (Canisius).

   More football: I missed it while compiling yesterday's blog roundup of Saturday football action, but Kyle Zawadzki completed 15 of 20 passes for 497 yards and six touchdowns in Smithtown West's 40-14 win over Smithtown East.

   Matt Miller caught six passes for 212 yards and two scores.

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   Basketball recruiting: Baldwin's Donnetta Johnson, a 5-foot-11 guard who missed all of the 2016-17 girls season with an injury, has committed to the University of Georgia.

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

   Guard Tyrese Williams, eighth-team all-state for Cardinal Hayes after averaging 17 points a game in his junior season, has committed to Quinnipiac. New coach Baker Dunleavy, the son of Mike Dunleavy Sr., is a former Villanova assistant.

   Meet moved: No, "Return to Death Mountain" is not the sequel to a movie that's run on late-night cable TV 44 times in the past two years.

   Rather, it has to do with a Finger Lakes League cross country meet scheduled for Tuesday. Newark will host four other schools at Stuart Park, which used to be the Section 5 championship course, for its first meet there in 13 years.

   Newark officials say the school district, Village of Newark, Town of Arcadia and Wayne County worked together to prepare the course -- including the purely evil trek up Death Mountain that's ruined many runners' days over the years.

   Vietnam hero remembered: Leo Roth of the Democrat and Chronicle wrote an excellent piece over the weekend about Don Holleder, the former Aquinas and West Point football hero.

   Tuesday will mark the 50th anniversary of the major's death in Vietnam while attempted to rescue wounded and pinned down U.S. troops in the Battle of Ong Thanh.

   Holleder, a classmate of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 2012.