Monday, March 12, 2018: Sweet Home, Victor win hockey finals

   Sweet Home avenged a one-goal loss in the sectional final two weeks ago by beating West Seneca West 7-5 on Sunday for the NYSPHSAA boys Division II hockey championship at HarborCenter.

   The Panthers earned their first New York State Public High Schools Athletic Association championship on the strength of a hat trick and five-point day from Tyler Edholm. Kyle Neudorf chipped in with three points.

   Sweet Home made it into the tournament because it was Section 6's turn to supply the wildcard to fill out the eight-team bracket. Skaneateles (2015) also was a state champ as the wildcard.

   Sweet Home spotted the Indians a 2-0 lead and then responded with six straight goals, including four on power plays. Edholm struck twice with the man advantage in the first period to tie, then the Panthers took the lead for good 57 seconds into the second period on Joe Torrillo's power-play goal. Edholm completed his second hat trick in two days just two minutes later, tipping in a Neudorf shot from the right circle for the Panthers' fourth power-play goal.

   Edholm finished with school single-season records for goals (36) and points (63).

    • Victor capped an unbeaten (22-0-4) season with a 5-1 win over Niagara-Wheatfield for the Division I title.

   Sam Lambert and Ashton Collazo led Victor with two goals apiece, with Collazo closing out the contest with an empty-netter. Chayse Ierlan made 18 saves in the nets.

   N-W's only lead lasted barely three minutes in the second period as Andrew Crean sent a quick pass from the corner to the left of the N-W net, where Lambert connected on a one-timer in the slot. Two minutes later, Josh Albert took a shot from the point which made it through traffic on the power play. With 1:42 left in the period, Collazo flew down the left wing, beat a defender and cut toward the net to score into the top corner.

   Girls basketball: Susquehanna Valley improved to 24-0 with a 47-35 win over Bishop Ludden, completing the Class B quarterfinals.

   Sabers senior Hannah Haskell scored 15 points, and 6-foot-4 junior Maeve Donnelly added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Point guard Holly Manchester scored nine points.

   Susquehanna Valley limited all-state guard Danielle Rauch to six points, eight below her average, and Rauch spent three minutes on the bench after turning an ankle early in the fourth quarter. The Sabers went on a 7-1 run while Rauch was off the floor to take a 10-point lead.

   Junior Aurora Deshaies led Ludden with 15 points.

   Stepinac punches ticket: Archbishop Stepinac defeated Christ the King 74-65 at Fordham University to earn its first CHSAA boys 'AA' title since 1960. It advanced the Crusaders to the Federation semifinals vs. Long Island Lutheran on March 23 in Glens Falls.

   Senior Alan Griffin earned MVP honors after recording 20 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. He punctuated a 16-3 surge in the third quarter when he started a breakaway and finished it with a one-handed dunk.

   Adrian Griffin added 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists and made a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

   Junior Kofi Cockburn finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Moussa Cisse, a 6-foot-11 freshman, posted 10 points, 11 rebounds and 12 blocked shots.

   More CHSAA finals: Coming out of halftime with a two-point lead, Park School blitzed Nazareth with a 12-2 run and went on to a 65-50 win to capture its second state Class A title in four years.

   Six-foot-8 forward Julian Eziukwu scored 10 of his game-high 17 over the last 16 minutes, and junior guards Noah Hutchins and Dan Scott both finished with 14 points.

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    • Regis won the Class B title with a 64-59 victory over Niagara Catholic in overtime.

   Niagara Catholic's Jalen Bradberry for the game-tying 3-pointer to close regulation, but Regis' Liam Nicholson beat the shot clock with :20 left in OT to make a 3-pointer for a five-point lead.

   PSAL semifinals: Third-seeded Cardozo beat No. 2 seed Thomas Jefferson to get to the PSAL championship game against South Shore.

   Dejavaughn Utley (22 points overall) and Jaylen Davis (18) scored 18 and 13 points, respectively, in the second half.

   Cardozo made 18 of 22 free throws in the fourth quarter.

   The Judges' opponent in the final will be South Shore, a 75-48 winner over Curtis.

   Bowling: North Rockland (5,855 pins) steamed past East Islip by 288 pins to repeat as the NYSPHSAA boys Division I bowling champion. The Red Raiders are the first team to successfully defend since Liverpool in 2001-02.

   Sophomore anchor Nick Varano took home top individual honors with a 1,284 six-game series to edge Victor's Noah Robinson by eight pins. North Rockland seventh-grader Dylan Bulusan finished third with a 1,232 series.

   Middle Country won the Division I girls title at the OnCenter in Syracuse with 5,332 pins to outdistance Orchard Park by 175.

   Liz Ross of Mohonasen posted the high series at 196.7, with Hannah Skalacki of Middle country next at 193.8.

   "It's a great feeling now that we've finally won after all these years," Skalacki said.

   Indoor track: Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland won the girls' two-mile race during the New Balance Nationals at The Armory, clocking 9:58.89 to hold off Saratoga's Kelsey Chmiel (10:02.36).

   It capped a weekend in which she anchored the distance medley relay to a championship and the sprint medley relay to second place.

   Tuohy decided a quarter of the way through Sunday's race that she didn't have it in her to push the pace as much as originally planned.

   "I guess that was the best decision because I still came out with the win, even though my time wasn't great," she said.