Saturday, April 21, 2018: Illinois power edges Victor in boys lacrosse

   Leading off today: Anything else they accomplish this weekend is gravy for the Loyola Academy boys lacrosse team as it makes its annual insane road trip across Upstate New York.

   That's because the Jesuit school from Wilmette, Ill., scored a 7-6 victory Friday against Victor, the state's top-ranked Class B program and defending NYSPHSAA champion.

   The Ramblers, who trailed 5-2 in the first half and 6-5 after three quarters, won on a goal by Najee Taylor midway through the fourth quarter at Victor.

   The road trip continues Saturday at West Genesee and Sunday at Ithaca before Loyola returns to Rochester to fly back to Illinois. The Ramblers played the same three-games-in-three-days schedule last spring, dropping all three contests by one goal.

   Loyola, which scored an impressive sweep of three opponents during a similar trip to the Washington, D.C., area this month is 9-0. Victor, which got two goals apiece from Joey Pezzimenti and Connor Keenan, is 6-1. Chayse Ierlan made 10 saves for the Blue Devils.

   More Loyola: As you might guess, there's a local connection that brings the suburban Chicago team into Upstate New York. Longtime coach Rob Snyder is a former three-sporter at Geneva who went on to play lacrosse at Notre Dame.

   He met West Genesee coach Mike Messere at a lacrosse convention a decade or so ago and that led to annual trips into Section 3 for the Loyola team. The Ramblers have since expanded it into these back-to-back-to-back challenges as a way to prep for the remainder of their season back in Illinois.

   I had a chance to talk with Snyder about the state of the sport in his adopted home as well as some other topics. I'll be writing the column next week on PressConnects.com.

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   Another record for Tuohy: North Rockland sophomore Katelyn Tuohy broke her own Section 1 record in the rarely contested girls 3,200 meters during her school's Red Raider Relays.

   Tuohy finished in 10:08.13 for the No. 3 time in state history, but the wind and chilly temperatures kept her from making a stab at a sub-10 showing.

   Board hears grievance: A teen's banishment from the golf team has become the source of controversy at Forestville.

   Jim Markham addressed the school board Tuesday regarding the disciplinary actions taken against his son, Lewis, who was removed from the golf team after admitting to having a sip of beer during a school trip to Costa Rica earlier this month, The Observer reported.

   Markham made his remarks as the board was holding a special meeting to approve its BOCES administrative budget for next school year, so no action was taken on the issue.

   Jim Markham con- tends that the school's athletic handbook does not support the zero-tolerance stance taking by the district in his son's case. He quoted from the handbook, saying it states that "the penalty will tie in the seriousness of the infraction and will take into account the student-athlete's behavioral history."

   "This entire language is stated in a manner to imply that discretion will be applied, depending on the situation, severity, and the students record," he said. "None of these were considered when his penalty was enforced."

   Back on track: Kai Mitchell, third-team all-state as a junior and second-team as a Spring Valley senior, has his Division I basketball career back on track.

   The 6-foot-6 forward graduated in 2015 and attended prep school for a year in Connecticut before enrolling at Iona College and leaving almost as quickly as he arrived.

   After two seasons at nationally ranked Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, he committed this week to Sam Houston State, where he will have two seasons of eligibility.

   "I learned to make the best of the opportunity that was given," Mitchell told The Journal News. "My leaving Iona helped me understand that I needed to take my game to another level. That will help me with Sam Houston because now I know exactly how to approach it."

   Lots of visitors: Under NCAA basketball recruiting rules, coaches' contact with juniors during the April recruiting period may occur at the player's school or his home. Translation: Joe Girard III and his family have been entertaining lots of visitors recently.

   Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, John Beilein of Michigan as well as coaches form Boston College, Ohio State and Penn State have been among the folks stopping back in Glens Falls.

   "When you grow up as a kid, everybody knows who Coach K is but you never imagine that guy being in the house you grew up in," Girard told The Post-Star. "When he walked in the door I kind of had to take a step back and realize what was going on."

   The visits tend to last somewhere between one and two hours, often over a meal at the dinner table. Girard and his father, who played for Beilein at LeMoyne, have already met most of the coaches in person at camps or on unofficial visits, so as much as anything the visits are a chance for the player's mother t put names together with faces.

   "This is her first opportunity to really sit down and speak with them," he said. "She will go on my five official visits but this is the first time she met them all and got to talk to them face-to-face."