Tuesday, May 8, 2018: Senior's 10th goal of game gives Clarence victory

   Leading off today: Senior Jake Bowman scored his 10th goal of the game with 23 seconds left to give Clarence an 11-10 victory over host Hamburg in boys lacrosse Monday night.

   Hamburg led 8-7 entering the fourth quarter and the game was tied three times before Bowman completed his huge day with the winning goal.

   Dom Basile had given Clarence a 10-9 lead with 3:01 left but Jack Rettig of the Bulldogs tied it again with 1:07 remaining. It was Rettig's fifth goal of the game.

   Bowman has 39 goals for the season.

   Milestone: Bishop Kearney sophomore Emily Phelan rang up the 1,000th strikeout of her softball career.

   Phelan struck out 17 Arkport/Canaseraga batters in a 10-1 win.

   Phelan threw nine no-hitters and struck out 358 batters a year ago en route to being selected the state player of the year in Class C.

   More softball: Katie Sidare pitched her second no-hitter in less than a week in Victor's 15-0 rout of Fairport.

   Victor (12-1) has handed Fairport (14-2) both of its losses this season, the other coming by a 14-2 score April 18.

   Chloe Whittier, Sarah Simmons and Emily Power homered for the Blue Devils.

   Sidare also threw a no-hitter against Penfield on Friday in an 8-0 win.

   L.I. coach dies: Recently retired W.T. Clarke football coach John Boyle died Saturday after a five-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 60.

   Boyle, who retired from coaching at the end of last season, went 156-115-2 in 31 seasons.

   "You couldn't work for a better head coach,” said assistant coach Tim O'Malley. "He was knowledgeable and let you have a lot of input and say in what we did. He was very open-minded and set a great example of how to deal with kids and how to treat kids the right way."

   Said Roosevelt coach Joe Vito: "We had some real good battles. John was a very good football coach. You knew when you played Clarke that you were going to be in for a game. They were prepared and very knowledgeable guys."

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   Turmoil in B'ville: Baldwinsville girls volleyball coach Mary Jo Cerqua, who has won more than 500 matches, 20 Section 3 championships and two NYSPHSAA titles in 28 years, finds herself embattled these days, as evidenced at Monday's school board meeting.

   Syracuse.com reported several players have filed complaints against Cerqua under the state's Dignity for All Students Act. At Monday's meeting, two former varsity players and a girl who had been cut from the team, along with several parents, accused Cerqua of bullying athletes over the past several years.

   Other parents defended Cerqua, and parents of players currently in the program said they'd been kept in the dark about the complaints until a booster club meeting last week.

   Superintendent Matt McDonald said he is still in the

process of investigating the DASA complaints.

   Amy Phinney, a school social worker who has two daughters in the school, said parent complaints often lack credibility.

   "I think that our district is badly misunderstand- ing many coaches in our district, and we are empowering our parents to take control of situations," she said.

   Attempts to reach Cerqua on Monday were unsuccessful, Syra- cuse.com reported.

   Resigned: Parks commissioner Lazarus Sims resigned Monday shortly before he arrived in court to plead guilty to stealing $5,400 from Syracuse taxpayers, Syracuse.com reported.

   Sims was the star guard for the 1991 Syracuse Henninger boys basketball team that reached the NYSPHSAA Class A title game.

   As part of a plea agreement, Sims' felony was reduced to a misdemeanor. Sims will face no further punishment if he stays out of trouble for the next year.

   More reading: There are a couple of interesting columns I wanted to call to you attention because they tackle topics very must in the news in a couple of sports.

   (1) Soccer America columnist Mike Woitalla carved up the U.S. Soccer Federation for sticking to its Development Academy structure, which bars prospects from playing for their high school teams.

   The Academy system began for boys in 2007, but it wasn't until 2012 that players were forced to abandon high school soccer in order to participate. On the other hand, girls were hit with the rule right off the bat when their Academy system was launched last year.

   According to Woitalla, major clubs are already defecting to the decade-old Elite Clubs National League, with the high school issue being a key reason.

   "The quality of high school soccer varies widely around the country. Some players are better off skipping high school ball -- and have since before the boys' DA or girls' ECNL started -- and there are players who will benefit from it," he wrote. "But instead of dismissing high school soccer because it has its flaws, U.S. Soccer could have appreciated its attributes and its potential, regarded it as a partner instead of a nuisance, and even taken steps to improve the high school game."

   (2) I'm not a huge fan of the idea, but Cam Smith of USA Today makes a decent case for high school baseball in the midwest and northeast being moved to a May through July window on the calendar.

   "There would be no weather issues, or at least none bar the occasional rainstorm (which can be adjusted for much more easily than a blizzard). There would be no academic conflicts exacerbated by suddenly overloaded schedules chock full of doubleheaders," he wrote.

   You can read the full column here.

   Extra points: Webster Schroeder AD Gary Tirohn is retiring at the end of the school year and will be replaced by Shawn Strege. We previously mentioned that another Monroe County League AD, Victor's Ron Whitcomb is also retiring, and the Democrat and Chronicle reported his replacement could be named Thursday.