Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018: OT goal improves Bethlehem to 7-0

   Leading off today: Bethlehem senior striker Derin Gumustop scored with 4:14 to go in the second overtime to lift the Eagles to a 1-0 boys soccer triumph vs. Niskayuna on Friday.

   The Eagles, ranked second in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association, improved to 7-0. Niskayuna is 4-1-1.

   "We really had to fight through. It was a hot day and they put up a really good fight. It was a great team (we played)," Gumustop said. "Thankfully, at the end, we pushed through and got the goal."

   Bethlehem junior Jamie Smith set up the goal with a header forward to the right. Gumustop raced forward and fired past goalkeeper Jimmy Joyce into the left side of the net for his seventh goal of the season.

   "It was like a gift from heaven, that ball," Gumustop said. "I put it away."

   Miami-bound: Poly Prep defensive end Jason Bissett committed to the University of Miami football program on Friday. Bissett was honorable mention all state in Class AA last season.

   Postponed because of what? An exchange of taunts on social media led to the postponement of a high school football game Friday in New Jersey.

   The game between Clifton and Paterson JFK was rescheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the same location -- Clifton's home field.

   Some Kennedy players who participated in a social media video "using foul and taunting language" were benched for the game, Paterson Superintendent Eileen Shafer said. It was not clear whether Clifton planned to bench any of its players. Clifton players' social media "included inappropriate and taunting language," according to Paterson education officials.

   It was not clear who started the exchange of taunts.

   Good reading: The Buffalo News did a feature on Kaylin Kline, an impressive Lancaster St. Mary's freshman golfer who until recently was a highly regarded soccer and basketball player.

   Having struggled with fatigue and shortness of breath during the spring AAU basketball season a year and a half ago, Kline's condition worsened while playing for the WNY Flash premier soccer club. Doctors discovered an abnormality in Kline's heart and referred her to the Cleveland Clinic, where she was diagnosed with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, a genetic disease in which the heart muscle thickens and has difficulty pumping blood.

   HOCM often goes undetected, making it a leading causes of death from sudden cardiac arrest in athletes under 35. Autopsies found that both Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers and Boston Celtics standout Reggie Lewis had HOCM after they collapsed and died while playing basketball.

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   Although patients are treated with medication and in some cases surgery, there is no cure for HOCM. Those who are diagnosed are instructed to avoid in physical activity that raises the heart rate above a range of 120-130 beats per minute, which took soccer and basketball off the plate for Kline.

   Golf was one of the few sports deemed safe, and Kline began taking lessons in November. Teaching pro Marlene Davis was quickly impressed and Kline was entered in some tournaments early this year. Now, she's cracked the lineup on the St. Mary's boys team.

   "I foresee great things for her future," St. Mary's coach Mark DiPirro said. "She's constantly practicing, texting me for suggestions on how she can improve her game. She's a sponge. Everything you teach her, everything you tell her to do, she immediately does it and corrects her game."

   Back on the job: Dave Whitcomb can't stay away from football.

   After winning 217 games at Avon, Midlakes, Aquinas, Greece Arcadia, Geneva, and Fairport in Section 5, he stepped down after the 2017 season, thinking maybe he'd had his fill of the sport.

   It didn't last long. Canandaigua Academy coach Jeff Welch reached out to Whitcomb over the summer and convinced him to come over to coach the Braves linemen.

   If he's been a bit nomadic, Whitcomb has also been highly successful. The programs he ran were in better shape when he exited than they were when he arrived.

   "You've got to get the kids to buy into what you're doing," he said. "There's a culture you have to create. You hear that a lot these days, but it's true."