Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018: Lindenhurst squeezes past West Islip in Sec. 11 final

   Leading off today: J.C. Canobbio connected with quarterback Mike Varela on a wide receiver option for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 4:23 to play, leading Lindenhurst over West Islip 21-17 on Friday for the Suffolk II football championship.

   Trailing 17-14, Varela lateraled to halfback Mike Anderson, who pitched the ball to Canobbio on an end around. Canobbio fired left-handed to Varela, who lunged into the pylon ahead of converging defenders.

   "We've had that drawn up for so long," Canobbio said. "We never felt it was the right time to call the play. And the coach thought this was the right time. And I'm so happy that he did."

   After a turnover, West Islip forced a Lindenhurst punt with 1:03 left and then drove to the 5-yard line before being pushed back by an illegal procedure penalty. Three plays later, Dean Morreale recorded a sack at the 5 as time expired.

   Lindenhurst will meet Garden City (11-0) for the Long Island Class II championship next Friday.

   Garden City won its third straight Nassau II title and 35th consecutive game by rolling past Carey 43-13. The Trojans scored on their first five possessions to bolt to a 30-0 lead and did not allow a first down in the first half.

   Running back Trevor Yeboah-Kodie gained 190 yards on 17 carries and scored on runs of 4 and 62 yards, both on plays in which he took the direct snap from center.

   Persistence pays off: Cold Spring Harbor running back Daniel Striano, who lost more than a year and a half of his three-sport career to a fractured vertebra, rushed for 134 yards and three touchdowns to beat two-time defending champion Seaford 27-7 for the Nassau IV championship.

   Striano also picked off a pass on defense in the rematch of the 2017 title game.

   With its first Section 8 title since 2005 in hand, Cold Spring Harbor advanced to the Long Island Class IV championship game against Shoreham-Wading River.

   Shoreham-Wading River edged Mount Sinai 28-21 in the Suffolk IV final as sophomore Johnny Schwarz made two second-half interceptions, a fourth-quarter fumble recovery deep in Wildcats territory, and a 71-yard catch-and-run for a TD.

   He all but closed out the win by running for a first down out of punt formation with 2:01 to play. The nine-yard pickup on fourth-and-3 from the S-WR 21 came after he had to field the snap on a short hop.

ADVERTISEMENT

   Cornwall squeaks by: Cornwall outlasted Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake for a 21-20 NYSPHSAA Class A semifinal win thanks to a blocked extra point by Shane O'Dea midway through the fourth quarter.

   O'Dea caught a TD pass in the second quarter and Cornwall went up 21-14 in the third on a 5-yard run by Amin Woods for his eighth sore of the postseason.

    • In the other Class A semifinal, West Seneca East outlasted Indian River 50-42 behind five TDs and a pair of two-point conversion runs from QB Shaun Dolac.

   West Seneca East overcame a 22-14 halftime deficit.

2018 NYSPHSAA football brackets Football weekly schedules 2018 NYSPHSAA boys soccer brackets 2018 NYSPHSAA girls soccer brackets 2018 NYSPHSAA field hockey brackets

   Indian River took its final lead at 36-29 early in the fourth quarter on Guillermo Rosario-Acosta's 45-yard run, but the Trojans tied it on Dolac's 1-yard run and a PAT kick from Matt Sztaba with 7:36 left. A fumble recovery 11 seconds later by Jack Turner set up WSE at the Indian River 38, and Dolac capped the possession with another 1-yard TD run with 4:34 to play.

   Indian River fought back to within 44-42 on a Rosario-Acosta carry from the 2 with 2:09 left, but WSE recovered the onside kick and Dolac roared 49 yards for a score two plays later.

   Class D: Clymer/Sherman/Panama steamrolled Tioga 54-19 and will await the winner of Sunday's game between Moriah and Haldane.

   Six-foot-four junior Cameron Barmore made eight catches for 214 yards and two of Gerrit Hinsdale's four scoring strikes. Hinsdale finished 21 of 26 passes for a 364 yards through the air.

   Clymer/Sherman/Panama totaled 631 total yards to 394 for Tioga.

   Mass. controversy: Field hockey in Massachusetts has a gender problem. In 2011, there were just 31 boys scattered across 20 girls teams in the state. Last fall, a record 157 boys participated in Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association-sanctioned programs.

   "You take a 110-pound boy and a 110-pound girl, he's still going to be bigger, stronger, faster," said Walpole coach Jen Quinn, whose team lost a regional final to Somerset Berkley, which had two standout males on its roster. "They can generate more velocity on the ball. They have more power."

   Quinn wants changes made, but boys cannot be legislated out of the sport because Massachusetts was the first state to make it was unconstitutional to bar a player solely on gender about 30 years ago.

   Instead, Quinn supports shaming boys out of field hockey by advocating for boycotting games against mixed-gender teams. In theory, that would create internal pressure on the boys to quit their teams.