Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019: Clarence continues big week in boys volleyball

   Teddy Payne produced 37 assists and Johnny Blye had 11 kills Wednesday as the Red Devils rallied from two sets down to edge Orchard Park 19-25, 17-25, 25-16, 25-17, 16-14 in a matchup two of the best teams in section 6 and the state.

   Andrew Ratzel added nine kills and Logan Fish added eight.

   The victory followed an impressive win Monday over Canisius, regarded as their area's top large-school team.

   Close calls for ranked teams: East Rochester, top-ranked in the state in Class C boys soccer, surrendered a goal in the first two minutes before rallying for a 2-1 victory.

   The Bombers' Chuck Domm scored his 21st goal of the season and added his 12th assist on the go-ahead goal by his brother Russell.

   East Rochester improved to 11-0-0.

   Belleville-Henderson, ranked fifth in Class D, trailed by a goal at halftime before responding to beat Lyme 6-3. The game was called with 13:10 to go after a lightning delay nearing 30 minutes and another storm rolling in.

   Senior Ryan Green scored two goals in each half for the Panthers (10-0-0).

   "This is nice, it's almost a mimic of the first game (vs. Lyme) when we were down 2-0 and came back," coach Shawn Maloney said. "Lyme's a great team and you can't let your guard down for one second against Lyme."

   Girls soccer: Junior Baylin Tighe posted five goals and five assists, and sophomore Emma Ljiljanich had four goals and four assists for Tonawanda (8-1) in a 16-0 rout of Lackawanna.

   Tighe had 23 goals and 11 assists for the season.

    • Alden blanked Springville 2-0 as Alexis Grassl made seven saves for her school-record 29th career shutout.

   Streak snapped: The Oriskany girls cross country team edged Clinton 26-31, sending the state's eighth-ranked Class C to its first loss after 64 straight victories, according to Oriskany coach Joe Pruckno.

   Clinton's Taylor Harvey won the girls race in 20:18. She was followed by Oriskany's Paris Welker (20:59), Gianna Welker (21:00) and Jordan Carlo (21:39).

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   Sec. 2 star picks UConn: Familiarity bred content for Albany Academy guard Andre Jackson. The 6-foot-6 senior's most recent visit to the University of Connecticut two weeks ago gave him the confidence that he would know what to expect upon enrolling next fall, so he announced Wednesday that he will continue his career with the once and future Big East program.

   He picked coach Dan Hurley's program over Iowa, Maryland, Syracuse and UCLA.

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

   "I think things changed the last two times he went there," said Tricia Altieri, Jackson's mother. "He always liked UConn. The first time he visited, Ray Allen was there and it was big event there. We didn't really get time to spend with the players or get much time to see the campus or the dorms. The second time we went, we were able to see everything and felt much more comfortable."

   Jackson was a first-team all-state selection last winter. He averaged 17.4 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game as a junior, shooting 69 percent from th field.

   Veteran Sec. 10 coach dies: George Gordon, who coached Gouverneur boys basketball for more than 25 years, died Tuesday. He was 62.

   Gordon most recently coached the Potsdam girls team in 2015. He was also an assistant coach with the Canton boys basketball program.

   Gordon also assisted with Gouverneur's football program for several years and was also the outdoor track and field coach for the Wildcats.

   An unlikely pairing, but ...: People closer to the area than me say Granville vs. Whitehall is a doozy of a Section 2 rivalry. Now there's a possibility they'll soon be frenemies.

   The districts already combine forces in cross country, but administra- tors of the two schools have now started talking about combining some sports teams and other extra-curricular activities.

   Whitehall Superinten- dent Patrick Dee said none of the discussions thus far have been formal, and the talks are still preliminary.

   Dee noted that sports mergers would likely be driven by necessity rather than one-size-fits-all con- venience. The schools would like a framework in place to join forces when a particular sport is no longer viable at one of the schools.

   "Investigating the practicalities and subtle nuances of any merger, be it a club or athletic team, is a natural first step," Granville Superin- tendent Thomas McGurl said.

   This weekend: The Week 5 football schedule is chock full of head-to-heads between state-ranked teams. Some of the better pairings include No. 6 Cardinal Hayes vs. No. 7 Christ the King in Class AA, No. 4 Indian River vs. No. 6 Carthage in Class A and No. 3 Cold Spring Harbor against No. 8 Seaford in Class B.

   Here's the full rundown of games for state-ranked teams this weekend.