Leading off today: Buffalo Public Schools teams will have to look for new scheduling options after members of the Erie County Interscholastic Conference voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to not extend a football-only membership offer in the sport.
ECIC Athletic Council rejected the proposal to admit South Park, Bennett, McKinley, Burgard and Hutch-Tech in football by a 26-2 margin with one abstention.
The schools were looking for help after last week's announcement that Section 6 was ending federation-style scheduling and returning that responsibility to the respective leagues. With just five schools and varying greatly in enrollments, the BPS members are reluctant to form their own football league.
"The ECIC has 28 football playing schools that we still are not sure how we are going to align and schedule," said Mark DiFilippo, executive director of ECIC. "Adding five more teams to the mix only complicates it. We will have spots for non-league games with the city and other leagues."
Fans' fighting ends game: A halftime brawl in the stands between spectators led officials to suspend the boys basketball game between Wyandanch and Amityville after Suffolk police officers were unable to clear the gym late Monday afternoon.
Wyandanch Principal Paul Sibblies said no students initiated the altercation, Newsday reported. He said Wyandanch community members ignited the fight and that video will be reviewed to identify the combatants. Sibblies said participants will be barred from attending games at the high school.
There were no arrests, Suffolk police said.
Amityville led Wyandanch 40-35 in front of a near-capacity crowd and both teams were in their locker rooms when the fight broke out.
It was the second time in about a year that violence has broken out at a Wyandanch game. Last January, Mount Sinai's game at Wyandanch was followed by a fracas on the court that involved between 15 to 20 people and resulted in one arrest.
"We're very disappointed," Wyandanch school board President Shirley Baker said of the latest incident. "We know it wasn't students, but we also know it's going to reflect on the students."
It was not immediately known when the game would be completed.
Milestone victory: Little Falls girls volleyball coach Joe Loiacono won his 500th match when the Mounties swept Sauquoit Valley.
"I love the sport. And I love teaching it to the kids," said Loiacono, 73, who retired from teaching in 2003 but still works at the district's education communications center.
He began coaching boys volleyball at Little Falls in 1968, the same year he graduated from Cornell University. He started as the girls coach in 1971 and has coached that team for 47 years -- with a two-year interruption when a long-ago administrator didn't think a man should be coaching girls sports.
He coached both the girls and boys teams -- junior varsity and varsity -- for about 30 seasons.
"That was back when I had more energy," he said.
