Leading off today: The Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central football team converted the ultimate fourth-and-long by gaining reinstatement into the Section 3 Class B football semifinals via a State Supreme Court ruling on Friday.
Section 3 had disqualified ITC on Monday after ruling the team had used an ineligible player during its sectional quarterfinal victory over Vernon-Verona-Sherrill. That triggered a lawsuit by the Syracuse City School District seeking reinstatement.
Justice Robert Antonacci II conducted the nearly two-and-half-hour hearing and then disclosed his ruling to the lawyers in his chambers. Syracuse.com reported Antonacci said ITC was effectively denied the opportunity to appeal the section's ineligibility ruling, according to the written decision.
"We are aware of Judge Antonacci's decision and respect it fully," Section 3 said in a statement. "It is unfortunate that this situation played out in the manner that it did, and that it results in a number of our student-athletes being confused and upset -- justifiably so."
Hours later, top-seeded New Hartford rolled past ITC, 29-0, to reach the Section 3 championship game. The Spartans drove the length of the field on their first possession for a score, recovered the ball on the ensuing kickoff, and soon made it a 14-0 game less than four minutes into the opening quarter.
A tale of two seasons
The White Plains football team didn't make the playoffs, but the Tigers did make an impression. After starting the season 0-5, including losses to a pair of eventual Section 1 Class AA playoff quarterfinalists, White Plains closed out its season on Thursday with a 44-40 victory against New Rochelle to end the season 4-5 and on its longest winning streak in a decade.
That's called hanging in there, leaving coach Michael Lindberg understandably proud.
At the other end of the spectrum, Thursday's game ended a challenging season for New Rochelle. The 2003, '12, and '19 NYSPHSAA Class AA champions fell to 0-10 for the season, with four of the losses coming by single-score margins.
The Huguenots have now lost as many times of the past three years (20) as in their previous 15 seasons combined.
It's called doing the right thing
I'm ordinarily not a fan of mid-week juggling of times and venues for postseason games because it's potentially disruptive for teams as they prepare and for supporters as they make plans to support their team. However, everyone involved in juggling the NYSPHSAA boys and girls soccer playoff schedules this week should be commended.
The short story is that Schalmont, Mechanicville, and New Hartford all qualified both their soccer teams for this weekend's quarterfinals. The boys and girls tournaments normally are operated independently from each other, but everyone got together are tweaked schedules to allow fans of all three schools to attend Saturday doubleheaders.
Schalmont vs. New Hartford takes place at Waterford High School beginning with the boys contest. Meanwhile, Stillwater High will host the Mechanicville girls vs. Marcellus at 1 p.m., followed by the Mechanicville boys vs. Westhill.
That's a win for everyone.
NYSPHSAA tournament schedules
