Leading off today: Talk about an inopportune time to run out of healthy players ...
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference football playoffs will begin this week with quarterfinals in six classifications, but one of the teams that qualified has already handed its scheduled opponent a forfeit victory.
On Monday, the CIAC announced that Northwest United, the No. 8 seed in the Class MM tournament, will forfeit its game against top-seeded Windsor because it does not have enough healthy players for Tuesday's scheduled game.
The state's governing body for high school sports announced that Windsor will advance to the semifinals. The CIAC became aware of the situation over the weekend and determined there wasn't sufficient time to select another team to replace Northwest United.
Northwest United was undefeated through nine games before losing its last two games to Henry Abbott Technical/Immaculate by scores of 35-14 and 55-0.
What makes the forfeit more newsworthy is the fact that Northwest United is a combined team consisting of players from four schools approximately 20 miles north of Danbury. In that context, the many forfeits that we saw during New York's regular season don't seem as bad.
CSP receiver breaks state record for career receptions
Clymer/Sherman/Panama senior Bryce Hinsdale became the state's career leader in receptions over the weekend during the Wolfpack's victory over Dolgeville in the NYSPHSAA Class D football playoffs at Vestal.
Hinsdale entered the state semifinal needing eight catches to surpass former Syracuse CBA receiver Bruce Williams' record of 227 receptions. He made four in the first half as his team raced to a 36-0 lead, then tacked on five more after halftime.
He finished the day with nine catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.
Hinsdale will cap his career on Friday when Clymer/Sherman/Panama faces Burke Catholic in the Class D title game at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse.
The Dept. of Bad Information
Josh Allen's quirky touchdown pass/reception against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night sent me digging after the play reminded me that one of the most solid journalists I know recently texted me to verify he wasn't losing his mind.
My friend had seen a newspaper account of a high school football game that included this detail:
"In the win, Waterloo had eight total touchdowns, all of which were produced by (Dylan) Caraballo to tie the Section 5 single-game record for the most touchdowns in a game."
Uh-uh. Nope. Non. 01101110 01101111 (throwing that in here for fans of The Big Bang Theory). Nein.
That there is a variety of ways to say, "No."
I point that out because what we have here is a no-no.
The senior quarterback had a heck of a game on Senior Night at Waterloo on Nov. 1 as the Tigers rolled past Mynderse, 53-25, in a rivalry game. He piled up four touchdowns passing, one rushing, two interception returns for scores, and a punt return for yet another TD.
What he did not do, however, was "tie the Section V single-game record for the most touchdowns in a game," as the newspaper story stated. Nor did he match the area record for "most touchdowns scored in a game," as the records page on the
Section 5 football website now states.
In plain English, he may have accounted for eight touchdowns but he only scored four.
I'm possibly wrong here, but I think the use of "accounted for 'X' number of touchdowns" has grown exponentially in the past few years because of multi-talented NFL quarterbacks like the Bills' Allen and the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson. Both would have more TD passes to their credit except for the fact that they are such dangerous runners that they are almost as likely to run the ball into the end zone from five yards out as they are to throw it there from 10.
And there's nothing wrong with that. But let's please not spin the numbers into inaccurate accounts of performances, whether in the NFL or high school ranks.
