Leading off today: Is the revival of eight-man football in New York flaming out? The latest development out of Section 5 is another data point suggesting as much.
According to The Daily News in Batavia, Pembroke and Alexander are pursuing an agreement to join forces the sport in time for the 2025 season.
While Alexander has frequently been in the Section 5 Class D championship conversation in recent years, Pembroke has been a state power in the eight-man version since dropping down from 11-man football in 2019.
Both teams are losing a sizable number of players to graduation this spring, so joining forces makes sense -- particularly since scheduling options are as thin as ever for Pembroke.
"We met with our football families on Tuesday night to discuss our challenges for the coming season," Pembroke Superintendent Matthew Calderon told the paper. "There are not enough eight-man teams left in Section 5 to have a viable schedule. And, with our numbers, we would have trouble fielding a varsity eight-man team even if it were available."
Pembroke, which earned back-to-back state regional titles before going 10-1 and losing a semifinal last fall, was one of five Section 5 schools playing eight-man football in 2024.
However, Wellsville has committed to returning to 11-man football, and Bolivar-Richburg is combining with the existing Portville/Cuba-Rushford merged program at that level of competition.
That leaves Holley/Lyndonville and Red Jacket in eight-man football in the section. Meanwhile Frewsburg is combining with Southwestern and Allegany-Limestone is returning to 11-man football, too, taking their only potential Section 6 scheduling partners off the table.
In Section 7, Ticonderoga is rejoining the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference after two seasons of eight-man football.
The Section 5 downsizing leaves Sections 3, 4, and 9 as the only ones in the state with at least four eight-man teams for the upcoming season, one short of the threshold for continuing to conduct a regional championship in the sport.
Stabbing death north of Dallas
We've all seen tragic sports-related deaths in our time, but has there been anything in recent memory as shocking as the fatal stabbing Wednesday morning of an athlete at his high school track meet a few miles north of Dallas?
Austin Metcalf, a 17-year-old student at Memorial High School in Frisco, Texas, was stabbed during a dispute at the University Interscholastic League's District 11-5A championship meet at the rapidly sprawling district's Kuykendall Stadium. Frisco police said CPR was performed but Metcalf later died.
The suspect, identified by police as Karmelo Anthony, also 17, a student at Frisco Centennial High School, was taken into custody on a murder charge.
Top WNY basketball player on the move
The ink is barely dry on the 2024-25 season, but the best boys basketball player in Western New York will have a new address next year.
Continuing a trend of top New York talent leaving the state to play at a prep school, St. Joe's junior Nate Blenman is enrolling at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass., and will reclassify into the class of 2027 this fall. The New England Prep School Athletic Conference is regarded as one of the most competitive scholastic leagues in the country.
Blenman a 6-foot-7 center, averaged 15.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2 blocks per game this season and already holds offers from a handful of mid-majors.
"The competition and skill will make me play harder than how I would be playing in Buffalo, especially against taller kids out there that I'm not used to in Buffalo." Blenman told The Buffalo News.
Milestone
Albertus Magnus softball coach Carl D'Alba won his 300th game with a 15-3 victory over Dobbs Ferry.
This sounds vaguely familiar
A story out of Ohio rings a bell to this New Yorker:
Plans for a new eight-school conference fell apart over travel concerns, but five Catholic schools have agreed to come together in a scheduling alliance.
Walsh Jesuit, Columbus DeSales, Columbus Hartley, Columbus Watterson and Youngstown Ursuline will begin their arrangement in 2026, which was the original plan for the Ohio Catholic Athletic Conference, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
The goal of the original plan was to address scheduling issues for some of the state's strongest Catholic programs. The OCAC would have started with football and gradually expand into other sports.
If memory serves me correctly, there was a proposal floating around for an Interstate-90 conference in Western New York perhaps 15 years ago. The idea was to bring the Monsignor Martin Schools in Erie County together with Aquinas, Syracuse CBA, and Erie Prep to fill out their football schedules.
What I don't recall is if that concept actually ever made it to the desks of the administrators at any or all of the potential participants. I do know, though, that it got batted around in online chats for quite awhile.
Following up
A
recent blog summarized a Long Island dispute in which parents who cited racist behavior aimed at Elmont High athletes said they wanted no part of continuing to play against schools from the nearby Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District.
It appears that the matter has been put to rest for the time being, with Newsday reporting that new protections against "hate and harm" are being put in place.
According to the report, Elmont will continue to play its fellow Nassau County schools, with district Superintendent Regina Agrusa assuring parents that measures will be taken at away games to assure a safe atmosphere.
"While I recognize that not all people may be in favor, I do believe that this decision is in the best interests of our student-athletes at this time," Agrusa said.
