Leading off today: Quarterback Samantha Heyman's 1-yard touchdown run midway through the second half as Half Hollow Hills posted a 6-0 victory over Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK on Saturday in the NYSPHSAA Class A flag football quarterfinals.
The setback was the first for the JFK program, which had won its first 52 games after launching the sport.
"There was zero chance I wasn't getting into the end zone," Heyman told
Newsday. "The snap was perfect. I knew if I could get across the goal line our defense would make it stand up."
Half Hollow Hills lost the Long Island Championship game in 2023 and '24 to JFK, the season-long No. 1 team in the NYSSWA rankings.
"They beat us two years in a row by a point," Heyman said. "And last year was disappointing because it was in overtime. Our goal was to get here and win this time."
Garden City is having a monster year
Garden City may be a mid-sized school in the Nassau County ranks, but the Trojans have been giants in Section 8 competition this school year.
Three victories this weekend raised Garden City's 2024-25 haul to eight sectional team championships:
• The boys lacrosse team moved into the NYSPHSAA Class B tournament with a 13-5 win over Manhasset.
• The girls lacrosse team also advanced at Manhasset's expense by securing a 13-9 victory in the Class B final.
• In Class AA baseball, Garden City swept top seed Bellmore JFK by scores of 6-4 and 8-5.
Earlier in the school year, both soccer teams, the football team and the field hockey squad captured sectional championships. The girls indoor track team was the school's only winter titlist, though the girls basketball team was a near miss with an appearance in the final.
By the way, boys lacrosse coach Steve Finnell hit a milestone along the way, earning his 300th victory.
Education secretary backs Massapequa
New York's ban on Native American imagery violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Friday during an
appearance at Massapequa High School.
McMahon was responding to the Board of Regents's decision in 2023 to ban the use of Native American mascots, team names, and logos in public schools. The regulation affected dozens of school districts across the state, including Massapequa and its Chiefs nickname. The state has said school districts that do not comply with the ban by June 30 risk losing state aid or the removal of school officers.
Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal money. The Office for Civil Rights contends that banning Native American nicknames and mascots while not also considering other racial or ethnic groups constitutes discrimination.
A federal judge ruled against Massapequa and three other Long Island districts that had sought to either keep their names. The federal education department then launched a probe to determine if the state's threat of withholding funds violated Title VI.
The New York State Education Department responded forcefully to McMahon's announcement.
"On March 20, 2025, Secretary McMahon emphatically declared that she was 'sending education back to the states where it so rightly belongs.' It is therefore shocking, but not at all surprising, to see the secretary completely reverse course by inserting herself and the federal government into this local matter," said J.P. O'Hare, the state education communications director.
