Leading off today: I credited Newsday in a recent blog for covering more games and doing more enterprise reporting than any other New York high school sports outlet. Now, there's another aspect to be added.
The Long Island-based newspaper is about to bring that coverage to more New York schools than probably the next four biggest competitors combined.
That's because Newsday has unveiled its intention to cover New York City high school sports beginning immediately with football. The paper fired off the announcement to coaches on Tuesday and has begun building out the structure to track scores, standings, and statistics. The paper has hired Jared Valluzzi, a recent college graduate with an extensive background writing about NYC school sports, to help jump-start the coverage.
The initiative is great news for NYC athletes. The city has had nothing like this since the New York Post dropped its daily scholastic coverage around a decade ago. A few years before that, the paper had bought out the amazing FiveBoroSports.com and brought its crew aboard to cover games and breaking news.
School district distances itself from gun raffle
A gun shop owner's raffle of a semiautomatic weapon to raise money for his daughter's high school volleyball team has been shot down by the Riverhead school district.
Newsday reported school officials said they would decline any money raised by the raffle being promoted by Joe Oliver, whose daughter plays volleyball at Riverhead.
"The raffle is still on," said Oliver, the owner of JJ Armory, adding he would give the proceeds to the team, even if it's in the form of a party for the players.
"Under no circumstances would the district ever sanction any event to raise funds for a district sports team or program that involves the offering of firearms or any weapon as a prize," the district's statement said.
The district also objected to the use of its logo in an ad for the raffle, which is charging $20 per ticket. Oliver said he removed references to the Riverhead school district and its logo on Monday.
Oliver has held similar raffles to raise money for veterans and local ambulance companies. "Wherever the money came from, I don't think it really matters," he said. "We're just giving back."
According to the paper, the raffle prize is a Ruger Pistol-Caliber Carbine, a 9-mm semiautomatic rifle that lists for $779 and up on the manufacturer's website.
Section 6 girls golf power finally falls
I didn't see this noted anywhere, but a lengthy girls golf winning streak came to an end when Williamsville North knocked off Clarence 224-243 at Brookfield Country Club on Sept. 2.
Keira Speyer medaled with a nine-hole score of 44 for the winners.
The loss was the first for Clarence since the school began sponsoring girls golf in 2010.
The NYSPHSAA record book lists Waverly's streak of 145 victories, ended in 2021, as the organization's record for girls golf and has Clarence listed as active at 100. However, a feature by WIVB-TV in Buffalo credited Clarence with 126 straight wins midway through the 2022 season.
Party atmosphere for outdoor volleyball matches
If the goal was to get students excited about the start of a new school year, then administrators in a suburban Buffalo district succeeded on Tuesday, with a huge turnout watching Hamburg and host Frontier battle in volleyball.
Hamburg rallied to win the girls matchup in five games before Frontier scored a three-game sweep in the NYSPHSAA's first outdoor boys volleyball contest.
But the atmosphere was the star of the show. More than 2,000 spectators filled the stands in what
The Buffalo News described as part pep rally, part festival. Organizers brought in a DJ to play music and food trucks to serve snacks.
Frontier boys coach Nick Penberthy enlisted USA Volleyball to secure a special court for the event, and everything took off from there as administrators from both schools kept adding features to make the day bigger.
It became clear in recent days that the initial expectation of 300 or 400 spectators from each school would easily be exceeded as long as the weather held up.
"I had a week where I was thinking, 'Did I bite off more than I could chew?'" Penberthy admitted.
Said Hamburg girls coach John Crangle: "In 20 years of Hamburg, I've never been part of a Frontier-Hamburg experience like that before."
