Leading off today: Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake had itself a nice weekend. Next, we'll see if it turns into a spectacular month for the Spartan's, perennial contenders for the NYSSWA's Kerr Cup All-Sport Championship.
BH-BL, Commack, and East Aurora all bagged two team championships over the weekend in New York State Public High School Athletic Association postseason action, and now the Spartans can turn their attention to potentially two more trophies. Having won the Class B titles in field hockey and cross country, they'll be sending their boys and girls volleyball teams into final-four pool play next weekend.
East Aurora earned boys championships in cross country and soccer, while Commack swept the Class AAA soccer titles.
Meanwhile, Shenendehowa still has both volleyball teams active after winning top honors in girls Class A cross country. Garden City, which won the boys Class AA soccer final, advanced its girls volleyball team to Glens Falls and remains in the hunt for a Long Island Championship in football.
It's a small data set thus far, but ...
It's way, way too early to draw conclusions just yet, but maybe going the at-large route in NYSPHSAA tournaments after winning a sectional championship isn't the way to go.
The only way it could have gone worse is if they began the year by investing in Under Armour or betting on Cleveland Guardians pitchers without inside information.
You can look at the
NYSSWA's complete tracker for yourself, but here's the summary:
• Boys soccer: Only two of five teams survived their state quarterfinal vs. Section 4 opponents. Only Cornwall reached a final, dropping the Class AA title contest to Garden City.
• Girls soccer: Three of four squads beat Section 4 opponents in quarterfinals but only Class C Tuckahoe played in a final, losing to Stillwater.
• Field hockey: Clarence used the Class A at-large slot and lost its quarterfinal to eventual champion Windsor.
• Girls tennis: Scotia-Glenville won its Division II opener before losing in the semifinals.
• Girls volleyball: The tournament wraps up this weekend in Glens Falls, and the results so far have been better. Shenendehowa, Warwick, and Peru were 3-for-3 in advancing out of the quarterfinals and into pool play.
Again, there are no conclusions to be drawn based upon one season of a first-year change to the playoff system. But I do believe basketball coaches cutting down championship nets in sections providing at-large representatives in the upcoming season will put additional thought into how to proceed.
Dior Johnson resurfaces in central Texas
X.com started lighting up Friday night with the mention of one name that "Dior Johnson" that he may the trending list.
That's because Johnson scored 42 points, matching the early-season high by anyone in Division I men's basketball, during Tarleton State's 94-81 loss at Baylor. He made 17 of 24 field-goal attempts (2-for-3 on 3-pointers) in 31 minutes -- after coming off the bench.
For the uninitiated, Johnson is a well-traveled 21-year-old who first stepped into the limelight by reaching 1,000 career points while still in eighth grade at Saugerties. He soon began a nomadic existence that carried him to IMG Academy in Florida, back to Saugerties, then to Findlay Prep in Nevada only to see that "school" fold. From there, Johnson went to Hillcrest Prep in Arizona, Mayfair High in California, Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, Centennial High in California. That was followed by two more stops in the Golden State, at Prolific Prep and then SoCal Academy.
The college modus operandi has been similar: Verbal commitments (not worth the paper it was written on) to Syracuse and Oregon, followed by enrollment and dismissal at Pitt after a redshirted 2022-23 season. A year at Texas JuCo Clarendon College, where he averaged 29.7 points a game, and then last season at Central Florida as a role player in 35 appearances.
Tarleton State, which joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2020, has been a fresh start, and Johnson has delivered. Averaging just 22 minutes a night through five games, he is putting up 20.6 points a game.
A crazy story out of Mississippi
I meant to write this up last week, but better late than never.
The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools in Mississippi levied a $7,500 fine against Marshall Academy after its football coach appeared to do everything in his power to lose a game (he succeeded) and get his team a better seeding in a lower tier of the private-school playoffs.
According to FootballScoop.com, coach Chris Brunio turned an 8-1 record into 8-2 by benching more than a dozen players against Washington School (also 8-1) to fall behind 43-8 at halftime. In the second half, Marshall took so many consecutive delay of game penalties that officials invoked an obscure NFHS rule to award Washington School a safety after another non-snap from inside the 1-yard-line.
With under two minutes to play and the score 53-6, officials finally gave up and declared a forfeit.
