Standouts from four NYSPHSAA champions are among the six individuals names football players of the year as the New York State Sportswriters Association released its all-state teams in the small-school classes Wednesday.
• Class B: Rochester Monroe receiver and defensive back Messiah Hampton.
• Class C: Brian Formato of Bronxville and Aidan Winter of Babylon, both of whom did double duty as running backs and linebackers.
• Class D: Running back/linebacker Logan Bellis of Tioga.
• Eight-man: Linebacker/receiver Gavin Baker of Morrisville-Eaton/Stockbridge Valley/Madison and quarterback/linebacker Jerome Bowen of Frankfort-Schuyler-3.
Monroe, Bronxville, and Tioga earned NYSPHSAA championships in their respective classes last month at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse. Morrisville-Eaton/Stockbridge Valley/Madison won the regional championship in eight-man football.
2025 EIGHT-MAN ALL-STATE TEAM
The NYSSWA all-state teams in Classes AA and A will be released on Jan. 14.
Times Union editorial: 'Too many grownups failed'
The editorial board of the Times Union in Albany has reacted harshly -- and appropriately -- on several aspects of the announcement by USA Track & Field over the holiday break that former Saratoga Springs coaches Art and Linda Kranick have been permanently banned.
As noted by the board, the governing body's determination "came late enough to serve as an almost farcical reminder that justice deferred is justice denied." Given that the sanction against Art Kranick came seven weeks after his death. it's hard to argue.
The USATF investigation started two years ago, but only after literal decades of questions about the Kranicks' methods for training their teen distance runners. The organization was known to have completed its evidence-gathering phase more than a year ago, and the Kranick resigned in April of last year.
At what cost in the interim?
"Whether it's excessively grueling training under coaches like the Kranick or the potential for long-lasting brain injury from contact sports like football, it's hard for trusting students to know where the line is between tough but responsible guidance and abusive or reckless methods. It falls to the adults -- parents, athletic directors, superintendents, school boards and state education officials -- to know the difference.
"In the case of the Kranick, too many grownups failed."
The editorial concluded with a call for the Saratoga Springs school board to issue a public apology "for the years of misconduct school leaders allowed" and initiate a review of its sports programs to insure these abuses aren't repeated.
Milestone
Max Stolen scored 18 points to lead Northstar Christian Academy over New Life Christian 51-44 in boys basketball on Tuesday, giving coach J.J. Garwood his 300th boys basketball victory.
What's in a name?
What exactly is a BYSNS? How 'bout ETBE/New Ro?
BYSNS is an acronym for Brewster, Yorktown, Somers, North Salem. ETBE/New Ro is shorthand for Eastchester, Tuckahoe, Bronxville, Edgemont, New Rochelle.
Both are Section 1 hockey teams. As noted by LoHud.com, these merged teams, a common practice throughout the state (and widespread in hockey), are both praised as a way to allow more kids to play and criticized as inherently unfair.
By the website's count, the nine teams with merged programs encompass 34 schools. In terms of sheer numbers, none of those merged programs can match the Syracuse team pieced together from 11 schools when it won the 2019 state Division I championship over Suffern.
Obviously, combined programs exist in many sports, but it's hockey that seems to take it to the extreme. As such, one of the most successful coaches in the state wouldn't mind seeing a different approach to the postseason: moving merged teams into a separate playoff class.
"There should be three different divisions," said Mamaroneck's Mike Chiapparelli, who became the state's winningest hockey coach in 2022. "It's too many. It used to be two schools. Now it's four, five, six, seven, 10. It's a different animal now."
Strictly speaking, any of the 11 NYSPHSAA sections can create home rules dictating merger procedures and who qualifies for the playoffs. If enough sections take notice of a particular policy and like it, the state NYSPHSAA Executive Committee could embrace it as a statewide rule that covers all sports.
