Leading off today: Section 2 football practice will kick off Monday with a dramatically reshaped look after five programs abruptly shifted from 11-man to eight-man football on Friday.
Section 2 football coordinator Sean Colfer announced that Hudson Falls/Fort Edward (previously in Class B), Broadalbin-Perth (C), Lake George/Warrensburg/Bolton (D), Stillwater/Saratoga Catholic (D), and Rensselaer/Loudonville Christian (D) will move to eight-man due to low participation.
Combined with Cambridge/Salem's recent decision to drop varsity football, Class D in the section has been reduced to just Greenwich and Canajoharie/Fort Plain. Those programs will play Class C schedules during the regular season and later face each other for the Class D championship.
The five new eight-man teams are ineligible for postseason play because Section 2 requires programs to declare by Feb. 1, The Times Union reported. They will primarily play each other, supplemented by three crossover games created through bye weeks involving playoff-eligible eight-man teams.
Week 1 of the season is set for Sept. 4-5.
• The NYSSWA's Steve Grandin points out that Section 2 has gone from no eight-man teams in 2024 to eight for the upcoming season, boosting the statewide total to 36.
Friday's development also exacerbates an ongoing problem that the New York State Public High School Athletic Association and its football committee will need to address at some point. The loss of three more Class D teams leaves the eastern sections in Class D 11-man football with just seven teams compared to the 45 in Sections 3 through 6 that form the other half of the bracket.
There are size disparities in many sport brackets, particularly in Class AAA because so many of the large schools are downstate. But semifinal pairings change from year to year in sports with final four weekend formats, smoothing out some of those disparities.
Section 5 school changes policy on junior-high athletes
Seventh- and eighth-grade students in LeRoy will be able to play JV and varsity sports, following a change in the school district's long-standing policy,
The Daily News reported.
It's largely the result of concerns from one family, but don't assume it's the stereotypical case of a dad out of control. Instead, it stems from a not unreasonable concern related to girls wrestling, one of the fastest growing scholastic sports in the state.
The Wojtaszczyk family has been involved in wrestling in the district, and daughter Annabella Wojtaszczyk will enter seventh grade next month.
With a BEDS number of 254, LeRoy doesn't have the extensive sports infrastructure of large districts, and that means there is not a modified team for girls wrestling. Consequently, Amanda would be wrestling on the boys team instead.
Matt Wojtaszczyk went to the administration to make the case that his daughter's development would be affected because boys wrestling team focuses more on folkstyle wrestling instead of the freestyle wrestling Annabella is used to from girls wrestling.
It's a relatively small distinction between styles, but it does exist.
Thus, the school board approved the policy change this week by a 6-1 margin. There are still processes to follow, but the vote paves the way for Amanda to potentially wrestle alongside LeRoy's JV and/or varsity girls competitors.
A girls wrestling mystery in New Jersey
The nation's top-ranked girls high school wrestler has been stripped of her New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship months after the fact with officials citing an unspecified eligibility violation.
Ellia Poalillo is the country's No. 1-ranked 152-pound female wrestler and was a three-time state champ until the NJSIAA vacated her 2026 championship earlier this year.
"It wasn't (her) fault. It's more of something we could have prevented," her father, Joe Poalillo, told NJ.com.
The NJSIAA confirmed that the championship was vacated. Its website now has an asterisk next to the 152-pound championship with a note stating, "State title revoked due to a violation of NJSIAA rules."
High Point Regional High School Superintendent Scott D. Ripley said the school was aware of the development but added that it "would not be appropriate for us to comment further."
According to her father, Ellia Poalillo will not return to High Point for her senior year -- decision made after completing a 36-0 junior season. Rather, she will be homeschooled while training in Arizona and at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado before going on to wrestle in college at Iowa State.
Authorities accuse man of defrauding basketball families
The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office has charged Norbert A. Sygdziak with fourth-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud, second-degree scheme to defraud and five counts of petit larceny following complaints this spring that the 44-year-old Milton resident failed to deliver uniforms or register his purported travel basketball team in a single tournament,
The Times Union reported.
He was released pending proceedings in the Malta Town Court.
Joe Tocci of Stillwater told authorities he and his ex-wife paid $840 to register their 12-year-old son for the Saratoga Raptors program started by Sygdziak. Tocci said the Raptors had about 40 players on 12-and-under and 14-and-under teams who practiced for about a month in Saratoga Springs as parents began to suspect something was wrong.
"Once the tournaments were supposed to start happening and starting to get canceled and he was like, 'I'm a better coach than I am at organizing these things,'" Tocci told the paper. "I'm like, 'No, this is supposed to be a set schedule.' Everybody caught on really quick."
A man who identified himself as Sygdziak denied the charges during a phone call.
"The four families that complained, five families participated in the program for over four months, practicing three times a week, playing in scrimmage games," he said. "The only thing they didn't do is play tournaments, and because they decided to change coaches and wanted me out, they decided to make these false claims."
Tocci countered that there were far more than five families, each paying between $500 and $1,000.
Retired John Glenn coach, AD dies
Former John Glenn coach and athletic director
Anthony Cerullo died July 24 of natural causes at the age of 83.
"His biggest strength was the ability to motivate and inspire people," said longtime football coach Dave Shanahan, who was hired by Cerullo in 1995. "He gave me my first coaching opportunity. He helped guide me through those critical first couple of years and his impact on me was life changing in a lot of ways. He was so supportive as I learned how to be an impactful physical education and health teacher and a coach."
Cerullo's career as a head football coach got off to an 0-16 start at Dobbs Ferry, but he went on to post an 81-23-3 mark at John Glenn over 12 seasons beginning in 1974. He served as the school's athletic director from 1986 to '99.
Canisius names new athletic director
John Ricotta, a 2005 graduate of the school, is the new athletic director at Canisius High.
The longtime basketball assistant coach most recently worked as Director of Premium Service and Group Sales for the Buffalo Sabres.
He replaces Jim Mauro, who retired after 19 years in charge of the program. Canisius has won the won the Supremacy Cup, awarded to the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association's overall athletic champion, for 23 of the last 25 years.
"Canisius High School Athletics has never been stronger," Ricotta said in the school's announcement. "Jim Mauro has done an outstanding job here for the last 19 years. I'm just trying to come in and build on that foundation while exploring new opportunities to enhance the athletic program. It's a big responsibility, but it's one that I'm very excited about."
