Leading off today: Hayden Knapp decided to forego the Section 2 girls golf championships, taking the South Glens Falls junior out of contention for defending her NYSPHSAA championship next June.
Instead, the two-time defending Section 2 champion is competing at the American Junior Golf Association ANNIKA Invitational, an elite junior girls event that begins Thursday in Alpharetta, Ga., The Times Union reported.
Knapp, who won the 2025 New York State Women's Amateur, captured the 2026 NYSPHSAA title by two strokes at Wild Wood Country Club in Rush, the same Section 5 course that will host the 2027 tournament. Knapp previously finished third in 2023, fourth in 2024, and second in 2025.
The two-day Section 2 tournament proved to be a complete rout as La Salle Institute junior Maria Glavin won by 17 strokes over teammate Avery Minkiewicz at Eagle Crest Golf Club. She followed a three-under-par 69 with a 65 in Wednesday's round that began with her hitting the pin on her approach for a near-eagle on the green at No. 1.
Glavin was the runner-up to Knapp in the 2025 tournament.
Good news, bad news on Section 6 football ticket prices
Making a spur-of-the-moment decision to attend a Section 6 football championship game next month is going to cost you.
According to The Buffalo News, the section's Athletic Council approved increasing ticket prices at the gate to $13, an increase of $3, to reflect a service charge by the University at Buffalo ticket office.
The NYSSWA's survey of other NYSPHSAA sections indicates that the $13 ticket is the priciest in the state. Section 3 currently charges $12 for its finals.
The good news for Western New York fans is that the presale cost for the football finals remains unchanged at $10. Section 6 had to move its games to UB's Broadview Stadium after having played at the Buffalo Bills' old Highmark Stadium ("The Ralph") in recent years.
Names are changing, but the venues are the same
The sign on the Whitesboro Middle School campus that previously read "Chiz Frye Field" has been replaced by "Chiz Frye Field at Tom Schoen Stadium."
The change is in honor of longtime football head coach Tom Schoen.
"This ranks right up there with anything I've ever done," Schoen told
Syracuse.com. "At 77, this has got to rank up as one of the best days of my life."
Schoen's teams won 283 games and captured 11 sectional titles. Before that, he played for Frye in high school, returned home before the 1974 season, and led Whitesboro through 2018.
Meanwhile, Nottingham High in Syracuse has named its field in honor of Dorsey Levens, one of the best players ever to come out of Section 3.
The 1989 Nottingham graduate was a Parade All-American who rushed for more than 3,000 yards with the Bulldogs and went on to attend Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. Levens played 144 regular-season games spanning 11 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants. He also appeared in 19 layoff games and won a Super Bowl with the Packers.
Ohio football team playing twice in two days
It's bad enough that the Ohio High School Athletic Association doesn't have a rule against this, but it's even worse that local school administrators are going ahead with it anyway.
Dunbar High in Dayton is pulling double duty these next two evenings in order to squeeze in a previously canceled game.
The Wolverines will face Cincinnati Northwest on Thursday at 6 p.m., then turn around and play Stivers High on Friday at 7 p.m. Both games will be held at the district's 11,000-seat Welcome Stadium.
Dayton Public Schools cite the lack of an available facility for scheduling Dunbar to play on consecutive days. Dunbar (3-3) was to play Stivers School for the Arts on Aug. 28 before DPS officials canceled Stivers' season only to restore the program two days later.
The OHSAA's only relevant restriction limits teams to a maximum of four quarters to played in one day, though its in-season practice regulation reads "consider limiting full contact on consecutive days." The New York rule requires four nights of rest between games.
DPS Superintendent David Lawrence released a statement Wednesday saying Dunbar will require "a small overlap" of players between the two games but the rosters for the games will consist primarily of different athletes. The Dayton Daily News reported Dunbar has 47 players on its roster.
"Dayton Public Schools is committed to providing students with meaningful, safe opportunities to participate and compete while ensuring our athletic programs operate in accordance with OHSAA rules and regulations," the statement concluded.
Florida experiencing tech trouble
Never mind the rapid changes brought about by artificial intelligence, it's standard computing power that has Florida high school football in a bit of a tizzy.
Last weekend in the Pensacola area, Pace defeated Pine Forest in overtime and subsequently fell from No. 53 to No. 57 in MaxPreps' overall state rankings, also dropping from the projected No. 7 seed to No. 8 in the upcoming regional playoffs. Pine Forest, meanwhile moved up from No. 127 to No. 115 and climbed from the No. 7 seed to No. 5 seed in regional rankings in a low class -- ahead of a team the Eagles lost to the previous weekend.
That in itself isn't necessarily a problem. A bigger school taken to overtime but a lesser-regarded opponent should expect to slip a bit. The shifts are more dramatic in football than in other sports because fewer games mean smaller sample sizes.
Where is starts getting dicey is the fact that the Florida High School Athletic Association has entrusted MaxPreps to determine the inaugural Open Division (i.e., the best of the best) field.
MaxPreps updates its ratings twice a week, and the Palm Beach Post reported that something alarming happened out of the blue last week after an update that reflected just seven new game results across the state.
On Sunday, Carol City was ranked 54th in the state -- a 45-spot drop following a 42-point win. Then, without Carol City or any of its opponents having played in the interim, moved up 13 spots on Thursday.
Undefeated Buchholz High climbed nine spots to No. 24 despite not playing (nor did any opponents) and not seeing any of the teams ranked above them lose.
In the corresponding period, the paper found five undefeated teams that fell in the rankings without playing.
The situation is concerning enough that the FHSAA's executive director has said he's open to alternatives for determining the Open Division field next year.
Passings
•
Wayne Ferguson, who coached Beaver River wrestling teams to more than 500 dual-meet victories, died Sept. 29 at age 75.
By the time he stepped down in 2007, Beaver River had won 18 Frontier League tournament titles and 22 Section 3 championships. The squad won 73 straight dual meets from 1982-88 and produced two state champions.
• Donald DeLorenzo, elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame for his work launching the boys programs at Spackenkill and Dover, and later coaching Hyde Park FDR, died Oct. 2 at age 89. His other postings included director of athletics at Spackenkill and an assistant coach's position at Marist College.
