Leading off today: Holland Patent's unbeaten run to open the Section 3 football season came crashing to an end Friday, and General Brown senior
Cooper Donaldson had a lot to do with it.
The senior running back scored seven touchdowns in the 60-20 victory. He ran for five scores, caught a pass for another and tacked on a punt-return TD. His first three touchdowns contributed to a 30-0 halftime lead.
"(Donaldson) is just a natural runner," coach Doug Black told Syracuse.com. "He's strong. He's elusive. He'd probably do a lot more if we gave him more carries, but we kind of want a balanced offense."
General Brown has rattled off five straight wins after an 0-2 start to the season.
More notable weekend football
• Sophomore safety Evan Mangone made 15 tackles and kicked the winning field goal, a 19-yarder on Rush-Henrietta's second overtime possession, for a 31-28 victory vs. Hilton. Royal Comets senior Imani Wagstaff scored four touchdowns, including one in overtime, as the Royal Comets defeated Hilton 31-28 in double and finished with 197 rushing yards on 21 carries to offset Hilton's Tyler Reger, who carried 28 times for 233 yards and three touchdowns.
• Junior linebacker Rayan Shehu recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown, then forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to help East Islip down West Islip 27-7.
"He's undersized, but he has certain traits that you can't coach," East Islip coach Sal J. Ciampi told Newsday. "Kids either got it or they don't, and he's got it."
• Kaliem Smith scored an Aquinas-record six rushing touchdowns on his way to 269 yards as Aquinas/Rochester Academy defeated Edison/Padilla/SWW 48-26.
For the sake of clarity and accuracy, please stop doing this
There's a trend out there that I blame entirely on Josh Allen, and it needs to stop.
To clarify, it's not Allen's fault. The problem lies with the people trying to express just how versatile the Buffalo Bills quarterback is in generating scores with either his legs or his passing arm.
Over the past three years I've seen countless high school write-ups about a quarterback finishing with five touchdowns or tallying five touchdowns or some similar wording when the player's stats were three TD passes and two TD runs.
The problem is that too many of these game accounts don't spell out the breakdown of scoring plays, and the vague "total touchdowns" gets confused with "touchdowns scored," i.e., plays that ended with the ball in that athlete's hands in the end zone.
Which brings me to this ...
Happy 100th anniversary, Tom Wallace
This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of a record-setting football performance that hopefully stands unmatched forever.
On Oct. 16, 1926, Saranac Lake running back Tom Wallace scored 11 touchdowns, setting a New York high school record, in a 101-0 win against Lake Placid.
Not directly related to H.S. sports, but noteworthy
A New Jersey state lawmaker wants to make mandatory lodging requirements for athletes and families illegal as a condition of participation in events. State Assemblywoman Mitchelle Drulis' bill is aimed at so-called "stay-to-play" requirements that have proliferated in youth sports tournaments -- particularly hockey, basketball, baseball, and cheerleading.
In many cases, participants are banned from using perks and points to book rooms to save money.
The measure Drulis introduced on Sept. 17 would ban requiring the use of designated travel agents, lodging, and transportation entities. A first offense would result in a $10,000 fine.<>
"These 'stay-to-play' rules are costing New Jersey families a lot of money when they're required to stay somewhere for their child to participate," she told NJ.com.
Similar legislation has been introduced in Congress, but the new Jersey bill appears to have bipartisan support to advance it to votes more rapidly.
More coming Monday
The NYSPHSAA Executive Committee conducts its first quarterly meeting of the new school year Wednesday in Saratoga Springs. I'm sifting through the agenda and will hit the highlights in a preview blog Monday afternoon.
