Leading off today: Section 1's Martin Luther King Jr. High has given up on launching its first season of varsity football.

   Section 1 officials were informed last week by officials from the residential treatment center that it would not field a team, The Journal News reported. The reasons were not disclosed, and the newspaper's calls to the school were not returned.

   Five schools were forced to fill schedule slots less than three weeks before the start of the season. Valhalla, which was supposed to face MLK in the opener, will now play Sacred Heart at home on Sept. 7. The other four teams could match up with schools that were supposed to play Webutuck before that Section 9 team dropped football last week.

   1 vs. 2: USA Today's first high school football rankings of the season are more fixed than your neighbor's cat -- although there's a legitimate case to be made for doing it.

   The national publication has ranked Southlake Carroll of Texas and Miami (Fla.) Northwestern in the top two spots, with both coming off (obviously) impressive 16-0 seasons.

   The rub is that the two powerhouses are scheduled to play each other Sept. 15 in Dallas. Since interstate contests between top teams are rare, that raises more than a little speculation that they're starting at the top of the rankings in part to create a buzz.

   St. Anthony's, the South Huntington buzzsaw, is ranked 22nd and is the only New York team in the regional top 10.

   Publics vs. privates: Newsday's question of the week stirred up a hornets nest the other day: Should public and private schools play non-conference football games against one another?

   The short answer seemed to be that the rigid schedule and playoff formats of public schools don't give them the ability to play a non-leaguer. CHSFL teams do have room on the schedule, but they have to look outside Sections 8 and 11 for prospective opponents.

   "We've been to Buffalo, Massachusetts, Philadelphia and New Jersey," St. Anthony's AD Don Buckley told the newspaper. "We would much rather play a team from Long Island. It would be good for the sport."

   Pat Pizzarelli, the Lawrence AD, advocates playing CHSFL opponents, going so far as to propose using the ninth block of the schedule for public schools that don't make the sectionals.

   Add Pat to my Christmas card list. Subtract Kip Lukralle from that same list.

   "I don't believe any public school should play any private school in any sport," said Lukralle, Northport's football coach. "I'm in a district that catholic schools recruit from. I'm sensitive to that. We don't play on an equal playing field. So we shouldn't play."

   At the risk of starting a new round of battles on this hot-button topic, let me point out something very fundamental to Lukralle: Private schools have to recruit in order to survive because their pipeline for future students -- non=public grammar schools -- is tiny compared to taxpayer-supported schools system.

   So, yes, the private schools often do go into junior highs and pitch the virtues of their school. That technically constitutes recruiting, but it hardly means that there's sleazy activity going on.

   Now, if Sections 8 and 11 want to step up and offer membership to the private schools, I'm sure that they would be more than willing to limit contact with public-school students as a condition of joining.

   Just remember to write a fair rule covering transfers, because that issue cuts both ways. If you don't believe that, keep an eye on the nonsense going on in the PSAL next door in New York City, where private-school players are getting picked off left and right these days.

   Gauchos searching: In New York City, the Gauchos are looking at candidates to replace departed director Emmanuel "Book" Richardson.

   The New York Daily News reports that Russell Smith, who has been with the program for 31 years as a player and coach, said it's likely that the next director will come from within the program.

   Richardson is endorsing Warren Holcomb, who has been a player and coach with the Gauchos.

   Extra points: Dick "Hoops" Weiss reported in the New York Daily News last week that 6-5 junior guard Lance Stephenson of Lincoln High in the PSAL has narrowed his list of colleges to Louisville, Memphis, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgetown and Indiana. . . . Weiss also says junior guard Mo Mo Jones of CHSAA power Rice, who committed to Louisville last year, is transferring to American Christian Academy in Aston, Pa.

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