NYSSWA: New York State Sportswriters Association

NYSSWA rankings are updated weekly.
See the latest plus the earlier weeks'
updates on our rankings page.

Leading off today: The Saugerties Board of Education has suspended work on its $1.4 million track renovation at the high school pending a meeting Monday to discuss its design.

Board members voted 7-0 late Tuesday to halt the project until a special meeting Monday afternoon, The Daily Freeman reported. The architect who designed the track is expected to answer questions about the design and the cost to change from six to eight lanes.

Earlier Tuesday, track coach John Lombardo told trustees the design was outdated and could affect the safety of athletes. He called for an eight-lane design and shorter straightaways. He said the facility should also include a steeplechase and space for a regulation-size sports field in the center.

Injury may lead to changes: A state assemblyman says the serious injury suffered by Buffalo Bills special-teams player Kevin Everett should prompt an evaluation of equipment used buy high school, college and even NFL players.

Felix Ortiz (D, Brooklyn) plans to meet with experts soon to look at what alternative equipment or helmet acessories might prevent head and neck injuries.

Hey, you look familiar: Twin sisters Breean and Brandi Trapasso coached against each other as Wednesday as Sweet Home swept Niagara-Wheatfield in girls volleyball, The Buffalo News noted.

They were teammates throughout high school (North Tonawanda) and college (Bucknell), and both got head-coaching jobs a year ago -- Breean at Sweet Home and Brandi at N-W.

"I think the hardest thing was for my mom and dad because they didn’t know who to cheer for," Breean Trapasso told the paper.

Trumansburg gives back two wins: Trumansburg, ranked 15th in Class C football this week, will forfeit its first two victories of the season for undisclosed reasons, AD John Testa said Wednesday.

The Blue Raiders had defeated Elmira Notre Dame, 20-6, and Newark Valley, 36-7.

Piling on: Senior George Tor, all 5-foot-7 of him, is an extraordinary soccer player in an unremarkable league. That goes a long way towards explaining how he rolled up 33 goals and 30 assists a year ago to earn a spot on the Democrat and Chronicle's All-Greater Rochester team.

So it wasn't surprising that he had a hand (a foot?) in all the goals, scoring four and assisting on the rest Wednesday as Jefferson/Franklin beat Monroe, 9-0, in a City-Catholic game. That brought his four-game totals to 11 goals and 11 assists.

Here's my question, however: Did Tor really need to be on the field for the ninth goal? Or the eighth? Or the seventh, for that matter? Piling up big numbers against badly overmatched competition doesn't leave a favorable impression on folks.

Technical difficulties: We may only be able to do minimal updating of the site for the next few days while my primary laptop undergoes repairs. I have a backup computer, but the situation reminds me a bit of going from Julia Roberts to Julia Child; it's nice having either around, but one of 'em ain't all that sexy to work with.

Extra points: Five-year assistant John DeVito is the new boys lacrosse coach at Somers. Tim Schurr, elevated from assistant to head coach in 2004, will stay on the sideline as an assistant.