NYSSWA: New York State Sportswriters Association

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Leading off today: Rye took command in the second half and beat Harrison yesterday, 27-7, in the 77th meeting between two of New York's top football programs. Rye is ranked No.1 in Class B and Harrison No. 2 in Class A by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

Jordan Eck threw for two second-half touchdowns and ran for another to lead Rye, the four-time defending Section 1 Class B champ, to its fifth triumph in a row over Harrison.

Strange but true: Eldred lost to Chester, 14-13, in large part because an extra point disappeared somewhere along the way in the Section 9 contest.

Eldred coach Frank Kean would seem to have grounds for appeal if the account of events from The Times Herald-Record is accurate. Kean thought his team was leading by 14-0 at the half, but the officials told the scoreboard operator Daryl Barnes to take away a point from Eldred early in the fourth period.

According to the paper, referee Tom Finan told Kean that an extra- point kick with :13 left in the second quarter actually missed, even though at least one official indicated it was good. It proved critical after Chester rallied for two second-half scores.

"He (Finan) told me the extra point at the end of the second quarter was wide left, but I think he got it confused with the field goal that we missed on the last play of the half," Kean told the paper. "That extra point went right through and he indicated that it was good. It'll be right on the tape. I know he indicated that it was good."

More football: Jake Reynolds' 10-yard TD throw to Garret Cade with 22 seconds left carried No. 2 Chenango Forks past No. 6 Chenango Valley, 20-14, in Section 4 Class B action. It was the 13th straight victory for Forks in the rivalry game.

In Class AA, No. 12 Gates Chili turned back No. 20 Pittsford, 27-14. Soph Elijah Thomas (74 yards) and junior Rickey Stevems (73) broke long scoring runs for the Spartans.
Canajoharie, 10th in Class D, held No. 8 Fort Edward without a first down in the middle two quarters to highlight a 14-8 victory.
Also in Section 2, Chatham upended Vorheesville (No. 9 in Class C), 42-21, as Zach Kraham threw three TD passes.
Sweet Home, No. 11 in Class A, blanked Williamsville South, 56-0, as Casey Kacz went 9-for-12 for 193 yards and three TDs. Sweet Home had 559 yards of offense.
In Class A, Cold Spring Harbor surprised No. 19 Roosevelt, 23-10, as Jacob Ghitelman carried 22 times for 103 yards and three touchdowns.
East Islip, No. 7 in Class AA, beat Smithtown West, 42-0 as Tim Moller ran for two TDs, scored another on an interception, and recorded three sacks.
Massapequa QB Rob Von Bargen had a monster game in a 40-20 win against Plainview JFK, going 9-for-11 for 262 yards and five TDs.
Canandaigua beat Canisius, 55-28, as Kaheem Gist set a Section 5 record with seven TDs. His sixth TD came in the third quarter with a 42-14 lead, and the seventh came in the fourth quarter with the score 48-28. Draw your own conclusions.
I will let Westhill's 90-0 rout of LaFayette/Fabius-Pompey pass without comment. Syracuse.com blogger Phil Blackwell offers some interesting background and perspective.

A couple of tidbits left over from Friday's football action:

Cornwall, No. 3 in Class A, escaped with a 12-6, double-OT victory over Port Jervis when Lou D'Esposito scored on a 3-yard run.

The extent of the shoulder injury suffered by Churchville-Chili senior running back Averin Collier remains unclear. But the Saints don't have enough firepower without him to beat Gates Chili for a spot in the NYSPHSAA Class AA quarterfinals if he's missing five weeks from now.

New scoring king: We're not sure if Chazy senior Nolan Ryan can throw a baseball, but he can certainly kick a soccer ball.

Chazy scored three times Saturday in a 4-0 victory over Keene. His first scoring effort came 14:55 into the game gave his 153 goals in his five-year career to eclipse the state-record career scoring mark of 152 by Chittenango great Jeff Knittle in 1994.

Chazy fans celebrated the moment by releasing green and white balloons.

"Nolan is a once-in-a-career player," Eagles Coach Rob McAuliffe told The Press Republican.

Ryan is considering a handful of upstate Division III college programs.

Running notes: The Fayetteville-Manlius girls put on an impressive show at the 43rd McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, holding off Burnt Hills-Ballston Spa, 38-45, in the large-school race.

They are rated first in Class AA and A, respectively by the New York State Sportswriters Association. Class B leader East Aurora was third with 81 points.

The Warwick Wave Mania meet drew deep fields that resulted in some impressive efforts. Seniors Julian Sheinbaum of Scarsdale (15:40.2) and Tori Pennings of Warwick Valley (17:50.2) led the way.

Saratoga senior Hannah Davidson won the Varsity A race at the Oatlands Invitational in Virginia in an impressive 18:04.96.

Commitments: Holy Names forward Jess Walton says she will play basketball next year for LaSalle. The 6-foot-1 forward will sign her Letter of Intent in November according to The Times-Union. Walton was fifth-team all-state in Class A after helping Holy Names into the Section 2 finals.

Extra points: Alcohol infractions in Elba led to the suspensions of 19 athletes in a variety of sports last week. Each will be required to sit out 20 percent of their teams' contests. . . . In field hockey, Kingston (9-0) remained unbeaten and unscored upon with a 3-0 win against Vestal. . . . Sarah Tarantino of East Aurora scored 13 goals in three games last week including four during a 5-1 girls soccer triumph yesterday against Holland. Tarantino has scored 17 times this season.

9/05/24: New York's Week 0 football intrigue