Leading off today: With all that took place yesterday around New York, we're not even going to pretend to be comprehensive in this installment of the blog. Instead, here's a summary of some of the more intriguing, surprising and impressive developments from Saturday.
I've supplied links to fuller details on many of these items if you have the urge to dig deeper.
Girls soccer: Greece Arcadia knocked off defending state champion Aquinas in penalty kicks, 4-2, after the teams played to a 1-1 regulation tie in the Section 5 Class AA final. Sophomore Kristen Powers converted the decisive PK. The Titans will play Spencerport on Tuesday for the right to advance to the state quarterfinals.
Burnt Hills (8-10-2), which endured a six-game losing streak during the season and lost two seniors to early-season knee injuries, beat Scotia by a 2-0 margin on Friday to win Section 2 Class A for the 22nd time in 25 seasons.
Carly Beyar scored with 3:43 left in the first half for No. 1 Rockville Centre South Side beat New Hyde Park, 1-0, in a Section 8 Class A semfinal. South Side (17-0) will play No. 15 Garden City in the final on Tuesday.
Boys soccer: Williamsville North, ranked No. 1 in the state, won Section 6 Class AA by edging Clarence, 2-1, on the strength of goals by Sean Durfee and Andre Marinaccio 1:05 apart early in the second half.
Nick Gregg scored his second goal of the game with 1:00 to go as Owego edged No. 12 Elmira Free Academy, 2-1, for the Section 4 Class A crown. It's the fourth Section 4 title for the Indians since 2002, when they won the NYSPHSAA Class B title.
Unheralded Iroquois knocked off No. 4 Williamsville East, 2-0, in Section 6 Class A action as Peter Wilson scored twice.
Top-ranked Galway (21-0) remained perfect by capturing Section 2 Class C with a 1-0 victory over Schenectady Christian. Senior defender Vincent LaTerra cashed in a corner kick early in the second half.
Sharon Springs (9-9-2), which struggled most of the Section 2 Class D season without Ryan Brown (out 14 games with a concussion) got two goals from its star forward and beat No. 11 North Warren, 3-0.
Football: Kaheem Gist recorded five more touchdowns as No. 15 Canandaigua scored a 38-21 win over No. 10 Rush-Henrietta in the Section 5 qualifier for a state Class AA quarterfinal berth. Gist, who is 221 yards away from breaking the section's single-season rushing record of 2,394 by Webster's Carl Garritano in 2002, has gained 979 yards and scored 17 TDs in three post-season wins.
West Genesee avenged an earlier loss to No. 19 Cicero-North Syracuse, 23-21, on a 20-yard field goal by senior Luke Cometti with :01 to play in the Section 3 Class AA final. The No. 23 Wildcats will make their first trip to the state tournament.
No. 1 Monroe-Woodbury survived a scare and booted No. 8 Minisink Valley from the AA playoffs in the Section 9 final, 35-28. The Crusaders broke a 28-28 tie on a 2-yard yard TD run by Karl Ehlers on the first play of the fourth quarter. Quarterback Danny Scalo carried 16 times for 231 yards and two touchdowns. He was 6-for-7 through the air for 101 yards.
Defending state Class A champion Corning East still has a pulse, having fought off Maine-Endwell (310 rushing yards), 26-24. However, QB Matt Pierotti (ankle) and defensive stalwart Patrick Granger (neck) left with injuries.
