Leading off today: Nolan Gelman has a bit of a problem. The Half Hollow Hills West sophomore needs to be in two places at once on Saturday.
Gelman is the kicker for the HHHW football team, which is playing Islip for Section 11's Division III championship at noon at Stony Brook University. But he also plays midfield for the soccer team, which takes on Vestal in Oneonta 90 minutes later in a NYSPHSAA Class AA semifinal.
Gelman scored the winning goal in Sunday's Long Island soccer final against Massapequa. A day earlier, he nailed a 31-yard field goal to finish of a 17-8 football triumph against Rocky Point.
"There is no issue," soccer coach Doug Gannon told Newsday. "The kid practices with us six days a week. He's coming upstate, believe me."
Still in action: We count 124 boys or girls teams still in the running for NYSPHSAA championships in football, soccer, field hockey and volleyball or the Federation championships in cross country.
Section 2 leads the way with 22 squads in action between Friday and Sunday, with a minimum of two alive in all seven tournaments. Section 5 has 19 teams alive, and Section 1 is next with 18, followed by Section 11 (which doesn't participate in football) at 17.
By the way, I'm hoping Cortland State is writing a check to girls soccer committee for a 100 percent refund on site rental fees for this weekend. The college accepted an ECAC football playoff bid and will host Union on Saturday, forcing nine of the 15 girls semifinals and finals to be moved to nearby sites on short notice.
It wouldn't surprise me if there was a provision in the contract with the NYSPHSAA to allow Cortland to take back its facilities in the event that a Division III playoff berth materialized that's pretty standard language in many college contracts but let's not ignore the fact that the ECAC event is only a consolation bracket for teams not good enough to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Haldane picks Haskins: Former Peekskill star Kenny Haskins has been appointed girls basketball coach at Haldane, which had its run of 14 coonsecutive Section 1 champonships snapped last season.
Haskins will be Haldane's fourth coach in five years and the fourth since Ken Thomas retired in 2000 after winning