Leading off today: Buffalo McKinley was put through its stiffest test of the season and survived with a 22-14 football victory in overtime over Riverside in today's 104th Harvard Cup championship game.
The Macks, who fell behind by 14-0, have won 21 straight games and three consecutive Harvard Cups.
Tamere Shannon threw scoring passes to Willie Burnett and Kevin Chillies to tie the game, and Troy Williams scored on a 10-yard run in overtime. A.J. Harmon intercepted a Riverside pass to wrap up the victory.
Girls hockey on the rise: The Buffalo News did a lengthy piece this morning on the increased interest in girls ice hockey, focusing in large part on the proposal by the Williamsville Central School District to budget $25,000 to field a district-wide varsity team next school year.
Ice hockey is where lacrosse was 15 years ago. There are girls playing the sport in increasing numbers at the youth level and in mixed competition on boys varsity squads, but the pool of players is not large enough yet for more than a handful of schools or districts to sponsor the sport.
But hockey is a collision sport rather than a contact sport (such as wrestling), so the risk of injury in mixed competition can't be underestimated. Anything that can be done to accelerate the launch of more girls high school programs would be wise, albeit expensive.
In the Buffalo area, the private Nichols School has sponsored the sport since 1995. The New York State Girls Varsity Ice Hockey League, which consists of nine teams in central and eastern New York, could offer opportunities for scheduling games, but Williamsville would still be facing trips of three or four hours to Oswego, Ithaca or Skaneateles.
Robeson back in business: Robeson High's gym, one of the least-liked destinations for opposing teams in all of Brooklyn, has been approved for hosting games again less
