Leading off today: Aquinas put the finishing touch on a perfect season yesterday at the Carrier Dome with a 34-12 victory over Lansingbugh in the NYSPHSAA Class A championship game.

   It's rare that a 34-12 game can be called "closer than the score indicates," but it was a battle of near-equals for most of three quarters before the Little Irish (13-0) wore down yet another opponent with their combination of size and speed.

   Senior Anthony Fitts scored three touchdowns and ran 25 times for 159 yards. Aquinas had 317 yards of offense, including 239 on the ground.

   It was Aquinas' fourth state championship and first since 2002.

   Earlier in the day, the Class D final was a typical Walton train wreck as the Warriors thrashed Ticonderoga, 64-6. Walton scored 42 first-half points and posted nine TDs in the first 37 minutes of action to cap a season in which it outscored 13 opponents by a combined 707-48.

   The U.S. record for points scored in a 13-game season is 804 by Maxtom, N.C., in 1975 according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

   Long Island finals: East Islip raced to a three-TD lead in the first half and beat Lawrence, 35-7, for the Long Island Class II championship at Hofstra. Lawrence had been on a 19-game winning streak.

   Central Florida recruit Rob Calabrese carried 15 times for 105 yards and also went 6-for-10 for 82 yards. Tim Moller (seven carries for 149 yards, three catches for 50 yards) set a Long Island championship game with a 97-yard TD run late in the third quarter to finish the scoring.

   In the Class IV final, Amityville dominated Seaford, 28-0, to finish a 9-2 season with eight shutouts. Senior quarterback Marcus Gardner (26 carries, 216 yards) and junior halfback Tyler Heller 11 carries, 107 yards) wore down the defense.

   Rankings: I do not spend much time on the Syracuse.com forums anymore (I have a note from my doctor saying I'm too well to be there), but I know there's

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been debate recently about where Walton would rank all-time in Class D and how the team would fare playing in higher classes this fall.

   With a BEDS enrollment figure of 274 for this season, Walton might as well have been in Class C anyway and certainly could have contended for a state championship in thast class. I also believe Walton could have been competitive in Class B this fall, but winning a state championship would probably have been overachieving.

   That doesn't matter, though. The important thing is that Walton put on a dominating show in Class D this fall and clearly earned its championship. I know we'll end up debating this a bit at the Dome tomorrow, but I'd say Walton is probably the best Class D squad in New York since at least Caledonia-Mumford in 1995.

   Cal-Mum in the mid-'90s was similar to Walton in that the Red Raiders' enrollment teetered on the Class C/D cutoff line each year. Cal-Mum won all 13 games that season by a combined 462-61 margin.

   While the scoring differential was not as impressive as Walton's cumulative margin in 2007, the Red Raiders held an advantage in terms of scheduling. Walton played 11 Class D opponents and two from Class C this fall. Cal-Mum's title team didn't even face it's third Class D opponent of the year until the post-season began and downed four Class B teams (granted, all had losing records) by a 159-15 margin.

   But here's the real kicker: You don't have to imagine whether Cal-Mum might have been good enough to win state Class C that year. The Red Raiders beat Le Roy, 20-6, in a mid-September rivaly game. Ten weeks later, the Oatkan Knights capped a 12-1 season by beating Saranac Lake in the Class C final.

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