Leading off today: George Mardigan abruptly retired this week as Watervliet's boys basketball coach after 30 seasons and 546 victories, including a 2-0 start this season.

   Walter Bowden, a former player under Mardigan and an assistant the past 15 years, ran practice on Tuesday and will coach the remainder of the season according to The Times Union. Mardigan met with his players on Monday to inform them of his decision.

   Mardigan is a retired history teacher at Watervliet but had remained as a coach the past few seasons. He was 546-158 with 13 Section 2 championships and the 1991 state and Federation Class C titles. He never had a losing season and was inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame in March.

   Fairport coach dies: Fairport baseball coach Pete Granger died this morning at his home following a battle with cancer, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

   Granger, 54, coached Fairport to a third consecutive Section 5 championship in June and posted a 171-89 record in 11 seasons. he coached 31 years in the school district and taught at Northside Elementary School.

   A tie at the top: West Genesee and William Floyd, convincing winners in their respective playoff finals over the weekend, will finish the season as co-No. 1 football teams in the New York state Sportswriters Association Class AA rankings released this afternoon.

   West Genesee (11-2) dominated then-No. 1 Monroe-Woodbury, 42-21, in the NYSPHSAA Class AA final in Syracuse. William Floyd (11-0) extended its winning streak to 33 games by crushing Farmingdale, 42-0, for the Long Island Class I championship.

   William Floyd picked up some additional recognition, moving to No. 25 in Sports Illustrated's national ratings.

   Lights . . . camera . . . lawsuit: The dispute between Illinois High School Association and newspapers took a turn for the worse last weekend when photographers from five publications were denied access to the field during the state football championships.

   It was part of an ongoing fight with the state press association over the right to sell photographs from high school championships. The issue escalated this month

Fall tournament brackets NYSPHSAA football NYSPHSAA boys soccer NYSPHSAA girls soccer NYSPHSAA field hockey

when the Illinois Press Association filed a lawsuit over the IHSA's media policies, which include a provision preventing newspapers from selling championship pictures snapped by staff photographers.

   "Our intention is to enforce our media policy and to protect our rights," said Marty Hickman, IHSA's executive director. "Whether it means denying credentials or it means litigation, those options are out there."

   At issue is a contract between the state athletic association and Visual Image Photography Inc. that grants exclusive rights to sell state championship photos. In exchange, the IHSA receives rights to those images for its own promotional material and agreed to ban credentialed media from selling their own pictures.

   Negotiations this fall allowed newspapers equal access in order to gather images for the print editions and online photo galleries, but the issue of selling reprints was not resolved.

   IHSA officials said they had no choice but to ban photographers last weekend because of the lawsuit.

   In February, news photographers walked out of Louisiana's girls basketball championships over the issue. In Wisconsin, athletic officials tried to stop papers from selling photos last spring but haven't taken any action after the press association balked.

   Extra points: Stillwater voters will decide Dec. 18 on new propositions for an artificial turf field and lights at the district complex on Route 4. A similar proposition failed in June, at which time voters approved a $26.6 million project to build a new wing at the elementary school, a new gym and an expanded cafeteria. The vote will be on two propositions, one for $850,500 to build the turf field and another for $182,000 for lights. Combined, they would raise the average tax bill by $6 a year for 20 years. . . . A group of parents and boosters will formally ask the Lewiston-Porter school board next month to add boys lacrosse and ice hockey programs to the district's offereings. Lew-Port AD Scott Townsend says there appears to be strong interest in the two sports.

HOME | BLOG | RANKINGS | BRACKETS | REFERENCE | KERR CUP | ABOUT US

©2007-19 Abbott Trento Online Media. All rights reserved. Contact us via e-mail.