Leading off today: The on-again, off-again conclusion to the football game between East Rochester/Gananda and Bath is on again, but perhaps not for long.
The game, suspended Friday with 2:39 to play due to a power failure that knocked out the lights at Bath's field, was ruled a "no contest" over the weekend, but the Democrat and Chronicle reported this morning that the rules require either that the game be completed or that ER/Gananda be declared the winner. The Bombers were leading 21-14 at the time of the disruption, but Bath was driving inside the ER/Gananda 30-yard line.
The game is now scheduled to resume today at 5:30 p.m. on Bath's field, but ER/Gananda coach Dennis Greco said his team will not make the trip approximately an hour and 45 minutes each way and will forfeit the contest. ER/Gananda is on the road again Friday night for a game against Waterloo.
"It's not taking the best interest in the kids at heart," Greco said. "If they want the win that bad, the (sectional) points that bad, take 'em. This whole thing is ridiculous. You're expecting kids to do something that's unhealthy."
Regardless of how the situation plays out, it's likely that both teams will advance to the Section 5 Class B playoffs, possibly setting up a rematch in sectionals.
Sunday's rapid recap: Senior Ryan Whitley threw TDs of 63 yards to Nick Padilla and 56 yards to Kevin Malivert, scored on a 13-yard run and led Ramapo to a 31-19 triumph against North Rockland. Junior Jamal Marshall scored on runs of 16 and 53 yards.
Junior Dorian Feggins ran for 179 yards and two TDs in relief of the injured Johnson City transfer Jamar Smith (172 yards, three TDs) at the Carrier Dome as Binghamton rolled up 499 yards on the ground and 596 overall to beat Fayetteville-Manlius, 47-23. Smith scored on runs of 14 and 38 yards to get Binghamton out to a 13-12 lead, then scampered 72 yards to make it 19-15 in the second quarter.
Justin Forte ran for 144 yards and junior Jake Meek threw for 231 as Bishop Kearney scored a 35-17 win over Westhill at the Carrier Dome. Kearney junior Blair Roberts scored on a 65-yard punt return in the third quarter and a 68-yard pass from Meek in the fourth quarter.
Weekend follow-up: A revision to the stats boosted Hoosick Falls QB Kevin Woods's numbers to 19-for-28 for 402 yards and five TDs in Friday’s 34-19 win vs. Cambridge. . . . Granville, which went 0-9 with just 32 points scored in 2007, opened its football season with a 28-22 win over Stillwater. . . . The Observer-Dispatch reports that New Hartford senior QB Mike Doyle (bruised knee) will likely miss Friday's game against defending champion Carthage in a rematch of last year’s Section 3 Class A final.
Tom Giglio’s spectacular start to his junior football season was also his finale. Utica Notre Dame's two-way starter returned Saturday’s opening kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown, ran for another score and caught two TD passes but broke his left tibia on a helmet hit in the third quarter of the Jugglers’ 59-6 rout of New York Mills.