Leading off today: The New York-New Jersey All-Star Classic has gone the way of leather helmets.

   The New Jersey Football Coaches Association sent out a release this week saying that its all-stars will instead launch a new spring game, the New Jersey–Northeast All-Star Classic, The Journal News' Kevin Devaney Jr. reported on his blog this week.

   A couple of phone calls to knowledgable New York insiders revealed that there were several unresolved issues between the sponsoring N.Y. and N.J. organizations, not the least of which was New Jersey's desire to keep the game at Rutgers University rather than alternating with West Point.

   The New York sources said there are very preliminary plans to launch an intrastate all-star game with either an upstate/downstate or East/West format. One plan would have a well-known former professional football player become the name sponsor of the game in cooperation with a charity.

   The N.Y.-N.J. game, which started out as the Governors Bowl, lasted 11 years and never came close to reaching critical mass. The New York State High School Football Coaches Association deserves credit for trying to make the event meaningful for New York players and fans, but the hurdles were immense.

   With so many colleges now expecting incoming recruits to be on campus by early summer, the game was played in early June the last two years, going up against New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships in baseball, track and lacrosse in competition for athletes, spectators and media coverage. With multiple professional sports also competing for attention at that time of year and New York able to field only a handful of Division I signees, only the tragically clueless insisted the game had any meaning or merit.

   Again, that's not a knock on the coaches association. They made a good run at trying to make the game work, but in the end this turkey deserved to be dropped from a helicopter and put out of its misery. As Devaney noted, "I don’t know who, outside of the die-hard fan, will really miss it. It was never promoted well and seemed like a New Jersey affair that New York simply participated in."

   Sayville shot down: Sayville's protest over the final play of regulation in a 41-35 overtime loss at Kings Park was rejected by Section 11 yesterday, with the issue not even presented to a committee.

   "I did receive a protest letter from Sayville, but it cannot take place because there was not a misapplication of the rules," Ed Cinelli, executive director of Section 11, told Newsday. "The protest involved a judgment call, and according to our policy and the rules in our Section 11 handbook, you cannot protest a judgment call. And that really makes it a done deal."

   Sayville coach Rob Hoss remained decidely unhappy.

   "It's absurd that the Section doesn't even take it to committee," he told the paper. "This official missed the play badly, didn't follow protocol, and my players are getting penalized. This whole thing is ridiculous."

   Bob Hallick, president of the Suffolk County Football Officials Association, said, "It was a judgment call and that's it. We don't have protests over judgment calls."

   Loaded schedule: This weekend's football schedule is the best so far this season, with 13 ranked Class AA teams taking on opponents that are also ranked. Tops among them is probably No. 15 at No. 2 gates Chili as the Cadets bring a strong passing game in against an opponent that's been dominating with a solid ground game.

   In addition, the best Section 9 teams will have their hands full. No. 24 Newburgf is at No. 9 Minisink Valley and No. 5 Monroe-Woodbury hosts Section 2's Saratoga.

   In the smaller classes, three other games are top-10 affairs as Bryam Hills plays at Rye, Canandaigua travels to Geneva and Caledonia-Mumford vists LeRoy.

   You can check out the full schedule of games for ranked teams here.

   League alignments: It's only a matter of time before the Monroe County Public School Athletic Conference adds its 22nd school, with No. 23 quite possibly not very far behind.

   The Honeoye Falls-Lima school board gave approval Tuesday for school officials to apply for a spot in the MCPSAC, the Democrat and Chronicle reported. HF-L could move over from the Livingston County Athletic Association by next fall if it submits its application by Dec. 1.

   Meanwhile, Canandaigua school officials are surveying residents about a possible move from the Finger Lakes High School Athletic Association to the Monroe County league.

As the largest Finger Lakes school by a margin of more than 30 percent over the next-largest school, Canandaigua is a fish out of water now that Victor is in its first season in the Monroe County Public School Athletic Conference. Scheduling has become increasingly difficult, with the football team having to line up non-leaguers with Camden, Horseheads, McQuaid and Slippery Rock, Pa., to fill out a seven-game schedule this fall.

   AD Brian Donohue said that HF-L has also run into issues related to lopsided competition and scheduling recently, the paper reported.

   More of the Gwaltney saga: Jason Gwaltney took another step toward his apparent goal of destroying a once-promising football future. Gwaltney, who ranks in the all-time top five in several New York high school rushing categories, is now on shaky ground at C.W. Post after blowing at least two chances at West Virginia.

   Newsday reported that Gwaltney, who's run for 439 yards in four games, took on C.W. Post's zero-tolerance policy last week and lost. His absences from treatment for a sore knee and a practice earned a one-game suspension.

   "We didn't feel we were all on the same page as far as him following through with us," coach Bryan Collins told the paper "We felt we needed to suspend him for the game because of breaking rules and regulations of our team. You don't change your policies or procedures based on one kid."

   Collins said Gwaltney had no comment following an interview request.

   Soccer milestones: Maple Hill girls soccer coach Sheila Golden earned her 300th career victory yesterday with a 6-0 triumph against Taconic Hills. Senior striker Alyssa Ancin scored two goals to lead the way.

   A day earlier, Maple Hill boys coach Dan Gillespie saw his team lose to Cairo-Durham on literally a last-second goal by Peter Zoellner, 1-0, to remain at 499 victories. Golden ran track for Gillespie as a Maple Hill student. She took over the girls varsity in 1991.

   Meanwhile, Aaron Rygiel continues to pile up the goals for the Alfred-Almond boys. Two goals on Tuesday during a 5-0 victory against Jasper-Troupsburg gave him 101 for his career. More than just a finisher, Rygiel brought a career total of 65 assists into his senior season.

   Farmingdale investigation: Two very different versions of an incident at Farmingdale High School have emerged, with police calling the incident "locker room horseplay" while the father of the alleged victim described it as a "tragic event."

   "I go to the police for help -- I didn't expect to have this minimized," the father said, referring to an alleged attack in which a senior football player is accused of trying to assault his son, a junior on the team, with a broomstick last week.

   Police say the senior struck the younger boy on the rear but the incident was not an assault. Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone said the victim and his family declined to pursue a harassment charge.

   The father and the family's attorneys, who represented two victims in the 2003 Mepham hazing, denied that police made the harassment-charge offer and demanded the case be referred to the Nassau police special victims unit.

   Attorney Michael Rubin said the younger boy was changing after practice when the older boy attempted to assault him with the broomstick. The younger boy grabbed the broom and snapped it in two, he said.

   "I don't know how you get horseplay from someone using a broomstick that way," the father said.

   The school district said the older student was suspended for a week, according to the victim's attorneys.

   Livonia follow-up: A former softball coach in the Livonia school district has admitted using his cell phone to transmit sexual images to a team member, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

   Jeremy J. Socola, 27, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Rochester to a felony of transmitting information regarding a minor with the intent to coerce the minor into illegal sexual activity. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

   Socola, who coached modified softball and football, was arrested in January. According to court documents, Socola allegedly used his cell phone to send a photo of his genitals to a softball player in late August or early September 2007.

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