Leading off today: Longtime
Buffalo News sportswriter Tom Borrelli was listed in critical condition this morning in Erie County Medical Center after he fell down a flight of stairs while covering a high school football game Saturday.
Borrelli, 51, suffered head and neck injuries after the accident at Buffalo's All High Stadium. Authorities said Borrelli fell down a flight of stairs leading up to the press box while covering the Harvard Cup game between Riverside and McKinley.
Borrelli was described as badly injured by authorities, though they said he was able to talk to firefighters and rescue personnel, the paper reported. A Buffalo School District spokesman said Borrelli got treatment immediately after the fall.
The big story: Ellenville senior football player Tony Casamento got plenty of ink over the weekend, with MaxPreps.com and USA Today among the outlets picking up a story originally appearing in Times Herald-Record.
Ellenville won the Section 9 Class C championship Saturday night by beating Sullivan West, 34-20, at Dietz Stadium. A week earlier, Casamento, a 305-pound defensive tackle, played quarterback during the team semifinal win over Millbrook. He was filling in for injured starter Sebastian Constable, who had an appendectomy two days earlier.
In Ellenville’s run-heavy offense, Casamento was primarily responsible for handing off to backs Eric Thayer and Don Exner. He threw a successful two-point conversion in his only pass attempt of the game.
Casamento returned to line duty on Saturday as Constable returned for game against Sullivan West.
“People laughed at me when I said he’s a quarterback in a lineman’s body,” coach Tony Boriello said. “But he really is.”
Former Giants back-up quarterback Jared Lorenzen -- aka "The Hefty Left" and the "Abdominal Throwman" -- stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 285 pounds last seasons. Casamento checks in at 5-foot-10.
Casamento is known and respected for his football expertise.
“He’s the next John Madden,” Thayer told the Times Herald-Record. “You name it, he knows it."
Huge gamble: Don’t ever accuse Nyack coach John Castellano of not believing in his players. Faced with a fourth-and-1 situation at his own 19 with about three minutes left in a tie game, Castellano took the chance of his life.
"I was going to punt it, and they looked over at me and said, 'Coach, please let us go for it,'" he told The Journal News. "And how do you deny a group of kids that have given you everything from Day 1?"
