Leading off today: Boosters and parents in Wantagh say they've reached their goal of collecting about $650,000 to save sports and other student activities, Newsday reported.

   In a letter posted on their Web site, chairwoman Mary Hall and other leaders of "Wantagh SOS" describe the effort as something "no other community has ever done."

   Wantagh SOS has distributed more than $430,000 to the district thus far and will make the final payment ahead of the Feb. 1 deadline to preserve six middle-school sports teams, a high school musical, plays and other activities. Varsity sports had already been salvaged.

   Wantagh SOS was formed in July after district voters rejected a proposed $64.7-million budget for the second time. The school board slashed $1.5 million from the budget, endangering most varsity sports and other activities.

   Along with fund-raisers and private donations, Wantagh obtained a $75,000 grant through state Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick) and $51,760 through county legislators Dennis Dunne (R-Levittown) and David Denenberg (D-Merrick).

   "Just happy it's over and concerned about next year," said Don Desroches, a Wantagh SOS spokesman, adding that the group's next project will be to push for voter approval of next year's school budget.

   JFK keeps rolling: Bronx JFK, ranked 10th in Class AA, made 14 three-pointers and downed No. 8 Uniondale, 83-67, in the Martin Luther King Jr. Classic yesterday at Adelphi University.

   Naquan Pierce led JFK to its seventh straight win with 21 points, and Jeffrey Short added 19 and Ross Vizcaino 18.

   Small school, big losses: Mike Zummo of The Leader-Herald in Gloversville examined the state of the athletic program in the tiny Wells Cendtral School District, and it ain't pretty.

   With a Basic Education Data System (BEDS) figure of 49, Wells is the fourth-smallest public high school in the state, ahead of only Bridgehampton (40), Keene (39) and Andes (35). Wells is the second-smallest school district in Section 7 that isn't combined with another to fill out the scholastic sports rosters; Keene fields varsity soccer, basketball, softball and baseball on its own and merges with other schools for hockey, swimming, track and tennis.

   "Wells is in a situation now where they don't have the numbers to pick athletes from," said former coach and AD Randy Begeal. "If you don't have the numbers, you don't

Also worth checking out Boys basketball page 2008 all-state football team

have the talent pool."

   The boys soccer team played several games in 2007 with only 10 players, and in 2008 first-year coach Tom Higgins struggled to fill out a roster. The current boys basketball team, which has seven players, lost its first 10 games by an average of 33.1 points per game. The only close game was a 56-52 loss to Keene.

   "The bottom line with us is that we lost as an athletic association when we stopped the feeder program up here," said Shawn Taylor, who coaches basketball with his father, Keith Taylor. "Now kids are in 10th and 11th grade and are not enthusiastic about sports."

   Girls basketball and softball coach Dayna Fisher has enough players for now but future numbers are dismal.

   "The lower grades are just all boys," she told the paper. "There aren't girls to begin with."

   Do we need a mercy rule? As long as we're on the subject of struggling basketball teams, I might as well mention a Times Herald-Record story from two weeks ago that I'd been saving for a rainy day.

   Mira Wassef looked into the possible need for a mercy rule of some sort to deal with runaway girls basketball scores that have included margins on 69-16, 60-14 and 65-19 so far this season in Section 9.

   Still, coaches who've been on the wrong end of the score aren't necessarily in a hurry to end games early or utilize a running clock.

   "I don't like it and I've been on the short end many more times," said Kingston coach Steve Garner. "I want my third-string players to have the same setup and rules as the starters. That rule is for coaches who like to run it up. I'm not one of those. It's the kids who get screwed, not the coaches."

   The National Federation voted in 2003 to allow states to introduce a point differential rule in basketball. The specifics were left up to individual states, but only approximately eight to 10 states have moved forward with mercy rules.

   Eileen Troy, the NYSPHSAA girls basketball chair, said there has been no organized effort to install a mercy rule in New York.

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