Leading off today: Upstate's most sought-after recruits in the Class of 2010 for football and boys basketball revealed their decisions hours apart this weekend: Johnson City football lineman DaQuan Jones has made an oral commitment to Penn State, while Buffalo Nichols basketball standout Will Regan will sign in the fall to continue his career at Virginia.

   Jones told The Press & Sun-Bulletin he confirmed his decision with Nittany Lions offensive line coach Larry Johnson yesterday after turning down Boston College, Maryland, Syracuse and Pittsburgh. Scout.com rates him as one of two four-star recruits in the state and he is projected as a defensive lineman.

   Jones' decision is a blow for first-year Syracuse coach Doug Marrone, whose staff has re-established ties to the high-school ranks throughout much of the state in the last six months but has mostly been mining players from the New York City/Long Island region thus far. Locking up Jones could have been a milestone similar to when Dick MacPherson was able to convince Liverpool's Tim Green to stay home in the early-1980s despite the abysmal state of the Orange at the time.

   Meanwhile, the 6-foot-9 Regan was one of the most recruited Section 6 players in recent memory and turned down Michigan, Providence, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Stanford and Maryland, according to The Buffalo News.

   Regan, a second-team all-state pick in Class A, averaged 23.9 points on 60.5 percent shooting and 13.8 rebounds as a junior. He'll be playing for Tony Bennett, who left Washington State to take over the Cavaliers.

   With 1,401 career points, Regan is on pace to become the 13th Section 6 player to reach 2,000.

   Coming Thursday: The New York State Sportswriters Association is set to unveil a new annual feature this week as we honor the top boys, girls and overall athletic programs among NYSPHSAA members based on points accumulated by reaching various levels of success in the state tournaments and championships.

   We will unveil the top fives for boys, girls and overall in each of five classes.

   The program is modeled after the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and universities with the most success in athletics. It was widely known as the Sears Cup before a change in sponsors in 2004.

   Catching up: Washingtonville is bringing back Don Clark as football coach even though incumbent Tim Johnson applied, The Times Herald-Record reported last week. Clark won the Section 9 Class AA Division II title there in 2003 and left to become an assistant at Marist. He returned to Marist last fall after two seasons at Pace

Spring tournament schedules NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse NYSPHSAA baseball NYSPHSAA softball

University. He works in Washingtonville's attendance office.

   "Don's background of college and wealth of years from upstate will give the program a little shot in the arm it needs," AD Lorraine Barbarash said.

   Johnson was an assistant on Clark's 2003 staff. In his three years as head coach, the Wizards progressed from winless to two victories to 4-5 last season. He will remain as an assistant coach.

   "I don't agree with it. I don't like it," Johnson told the paper. "But they have the right to choose who they want. I'm still on the coaching staff. I'll address it in a different forum at a different time."

   Meanwhile, Nick Gentile has been appointed football coach at Harpursville. Gentile, 67, whose 32-year coaching career includes stints as head coach at three schools, replaces Mike Curtis.

   The Hornets have not had a winning season since 1984. They were 4-5 last fall.

   Gentile, a retired Ithaca teacher, was last a head coach at Tully from 2000-02. He was the head coach at Bainbridge-Guilford from 1975-78 and at Groton from 1984-87.

   Hot prospect: I mentioned above that DaQuan Jones is one of two four-star football recruits in the state according to the latest ratings from Scout.com. The other player on that short list is Staten Island Curtis defensive end Dominique Easley, whose recruitment is spiraling out of control.

   "It's been crazy," Easley told The Advance. "Hectic."

   Curtis coach Peter Gambardella started a list of pursuing schools on an index card at the beginning of the year. He told the paper the list is up to 18 Division I schools having offered scholarships.

   Many northeastern schools expressed early interest, but momentum picked up once last February's recruiting was wrapped up and schools and scouting services started requesting film from Gambardella. Oregon was the first to offer from outside the region.

   "Then it just started coming," Easley said. "Everybody started coming in."

   Florida, Tennessee, Penn State, Michigan, Georgia and Miami are among the big names on the list thus far.