In 2000, Rondout Valley became the first Section 9 team to win a New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship.

   Flash forward to this past Friday, when the school district shut down the varsity program because there were not enough players available — despite the fact that Rondout Valley is a Class A football school in terms of enrollment.

   "We tried to put it off,” AD Michael Kroemer told the Times Herald-Record, "but we had to make a decision to be fair to everybody."

   The decision came at 4 p.m. Friday with the realization that having to forfeit the first two games (vs. Goshen and James I. O'Neill) was already all but certain. NYSPHSAA rules require a minimum of 16 eligible players, and only 14 to 20 had attended practice each day since Aug. 17.

   And while those numbers might be workable over the whole season for a Class D program or in the short term for a larger school — East Rochester used to have fewer players than Fairport had cheerleaders toward the end of their legendary Little Brown Jug series in Section 5 in the mid-1980s — it's just not safe in Class A.

   Rondout Valley will continue to field JV and modified teams this fall. Meanwhile, at least 180 smaller NYSPHSAA schools will be fielding varsity teams this fall.

   At least three other schools, all in Class D, have had to drop the sport so far this month: Archbishop Walsh in Olean, Brocton and Hinsdale.

   Looking ... looking ... : With the development at Rondout Valley, there are very limited opportunities for the Ganders' scheduled opponents to pick up games. Here's the rundown of teams with open dates each weekend according to New York State Sportswriters Association member Steve Grandin:

   Week 1 — Goshen-9, Nichols-CHS/6.

   Week 2 — South Park-6, Springfield Gardens-PSAL, Cardinal Hayes-CHS/NYC, O'Neill-9, Niagara Catholic-CHS/6.

   Week 3 — Blind Brook-1, Hutch-Tech-6, Niagara Catholic-CHS/6, Harry Truman-PSAL, Horace Mann-AIS, Port Jervis-9, C.G. Finney-5.

   Week 4 — Burgard-6, Saranac-7, Thomas Jefferson-PSAL, Highland-9.

   Week 5 — Grover Cleveland-6, Saranac Lake-7, South Shore-PSAL, Horace Mann-AIS, Cornwall-9, St. Mary's-CHS/6.

   Week 6 — Dover-1, Bennett-6, Niagara Catholic-6, Tupper Lake-10, August Martin-PSAL, Moore Catholic-AIS, Wallkill-9, Cardinal O'Hara-CHS/6.

   Week 7 — Lafayette-6, Potsdam-10, Tilden-PSAL, Saugerties-9.

   Week 8 — East-6, Seton Catholic-7, John Adams-PSAL, Long Island Lutheran-AIS, Marlboro-9.

   Week 9 — McKinley-6, Onteora-9, Franklin Roosevelt-PSAL, Burke Catholic-9, Nichols-CHS/6.

   Week 10 — Riverside-6, Poly Prep-AIS, Horace Mann-AIS, Moore Catholic-AIS.

   More football: One solution for some schools with small player turnouts is to merge its football programs with other schools. That's not an easy task for districts with only one high school, since neighboring districts have a variety of reasons (some of them actually legitimate) for not wanting

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to get involved.

   But there are possibilities for districts with multiple schools, and The Journal News reported late last week that Yonkers officials considered combining the Gorton and Roosevelt programs over the summer.

   "If we merged with Roosevelt, we would have immediately been sectional championship contenders," Gorton coach Dan DeMatteo told the newspaper. "The kids wanted it. They embraced the idea. It's too bad it didn't work out."

   Gorton is arguably the only school in the district with a stable program. The Wolves went 2-6 last fall but had posted five straight winning seasons before that. Meanwhile, Lincoln, Yonkers, Saunders and Roosevelt have all battled low participation recently and Saunders' 5-4 mark in 2001 is the only winning season among the four since 1999.

   Gorton and Lincoln are already Class AA schools, and the merger of any two (or more) programs in Yonkers would create another Class AA team.

   "My gut feeling is that it's got to happen," DeMatteo said. "Our schools keep getting smaller and numbers are a huge issue already. It has to happen."

   Welcome to the (insert sponsor name here) gym? Tim Schmitt at the Niagara Gazette took an interesting look at the issue of corporate sponsorships and advertising for high school sports programs.

   Just about every AD in the country will tell you that money is tight these days, and Starpoint's Tom Sarkovics talked about the possible options for his school, such as selling ad space on the outfield fences of baseball diamonds, etc.

   We’re looking at it. Over the years, people haven’t liked that kind of thing," Sarkovics said. "But we’re at a point where we need to find any way we can to get a few bucks in the school."

   And even if he gets the go-ahead, Sarkovics still anticipates issues.

   "You don’t want to offend anybody,” he said. "Which restaurant do you pick? Which products do you pick? We’d love to have one of those Pepsi or Coke scoreboards for some of the fields, but now the health people come in and say we can’t serve some of those things. Energy drinks are banned."

   It's an interesting read. Check it out here.

   Extra points: Dylan Favre, the nephew of (insert team here) quarterback Brett Favre, set a Mississippi high school record with 549 passing yards for Bay Saint Louis (Miss.) St. Stanislaus in a game Friday. Insert your own jokes about retiring here.