Leading off today: A statewide football all-star game held in Syracuse appears to be close to reality, The Journal News has reported.

   Reporter Kevin Devaney blogged the news on Monday after attending the Section 1 football dinner, where North Rockland coach Joe Casarella discussed the latest developments.

   Attempts today to reach organizers of the game were not successful, but I'm told that the Carrier Dome has tentatively been reserved for June 6. The format would be upstate vs. downstate, with each roster consisting of about 50 seniors.

   As Devaney reported, New York has been without a statewide all-star event since withdrawing from the Governors Bowl after the 2008 contest vs. New Jersey due to a dispute about scheduling venues.

   The timing of the game will undoubtedly be an issue -- as it was during the Governors Bowl era -- if the June 6 date is accurate because spring sectional championships and early-round state playoff torunaments will be in full swing. That will likely result in some top players passing up the all-star game.

   The combination of state championships, exams, graduation ceremonies and the July 4 holiday makes the following four weekends impractical for the all-star game, and most of the Division I players will be expected to be on campus for orientation or summer classes by early July.

   Just another day in the PSAL: Will the last guy out of the CHSAA please turn out the lights?

   Chris Ortiz, a 6-foot-7 junior, has left Christ the King and resurfaced at Abraham Lincoln according to The New York Post. He's merely the latest in a long list of recent departures from CHSAA schools to teams in the PSAL.

   Railsplitters coach Dwayne "Tiny" Morton said he was unaware of Ortiz enrolling at Lincoln, the four-time defending PSAL champion. "That's unbelievable. This is crazy," he told the paper. "I don't know him personally, never met the kid."

   According to the paper, Ortiz, a first-year varsity player, was asked to leave Christ the King for disciplinary reasons.

He decided over the weekend to enroll at Lincoln.

   “I like their style of play and I feel like I can fit in well with them,” Ortiz told the paper.

   Junior Kamari Murphy jumped from Bishop Ford to Lincoln earlier this month. Like Murphy, Ortiz participated in several scrimmages for CTK and also appears on the official roster sent to the CHSAA.

   Under PSAL rules, Ortiz should be ineligible to play for Lincoln this season, however it's likely that the PSAL will determine there's a loophole due to the circumstances of his departure from CTK.

   New award announced: The Hobey Baker High School Character Award is coming to New York hockey this season for the first time.

   The award was founded in 2003 and is already presented to a player at every hockey-playing school in 15 states. St. Anthony's Athletic Director Donal Buckley has been enlisted to get the New York chapter up and running.

   The Hobey Baker High School Character Award will go to a player at each school demonstrating character, commitment, teamwork, persistence, selflessness, academic excellence and sportsmanship.

   Buckley is in the process of collecting contact information for each school and expects to send out information in mid-January. School officials seeking more information can contact him via e-mail.

   Wrestling rankings: Chenango Forks and Spencerport share the No. 1 spot among large schools in the season's first NYSSWA wrestling rankings. Palmyra-Macedon holds down the top spot among small schools.

   Chenango Forks (262 points, Ridgeway, Pa., (226½) and Spencerport (209½) took the top three positions at the 25th Jamestown Holiday Classic, but dual-meet performance is the primary criteria for the NYSSWA rankings.

   Chenango Forks and Spencerport could be on a collision course to meet in the finals of the Union-Endicott Duals on Jan. 2-3. Third-ranked John Glenn, No. 7 U-E and No. 8 MacArthur are also in the tournament field. No. 3 Greene is the highest-ranking small school scheduled to compete.