Leading off today: The Fayetteville-Manlius girls have punched their ticket for a return to the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore., scoring 28 points to win the New York qualifier yesterday at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.

   The Saratoga girls also qualified for nationals by scoring 73 points. North Shore (110) and East Aurora (124) are awaiting word today about possible wildcard berths. Given New York's history in th race -- Saratoga and Hilton won the first two national crowns and F-M has earned the four since -- there's a distinct possibility both could earn invitations.

   In the boys race, F-M (45 points) and Shaker (59) qualified in convincing fashion. Rush-Henrietta (76) and Warwick Valley (92) will have to sweat out the wildcard process.

   Sam Place of Saratoga was the top finisher in the boys team race in 15:54.5. Mark McGurrin and Nick Ryan paced F-M in fourth and fifth place, respectively. The top five individuals not qualifying as part of their team advance to nationals.

   Jillian Fanning, Katie Sischo, Christie Rutledge and Heather Martin nailed down first, third, fifth and seventh place, respectively, for the Fayetteville-Manlius girls. F-M won the NYSPHSAA Class AA championship two weeks ago with a perfect score for the second year in a row.

   “The girls took care of business, but our boys finally climbed to the top of the mountain,” F-M coach Bill Aris told The Post-Standard. “The boys ran great, turning in their best effort of the season. They ran the way we knew they were capable of running, but hadn’t done so far this season.”

   More cross country: Four New Yorkers earned spots at the Foot Locker Nationals with their efforts in the Northeast qualifier at Long Island's Sunken Meadow.

   Chad Noelle won the boys race in 15:42, beating New Jersey standout Morgan Pearson the tape by five meters. Fellow senior Edward Owens of Packer Collegiate placed sixth in 15:46.6 to advance, but there were no other New Yorkers in the top 20.

   Among the girls, Cornwall senior Aisling Cuffe won by a margin of 11 seconds in 17:51.0 and qualified for the third year in a row. She was 12th as a sophomore and fourth last year.

   She'll be joined at the national meet by junior Lauren Mullins (Johnson City), who placed sixth in 18:24.

   Long Island finals: Ryan Rielly ran for 254 yards and three touchdowns and went 6-for-10 for 54 yards and another score through the air as John Glenn beat Seaford 28-7 in the Long Island Class IV final last night at Stony Brook University.

   Justin Buckley ran for 111 yards and a touchdown for Seaford, which had its 23-game winning streak snapped.

   In Class II, Bellport running back Travis Houpe scored on a 3-yard run with 1:23 to play as Bellport edged Garden City 26-21. Houpe carried 25 times for 104 yards and two TDs as the Clippers secured their sixth Long Island championship, tying North Babylon for the most titles.

   Garden City had taken a 21-20 lead on Patric Berkery's 1-yard run with 2:18 left in the third quarter and Ryan Norton's extra point. Berkery ran for 160 yards and TDs, caught seven passes for 108 yards and another score, and picked off a pass.

   Bad blood: Moore Catholic coach Greg Rocco, his team and three Tottenville players were involved in a skirmish Friday night at halftime of a Thanksgiving charity football game at Tottenville, The New York Post reported.

   The Tottenville players, who were watching the game, were gathering their belongings and Rocco cursed at them to get out of the locker room, a witness told the paper under condition of anonymity. The source said

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Tottenville junior Niheem Chavis responded that the Moore coach couldn’t talk to them that way. The paper reported Rocco stormed toward Chavis and shoved him, prompting Chavis to throw a punch that missed Rocco.

   Rocco denied to the paper that he put his hands on Chavis and declined further comment.

   The source said after Chavis’ swing and miss, Moore players charged the Tottenville trio and a brawl broke out. The fracas was broken up by game referees, and Chavis went to the hospital for three stitches to his head, sources said.

   Police responded to a call at the school but no arrests were made.

   Moore was down 20-6 at halftime and lost 34-18 to Susan Wagner in a game benefitting war veteran Brendan Marrocco, a Staten Island native seriously injured in Iraq last year.

   Tottenville coach Jim Munson had no comments after yesterday's 34-14 loss to Fort Hamilton in the PSAL semifinals.

   Brandon Reddish returned a Brandon Barnes interception 93 yards in the first quarter, and Tigers QB Marvin Centeno found James Howell for a 29-yard strike on fourth-and-6 with :28 left in the first half. Reddish ran for a 53-yard TD after Tottenville cut the lead to 20-14 with 4:00 left.

   The Tigers advanced to the Dec. 7 PSAL final at Yankee Stadium against Abraham Lincoln, which beat Campus Magnet 22-14 in the other semifinal.

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   Change of seasons: The NYSPHSAA football tournament wraps up today and the PSAL final is next week. But that doesn't mean there isn't quality basketball already being played.

   Brooklyn's Bishop Ford girls posted a 59-51 victory in OT over host South Shore at the Rucker Invitational yesterday, surviving a second quarter in which they scored just two points. Aaliyah Lewis put up all 19 of her points in the second half and Shanice Vaughan scored 17 overall to lead the way as Ford overcame a 26-12 deficit.

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