Leading off today: Here's one that doesn't happen too often: defending NYSPHSAA tournament champions going head-to-head on the football field.
It happened in 1996 when LeRoy defeated Caledonia-Mumford 35-14. And in 2005, Chenango Forks downed Maine-Endwell 21-7. But I think might have been the only instances until Saturday.
Bronxville, which won Class C in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament a year ago, defeated Class D Tuckahoe 33-12.
Christian Conway rushed 23 times for 211 yards and four touchdowns, with a fifth score wiped out by a holding penalty away from the ball.
"We played hard in the first half and, with a young, inexperienced team with only three seniors. They left it out here in the first half," Tuckahoe coach John D'Arco, who also guided the Tigers to a state baseball championship last spring, told The Journal News. "I was worried that they were going to be content and satisfied with playing one half, and unfortunately, I was right. They wore us down."
Third-best rushing total ever: Saxon Smith rushed for 324 second-half yards en route to 469 for the day, rallying Chester past Livingston Manor-Roscoe 49-34. He finished with seven TDs in the No, 3 yardage game in New York history.
The 5-foot-7 Smith carried 26 times for the afternoon and scored on rushes covering 90, 5, 78, 17 and 55 yards in the second half to wipe out a two-TD deficit after the Devil Cats scorched the Hambletonians for 28 points in a span of 5:39 in the first half.
Smith fell short of Dale Ross (Westhill, 569 yards in 2007) and Nick Finger (Millbrook, 485 in 2008) on the all-time list.
"He combines speed and strength," coach Ron Stomer told The Timer Herald-Record. "You walk by him and you think, 'Ah, he's a skinny-looking kid.' But he's in the weight room all the time and he's very strong from the hips down and that's what makes him special. And once he gets open, he's gone."
What a finish: Devante McFarlane's fourth TD of the game (to go with two scoring passes) really should have been enough to send Half Hollow Hills West home with the win.
But Riverhead had other ideas, and Charles Bartlet closed a 67-yard drive over the final 1:11 with a 5-yard TD run as time expired. It was the difference in the Blue Wave's 43-42 homecoming victory.
Junior QB Ryan Bitzer completed 20 of 29 passes for 296 yards and directed the winning drive by going 5-for-7 for 68 yards, the last of which put Riverhead (3-0) at the West 5 with the clock running and just barely enough time to get off a fourth-down play.
McFarlane, a Syracuse recruit, blocked a punt, threw for 282 yards and rushed for 97 for the Colts (2-1).
More buzzer-beating action: It was a day for dramatic finishes on Long Island.
Kevin Roach made a 36-yard field goal as time expired as MacArthur overcame a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to edge Syosset 24-21.
Vin Antonelli connected on a 19-yard field goal as time expired for Port Jefferson in a 22-21 win over Bayport-Blue Point.
Batavia Notre Dame soph Tim McCulley intercepted a pass to end Alexander's OT possession and then kicked a 35-yard field goal for a 17-14 win that improved the Fighting Irish to 4-0.
All in the family: We've all seen memorable brothers acts over the years, but what a trio of teens did for Lawrence has to rank as one of the all-time efforts.
