Wednesday, April 18, 2012: Section 7/10 split won't change state playoffs

   Leading off today: Sections 7 and 10 are going their way in regular-season football beginning this fall, the Watertown Daily Times reported Tuesday.

   Section 10 Athletic Coordinator Carl Normandin called the decision amicable. “The major concerns our schools had were financial and problems concerning the length of travel and transportation. They (Section 7) shared the same concerns."

   Section 10 Football Chairman Matt Tessmer said travel was especially tough on Gouverneur and a few other schools.

   Northern Athletic Conference football will return to its pre-2003 alignment with an eight-team league: Ogdensburg Free Academy, Massena, Potsdam, Canton, Malone, Gouverneur, St. Lawrence Central and Tupper Lake. Section 7’s Champlain Valley Athletic Conference also will have eight teams.

   Sections 7 and 10 will use the 10th week of the schedule for an intersectional playoff that determines representatives for the NYSPHSAA quarterfinals in November.

   Messere ties mark: West Genesee defeated Auburn 14-4 in boys lacrosse Tuesday, giving coach Mike Messere his 747th career win. It tied him with Long Island great Joe Cuozzo for the all-time state and national records in the sport.

   Senior Tim Barber led the Wildcats with five goals and an assist, and Matt Schattner posted a hat trick. Andrew Brown finished with two goals and three assists.

   Messere could break the record Thursday night when the Wildcats host Oswego.

   By the way, Messere is featured this morning on the MaxPreps.com website.

   All-state girls basketball: Two Section 1 stars are among the five players selected girls basketball players of the year Tuesday by the New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Organization for Girls Sports, sister organization of the NYSSWA.

   Lexi Martins of state champion Irvington earned top honors in Class B, and Christa Scognagmiglio of Pearl River was selected in Class A.

   The other players of the year are Cicero-North Syracuse senior Breanna Stewart in Class AA (on the same day she was named national player of the year by MaxPreps.com), Dani DeGregory of Greenwich in C and McKenzie Bezon of Elba in D.

   The list of coaches of the year as well as the full all-star teams are available on the NYSSWA site.

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   A scare at Honeoye: A Bloomfield-Honeoye boys lacrosse player was hospitalized briefly after being struck in the back of the head with a ball, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

   Evan Multala was struck by a ball thrown by a teammate before a game vs. Wayne. Mutala lost consciousness and was flown by Mercy Flight to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, where he was treated and released.

   Easy target? Finalized budget proposals have come down from many school boards across the state and will be voted on next month by local residents. Though there hasn't been nearly as much drama as I'd expected, there are still sports programs wearing a bull's-eye these days.

   As an example, Middletown's boys and girls golf teams are on the chopping block in the district's proposed budget for voters on May 15. That's despite the fact a record 13 girls are playing in Middletown's seventh varsity season.

   "It's very disappointing," coach Jim Kelly told The Times Herald-Record. "We've built up the program over the last few years. We have a young program. We have an eighth-grader, Nicole Cioffe, who could be one of the better golfers in the section in the future. It stinks."

   The boys team has been around for more than half a century. Combined, the golf squads cost $16,000 a year in a district budget that's now at approximately $133 million. Freshman sports are also likely to be eliminated, the paper reported.