Leading off today: Section 8 begins an interesting two-year experiment this weekend when it introduces a fifth conference to its football lineup in a bid to
give struggling programs a chance to rebuild.
Conference V will make its debut Thursday night when Great Neck North (still mourning coach Chris Deeks, who died Thursday) plays St. Dominic. The other members of the conference are Friends Academy, Great Neck South, Jericho, Port Washington, Roslyn and Long Island Lutheran. St. Dominic's games will not count in the standings, which doesn't much matter because making programs viable is at least as important as counting W's.
A low turnout forced Friends to cancel its 2011 schedule, and the other teams went a combined 12-44.
"Talent is cyclical," Nassau football coordinator Pat Pizzarelli told Newsday. "But we found that in the last few years that there were some schools that were not able to compete for whatever the reason."
The teams will play eight-game schedules -- members are ineligible for the postseason -- and be re-evaluated at the end of the year to determine whether they can return to their previous conferences. Those that do get promoted can be replaced by other struggling programs.
Gauchos pick Mitchell: Former Manhattan Rice basketball coach Dwayne Mitchell was hired in June to coach Monsignor Scanlan in the Bronx, coming off a winless league season in the CHSAA 'B' division. Now, he's got a set of additional duties.
Mitchell was hired last month to replace Billy Singleton as director of operations for the New York Gauchos, one of the most storied AAU programs in the country. The Gauchos, founded in 1967, count Jamal Mashburn, Kenny Anderson and Kemba Walker among their alumni.
Mitchell, who has worked for the Gauchos for 17 years, will oversee 11 boys teams and 20 part-time coaches.
"The Gauchos administration felt they needed to make a change and they felt they wanted to stay in-house," he told The New York Daily News. "They were looking to see who would be the best fit to revitalize the program. It’s about getting the Gauchos brand back to what it once was.”
Following up on Frysinger: Former Corning football and lacrosse star Jordan Frysinger, 19, accused by police of having sex with an incapacitated woman last spring, posted bail this week.
Frysinger was released Tuesday from the Steuben County Jail on $10,000 cash bail, The Leader reported. He had been held there since his arrest in late June.
The paper reported that a decision may come this week on whether Frysinger will rescind a guilty plea that was negotiated as part of an agreement with prosecutors and instead face trial. If he does so, he is expected to face a trial, possibly on felony charges, later this year.
New on our site: Have you ever needed to hunt down the official Section 5 football page or the Section 9 cross
