Monday, Sept. 24, 2012: First boys soccer rankings of season released

   Leading off today: Five teams that are entering the final week of September hold down No. 1 rankings in the season's first New York State Sportswriters Association rankings of NYSPHSAA boys soccer teams released Monday morning.

   Defending state champion Hicksville is one spot ahead os 2010 champion Brentwood in Class AA, and Pittsford Mendon is atop the Class A list. The remaining No. 1 squads are East Aurora in Class B, Port Jefferson in C and Chazy in D.

   You can find the complete boys soccer rankings here.

   In addition, the new state rankings in girls cross country and girls soccer are also posted on the site.

   Taking a chance: New coach Dan Hurley didn't take 6-foot-7 Hassan Martin sight unseen, but it was close.

   Martin missed his junior season at Staten Island Curtis due to injuries and didn't play on the AAU circuit until this summer. But a resume of five career varsity games was enough for Hurley, who is putting together his first recruiting class at the University of Rhode Island.

   The New York Post reported that Martin committed after a weekend visit to Kingston, R.I.

   “After the visit it made me realize there was no reason to wait,” Martin told the paper. “I liked it up there, I had a lot of fun with the team. The coaches called me every few days, saying I would be a good fit there. They showed me a lot of love that most college didn’t.”

   It was a productive weekend for Hurley, who also got a commitment from highly regarded Detroit point guard E.C. Matthews.

   Martin is a late bloomer who's already comfortable inside and is getting better on the perimeter after playing summer ball in the New Heights program.

   Seven-goal game: Tyler Plows of Mount Markham broke a school record set in 1973 when he scored seven goals in a 7-2 boys soccer triumph against Sauquoit Valley.

   By breaking a 2-2 tie with five straight tallies, the senior forward boosted his career total to 55 goals, sixth in school history and one spot ahead of his brother Dan, a 2007 graduate.

   Football recap: The full list of Week 4 scores is posted on our site, as is the more specific rundown of how ranked teams fared.

   Brief blogs recapping some Friday and Saturday games of note across the state have also been posted.

   Another shorthanded team: I didn't catch it yesterday when I blogged about Elmira Heights, Johnstown and Bishop Gibbons, but there was yet another varsity football

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team that was not able to take the field over the weekend due to a player shortage.

   East Meadow picked up a forfeit Saturday when Hicksville did not have the required 16 players available.

   Friday vs. Saturday: Pete Tobey at The Post-Star had a good observation over the weekend when he noted that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find Saturday afternoon football games on the schedule.

   He only had four games on his Glens Falls-area coverage schedule this past weekend, and that ended up getting cut in half when Johnstown and Bishop Gibbons had to forfeit their contests.

   "[E}ven as recently as the last decade, Saturday afternoon football was practically the standard around the greater Glens Falls area," he wrote. "Because we don't have the heat issues or the major college traditions that Southern states do, upstate New York developed a strong culture of high school football Saturdays. But it seems as more and more schools have added lights over the last quarter-century, Saturdays have grown quieter around area fields."

   As much as I enjoy Friday football, I agree with Tobey about Saturday contests. It's tough to beat the scenery at many fields when the leaves start turning in early October.