Friday, May 3, 2013: All-state gridder leaving Sweet Home for Canisius

   Leading off today: Two very potent Western New York football programs made the scholastic version of the transactions roundup Friday afternoon as Brad Zaffram, a third-team all-state selection last fall as a sophomore at Sweet Home, revealed on Twitter he will transfer to Canisius over the summer.

   Zaffram later confirmed the transfer to The Buffalo News.

   Sweet Home has won six straight Section VI Class A championships and advanced to the NYSPHSAA final at the Carrier Dome in 2012. Canisius won the Monsignor Martin Association title and a share of No. 1 in the New York State Sportswriters Association Class AA rankings during an undefeated season.

   The 6-foot, 205-pound Zaffram was outstanding on both sides of the ball -- a linebacker and safety on defense and receiver on offense -- last fall, particularly on the postseason. At Canisius, he'll join forces with running back Qadree Ollison, who has already been offered scholarships from at least 11 Division I programs, including Boston College, Iowa, Rutgers, Syracuse and Wisconsin.

   Joining forces: Saratoga Catholic is in the planning stages of combining with Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons to field one football team next fall, The Saratogian reported.

   The schools have yet to figure out the logistics and will need approval from Section 2.

   Saratoga Catholic resumed modified football in 2007 and varsity in 2009 but was not able to field a team in 2010. The 2011 varsity forfeited its final three games due to lack of numbers, and the program remained on the sidelines last fall.

   Saratoga Catholic AD Phonsey Lambert and Gibbons coach Tom Pallas hope joining forces will solve the numbers issue of both squads. Games would be scheduled to be played in Schenectady, though Lambert hopes to schedule one or two in Saratoga Springs as well.

   Milestone: Fairport first baseman Conner Simonetti broke the Section 5 record with his 22nd career home run Thursday in a 15-3 baseball win over Greece Athena.

   Simonetti, a Kent State recruit, tied the record in the bottom of the fourth inning with a three-run blast. In the fifth, he broke the record with a solo shot.

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   “One of my goals at the start of the season was to break the record and continue on,” Simonetti said. “It crossed my mind going into today’s game, but every at-bat you have to think about just hitting the pitch. I was trying to just think about base hits and go from there.”

   Pavilion's Todd Nichols homered 21 times from 1998 to 2002.

   Sigh: A Texas high school 400-meter relay team was disqualified at a state qualifier when the anchor pointed to the sky in an apparent gesture of faith, KHOU-TV reported.

   Derrick Hayes anchored the Columbus High relay. As he crossed the line in first place, Hayes put his hand by his ear and pointed to the sky, his father said. Officials ruled that the gesture violated a state rule against excessive celebration, which includes raising one's hands.

   "I don’t think that the situation was technically a terrible scenario as far as his action, but the action did violate the context of the rule,” Columbus school district superintendent Robert O’Connor said.