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Friday, April 4, 2014: Second NY junior commits to Boston College

   Leading off today: St. Anthony's running back Jordan Gowins, a first-team all-state selection last fall, tweeted Thursday night that he will enroll at Boston College in 2015.

   The 5-foot-11, 206-pound junior also had offers from Stony Brook and Toledo and interest from Florida State, Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers, MSG Varsity reported. We earned the Hansen Award, awarded to the top player in Suffolk County after rushing for 2,012 yards and scoring 24 touchdowns for the Friars in an 11-1 season.

   "He's that rare combination of power and speed," St. Anthony's coach Rich Reichert told the website.

   Gowins is the second New York junior to have committed early to BC. Syracuse CBA offensive tackle John Phillips gave a commitment last week.

   Speaking of commitments, Maine-Endwell senior Darnell Woolfolk, a key cog for the state's top Class B team at running back and linebacker, will accept an appointment to West Point, a noteworthy development that we missed earlier this year.

   Rough start, great debut: It could be worse for hitters on the Hempstead baseball team -- if they were at an upstate school, they would likely be practicing on parking lots and in gyms through at least the end of next week instead of playing games.

   Still, it's been a pretty rough start -- and it got worse Tuesday when Mike Delio made his first varsity start on the mound for Carle Place and struck out all 21 Hempstead batters en route to a perfect game during a 15-0 win.

   Delio, a junior who played two seasons on the junior varsity, drew three walks at the plate and stole a pair of bases. Obviously, though, his work on the mound got all the attention.

   "I've had dreams of throwing no-hitters and perfect games, but nothing like this," Delio told Newsday. "This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

   Hempstead fell to 0-4 and has been outscored 51-4. Two of the previous losses to Westbury were stopped after five innings, with Hempstead totaling one hit in 10 innings.

   Assistant coach arrested: A veteran New York State Police investigator recently hired as an assistant lacrosse coach at Rocky Point was arrested by the FBI Thursday on child pornography charges, Newsday reported.

   SeanMichael Pagano, 37, whose police position is the equivalent of being a detective, specializes in narcotics investigations at Troop L in East Farmingdale. He was held without bail as a danger to the community and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, the paper reported.

   State Police authorities suspended Pagano without pay, and Rocky Point administrators terminated his coaching position. He was a first-year paid assistant at Rocky Point after coaching at Briarcliffe College from 2009 to 2013.

   Tripped up by rules: WROC-TV did an interesting story last week on Rochester football player Jaquan McCullough, whose goal of playing football at a four-year college has been derailed for now by an NCAA rule.

   He played for the varsity at Wilson Magnet and was one of the better players in the Rochester City Athletic Conference while also sailing through classes and scoring well on the SAT.

  
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   The issue is with his transcript from three years at School Without Walls, an alternative high school. Rather than awarding letter grades in courses, SWW students are graded on a pass-fail system. McCullough's problem is that the NCAA treats "pass" the same as a grade of D -- and three years of D's left McCullough untouchable for recruiters even though St. Francis (Pa.) and others had expressed interest.

   Some past SWW grads have gone on highly regarded universities, and even Ivy League schools have work-arounds for evaluating unconventional transcripts. The key for athletes like McCullough is to get an early start on dealing with the NCAA clearing house.

   "I cry sometimes," McCullough told the TV station. "It's very emotional knowing that even though I'm out here working hard right now, I still may not be able to attend my Division I school and have no debt."

   His plan for now is to attend a junior college, which can help him overcome the transcript issue.

   Calling all helpers: Last month, I ran into Tuxedo girls basketball coach Dave Powers at the BCANY Hall of Fame induction brunch. One of his current projects is to compile the list of girls basketball coaches who have amassed the most career wins in New York. If you can assist with information on anyone at 300 or more, submit the info to Dave at dpowers@tuxedoufsd.org.

   Extra points: With sophomore forward JaKarr Sampson having declared for the NBA draft and classmate Chris Obekpa revealing he'll transfer, the St. John's basketball team there is suddenly short on big men. You think maybe the Red Storm coaching staff regrets not showing up at the Federation tournament to watch 6-foot-11 Christ the King senior Adonis Delarosa?

   Don't be surprised if Steve Lavin's staff, now picking through leftovers from the list of junior college prospects, pulls out all the stops to try getting back in the hunt for Delarosa, who turned it up a notch over the second half of the just-completed season. Delarosa tweeted Friday he will make his choice Wednesday.


  
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