Leading off today: Well, that's more like it.
A month ago, reports had recent Webster Schroeder graduate Emmitt Holt heading off to prep school to refine his basketball skills even though he had Division I offers on the table. If you'd seen him play, though, you pretty much knew the NYSSWA Class AA second-team all-state post player was already fairly polished and wouldn't stand to gain much with a post-graduate year.
On Thursday, the Democrat and Chronicle reported Holt has done a 180 and will not be heading to Vermont Academy. Instead, he has informed the Indiana University staff he will accept the Hoosiers' one remaining scholarship following their surprise offer.
"I think Emmitt has unlimited potential, he kept getting better and better," Schroeder coach Matt Spadoni told the paper. "He is a team player, and I think when you put him in a highly competitive environment like that it will bring even more out."
Holt averaged 19.8 points, 14.6 rebounds and 5 blocks last season. The more he played on the spring and summer AAU circuits, the more that college coaches came calling. The list of schools offering scholarships eventually reached 25, making the plan to improve his visibility via prep school redundant.
"I think he'll represent Section 5 well," Spadoni said. "I think he's going to surprise some people, I really do."
Over before it started: With only 16 players on the field for Tuesday's practice, the Section 6 Class D team from Pine Valley has scrapped its upcoming varsity football season.
"We have a number of juniors and seniors and then a lot of eighth and ninth graders on the roster," Pine Valley interim superintendent David Kurzawa said in a statement, The Observer reported. "Having those underclassmen fill a spot against players who are seniors, it's not a safe thing to do. With the limited number of students who came out, we realize if we do have injuries, which does happen, telling a ninth grader to start is not appropriate."
Pine Valley was 0-8 last fall. The district reportedly is arranging for players to latch on with Gowanda's varsity for the upcoming season.
Soccer is the only other fall sport for boys offered by the Pine Valley district.
Things that make you say hmmmmm: Until a couple of days ago, I thought Section 5 had the most perplexing football scheduling nugget of the year: Caledonia-Mumford and LeRoy, who may very well have the best small-school rivalry in the entire state, are slated to meet each other in Week 1 rather than early- to mid-autumn.
Well, NYSSWA football guru Steve Grandin came across something much more interesting while he was doing some tidying up of the 2014 schedules on our RoadToSyracuse.com website.
On Sept. 20, Poly Prep of the AIS is scheduled to host Canada Prep Football Academy. The St. Catharines, Ontario, school bills itself as "the only high school football program in Canada that teaches American rules football."
Canada Prep's schedule -- listed as tentative on the school website -- is eye-popping. The week after the Poly Prep trip, Canada Prep is supposed to play Prime Prep, the controversial Texas charter school co-founded by former college and pro great Deion Sanders.
The two games following that are against two of Ohio's 800-pound gorillas -- St. Ignatius and St. Edwards. Later
