Leading off today: I don't know much, but I do know it's never good when the State Police have to be called upon to restore the peace at your high school football game.
Multiple penalties, a sideline brawl and accusations of racial epithets brought Rensselaer's game at Whitehall to an end six minutes into the third quarter Saturday. Whitehall was leading 28-6 when referee Mark Cleveland called the contest following the ejection of a Whitehall player at the suggestion of home AD Keith Redmond, The Post-Star reported.
"It's gotten to the point where it's unsafe for everybody to be out here right now," Redmond told the paper immediately after the game was called. "The best thing to do at this point is to stop the game and call it for today."
State Police on the scene following the game directed Whitehall players and fans to remain on the field until the Rensselaer team could leave the campus. They reported no arrests, but Rensselaer coach Joel Preston said his school will pursue charges against a Whitehall assistant coach he accused of pinning one of his players down and choking him during a second-quarter melee touched off after Whitehall QB Justin Hoagland was taken down out of bounds.
"We're pursuing it; our superintendent has already called me, we're meeting on Monday and going to Section 2," Preston said.
Redmond said he and Whitehall head coach Justin Culligan viewed tape but could not immediately determine the validity of the allegation of choking during the brawl, which ended with offsetting penalties and a Rensselaer assistant coach being ejected for contact with an official, according to Redmond.
HHH incident: A man was stabbed during a fight in the Half Hollow Hills East parking lot Thursday night, Patch.com reported.
People who had just left the in-progress HHH East football game against Smithtown West became involved in a dispute, police said, and one man was stabbed. The unidentified man was taken to Huntington Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the website reported.
JV season ended: Monroe-Woodbury has ended its JV football season two games early after alleged bullying incidents of a verbal nature, The Times Herald-Record reported.
Athletes notified the district of verbal abuse taking place among players and an investigation was launched, the paper reported.
"This type of behavior is clearly unacceptable, and we will never tolerate bullying or harassment of any kind in this district," interim Superintendent Elsie Rodriguez said in a statement. "We will take whatever action necessary to keep the students safe and secure while in the district's care."
Soccer milestone: Molly Petrucci reached the 200-goal mark in girls soccer Friday despite having more than a season left in her career. The junior scored six times as Buffalo City Honors captured the Radcliffe Cup title with an 11-0 victory over Olmsted.
She stands at 201, tied for second on the all-time NYSPHSAA list, heading into the Centaurs' Section 6 tournament opener this week. Kaitlin Robbins of Watertown Immaculate Heart Central scored 208 goals from 2003-07. Stephanie Karst of Hinsdale set the Section 6 mark of 201 from 1998-2003.
In the same game, Jenna Szopinski of City Honors notched seven assists to give her 47 for the season, two more than the presumed NYSPHSAA mark of 45 by Fillmore's Jo Anna Beardsley in 1999.
