Leading off today: Senior Brian Haeffner rushed for 260 yards and four TDs as Garden City scored a 38-7 victory to
snap Carey's 25-game football winning streak Saturday.
Carey is ranked third and Garden City 23rd in the New York State Sportswriters Association Class A ratings.
"You can't disrespect Carey, but I think we had enough of being underrated," Haeffner, who broke away for a 75-yard TD on the day's first snap from scrimmage, told Newsday. "I've never seen our team work harder than we did for this week."
Haeffner rolled up 211 yards and three TDs on just nine first-half carries.
"I think I owe the offensive line all breakfast," he said. "They're an awesome bunch of kids. This win goes out to them. We were able to get the yards we needed because of them and the openings they made."
Section 5 large-school developments: No. 9 Pittsford outlasted No. 11 Rush-Henrietta 36-33 in a battle of two Rochester-area Class AA heavyweights. The Panthers' Josh Mack (22 carries, 193 yards) ran for four touchdowns, including a 53-yard burst with 2:16 to play.
While that game played according to form, two Class A contests that were upsets on paper may not have been upsets at all. Instead, it was confirmation that Section 5 has at least five -- and maybe seven -- teams capable of playing for a championship in early November.
First, Canandaigua trampled No. 22 Greece Athena 41-14 as Mitchell Schafer (11-for-15, 139 yards) threw for three TDs and Coron Broomfield (18 carries, 197 yards) ran for two.
And then there was Greece Arcadia's 35-3 dismantling of No. 8 Eastridge. Five Titans scored touchdowns and Xavier McGee compiled 95 yards of total offense for the winners.
Mammoth FG proves decisive: Canisius junior kicker Blake Haubeil kicked a 61-yard field goal in the third quarter of the top-ranked Crusaders' game against South Park. The kick made it a two-TD margin, and it turned out to be crucial in a 23-20 win over Buffalo South Park, ranked ninth in Class A.
"I had missed from 46 earlier, so I knew the next one would be important," Haubeil, an Ohio State commit, told The Buffalo News. "I told the holder to get the ball down, and I'd put it through. I was also a little nervous at the same time. You always want those kicks. You want to take advantage of your opportunities. I was a little lucky to get it."
The wind-aided effort was a yard better than Michael Tarbutt's school record from last December and a yard short of the state record by Ward Melville's Todd Sauerbrun in 1990. (List of longest N.Y. field goals here.)
"There's a reason he got that scholarship," said Canisius coach Rich Robbins. "I trust him to make the next kick. I just didn't know it would turn out to be the game-winner."
In other Western New York interclass action, Class AA No. 4 Orchard Park edged Buffalo Bennett, the state's No. 2 Class C team. Ryan Paolini rushed for 107 yards, including the game-clinching 33-yard TD in the fourth quarter as the Quakers finished with 202 yards on the ground. He also rushed for a 3-yard score to cap the
