Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015: LeRoy rallies with three goals in final eight minutes

   Leading off today: Ethan Witkowski's hat trick in the final eight minutes rallied LeRoy to a 3-2 boys soccer victory against Mynderse in the Section 5 Class B2 tournament Saturday. Witkowski connected for the winner with under a minute to go to complete the comeback from a two-goal deficit.

   Witkowski's first goal came with just under 8 minutes to play. He then converted a penalty kick one minute later. He completed the rally by gathering a loose ball in front of the net and sending it inside the far post with 43.1 seconds to go.

   LeRoy improved to 12-4-1 heading into the semifinals.

   More from Section 5: Liam Ebert became Wellsville's career goals leader when he scored twice during a 2-1 win over Dansville in the Class B2 quarterfinals. He was tied with Matt Billings at 57 goals before converting a penalty kick less than 10 minutes into the game after being tripped up in the box.

   Prolific scorers: Lackawanna advanced in Section 6's boys B-2 soccer tournament as Ali Shawish scored his 48th goal of the season for a 1-0 win over Southwestern. The Steelers will take on I-Prep/Grover in the final.

   Meanwhile, Scotia made it 17 wins in a row in girls soccer with a 2-0 victory over Queensbury, which ends the high school career of Brittany La Plant. The five-year varsity star ended up with 211 career goals, putting her second on the state's all-time list.

   On Friday, Horace Greeley won a Section 1 boys Class AA game vs. North Rockland 5-1 as Matt Neuberger scored four times -- including a hat trick in a two-minute span of the first half.

   "I knew that (North Rockland had allowed one goal in eight previous games), but I also knew that they probably hadn't seen an offense like ours," Neuberger told The Journal News. "We have a lot of different threats, so it's kind of like pick your poison. It's either watch the deep throw or watch the shot from the top of the box. It's a hard offense to stop."

   Another football death: A Chicago high school football player died Friday after being injured on the last play a game the night before.

   Bogan High athlete Andre Smith, 17, collapsed following the game against Chicago Vocational at Amos A. Stagg Stadium. The Cook County medical examiner's office said Smith died of accidental blunt force injuries to the head.

   Smith is the first Illinois high school football player to die in three years, according to an official with the Illinois High School Association. His death is the nation's seventh related to high school football this year.

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

   The death comes as 256 teams around the state are preparing for the IHSA playoffs.

   Oddest 'game' of the season: A coin toss determined the winner of Friday's Texas high school football game between Lufkin and Ennis. And it's not as though the teams were exhausted after eight or 10 overtimes or because there was a curfew in Lufkin.

   Rather, the coin toss constituted the entire "game." Ennis traveled nearly 150 miles for the non-league contest, but weather made it impossible for the teams to take the field. The area was under a heavy thunderstorm and flash flood warning much of the night as a storm system swept though a large portion of the state.

   Not wanting to make another five-hour round trip Saturday -- especially since there was no guarantee the weather would be much better -- Lufkin refused to reschedule.

   As a result, a coin flip was used to determine the winner, in accordance with University Interscholastic League rules. Lufkin won the coin toss and was awarded the victory.

   Extra points: MSG Varsity's Kevin Devaney Jr. tweeted last week that Mahopac boys basketball coach Jim Harter informed his players that he is no longer the coach. Harter spent one season as coach after Kevin Downes resigned.