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easily crack the qualifying time of 1:04.04 for the state meet. When no one else in Division I beat her time during the regularly scheduled state qualifier, Tillotson clinched her berth in the state meet the following weekend at Cicero-North Syracuse.

   She shot 94-93--187 to finish far back in the golf championships, then placed second in the Federation hurdles in 1:01.97.

Double trouble

   Continuing what has been a trend the past two decades because of declining enrollment, two more private schools shut down. Immaculata Academy in Hamburg and Webster Christian closed their doors in June.

Individual feat of the year

   It's a three-way tie.

   Gabriella Picco's day on the golf course was the stuff dreams of which dreams are made. The Waverly 12-year-old registered two holes-in-one in her round in the Section 4 championships en route to qualifying for the NYSPHSAA tournament as an alternate.

   After opening at the fifth hole in a shotgun start, she recorded her first ace at the 105-yard 15th hole with a pitching wedge. Picco arrived at her final hole of the day needing a birdie to break 100. But she went one better at the 132-yard No. 4, using a 5-iron for her second ace of the day and a score of 98.

   Said Horseheads coach Ed Browning, who served as marker for the round: "I can live a thousand lifetimes and never see that again."

   In softball, Kassidy Seary had a nice season at the plate in the third inning of a mid-April game.

   The Norwich senior hit two grand slams in her team's 15-run inning to highlight a 21-5 victory over Chenango Valley. She finished the day with three homes runs and 10 runs batted in.

   A search of the National Federation of State High School Federations record book shows the feat being done eight times nationally, and a quick spin around Google found a handful of other instances. But from the looks of it, Seary is the first New York girl to hit two grand slams in one inning.

   In football, Port Jervis senior Jack Piscitelli scored a preposterous four defensive touchdowns during a 55-0 win against Monticello. Three came on fumble returns and the fourth on an interception.

This bowled us over, too

   North Babylon bowling teammates Dominick Casale and Anthony Cioffi went frame-for-frame with each other, tossing 12 strikes apiece to finish with 300s in the third game of a match vs. West Babylon in December.

   A few lanes away, Bay Shore's Brandon Guerin also rolled a perfect game to finish off an 812 set.

   The following day, Guerin began his match against Deer Park with his second straight 300 game.

   But that wasn't the end of the strangeness. Deer Park's Adam Zimmerman, Guerin's friend and opponent for the day, also rolled a 300 in the very same game on his way to an 811 series.

   "I'm just trying to get back to reality after that," Guerin said. "It was nerve-wracking, but it was also exciting because one of my best friends did it. We both went shot for shot."

Action-packed day at the Dome

   The state Class D football final shaped up as a battle of the immovable object vs. the irresistible force. Tioga had scored 585 points on the season, but Ticonderoga was on a run of four straight shutouts by a combined 120-0.

   Fans were treated to a memorable slugfest capped by Jesse Manuel's 46-yard interception return with 44 seconds

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left to set up his winning 33-yard touchdown run with :16 to go as Tioga prevailed 33-26 at the Carrier Dome.

   It capped a Tioga rally from a 14-0 deficit before the Tigers had run an offensive play in the first quarter.

   Manuel ran for 215 yards, made four catches for 52 yards and scored three TDs to go with his crucial interception. That last minute of his scholastic career was a spectacular finish.

   Ticonderoga tied the score on a 1-yard run by Brody Rocque with 2:18 left, and then Ryan Trudeau picked off Tioga quarterback Connor Hutchinson with 1:23 to play. Facing third-and-7 from Tioga's 38, Ticonderoga threw deep for tight end Jacob Spaulding only to have Manuel intercept and run the ball back to the Ticonderoga 34.

   Three plays later, Manuel took a handoff heading to his right, cut back sharply against the grain and scored on a 33-yard gallop.

   The senior finished his career with more than 8,500 rushing yards (second all-time to Mike Hart) and 125 touchdowns.

   And that was only the day's second most action-packed game.

   Buffalo South Park became the first team from one of the state's Big 5 public-school districts since 1996 to win a NYSPHSAA football championship by beating Our Lady of Lourdes 49-46 in a fireworks-filled Class A championship game.

   The Sparks never trailed after early in the second quarter but three times responded with scores of their own in the second half after Lourdes TDs trimmed the deficits to three points. Tyree Brown scored on runs of 38 and 44 yards in that span wrapped around an Austin Neal 49-yard scamper.

   Brown was unstoppable, running for four TDs and throwing for two. He carried 11 times for 217 yards and finished 7-for-15 for 140 yards through the air with three interceptions. He also made 11 tackles on defense.

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