Leading off today: Vestal's football team has been thrown for a loss more than six weeks before the opening kickoff with the news that likely starting quarterback Pat Talbut will miss his senior season.

   Talbut, who was supposed to represent the Central Region in the Empire State Games baseball tournament this weekend, is home resting after five days in intensive care and 13 days in all at Albany Medical Center, where he underwent two surgeries to treat a blood clot in his right shoulder, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported.

   Talbut was playing in a summer travel baseball league two weeks ago in Georgia when he noticed swelling in his right arm, followed by shoulder pain the next morning. He was diagnosed with Paget-Schroeder Syndrome, caused by compression of blood vessels and nerves in the collarbone area.

   The player's father said the surgeon removed Talbut's top right rib to decompress a nearby vein.

   Talbut has already made a verbal commitment to play baseball at St. John's, but it is unknown when he will be ble to resume playing the sport.

   Steroids testing results: Only two out of more than 10,000 students examined in the nation's largest high school steroids testing program were caught taking unauthorized substances, Texas officials said Wednesday.

   Identifying information about the athletes was not released, but a senior tested positive for the anabolic steroid boldenone, and a sophomore was found using a steroid called methylandrostandiol. Four tests came back unresolved and three students refused testing according to the University Interscholastic League. Nineteen other athletes either skipped mandatory testing or left without approval.

   The results renewed criticism about the two-year, $6 million program approved by lawmakers last year.

   Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the program's success should be measured by the number of students who never begin using steroids, but Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick called testing a "feel good" program that is not acting as

a deterrent and should be abolished in favor of increased emphasis on battling teen alcohol abuse.

   Testing at 195 schools involved 6,455 boys and 3,662 girls. More than 3,300 football players were tested after the program was launched in February.

   Random testing will resume in the fall, and state officials intend to test as many as 50,000 athletes.

   Incident in Rochester: Rochester Marshall players practicing for the upcoming football season say they were threatened by other teens armed with a gun on Tuesday, WHEC-TV reported.

   The TV station said there were about 40 players on the field around 8 p.m. when three teens, including one who brandished a gun, appeared and started fighting with one of the players.

   A Rochester City School District spokesman said those involved knew each other and that the teens have been fighting since the end of the school year. He said school officials and police would step up security at the school.

   Massillon partners with recruiting service: The fabled Washington High in Massillon, Ohio, which has produced more than 20 pro players and 14 All-Americans, has announced a partnership with Athletic Scholarship Corporation (ASC), a company that helps showcase top athletes to college coaches around the country.

   ASC will work with Washington's staff and players' families to select and promote its standout athletes to colleges. Portfolios of biographical information, current statistics and video footage will be created for each.

   "Along with winning, every coach’s goal is to get kids into college programs," Washington AD Tim Ridgely said. "We knew that ASC had helped students at other schools get full rides at colleges, including kids who weren’t as much on the radar as the standout athletes."

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