Leading off today: Two Section 6 quarterbacks have repeated as players of the year on the all-state football team announced today by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   QB Zack Sopak and lineman Jasen Carlson of state champion Southwestern are the co-recipients of the Class C honor. In Class D, Maple Grove's Chris Secky won the honor for the second year in a row to go along with his pair of player of the year awards in basketball.

   The Class B player of the year is running back Austin Dwyer of NYSPHSAA champion Hornell.

   The Class B, C and D all-state selections can be found in the RoadToSyracuse.com reference section.

   The NYSSWA will announce its Class AA and A all-state and player of the year awards Jan. 13.

   Strange scores: I have a famously short attention span, so I won't spend time dwelling on Ticonderoga's 61-7 boys basketball victory last night over Northern Adirondack, other than to note that 11 players scored for the Sentinels and that the NAC roster is down to six players. The halftime score was 47-2.

   Rather, let's examine what took place in Texas, where Yates High ran its winning streak to 39 games by defeating Lee High 170-35 to break the state scoring record (166) set by Hardin-Jefferson in 1992.

   Not surprisingly, the Lions' historic effort was punctuated by a third-quarter fight and questions of sportsmanship. The fisticuffs followed an intentional foul called on a Lee player. After restoring order, the refs told the coaches they would have to play just five players the rest of the way; subs for both teams were banished to the bleachers for the rest of the night.

   It opened the floodgates for Yates to finish off its sixth victory of the season by more than 60 points and raise its season scoring average to 119 points a night through 14 games.

   "I feel very disrespected right now,” Lee coach Jacques Armant told The Houston Chronicle. "I don't understand why Yates just kept scoring and pressing when they were up so much. These are kids. It isn't good to do that to other young men."

   Yates led 100-12 at halftime, with the 100 also breaking a state mark for points in a half.

   But Yates coach Greg Wise said he let his kids down by telling them to ease up.

   "We practice running, pressing, trapping every day,” he told the paper. "If we get to a game and I tell them not to do what we do in practice, I am not coaching well. I am not leaving my starters in the whole game. We have 15 guys, and all 15 play."

   Watertown sanctioned: The Watertown City School District athletic department is serving league probation for allowing alums to practice with the boys basketball team.

   Frontier League officials were tipped off by an e-mail after the Watertown Times reported Dec. 1 about a scrimmage between past and current players, Superintendent Terry Fralick told the school board.

   "With all of the things that are wrong in the world, we're being penalized for this?" board member Yvonne Gebo asked. "As an educator, one of the best things you can see is when kids leave this building and they want to come back to see their coaches."

   Quite a streak: Irvington senior point guard Riley Harrington will be in the starting lineup for her 100th straight game tomorrow.

   Harrington broke into the lineup as an eighth-grader Dec. 1, 2005, in the opening game of a tournament against Ardsley at Irvington. The team is 71-28 during her streak of starts.

   "I was definitely always aware of how many games I started, but I never thought it would amount to anything," Harrington told The Journal News. "Last year, I finally realized I had the chance to start 100 games in a row."

   The hidden toll: It's safe to say most sports fans have expressed approval and even enthusiasm over the news that their then-struggling favorite team had swept out the old blood and brought in a new coach to turn things around. Personally, I went through it more than once with the New York Giants of the 1970s and early '80s.

   But there's often-unseen damage associated with such changes. When the head coach is fired in pro or college sports it's also a given that most if not all of his staff -- which can by 12 to 15 men in football -- is also kicked to the curb. Even off-the-field personnel is not immune.

   I was reminded of that this week when the Buffalo Bills, who had fired head coach Dick Jauron during the season, informed their assistant coaches that they were not being retained. One of the assistants affected is offensive line coach Sean Kugler, who worked with Jauron previously and came with him to the Bills four years ago.

   With Jauron almost certainly unemployable as a head coach, guys like Kugler will have to scramble for their next job in the sport. Some will end up exiting the business altogether.

   The trickle-down effect could even extend to Kugler's sons. Robert Kugler is a top defensive end at Orchard Park and already has college offers before even stepping on the field next fall as a senior. Scout.com rates him as a three-star prospect, which makes him one of the top 10 or 15 juniors in the state.

   Now, though, his future -- and all the stuff that makes senior year memorable -- is up in the air.

   It's definitely a sobering way to start the new year.

   Prayer answered: Liverpool scored a 51-48 boys basketball victory over Syracuse Nottingham on a buzzer-beater, 30-foot 3-point shot by Jesse Gates that capped a rally from eight points down midway through the fourth quarter.

   "I can’t take any credit for that,” Liverpool coach Jerry Wilcox told The Post-Standard. "Jesse just made a great shot."

   Wilcox had diagrammed a play to get the ball to Gates inside, but Nottingham clogged the middle, so the Warriors set up Gates on the right wing, well beyond the 3-point line.

   "I knew we didn’t have a lot of time, so I got it, and I shot it,” Gates said.

   Gates, who made five 3-pointers, finished with a game-high 29 points.

   Two reach 200: Scarsdale rallied from nine points down at the half for a 51-47 victory over New Rochelle, giving girls basketball coach Luke Vaccaro his 200th victory with the Raiders. Hayley Kanner led the way with 18 points.

   Camden outslugged Holland Patent 78-69 as all-state senior Ashley Roser scored 37 points and Lindsay Jones added 22. It was the 200th win of coach Jerry Smith’s career.    Roser, who has 1,288 points, is seven rebounds away from 1,000 for her career.

   'Dream' season ends: North Tonawanda's run in the USA Today computer simulation football tournament ended this afternoon with a 41-7 loss to Olney (Md.) Good Counsel.

   North Tonawanda had advanced to the round of 16 with a 28-17 victory against fellow Buffalo-area state champion Sweet Home.

   Good Counsel had advanced with a 33-0 win over Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha. In real-life action last fall, DeMatha beat Good Counsel 24-21 in the regular season and lost a playoff rematch 14-7.