Leading off today: Well, this is exactly what one would expect from a section where an entire league was allowed to pick up and move because it was tired of getting its ass kicked by little ol' Syracuse CBA.

   The oldest high school football rivalry in New York has been put on hold over a hurdle that could have been overcome in about 12 seconds had the decision been placed in the hands of anyone who actually cared about the sport, about traditions and about what is best for student-athletes.

   Utica Proctor and Rome Free Academy will not play each other in the regular-season next fall, putting a halt to a series that dates to 1891, The Observer-Dispatch reported.

   "It's a shame," Proctor coach Jerry Fiorini told the paper. “Section 3 is always saying that it wants to do what's best for high school football, but doing something like this is killing it. This is taking away one of the best rivalries in the state."

   RFA had to discontinue its series with Whitesboro last year, and now it's lost its most significant rivalry -- which remained strong despite RFA's 30-0-1 streak in the series that was halted in 2001.

   "I think it's terrible," RFA coach Ted Swavely said. "It bothers me. It's always a great game. The kids are going to miss it. It's a rivalry game. It's a game that's been around for years. One of the first things our kids said when they saw the schedule was, 'Where's Utica?'”

   I'll tell you where Utica is: It's relatively close to Rome, maybe 15 miles away. Instead of playing each other, they will play an extra game against Syracuse schools, requiring more inconvenient travel.

   How did this happen? Proctor and RFA were moved into different divisions three years ago but still scheduled non-leaguers against each other. This year, Section 3 chairman Bob Campese said, Class AA coaches agreed to a blind draw to fill the seventh game in the regular-season schedule.

   Was there not one adult in the room capable of looking at the big picture and realizing that a blind draw was a terrible idea if for no other reason than it could create total mismatches?

   "There's nothing we can do about it," Swavely said. "What I'm hoping is that we get a chance to play each other in the playoffs. That would be great."

   A sweep for Hartley: Already the recipient of the Gatorade state player of the year award, Bria Hartley has been selected Miss Basketball by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York.

Winter season bonus links Boys hoops: Road to Glens Falls full coverage NYSPHSAA tourney brackets Boys hoops scores: NYSPHSAA sectionals, PSAL / CHSAA / NYSPHSAA / AIS states. Girls hoops: NYSPHSAA brackets Boys hockey: NYSPHSAA brackets - D-I | D-II Wrestling: Final NYSPHSAA results - D-I | D-II

   The senior point guard, who will play for UConn next season, led North Babylon to the Section 11 Class AA final, scored a Long Island playoff-record 51 points in a 72-69 loss to Sachem East and she finished her career with 1,978 points.

   Last call for nominations: NYSSWA member Steve Grandin will compile the boys all-state basketball team this spring and is wrapping up the first phase of the process.

   We're requesting that reporters from across the state who have not already submitted information to myself or Steve please forward their all-area teams to Steve via e-mail. He would also welcome any all-section, all-class or all-league teams selected by coaches, as well as nominations of players from the smaller classes who dominated their competition but may have been squeezed out of all-area consideration by an abundance of Class AA and A players.

   It would be helpful, too, if you could rank the submitted players first through last, broken down by enrollment class. The height, grade and scoring average for each player on the all-area team should also be included.

   Federation stuff: In the aftermath of its as-usual great coverage of the boys NYSPHSAA basketball tourney, The Post-Star has unveiled its annual Federation tournament Web site.

   One of the highly anticipated Federation clashes will be the girls Class AA semifinal Saturday between Christ The King and Murry Bergtraum. The New York Daily News did a lengthy takeout about Bergtraum coach Ed Grezinsky. Having read it, I think I might possibly now know less about Grezinsky than I did beforehand. That's not a criticism of the story -- which was rock-solid -- but rather a reflection of how enigmatic the coach is.

   Next blog: I'm flat-out tired tonight and already riled up about the Proctor-RFA football series, so I'm calling it a night. Hopefully I'll come back fresh tomorrow night to adequately explain a horrifying development in a story from earlier this week.