Leading off today: Utica Proctor and Rome Free Academy have decided to go it alone, competing as independents in the upcoming school year according to The Rome Sentinel.

   RFA announced its decision last month, and Proctor followed suit last week during a school board meeting after several failed attempts to move from the Central New York Counties League to the geographically friendly Tri Valley League.

   Sports scheduled on a sectional basis -- such as football and ice hockey -- will not be affected.

   "This is strictly a financial move and a move to help with transportation and help get students home in time to focus on their homework and not get home too late at night," Proctor athletic director Marty Nemecek told the paper.

   The TVL denied Proctor and RFA league membership in large part because the two schools are significantly bigger than most league members. The independent option could open the door to some non-league contests against TVL schools.

   A promise kept: Here's the coolest thing I've read recently, courtesy of Saturday's Buffalo News:

   "A strong desire to triumph over adversity propelled Deshanaro 'Day Day' Morris to walk across stage to receive his diploma 18 months after the former Sweet Home High School football star was paralyzed in a car crash.

   "It was the same drive he had used to lead the Sweet Home Panthers to a state football championship a month before the accident and the same drive that he vows will have him walking unassisted one day.

   “'I have accepted this challenge and made the best of it. I will always overcome adversity,' Morris told his classmates before sharing an inspirational poem with them, during Sweet Home’s 2010 commencement ceremony, in the Center for the Arts on the University at Buffalo’s North Campus in Amherst."

   Using a walker, Morris stepped slowly but deliberately across the stage to receive his diploma as the audience gave him a standing ovation.

   After a year at Niagara County Community College, Morris expects to transfer to Edinboro (Pa.) University and join the football program in some capacity.

   One for the thumb: Afton senior shortstop Jessie Winans has been named to the all-state softball team for the fifth straight season by the New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Organization, the sister organization of the NYSSWA.

   Winans hit .478 with four home runs this season to finish her six-year varsity career with 38 homers, 42 triples and 212 RBIS in 160 games. She wrapped up her senior season with her third straight Class D player of the year award.

   Mechanicville junior Anna Arceneaux earned a share of her third Class B player of the year award with co-

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recipient Mikaela King of Chenango Valley. Rhinebeck junior pitcher Megan Michie was named the Class C Player of the Year for the second consecutive season after going 20-6 with a 0.56 ERA and 330 strikeouts with just 21 walks.

   Other players of the year: Bay Shore pitcher Liz Weber in Class AA, Somers shortstop Tammy Wrap in Class A, and Class D co-recipient Marissa Diescher of Livingston Manor.

   More retirements: Add Columbia softball coach Gary Holtz, 59, to the lengthy list of teachers who've turned in their retirement papers. Holtz will remain on the football staff at Union College, but he'd done with high school coaching after 362 wins in 22 seasons at Columbia, where he was also a basketball assistant.

   Holtz's teams won seven sectional titles and reached the 2009 state semifinals.

   Other noteworthy Section 2 departures reported by The Times Union include Tom Ciaccio (Gloversville football), Craig Gilbert (Tamarac girls soccer), Tom Rentz (Corinth basketball and baseball), Mike Poplaski (Salem wrestling) and Dave Doemel (CBA baseball).

   Tough choices: One of the most amazing scenes every year in the run-up to the actual games themselves is the competition for spots on the Long Island boys lacrosse roster at the Empire State Games.

   As far back as the late 1980s it was not unusual for more than 250 sophomores and junior to try to win one of the 20 spots on the team, but this year took the competition to a whole new level. Writing for Long Island Pulse last week, Jason Molinet reported that a combined tryout for the ESGs and the Long Island Showcase attracted a combined 680 boys to Syosset and Bay Shore high schools this month.

   "The first day was mass chaos. It’s a lot of people,” West Islip junior midfielder Mike Sagl said. “The second tryout – it’s fun to play with guys who have top skills and see what you can do against them.”

   Gatorade awards: Although they pick state and national winners in 12 sports over the course of the year, there is probably no tougher job for the Gatorade folks than to select their boys and girls track athletes of the year. With jumpers, sprinters, throwers and distance runners seldom going head-to-head in a meaningful way, it's up to the selectors to identify the cream of the crop in the respective disciplines and then pick the proverbial best of the best.

   The task is even tougher in New York, where quantity and quality are far above most other states.

   This year's New York winners of the award are Marcellus middle distance runner Mike Quercia and Lancaster shot put/discus/hammer standout Melissa Kurzdorfer.