Leading off today: On the one hand, Corning's administration screwed up a bunch of football schedules by making a very late decision to fully consolidate the sports programs at East and West high schools as a cost-cutting measure.

   On the other hand, Corning's players don't deserve the punishment coming their way in the form of a schedule that includes just two home games and five on the road -- which compounds the fact that the Hawks will play one less game than most of the teams in Section 4.

   Those are some of the factors that I presume were weighed yesterday in an extraordinary meeting during which Section 4 upheld a decision to switch the site of tomorrow's season opener from Corning to Owego.

   The change in itself isn't earth-shattering, but the fact that the section would allow the location to flip under the circumstances simply boggles the mind. I think it would be understandable if Corning officials now opted to ignore any requests for help from Owego or the section for a very long time.

   “We are obviously disappointed as we realize the excitement that was building this week in the community in anticipation of Friday’s game being at home," Corning Superintendent Michael Ginalski said in a statement. "Tim Decker (the athletic director) and I did everything possible to present Corning’s case, including the obvious inequity in our schedule of home versus away games."

   Here's a review of events leading up to yesterday's decision:

   (1) The Section 4 football committee constructed its schedule early this year under the assumption that East and West would field separate teams once again.

   (2) With money tight, Corning ended up merging football, just as it has done in recent years with several other sports. This converted two Class A teams into one Class AA program and created a string of openings on the schedules of schools that were supposed to play East or West.

   It also left Corning with just six scheduled regular-season games instead of the maximum of eight. No one at that point was beating down the doors to demand that the schedule be re-built in order to help Corning out of a jam.

   (3) Low attendance at the first few days of practice at Southern Springs caused that team to drop varsity football, once again leaving a set of opponents with byes.

   (4) Last week, the Section 4 football committee intervened and switched some opponents around, taking care to avoid rematches and to preserve home games whenever possible.

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   Owego was switched out of its opener at Vestal in Week 1 and picked up a trip to Maine-Endwell in Week 7 as a replacement for the Southern Springs game. That left the Indians with five road games this fall, but at least they were still playing a full schedule. While that wasn't a great arrangement, lining up a replacement for the Southern Springs game at such a late date may have been impossible; at the very least it could have involved a lengthy road trip to Section 2 or Pennsylvania.

   That wasn't good enough for Owego, which according to the Gannett story late last night, asked Section 4 on Tuesday to change the Corning game. Section 4 agreed to the request, prompting Corning's failed appeal yesterday in Ithaca. Ben Nelson, executive director of the section, announced the decision.

   As a result, Corning doesn't play at home until Sept. 24, the fourth schedule block of the season, and then just once more after that.

   Again, a chunk of this could have been avoided if Corning had acted promptly to enact its consolidation. But that district had no role whatsoever in the decision by Southern Springs to drop football, which set the wheels in motion for the schedule changes.

   Punishing the Corning players by taking away their third home game amounted to penalizing the Hawks players twice because Owego didn't feel compelled to help out. Now, Nelson told WETM-TV, he wants to turn around and help Corning find an opponent for Week 8 to fill out the schedule.

   I suppose that's possible. My suggestion? How about asking Johnson City? It would require Corning to travel again, but I doubt they would mind.

   The added benefit? It would leave Owego with one less burdensome road game.