The Tuesday morning headlines were all about college prodigy Stephen Strasburg going right to the deadline to squeeze a $15.1 million deal out of the Washington Nationals, but a couple of New Yorkers were also working their way toward late decisions to sign professional baseball contracts.
Recent Ward Melville grad Steven Matz was at Citi Field in New York on Tuesday for the formal announcement that he had signed an $895,000 contract with the Mets late Monday. Had he not signed, Matz would have been boarding a plane bound for Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Tuesday to begin his college career at Coastal Carolina.
The 6-foot-4 lefty was the No. 72 overall pick in the June draft and a first-team all-state selection in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association.
His pro contract reportedly calls for $160,000 to be set aside toward his education.
Meanwhile, fellow first-team all-star Kyle Hoppy of Orchard Park decided over the weekend that a football/baseball career at Bucknell University wasn’t in the cards for him after all.
Hoppy opted to sign with the Baltimore Orioles. The centerfielder was drafted in the 28th round, which likely puts his signing bonus in the low six figures based on the fact that the Orioles were having trouble signing a number of their higher picks.
Hoppy will report to Sarasota in early September for five weeks of the fall instructional league.
Football: Orchard Park coach ends lawsuit vs. ex-player’s father
Remember when mom and dad told you that you shouldn’t say anything at all if you couldn’t say something nice?
Turns out that was pretty good advice.
The Buffalo News reported this week that Orchard Park football and boys lacrosse coach Gene Tundo has accepted a $50,000 payment from a local businessman to settle a defamation and negligence lawsuit over anonymous letters harassing him and his family according to Tundo's lawyer.
Andrew P. Fleming said Tundo ended the suit, which has its roots in Keith D. Maderer’s November 2008 misdemeanor plea in Orchard Park Town Court to counts of coercion and aggravated harassment. Fleming said the court actions stemmed from Maderer, 49, harassing Tundo over his coaching performance.
Fleming said the harassment "took on bizarre proportions” after Tundo decided to have his sophomore son Jeff play running back in 2006 over Maderer’s son, who then was a senior. Orchard Park Town Judge Deborah Chimes fined Maderer in the criminal case, the paper reported, and also ordered him to issue a written apology to the Tundo family.
And it’s not as though the younger Tundo was chopped liver. As a senior, he was selected state player of the year in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association and the Section VI lacrosse player of the year.
Court papers in the civil suit accused Maderer of sending anonymous letters to the family threatening to falsely expose the coach for inappropriate behavior. The Tundos contacted the Orchard Park police and the FBI to begin an investigation that led authorities to Maderer, who the paper said confessed.
"Gene Tundo has had an exemplary teacher career at Orchard Park and he has coached the school’s lacrosse and football teams to numerous championships,” Fleming told the paper.
Orchard Park won the 2008 New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA football championship and played in the Class A lacrosse final this spring.
More Football: Seen and heard as practice begins
* When the Ichabod Crane players took the field Monday for the first day of practice it marked the fourth straight year that Section II had added a team. The other recent additions, helping push Section II’s roster to 62 teams: Hoosic Valley (2006), Cairo-Durham (2007) and Saratoga Central Catholic (2008).
More than half of the 2009 Ichabod Crane varsity played JV football last fall, going 1-7. All eight games were on the road.
* Pittsford tight end Sean Fitzpatrick, who committed this winter to play football for Maryland next season, has changed his mind. Instead, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound prospect says now he will sign a letter of intent with Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina in February.
* Offensive lineman Sean Donnelly of Trinity-Pawling says he will play for Tulane beginning in September 2010. The 6-foot-8, 290-pound left tackle was being recruited mostly by Division I-AA programs.
Cross Country: Tough competition in the Albany area
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake is ranked No. 23 in the United States for the upcoming girls cross country season — but only No. 4 in Section II.
The rankings are from longtime observer Marc Bloom, editor of The Harrier, and illustrate the depth of the sport in New York.
Three-time defending Nike Cross Nationals champion Fayetteville-Manlius starts the season at No. 1, with Saratoga, Shenendehowa and Queensbury from Section II at third, fifth and sixth, respectively. North Shore is ranked 18th.
Among the boys, Spokane (Wash.) Ferris is rated No. 1, with third-ranked Fayetteville-Manlius the only New York representative.
Boys Soccer: State tournament on the move next year?
Closing the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta is possible because of financial problems, a top official told The Daily Star.
Jonathan Ullman, the organization's president, did not provide a timetable for when the Hall's board of directors would make a decision regarding the 40,000-square-foot facility and four adjacent fields. Fall tournaments, including the New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys championships will take place as scheduled but no tournaments are being booked for 2010, Ullman said.
Golf: Penfield senior shoots a 61
Many students will be writing the requisite "how I spent my summer vacation" essay when school resumes next month. Yarik Merkulov's scribblings will more likely resemble a book.
Merkulov, a rising senior at Penfield, carded eight birdies, an eagle and no bogeys en route to a final-round 61 earlier this month to repeat as New York State Golf Association Junior Amateur champion at Skaneateles Country Club outside Syracuse.
His two-round total of 134 beat Andrew Lane and Auburn's Eric Edmunds by 10 strokes, and the 61 destroyed the club's competitive-round record of 67. The non-competitive record on the 6,424-yard layout is believed to have been a 62 or 63 by longtime PGA professional Tom Scherrer, who grew up playing the course.
"I was just in a zone today," Merkulov told The Post-Standard. "I felt like over every shot today that I was going to hole it — even if it was a tee shot."
Merkulov trailed Lane and Ben Kircher, both members of the McQuaid golf team, by one shot entering the final round. He was coming off a victory at the state amateur and also reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur last month. Merkulov tied for fifth last month at the Rochester District Golf Association championship, which was won by Pittsford Mendon's Gavin Hall, 14.
Hours before Merkulov tore up the course, Hall shot a 6-under 65 to win his second straight Boys Amateur crown (an event captured by Merkulov in 2006) by 13 shots over Danny Drummond of C.G. Finney. Hall finished with a 133 score for 36 holes.
Merulov was second and Hall 13th at the NYSPHSAA tournament in the spring.
Changes at the top
* The Mexico school board rescinded its offer of a teaching job for girls basketball coach Tim Chamberlain, according to The Post-Standard. Superintendent Nelson Bauersfeld said he did not know if Chamberlain would be reappointed as a coach despite a 19-6 record and No. 16 ranking in Class A by the New York State Sportswriters Association.
* Dave Remick, who coached multiple sports at Groton before becoming the AD, is retiring after 34 years at the school effective Aug. 28. The position is being converted to part-time, and Keith Goodwin will take over.
* Embattled Buffalo McKinley boys basketball coach James Daye resigned before the start of a state Education Department hearing into allegations he had sex with a student in 1991, The Buffalo News reported.
Daye, 45, who led McKinley to a Section 6 championship in 2007, was paid $63,000 for the last year while suspended as a teacher and coach. Daye maintains his innocence and told the paper he spent over $60,000 in legal fees over the last two years.
* New Dorp hired Pat Hopkins as boys basketball coach. Hopkins coached boys JVs in 2000-05 and girls JVs in 2008-2009. He takes over for 467-game winner Tony Rafaniello, who moved to Moore Catholic after retiring from the NYC Board of Education this year.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
