Ryan Baker has Yorktown football on the move this fall after helping the Huskers win a state boys lacrosse title last spring.
Photo by Patrick Tewey
The start of the playoffs is upon us in New York high school sports. As we get set for what promises to be an interesting postseason, let's traverse the state for 10 noteworthy storylines at this turning point in the fall season.
Yorktown's throwback season: The last time
Yorktown won a state title in football was 1994. That Yorktown team finished the regular season 8-0. Fast forward 20 years, to where the 2014 Huskers wrapped up the regular season 7-0, with their most recent victory coming at John Jay-Cross River, 27-14, last Friday night. Senior quarterback
Ryan Baker picked apart the John Jay defense with a precision passing performance, completing 11 of 13 attempts for 143 yards, with a touchdown.
"Our team hasn't been 7-0 in 20 years, but we're not satisfied with just that accomplishment at all," Baker said.
With the win, Yorktown earned the top seed for the Section 1 Class A playoffs.
"Being the No. 1 seed allows us to have two home playoff games if we win the first one, and that's huge," Baker said. "We know that if we play our game, nobody can stop us. We want nothing more than that section championship and us seniors going out with a bang."
Baker is no stranger to state championships. He's a midfielder on the Yorktown boys lacrosse team that won its first state crown since 2003 last spring. The Huskers' leading rusher, junior
Nick Santavicca, who already has eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark, is the nephew of Ron Santavicca, the head coach of Yorktown's 1994 state-title team.
See NYSPHSAA football playoff brackets for 2014.
Milestones for Moran, McMullen: Le Roy's Brian Moran became just the fourth coach in Section 5 football history to reach 200 wins, and star quarterback,
Mike McMullen, reached a milestone of his own in a 45-6 victory against Perry. McMullen, a three-year starter who led Le Roy to last season's Section 5 Class C final, surpassed 3,000 career passing yards.
The ‘V' in Vestal stands for victory: Vestal's field hockey team won its 12th game in 13 outings, beating Seton Catholic Central 7-2 behind the three-goal outing of Emilly Schutt.
Dana Bozek, Lakeland
Photo by Jane Haslam
Lakeland has been score-land: Another team that has been putting up some impressive offensive totals in field hockey is defending Class B state champion
Lakeland (16-0), which easily handled Carmel in its last outing behind
Molly Fitzpatrick's hat trick.
Dana Bozek had one goal and two assists.
Patriots have been just perfect: Ward Melville's girls soccer team improved to 12-0 with a 2-0 win against Sachem East. Katie O'Connor and Ciara Guglielmo had the goals for Ward Melville.
Wantagh's Zozzaro makes a splash: Victoria Zozzaro of Wantagh set a school record with a dive of 299.7 in a 97-89 win over Jericho. The previous school mark was 269.5.
Passing fancy for Fairport: Chad Riordan had 38 assists for defending state boys volleyball champion Fairport in a 10-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-16 win over Brighton. Fairport swept Sachem East to win its first-ever state crown in last year's final.
See all NYSPHSAA photo galleries for 2014Repeat feat for F-M golfers:
Fayetteville-Manlius defended its Section 3 golf title, shooting a 406 to defeat second-place Auburn (414). Andrew Massa led F-M with a 77, tying for second. Teammates
Steve Cacchio,
Ryan Keller and
Kyle Gilroy also qualified for the state tournament.
New look for Shen: Shenendehowa has unveiled a new logo. The Plainsmen's new Board of Ed-approved look features the familiar Shen lettering, slightly tweaked, but now including the head of a horse with its game face on, adorned in the school's green and white colors.
Special moment on Senior Night at Valley Central: It was a Senior Night that Valley Central won't soon forget. Tyler Muise, a member of the varsity team who has Down syndrome, scored on a 15-yard touchdown run on a specially designed play against Washingtonville before the official start of the game. Washingtonville players joined Valley Central in the celebration after the score. Washingtonville went on to win the game, 43-33.
Kelly Vahos of Haldane named MaxPreps/AVCA Player of the WeekWill Bennett of Somers named NSCAA/MaxPreps Player of the Week
Multimedia news and sports editor and producer Joe Lombardi is director of media initiatives and managing editor of the DailyVoice.com, as well as the primary author of the most recent edition of "Lacrosse for Dummies." Follow Joe on Twitter @Joe_Lombardi or e-mail jlombardi@dailyvoice.com
