PARMA, N.Y. – The Hilton passing attack, two-plus years in the making, has more or less disappeared in the early stages of the 2009 Section V football season.
Which is just what the Cadets want rattling around in the heads of opponents.
Think of it as a trip to the dentist to deal with a cavity. Just as the patient’s anxiety reaches its peak while waiting for dentist to poke around with something sharp, opposing defenses spent the summer bracing for quarterback Duell Smith to build on his 1,115 passing yards two seasons ago and 1,663 (with 19 TDs) as a junior.
But it’s not playing out as expected thus far. Oh, sure, Smith was 6-for-7 for 204 yards and four TDs – all in the first half – in the opening 62-34 victory against Irondequoit. But Ross Cosentino ran for 139 yards and a pair of scores that night, and Mike Ingoglia carried 14 times for 100 yards and two TDs in a 40-12 triumph against Wilson Magnet.
"Our passing attack is so well known with me and (senior receiver) Adam Gruschow that it will open up the running lanes," Smith said recently. "In the past, it used to be the other way around, so it’s perfect. When they start creeping up to the line to play the run, it’s time for play-action."
And that time may or may not come this week when the Cadets play one of their two key regular-season games of the year, a home contest against rebuilding but still-dangerous Gates Chili.
Smith was 18-for-30 for 227 yards and four touchdowns against the Spartans in a 42-32 regular-season win last fall, but Gates Chili won the rematch three weeks later by picking him off three times and limiting Smith to two late TDs in a 41-21 game.
"We lost to a great team," Smith said. "Marshall gave them a great run the week before, but maybe Gates was looking ahead a little because they scouted the heck out of us. When they started playing well it was so hard to stop them."
That’s now also an appropriate assessment of Hilton, formerly a "soccer school" but now well on its way to a fourth straight winning season in football and a hot ticket around town. The Cadets put 49 points on the board in the first half of the opener and could have piled up more, but Smith was limited to nothing but handoffs in the third quarter.
"It’s unbelievable how it feels when it’s all clicking," said Smith, being recruited by Marist and Bucknell as a QB and now starting to attract additional interest. "All of sudden second-string guys are getting into the game and playing their butts off trying to prove themselves."
First- and second-string wideouts need only to be sure they run the right patterns in order to get their share of the catches, because Smith will get the ball where it needs to go.
"He puts the ball where it’s got to be," said coach Rich Lipani, 133-79 in his 21st season at Rochester-area schools. "He throws right into the spot where, if our kid doesn’t get it, then no one does. He knows what he’s doing out there."
For the moment, opponents aren’t sure what he’s doing. They’re preparing for pass-pass-pass and seeing run-run-run. But you just know what’ll be coming some night soon.
"With Duell here," Lipani said, "I’d be an idiot if we didn’t throw."
Girls soccer: Candidate for wildest game of the year
Maple Hill and Greenville played an 8-8 tie over the weekend, which wouldn’t have been out of line for football or lacrosse. But girls soccer?
The teams ended regulation in Greenville in a 6-6 tie after Alex VanAuken scored three late goals for Greenville en route to six for the day – along with assists on the other two scores. Her goal with four minutes to play forced the overtime.
Meeghan Arno's fifth goal (to go with two assists) and another by Sierra Legge gave Maple Hill (1-0-1) leads again, but VanAuken scored in both OTs, finally tying the game for good with 6:51 to play.
Successful trial run for the home team
Defending state Class D champ Michael Champagne rolled to a 25-second victory in his race Saturday at the Section VII Invitational, a dry run for the NYSPHSAA meet in November at SUNY Plattsburgh. His showing helped Seton Catholic to a 13-point win over Beaver River for the meet's Class C title.
Not surprisingly, the Class A individual champs were heavyweights Alex Deir of Honeoye Falls-Lima in the boys race and Aisling Cuffe of Cornwall in the girls race. Deir led a 1-3-5 HF-L finish, but North Rockland had depth and won with 40 points.
Cody Stanton won the boys Class B event to help Jordan-Elbridge to team honors. Honeoye Falls-Lima was a surprising winner over Queensbury in girls Class A, Canton captured Class B and Greenwich dominated Class C.
Also on the trails, three-time defending Nike Cross National girls champion Fayetteville-Manlius put a perfect "15" on the board and won its division at the V-V-S Invitational. Molly Malone led F-M in 18:45.2, followed closely by Courtney Chapman (18:48). Teammates Katie Sischo, Jillian Fanning and Hannah Luber all hit the line in under 19:10. F-M's boys won their division with 16 points.
Paying to play becomes necessity at Burke Catholic
Varsity and JV athletes at Burke Catholic in Goshen are paying for the privilege of playing sports this school year, The Times Herald-Record reported.
Athletic director Adam Kless said the fees, which will help defray the cost of transportation and game officials, range from $150 per athlete for cross country to $350 for football this fall. He did not have figures for winter and spring sports yet.
Tuition at the school is $7,500 per year.
"I would say 99.9 percent of the parents have been very cooperative and everyone paid on time," Kless told the paper. "These parents have already made sacrifices and I appreciate this sacrifice."
Kless said most teams at the school have not seen a drop in roster sizes, although enrollment at Burke has taken a dip as the recent recession has hit many households.
Boys basketball: State championship coach dies
Former Syracuse Henninger boys basketball coach Joe Mazella, the school's assistant principal, died unexpectedly over the weekend at the age of 51.
Mazella worked at Henninger in a variety of roles for 27 years. He compiled a 245-78 record and left the sideline after his Black Knights won the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A championship in 2002 following his sixth sectional championship.
He was noted for a robust sense of humor.
"He took his life, family, and job responsibilities seriously, but never himself," Bob Campese, who worked with Mazella for 22 years, told The Post-Standard.
Swimming: Painful progress for PSAL girls teams
Badly needed renovations to the pool at Curtis High on Staten Island have displaced half a dozen girls swim teams this fall. Athletic director Eric Ritzer said the pool, opened in 1936, has never been renovated, and the project will be completed in January or February.
The facility is the only pool in a Staten Island school, so it wasn't as though teams could easily make different arrangements for practice. The Advance reported that more than a few people are upset the repairs were not started immediately after the boys season ended in February, but Ritzer said he received the repair notification in late June. Considering that no meaningful improvements had been made since scheduled work in 2001 was canceled, he wasn't in a position to ask for a delay.
Curtis, Moore/Staten Island Tech, Port Richmond and Susan Wagner will practice at College of Staten Island twice a week for the next month, Tottenville is still trying to work out a schedule with the Bernikow Jewish Community Center and Petrides has yet to find a site.
The PSAL is still trying to determine where regular-season meets will be held.
Odds and ends
* Burnt Hills won its 100th straight regular-season Suburban Council match in boys volleyball with a three-game sweep of Shenendehowa.
* Section III's winningest field hockey coach registered career victory No. 400 as Morrisville-Eaton edged Canastota 3-2. Patti Vaughan is the fifth coach in state history to reach the milestone.
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.