New York: Harris Brothers Leave Long Island Lutheran

Easy come, easy go.

Junior forward Tobias Harris has transferred back to Half Hallow Hills West after leading Long Island Lutheran to a boys Federation basketball tournament title last month.

Tobias Harris is returning to Half Hallow Hills West.

Photo By Lonnie Webb

Harris is highly regarded by numerous Division I colleges, including Syracuse from the Big East and Maryland from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

According to Newsday, the 6-foot-8 forward and his 6-7 sophomore brother Tyler Harris will begin classes at HHHW on Monday when the school re-opens after Easter recess. The family did not move from Dix Hills last summer when the brothers transferred to Lutheran.

Tobias Harris overcame an early-season ankle injury that cost him nearly half his season to average 23.5 points and 11.5 rebounds. He hit for 27 points for Lutheran (19-8) in the Federation Class A finals against New York State Public High School Athletic Association champion Jamesville-DeWitt.

As a sophomore, he averaged 29 points and nine rebounds to help HHHW to a 22-2 record and the Section XI Class AA championship.

Diamond Delights: One school, two sports, two no-hitters

* Talk about oddities, Chenango Valley got a pair of no-hitters Wednesday against the same school – but in different sports and with different results.

Sophomore Taylor Hendrickson turned her first varsity start into a no-hitter with nine strikeouts and two walks as Chenango Valley registered a 6-0 win over Binghamton Seton Catholic in Southern Tier Athletic Conference softball action.

Meanwhile, Chenango Valley baseball pitchers Taylor Howard (nine strikeouts in six innings) and Don Fry (two whiffs in one inning) teamed up on a no-hitter but the Warriors committed four errors and suffered a 3-1 loss to Seton Catholic.

* There was interesting reading in Newsday as reporter Gregg Sarra examined East Islip's 35-0 blowout of Copiague in a softball game halted last week after 4½ innings by the mercy rule.

Sarra noted that East Islip coach Stephanie Nardone, who has a 141-30-1 record in eight seasons, took numerous measures to avoid a massacre, resorting to station-to-station baserunning and pulling starters in the second inning.

"Who knew our younger players would hit so well?" Nardone said. "I was excited for them because they were getting a chance to play. And I was impressed with the way Copiague hung in there and picked each other up. I don't want kids to feel bad on either side but I didn't know how to turn it off."

Girls Lacrosse: Canandaigua caps successful trip 

* Haley Marafioti’s goal with 1:48 to play off a pass from Alyssa Johnsston, gave Canandaigua a 10-9 victory over Olney, Md., Good Counsel to cap a successful three-game trip Wednesday. The Braves fell behind by 4-1 and still trailed by a 9-5 margin with 17:30 to co. Stacy Wade’s steal set up Emily Zartman’s third goal with 2:58 remaining to tie the game.

Canandaigua (4-1) has moved up to No. 2 in the nation in LaxPower.com’s ratings. The Braves rallied past then-No. 1 Owings Mills, Md., McDonogh, 12-10, before losing to new No. 1 St. Stephens & Agnes of Alexandria, Va., 9-8, on a goal by Virginia-bound senior Kelly Austin with six seconds remaining.

* West Genesee, ranked third in Class A in the first set of rankings from the New York State Sportswriters Association, is hosting games this weekend that also feature Class B. No. 3 Brighton and Class C No. 2 Carthage.

On Friday, it’s Carthage vs. Brighton and West Genesee against nationally ranked Mt. Hebron from Maryland. On Saturday, Brighton faces Mt. Hebron and West Genny goes up against Carthage.

Football: Former Syracuse CBA star in demand 

For a guy who didn’t get much love from his basketball coach this season at Duke, Greg Paulus is certainly getting a lot of attention this week – from football coaches.

When we last saw Paulus on center stage in New York, he was quarterbacking Syracuse Christian Brothers Academy against New Rochelle in an epic NYSPHSAA Class AA championship game at the Carrier Dome in November 2004. Paulus went 23-of-29 for 371 yards and three touchdowns that day, rallying the Brothers from a 35-28 deficit in the fourth quarter to a 41-35 victory and sewing up Gatorade’s national player of the year award. (As an aside, Ray Rice was on the field that day for New Rochelle and rolled up 115 rushing yards and three TDs.)

Paulus, though, opted for a basketball career as the point guard at Duke, where he had a nice run as the most hated player in the country – a quirky measure of respect traditionally reserved for a Blue Devils player. But this past season did not go as planned for either Duke or Paulus, who lost his starting role because Mike Krzyzewski forgot one of the truisms of the business: A coach who thinks he has two point guards probably doesn’t have any.

But Paulus suddenly started showing up on the radar screen of pro and college football coaches last week as it was reported that the Green Bay Packers had worked him out, fueling speculation that he could be drafted later this month.

Soon after that, however, reports surfaced that college coaches were interested in his services as well. Through a quirky NCAA rule (yeah, that may be redundant), Paulus has one season of college football eligibility remaining and can play immediately this fall for any Division I school without having to sit out.

It’s known that Paulus has met with Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, who is scrambling for some veteran leadership at the position. In addition, Duke coach David Cutliffe, who is set at quarterback with Thaddeus Lewis, reportedly was interested in Paulus as a wide receiver.

Don’t think it’s an outrageous reach for Rodriguez. In 2005 at West Virginia, he put J.R. House on the depth chart seven years after the quarterback wrapped up his prep career and moved on to play minor-league baseball. House backed up then-freshman Pat White.

By the way, the defensive coordinator at Michigan is Greg Robinson, who arrived in Syracuse as the head coach just as Paulus was making up his mind about life after high school. Had Robinson arrived a little earlier, he might have won out over Duke basketball and Notre Dame football for Paulus’ services – and might still be employed in Syracuse.

Odds and Ends

* Gates Chili’s school board this week accepted the resignation of Athletic Director Chris Hodge, who told the Democrat and Chronicle he was pressured to quit for reasons that have not been explained to him. Hodge arrived in 2005 as the first black AD in the Monroe County League and helped keep things running quite smoothly while teams were displaced during two years of massive campus construction, and the football and basketball teams earned Section V championships in the current school year.

* Buffalo school officials say they’re worried that over-use of All-High Stadium will put too much wear and tear on the artificial turf there. A semi-pro football team has approached the district with a request to rent the facility this fall, but the district is already getting complaints about noise and traffic during high school events. In addition, the family of sportswriter Tom Borrelli has filed a notice it intends to sue. Borrelli died from injuries suffered last November after falling on difficult-to-navigate stairs to the pressbox.

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 .