By John Schiano
MaxPreps.com
The final kick of Jamie Boyle’s sophomore football season could easily have chased him from the sport all together. At the very least, it could have left him carrying the stigma of being the guy who cost Monroe-Woodbury a state championship.
In the 23 months since then, however, Boyle has earned a new label – Mr. Automatic.
When he converted six extra points last weekend during a 42-7 victory over Kingston, Boyle ran his streak of consecutive PAT kicks to 65, dating to early in the 2007 season. That broke the mark of 62 in a row by Adolfo Rivera of Wallkill in 2003-04.
On Thanksgiving weekend 2006, Auburn defeated Monroe-Woodbury, 27-26, in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA final at the Carrier Dome in front of the largest crowd in the history of the event.
Monroe-Woodbury scored first in OT on Dave Landesberg’s 2-yard run, but Boyle’s conversion kick sailed wide. Auburn responded on the next play with Darnell Murphy’s 20-yard TD throw to Jeff Richardson.
Ironically, the Maroons’ Matt Hoey also missed his extra-point kick but was given new life because of a penalty, and converted his second chance.
There were at least half a dozen other mistakes along the way that might have cost M-W the victory, but it’s pretty easy to go the simple route and single out Boyle.
“Don’t worry, you’re going to do a lot for us down the road,” coach Pat D’Aliso remembers telling the youngster.
Boyle has rewarded that faith by being so consistent since. His last miss was in Week 2 of the 2007 season.
“You got a 15-year-old kid and I think most kids would have crumbled under the pressure, lost their confidence and never attained the level he’s gone on to today,” D’Aliso told the Middletown Times Herald-Record.
“It says a lot, and that’s why he has Division I college potential.”
More Football: Great Weekend for Large-School Showdowns
The schedule won’t get any better than this weekend when it comes to marquee matchups in Class AA. Thirteen of the 25 teams ranked by the New York State Sportswriters Association are playing other ranked teams.
The best of the bunch figures to be No. 7 Syracuse CBA (5-0) – now perched at No. 1 in the MaxPreps.com computer rankings – at No. 13 West Genesee (4-1), the defending state champion trying to right the ship after a stunning, 47-37 loss to previously winless Fayetteville-Manlius.
Next door in Section V, No. 2 Gates Chili (5-0) meets No. 15 Hilton (5-0) in a classic run vs. pass showdown, and No. 21 Rochester Marshall (5-0) faces McQuaid Jesuit (4-1), which is ranked 15th in Class A and has to avoid looking ahead to its annual rivalry game against powerful Aquinas.
In the Catholic High School Football League, it’s No. 4 St. Anthony’s (4-1) vs. No. 19 St. Joseph’s-by-the-Sea.
Also, No. 9 Minisink Valley faces No. 24 Newburgh Free Academy, No. 12 John Jay-East Fishkill meets No. 23 Mahopac and No. 17 Saratoga Springs travels out of the section to play at No. 5 Monroe-Woodbury.
New York vs. New Jersey Game is Dead
The 11-year-old summer football senior all-star series between New York and New Jersey is being discontinued, with Empire State sources saying there were several unresolved issues responsible for the decision.
The New York-New Jersey All-Star Classic is being replaced by the New Jersey-Northeast All-Star Classic, according to a release from the New Jersey Football Coaches Association. The 2009 game at Rutgers Stadium is scheduled for June 7 against a squad drawn from Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Eastern Pennsylvania – and New York.
Two New York State High School Football Coaches Association members indicated they might try to set up a New York all-star game with either an upstate-downstate or East-West format.
One of the major knocks against the game recently is that it has been held in early June the last two years, competing with spring sports championships including lacrosse, track and baseball for both athletes and media attention.
Soccer Milestones
* Maple Hill girls soccer coach Sheila Golden picked up career victory No. 300 on Wednesday with a 6-0 triumph against Taconic Hills. Senior striker Alyssa Ancin led the way with a pair of goals as the Wildcats improved to 10-3-1 for the season.
A day earlier, Maple Hill boys coach Dan Gillespie missed in his first bid for his 500th victory, watching his squad lose a 1-0 game to Cairo-Durham.
Golden, who ran track for Gillespie as a Maple Hill student, has been the girls varsity since 1991.
* Amy Marron of Westlake scored her third goal of the day and 100th of her career late in a 6-0 win over Putnam Valley.
* The S.S. Seward girls defeated Millbrook, 3-0, to earn their 13th straight shutout win this fall and 16th in a row dating to the 2007 NYSPHSAA Class C quarterfinals. Alina Greiser has been in the nets for every game in the streak.
The last team to score on Seward was Solomon Schecter last Nov. 6 in a 2-1 loss in the state pre-quarterfinal round.
Monroe County League About To Grow
The school board told Honeoye Falls-Lima athletic officials to proceed with their application to join the Monroe County Public School Athletic Conference, perhaps as early as in September 2009, and Canandaigua could be right behind the Cougars.
HF-L’s move from the Livingston County Athletic Association is regarded as all but certain and follows Victor’s move from the Finger Lakes High School Athletic Association that give the Monroe County organization 21 members.
Meanwhile, district officials in Canandaigua have been putting the question of a league switch to residents recently. With Victor gone, Canandaigua is now more than one-third larger than the next-biggest Finger Lakes school and has been having trouble filling holes in its schedule recently.
The football team had to schedule non-leaguers with Horseheads (Section IV), Camden (Section III) and Slippery Rock, Pa., to fill out a seven-game schedule this season.
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.
