Here is the top 10 for the Web site for the Inside High School Sports show for the week of February 4, presented by Holbrook Heating & Air Conditioning…
1. On Tuesday night, ice hockey took the spotlight when West Genesee and Baldwinsville clashed for first place in Division I and a likely playoff top seed. Way back on November 30, the Wildcats rolled to a 6-1 win over the Bees at Shove Park, but since then B’ville had won 12 in a row, never allowing more than three goals in any of those games. West Genesee only had a pair of defeats to Suffern and Victor, two teams above the Wildcats in the state rankings. Here, at Lysander, B’ville never trailed and, hanging on late, prevailed 5-4 when a possible Wildcats tying goal was waived off in the final seconds because officials ruled it hit a high stick All the while, Syracuse watched this, the Cougars getting games against both the Bees and Wildcats before the regular season ends.
2. Going into February in boys basketball, in Class AA the question is how the challengers to the top two teams, Liverpool and West Genesee, will line up. CBA started the week 12-4 after rallying to beat Albany CBA last weekend while Nottingham is also in good form, having beat a short-handed Liverpool before Andreo Ash returned from injury. Fayetteville-Manlius saw Trevor Roe pass 1,000 career points, but the Hornets finish with five straight road games that included trips to West Genesee and Cicero-North Syracuse. What Bishop Grimes’ double-overtime win over Mekeel Christian showed, combined with a close win over Syracuse Academy of Science, was that the Cobras might have emerged as a Class A favorite over New Hartford and all of the SCAC Empire division sides.
3. Chittenango boys basketball had returned to the state Class B top 10 when it went to Marcellus Tuesday and, by a comfortable 70-54 margin, avenged its early-December defeat to the Mustangs. What happened there would be watched closely as Central Valley Academy attempted to stay unbeaten and Lowville looks to contend, too. Then there’s Class C, where late last week Dolgeville rallied past Herkimer and Weedsport got a huge win over Tully among those top contenders, with the Blue Devils and state no. 7-ranked Little Falls set to meet each other February 10, perhaps to determine the top playoff seed? In Class D, it generally remains the same, Hamilton and Sackets Harbor each with just one defeat and likely to claim the top two playoff seeds in a couple of weeks.
4. With the wins it got last week over Bishop Ludden and Baldwinsville, Liverpool reinforced its status as Class AA girls basketball favorite – at least until it lost, 70-67, at home to Henninger, a team it beat by 33 earlier this season. Now that second meeting with Cicero-North Syracuse on the road early next week is for the SCAC Metro regular-season title, the Northstars and Rome Free Academy both joining Liverpool in the state rankings and Auburn joining in with its 12-2 record as Leah Middleton passed 1,000 career points last week. Indian River’s 16-1 record brought the Warriors up at no. 7 in the state Class A rankings, fifth among NYSPHSAA schools as a mad scramble ensues among all the other teams in the Class A ranks nearing the playoffs.
5. Yet it’s clear that General Brown remains the Class B girls basketball team to beat especially after it beat Indian River 44-31 on Tuesday night to avenge its earlier loss to IR. Westhill’s big 55-51 win last week over Mexico may set up the Warriors in the best position to challenge the defending sectional champion Lions when the playoffs start in a couple of weeks. A potentially epic sectional Class D tournament is at hand, for even though West Canada is unbeaten and atop the state rankings, the presence of Watertown IHC in the state top five and its recent impressive win over Thousand Islands makes the Cavaliers quite dangerous, not to mention defending champion Copenhagen, Poland and Hamilton all capable of making championship runs, too.
6. After last week’s inaugural NYSPHSAA girls wrestling Invitational at SRC Arena that was, by all accounts, a raging success, it was time for the boys wrestling NYSPHSAA Dual Meet, and while Cicero-North Syracuse exited early in Division I, in Division II Central Valley Academy beat Pearl River, Port Jefferson and Canisteo-Greenwood to reach the finals, only to fall 49-19 to state no. 1-ranked Tioga. Meanwhile, league championships were on the line, too, with Adirondack pulling away from an eight-team field to take the Center State Conference title as Marcellus found its way to the top during the Onondaga High School League meet, the Mustangs outlasting the likes of Phoenix and regular-season league champion Jordan-Elbridge to finish in front.
7. Of course, in wrestling this week all eyes will be on the five Section III class championship meets. In Class AA, Cicero-North Syracuse not only hosts the meet, but is favored over challenges to Liverpool and Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA. Indian River, the hosts of the Class A meet, expects Fulton and Central Square to offer up robust challenges. Central Valley Academy hosts the Class B sectional meet with Camden and Homer among the strong sides as well. In Class C at Little Falls, strong contenders include General Brown, Adirondack and Phoenix, while Class D teams gather at Cooperstown, including Canastota, Beaver River and Dolgeville. All of the top finishers at these meets advance to the overall sectional Division I and II championships February 12 at SRC Arena.
8. In indoor track, last weekend’s Center State Conference and Tri-Valley League meets at Utica University included Clinton sweeping the CSC 1 honors, while Herkimer’s boys and Sauquoit Valley’s girls won the CSC 2 honors. Four different teams – Rome Free Academy (girls), Utica Proctor (boys), VVS (girls) and Central Valley Academy (boys) – won the various TVL divisions. Then it was the Onondaga High School League meets Wednesday at SRC Arena, followed by the Salt City Athletic Conference meets with Baldwinsville’s boys and Cicero-North Syracuse’s girls favored in the Metro division and good batles between Jamesville-DeWitt and Auburn expected in the Empire divisions.
9. On Sunday at Strike-N-Spare Lanes, we have the Section III boys bowling championships. Teams will battle in three classes with the top Division I (large school) and Division II (small school) teams advance to March’s state tournament, also at Strike-N-Spare. Expect the battle among large schools to center around three SCAC Empire division teams – East Syracuse Minoa, Auburn and Central Square – who have outclassed Metro division sides, while 8-1 New Hartford might be the small-school favorite ahead of Homer. Girls bowling teams have to wait another week before their Feb. 12 sectional tournament at Flamingo Bowl, but two of the top teams squared off early this week and Fulton shut out Liverpool 7-0, the Red Raiders and Baldwinsville tops among SCAC sides this winter.
10. If it could win meets this week against West Genesee and New Hartford, Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA would have the only undefeated boys swimming season in the SCAC and emerge as the favorite for the February 15 sectional Class A championships, while Fulton, with just one defeat to J-D/CBA, and New Hartford are the Class B/C front-runners. In winter girls volleyball, Mount Markham and Beaver River are the only two teams maintaining perfect marks going into February, while New Hartford, at 14-1, is the clear Class A favorites while Chittenango and Canastota could battle it out in Class B and Tully’s long win streak could lead to a successful title defense in Class C, even as Chittenango has the strongest mark among winter boys volleyball sides.
