While I know we were all hoping we could get through winter
without a big snowstorm, we all knew that would never happen.
Eventually, Mother Nature would catch up to us and dump some white
stuff. Sure enough we got a dose of it from late last Thursday
until Saturday.
We got enough of it at the right temperature and consistency to
make a mess and therefore, most everything got canceled on Friday.
Sometimes cancellations jump the gun or are made with little snow
and the desire to take a day off. This last Friday was neither of
those cases. By Friday evening, even some of the major roads were
dangerous. This was one time when the correct call was made.
Just as a refresher, since we haven’t had snow this season, if
school is canceled or let out early, all after school activities
are canceled. In some cases schools decided to finish the regular
school day but announced that after school activities were
canceled. That meant that just about every game in the area was
canceled on Friday, including the two surrounding South Seneca’s
Guinan Gym dedication. The Lansing Hall of Fame ceremony, however,
went on unimpeded.
Weekend events are not part of school closing rules. Sporting
events can take place on days where school was previously not
scheduled to take place. For instance, even though school may have
been canceled on Friday, they could still turn around and schedule
for Saturday, Sunday or even on Martin Luther King Day. Most
schools tend to keep Sundays and holidays from the game schedule,
though there were still schools that practiced this past
Monday.
We can all continue to cross our fingers that snow won’t be a
factor, but who are we kidding? We live in the Finger Lakes and we
know what winters are like. We’ll probably get the first week of
baseball games snowed out!
The South Seneca Falcons edged closer to their fourth league
title in a row, defeating Finger Lakes West opponent DeSales 66-18.
An undermanned DeSales team managed to get all their points on
pinfalls, though the Falcons still had the edge in the contested
matches, earning five pins in the match. Connor Keating (126-pound
weight class), Ray Prouty (132), Brandon Morgan (195) and Seth
Worrell (285) each pinned their opponent by the third minute. At
152 pounds, Tim Brock needed to work a little harder to earn to the
pin, going five minutes and seven seconds before getting his
opponent’s shoulders to the mat. Adam Wagner (99), Blake Antal
(106), Garrett Smith (120), Robert Smith (160), Hayden Wagner (170)
and Matt Wyckoff (182) all suited up, but found themselves without
an opponent and earning forfeits. The Falcons missed points in one
category as there was no wrestler for either team in the 113
class.
Dryden’s girls’ basketball team played an epic, four-overtime
game against Southern Cayuga Saturday.
The Purple Lions ended up playing girls with minor injuries and
Southern Cayuga ended up playing a girl short due to foul-outs in
the wild 66-61 game. Audrey-Kate Ordway and Taylor Hoyt played all
52 minutes for Dryden with Ordway scoring 14 and Hoyt knocking in
12. Three others scored in double digits during the marathon of a
game.
IAC Division Races
We’re headed downhill in terms of the winter season and some
titles are more or less locked up. The Newfield girls missed a
chance to force a tie for the Interscholastic Athletic Conference
Small School Division last Tuesday and would need a lot of help to
win it. The Candor girls are also in the same boat since they are
tied with Newfield at 4-2 in the division; however, the two teams
still have one more head-to-head game left. Realistically though,
the two teams are working to try to secure a home sectional playoff
seed. Newfield has the better overall record and the best chance of
hosting a playoff game, something they haven’t done since the Micki
Volpini era (Volpini is currently a senior captain of the SUNY
Cortland team).
Since the Lansing girls only play in a four-team division they
haven’t run away with the title yet. They are 3-0 in division, 9-0
in the IAC and 9-1 overall. Trumansburg is 2-1 in the division with
one more game against Lansing this season. However, they are 3-7
overall. But if they can beat Dryden on Friday, upset Lansing the
following Friday and take out Whitney Point at home in early
February, it won’t matter how many losses they have, since they’ll
force a tie with Lansing. Dryden is 1-2 in the division, but 6-5
overall, meaning that they still have a good shot of playing
sectional basketball after the season is through.
Groton and Spencer-Van Etten will have a tough time making a
case for themselves in sectionals. The Panthers have won only one
game so far this season. Groton is the kind of team that could pull
off a first round upset if they qualify for play in the sectionals.
They are 1-2 in a good division and 3-5 overall.
On the boys’ side, the guys who won’t be playing in sectionals
are Newfield and Candor. Despite some strong performances, Candor
has only one win so far. Newfield has done a little better at 3-8
overall, but won’t be making it back to .500 to earn entry to the
sectionals.
The boys’ North division is the same story as the girls’, only
it’s Dryden who holds a game lead. The Dryden boys are 2-1 in the
division and 6-3 in the IAC (7-3 overall). Whitney Point currently
is second by percentage points with a 2-3 record in division (4-4
IAC), but the best they could finish would be 3-3. Trumansburg and
Lansing each are 1-2 in division. Tburg has the final game against
Whitney Point but the Blue Raiders, the Purple Lions and the
Bobcats each play each other once more and it truly is anyone’s
guess who will come out on top.
As for Groton, whatever I say here will be moot by the time we
go to press. Groton had one loss going into Tuesday January 17, and
that was to first place Marathon. That was also their opponent at
home on Tuesday. So if Groton beat Marathon they would hold first
place all alone. If they lost, a much more complex tiebreaker comes
into play that would require Moravia beat Marathon among other
things. But the easiest course would be through Marathon. With a
win Tuesday, Groton could win outright as long as they swept the
division. They could still even lose a division game, but that
would mean a tiebreaker game for the IAC Small School North
title.
In any event, follow our Twitter feed (@FLCNSports) for game
updates from Groton. We use #GrotonIndians for Groton sports
reports.
