Afton’s softball team doesn’t win a state title every year, it just seems like it. Perhaps 15 straight Section IV titles, a staggering statement of the program’s excellence and consistently, has something to do with that type of thinking.
Last weekend at Waterloo High School, the Crimson Knights, who swallowed bitter pills in four straight state title game defeats, shrugged off those disappointments and beat Batavia Notre Dame, 7-4, for the Class D title.
Afton’s softball program has reigned as the preeminent Class D school in New York State for the better part of 25 years, yet it had been all of seven years, since 2002, that the Knights won a state championship.
After beating Stockbridge Valley 1-0 in its playoff opener over a week ago, all-state shortstop Jessie Winans was quoted by The Daily Star that she believed this was the year Afton would win a state title. Winans’ prediction wasn’t in the mold of Joe Namath’s bold proclamation that the Jets would beat the Colts in Super Bowl III. Namath’s poolside prediction was considered outlandlish and far-fetched at the time.
As for Winans and her prognostication, it’s never a bad idea to place your bet on Afton when a state softball title is on the line, and congratulations to the Knights’ team and coaching staff.
Elsewhere last weekend, local athletes were wrapping up the state track and field championships at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
Just a few notes to add to the Monday, June 15 story in the sports section: Greene sophomore Chad Noelle lowered his own record in the 1,600 meters when he ran just over 4:21 to place among the top three in the state division two meet. Noelle’s teammate, Mike Hollings, also set a school record in the long jump leaping 21-feet, 7-inches.
B-GA field event competitor, Melissa Reigles, placed fourth in the discus, not sixth as mentioned in the report.

Working for a daily newspaper, I am privy to what will appear on the pages before stories and news items go to print. Some time this week, the following “30 Seconds” entry will likely appear:
“For the record, in order to be a state-level wrestler, you have to win the sections.” –– Man from Oxford.
Unless you read each of our pages closely, including the obituaries, you may have no idea what the man from Oxford is referring to. I know exactly why this man was compelled to make an anonymous clarification,
Earlier this month, a young man from Oxford died unexpectedly and tragically in an accident. The 20-year-old graduated from Oxford Academy a couple of years ago, and wrestling was one of his extracurricular activities. In this young man’s obituary, he was described as a state-level wrestler.
The man from Oxford is right in the obvious or literal definition of a state-level wrestler. The recently-deceased young man did not win a sectional championship during his high school wrestling career.
I am of the mind to cut some slack here. A state-level wrestler can mean several things, and under a more general definition of the term, this deceased Oxford graduate’s participation in wrestling may indeed meet my basic criteria.
For instance: Did this young man compete in scholastic tournaments that included wrestlers from all parts of the state? Did he participate in offseason tournaments that showcased wrestlers from all parts of New York? Did he, by chance, compete in the Empire State Games or any national qualifiers during his years as a wrestler?
Since Oxford hosts an annual tournament that invites teams from all parts of New York, I know this young man meets at least one of the criteria I set forth. This man’s family is grieving their loss, and it’s not time to nit-pick the semantics of an obituary. Let the young man rest in peace.

Less than two weeks ago, I learned that Terry Hagenbuch, a physical education teacher at Norwich High School, was competing in the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon. His motivation was not simply the extreme physical challenge, but to bring awareness and raise money for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).
If you’re somewhat unfamiliar with ALS, perhaps you have heard the term, “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” Although the disease’s origins date back to 1869, it was 70 years later, in 1939, when the nation learned one of its sports heroes was stricken with the devastating – and ultimately fatal – disease.
Gehrig died two years after his abrupt retirement, and to this day, there is no known cure, and very few treatment options. In the past decade, some new medications have proven to extend the life of those afflicted with ALS. Still, in all but a few cases, contracting the disease is a slow death sentence.
Hagenbuch got his start at Norwich High School 13 years ago when he was hired by then Director of Athletics, Jack Jones, and former principal Jim Walters. A Norwich High School alumni, it meant everything to Hagenbuch to return to his alma mater.
The start of Hagenbuch’s employment at Norwich High School also began his association with Jones, an old-school-plain-talking-say-what-you-mean-mean-what-you-say type of administrator. And that was perfectly fine with Hagenbuch, who, as anyone who knows him, is a no-nonsense type of teacher.
Jones retired from Norwich High School nearly a decade ago, but has subsequently served multiple interim stints as the school’s AD. In 2003, Jones was diagnosed with ALS, and after several years battling the disease, is wheelchair-bound and has lost the use of his arms and legs.
Jones is revered and respected by anyone who had the opportunity to work with him, and his influence runs particularly deep with Hagenbuch.
Next week, we will feature a story on Hagenbuch’s endeavor in which he will compete in the Lake Placid Triathlon on July 26 and raise money for the Blazeman Foundation in honor of Jones. Anyone interested in making a donation can go online to Hagenbuch’s website at www.active.com/donate/teamblazeman/blazemanTHagenb or call Hagenbuch at 336-3707 to make a contributions. All funds collected on Hagenbuch’s website go toward the Blazeman Foundation to fund ALS research.

Friday night, my three kids began their weekend stay at my house a little later than usual. The two oldest had a Norwich Middle School dance – the last one of the year, so attendance was mandatory. (Perhaps to maintain social status?)
It was shortly after 10 p.m. when we crossed the threshold of my front door and into my dining room area. The wind-down toward bed time commenced immediately. In the meantime, I flipped on the New York Yankees’ baseball game against the Minnesota Twins. My son meandered upstairs for the night, and while he was seen one more time later on, he wasn’t heard during the critical late-game stages of an epic Yankees rally.
My daughters lingered downstairs browsing a couple of websites as the tension and excitement mounted in the ninth inning. The Twins had ace closer Joe Nathan on the mound to wrap up a win in the first game of a four-game series. Nathan has seldom shown any chinks in his armor the past few years, and is about as sure a bet to seal a victory as any closer in Major League Baseball.
On this night, Nathan was either off his game or the Yankees solved the Nathan mystery for a night. Down by two runs entering their last at-bat, New York plated one run, and with two outs and two runners on base, Melky Cabrera gapped a long single to left-center field that scored the game-winning runs.
The Yankees celebrated, fans celebrated, and I’m sure I was one of thousands of viewers rejoicing on their couch after a thrilling comeback win. My girls heard my ruckus in the adjoining living room, and saw grown men dancing and celebrating on television. They saw their dad’s intensity and focus on a game morph into ecstatic gaiety as my beloved baseball team pulled out a game it seemed destined to lose.
And then Cabrera was pied in the face with whipped cream by A.J. Burnett just as he was conducting a post-game interview on the field. My girls, their interest now piqued, watched a scenario on television they had never seen before.
I didn’t take the opportunity to tell my kids the significance of the moment. I let it play out, yet the feeling I had accurately defines why I love sports. A fan of sports can run the gamut of emotions throughout any game he watches, and this unscripted fare has suspense, drama, cliffhangers, and Jack-in-the-box surprises that may rear themselves on a whim.
Over the next two nights, I was again tuning in to watch the Yankees finish off walk-off victories that were all similar in nature. My girls were on hand to view the theatrics, and I have to believe – if they didn’t by now – they have a semblance of understanding sports’ allure to me and millions of others across the nation.
Now, if my kids could only understand the enthusiasm and pride I feel when they consistently clean their rooms and pick up after themselves.

Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton’s vaunted track and field team held out some of its most talented boys runners last week against Unadilla Valley, yet it still walked away with the team title with ease. The Bears, not as talented and deep on the girls’ side, also claimed the three-way meet on the Storm’s home track.
“Our boys’ team is really deep this year, and the guys I held out were coming off a long indoor season,” said head coach Robb Munro. “I had them do a workout instead of competing.”
Dustin Ross, a defending sectional champion, Josh Norris, Jake Taylor, Ethan Mazzarella, and Kyle Kelly all sat out the UV meet, and all are normally high scoring kids. “When you have kids like Dustin, the other kids on the team are way behind or won’t (compete in the events he is in),” Munro said. “Holding our top guys out works out great for the other kids. It gives those kids a chance to be leaders, and I was pleased with the way they performed at Unadilla Valley.”
As for the girls, Munro was more than pleasantly surprised by the victory. “I didn’t think we had the depth with the girls, and lot of performances weren’t lights out,” he said, “but I was happy with the way they got out there and competed for every team point.”

Dave Gorton made a simple comment that was plainly obvious, and one all good teams should remember: After last Saturday’s game against Harpursville, one in which Gorton’s Trojans lost a 55-52 decision in the MAC championship game, he said: “Any loss that does not end your season is not the worst thing.”
The worst thing that can happen, clearly, is a setback that does indeed end a team’s season, and Greene will play another day in 2009. Sure, it lost the opportunity to finish the regular season at 20-0 and repeat as league champions, but the Trojans’ eyes have been on a bigger prize all along, as Gorton pointed out as well: “This is disappointing, but it doesn’t take away from the ultimate goal: To win a sectional title.”
Harpursville’s victory also proves that the timing of a loss doesn’t mean much at all. With its MAC divisional title all but wrapped up, the Hornets lost to Oxford over a week ago, 34-31. It was just the third loss for the Hornets all season, and it kept them from a perfect run through division play. That defeat was already forgotten by the time the Hornets stepped on the floor Saturday at SUNY Oneonta.
Rewind three years ago to the 2006 Norwich Tornado girls’ basketball team. Norwich dropped its last regular season game to Owego, and fell in the first round of the STAC playoffs to Elmira Free Academy. Back-to-back losses didn’t dissuade or discourage the Purple, who won three playoff games, the final one over Oneonta for the program’s second-ever Section IV title.
Coaches will never turn down the opportunity to win a league championship, but most mentors will quickly trade a loss there for the opportunity to be the best team in the section.

It’s fair to say my commentary on the behavior of select fans and players after the final home football game touched a nerve or two. A losing season is a tough pill to swallow, failing to win any games is a horrible legacy to leave on the program. Let’s do the numbers quickly: It’s the second winless season for the UV-E Storm over the past four years, and in that time, the team has six wins and 29 losses. In spite of that inauspicious mark, I believed the program was about ready to turn the corner. In 2007, UV-E was in contention for a winning season until losing at the tail-end of week nine’s game against Delhi. The staff piloted a club that was statistically among the best defenses in Chenango County giving up less than 13 points a game. With so many solid players returning from that club, head coach Jack Loeffler had reason for optimism. As a bit of background information: I went to grade school with Mr. Loeffler’s son Aaron over 30 years ago, and I’ve known the family most of my life. Speaking to him during the preseason, I had never heard such upbeat, positive words come from his mouth. My first day visiting Loeffler, I was on site strictly to shoot pictures of practice and individual headshots of players. Without asking a question of his team, he was giving me headline-like quotes. I told Jack, “save those for my interview.” There was no question in his mind: He sincerely thought he had one heck of a group of players. Many times he told me, “we’re stinkin’ tough.” I had no reason to doubt him, and I picked the Storm to beat Bainbridge-Guilford in week one. B-G’s head coach was unsure of his group, whereas Jack was confident in his corps. That final went the Bobcats’ way by touchdown. With the advantage of hindsight, B-G ended up a playoff team. The Bobcats were better than expected, and in fact, half the teams UV-E played this year were playoff teams., Seven of the nine UV-E opponents were in playoff contention until the final week of the season. It was, by no means, an easy schedule. Still, the unrealized expectations of this 2008 season was such an affront to some people, it led to immature, rude behavior by a select few following the game with Oxford. You would think Mr. Loeffler and his staff had no idea what they were doing. May I remind readers, last year’s UV-Edmeston club had one heck of a defense. This staff didn’t suddenly forget how to coach. Since I used a quote in the previous blog that seemed appropriate, another one seems to apply here: “Coaches get far too much credit for winning, and way too much of the blame for losing.” Should the coaching staff at UV-E get a free pass for this past season? No, and I don’t believe those gentlemen would want one. It is incumbent upon the staff to address mistakes made this past year, and then correct them. My first suggestion: Hire another full-time varsity assistant coach. The benefits of an extra set of eyes – and ideas – is extraordinary. Not to mention, it would allow more attention to detail and individual coaching by position. Reader responses note that UV-E has a good group of young men stepping up to varsity next year. The best thing going for the newcomers: The slate is clean, and the program has nowhere to go but up.

The last day of the football season for UV-Edmeston was one that I will always remember – although, preferably, I wish I had selective amnesia. UV-E hosted Oxford on a Thursday evening in a non-league matchup to round out each team’s nine-game schedule. The two clubs had exactly one combined win, so as expected, we saw some good moments, and plenty of bad ones. The Storm looked to avoid a winless season, and Oxford hoped to salvage a rebuilding year with its second win. At the outset, I told Evening Sun photographer, Frank Speziale, that I expected a tight, competitive game. It was. Statistically, there was little difference, and each team scored three touchdowns. The final difference – two points – was the Blackhawks’ success on one more two-point conversion. What followed the game was plain ugliness and disrespect – from an unruly fan/parent or two, as well as a couple of players. No one, and I repeat NO ONE finds a winless season acceptable. That includes all of the players, coaching staff, along with the program’s supporters. The time to air grievances is not in the middle of a playing field. What I observed first was the loud berating of the UV-E coaching staff as it prepared to go through the handshake line – in full earshot of the players. Subsequently, a couple of players walked away – spurning their teammates in the post-game huddle. The discourse that ensued is not printable here. It’s easy to pass the blame on to someone else rather than take responsibility for one’s actions. Sure, a player may not agree with every tactical decision made by a coach, but the coach isn’t on the field missing blocks, missing tackles, dropping passes or fumbling the ball away. I am reminded of a quote from Remember the Titans: “We will be perfect in every aspect of the game. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble the football, and I will break my foot off in your John Brown hind parts, and then you will run a mile. Perfection.” As most people know, the movie was based on a true story, and the man who uttered the quote, Coach Herman Boone, ran a fairly simple offense with just six plays – six! Even the most basic of offenses I see today are more complicated than the one Coach Boone used to win championships. Perhaps more than any other sport, proper execution is the key to success in football. And football is an ultimate team game where the success or failure of the team may hinge on any particular player on the field at any time. It is unfortunate that the emotions of the moment override good sense. It is even more unfortunate that my final impression of the UV-E team is one of the more sour moments in my 14-year career covering football.

The Pidgeon name, long ago a integral force in Oneonta victories over Norwich football, surfaced again last Friday. No surprise, the link is a familial one.
Tim Pidgeon, a fearsome running back and linebacker for the Yellowjackets in the early 1980s, had a big hand in a two-touchdown victory on a mud-raked Oneonta home field in 1982.
It was a matchup between two top-notch STAC teams, and each club had his own star. Pidgeon for the Yellowjackets, and Barry Benjamin of Norwich. Benjamin, who rushed for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, was hampered by a slick field that dulled his sharp cuts, and a pursuing defense that keyed on his every turn.
Pidgeon, meanwhile, with a straight-ahead running style, churned away at the Norwich defense with tough inside running.
Fast forward to 2008. Pidgeon’s son, Brendan, while not a spitting image of his father, looks quite similar once the pads and helmet are on. He was relentless on defense in tracking down NHS runners, and on offense, he gained all of the tough yards, while also showing breakaway speed with two TDs of over 50 yards.
When the clock ran out, Pidgeon’s final game on Oneonta’s home field, he had an elusive victory. “I’ve never beaten Norwich on the varsity level,” he said. “And it feels great.”

Norwich coach John Pluta was prophetic in his comments before last Friday’s game against Oneida. “Offensively, we can give people some trouble – even if we don’t match up physically,” he said. “A lot of teams outside our section don’t see our offense.”
Norwich returned to its ball-control ways racking up huge possession time on 50 carries for 235 yards. Keeping the ball for sustained drives kept Oneida’s prolific offense off the field, a stated game-plan goal, Pluta said.
Conversely, he spoke of how well division opponents such as Chenango Forks, Chenango Valley, Oneonta, and Windsor play defense against the Tornado year in and year out. “Points are at a premium (in our division),” Pluta said. “Everybody knows what everybody else does, and they consistently do it.”
Windsor and Chenango Forks have division wins over Norwich, and Windsor has already clinched a playoff spot after beating Oneonta last week to move to 3-0 in division play. Chenango Forks (2-1 in division play) has two ways to secure a playoff spot: First, defeat Windsor on Saturday. Second, Norwich wins at Oneonta Friday night. Pluta said that beating Oneonta was on its list of eight preseason goals. Now, it can not only accomplish that goal, but eliminate its longtime rival from postseason play in the process.