2026 Section 2 men's tennis sectional pairings released

 We haven't paid much attention to men's tennis due to lack of results. The sectionals begin Monday in 4 divisions.

Class AA:

Friday:

Colonie @ Albany Academy. Winner plays #1 Shaker on Monday.

Schenectady-Mohonasen @ Albany. Winner plays #2 Bethlehem.

Monday:

Niskayuna @ Guilderland.

Saratoga @ Shenendehowa.

Class A:

Monday:

Troy @ Queensbury.

Ballston Spa @ CBA.

Averill Park @ Columbia.

South Glens Falls @ Burnt Hills.

Class B:

Friday:

Ravena @ Cobleskill-Richmondville. Winner plays Scotia on Monday.

Monday:

Coxsackie-Athens @ Ichabod Crane.

Schalmont @ Glens Falls.

Hudson Falls @ Taconic Hills.

Class C/D:

Monday:

North Warren/Johnsburg/Minerva @ Cairo-Durham. Winner plays Argyle on Tuesday.

Schoharie @ Greenville.

Maple Hill @ Lake George.

In all classes, the semi-finals are set for Tuesday, with the finals on Wednesday. Schedule is subject to change due to weather.

Good luck to all the teams.

News & notes

 The next time Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo runs will be in next month's Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.

Trainer Cherie DeVaux announced Wednesday that Golden Tempo's owners have decided to bypass the Preakness, which is being run at Laurel while Pimlico, like Belmont Park, is undergoing renovations, next weekend. The Saratoga native will surely get a hero's welcome when she arrives at The Old Spa next month.

DeVaux, like a lot of modern day trainers, feels two weeks isn't satisfactory enough lead time between the Derby & Preakness anymore. It's usually 3 weeks between the Preakness & the Belmont, and there are negotiations for renewal of broadcast rights to the Triple Crown (NBC has the Derby & Preakness, and the Belmont is either also on NBC or on Fox, I forget which). In this day & age, stretching out the Crown across a two month period between May & July might actually make more sense.

Being a backup QB with the Houston Gamblers in the UFL wasn't satisfying for Sam Castronova.

The reigning AF1 MVP has returned to the Albany Firebirds, and will likely alternate with current starter Josh Kulka, as the 'Birds are off to a 4-0 start. For coach-GM Damon Ware, it's a nice problem to have. The 'Birds return to MVP Arena on Saturday.

Brett Young's injury plagued baseball career could conceivably be over.

The Albany Academy grad reinjured his quad in a game against the ValleyCats last summer, and finished the 2025 season on the injured list. His mother, a classmate of ye scribe at Troy High back in the day, said Brett needs surgery to repair a torn labrum, and she fears his career might be over.

Stay tuned.

Kyra Santicola, in today's Albany Times-Union, included Amarilyss Cabrera & Kayleigh-Ana Harris of Troy High as some of the players to watch as the flag football playoffs approach. Yes, Harris is the middle daughter of basketball coach Will Harris, and is a sophomore, playing alongside sister Tianna, a senior, leading Troy to a 9-2 overall record leading to the Senior Day finale next Monday vs. Albany Leadership.

Because lacrosse, like soccer & football, can be played in the rain, there were a few games played on Wednesday. Here's the scoreboard:

Women:

Glens Falls 20, Scotia 5.

Voorheesville 15, South Glens Falls 6.

Johnstown 13, Greenwich-Cambridge 4.

Ballston Spa 17, Amsterdam-Broadalbin-Perth 3.

Men:

Guilderland 13, Burr & Burton 0.

Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 10, Hoosick Falls-Tamarac 5.

Mechanicville-Stillwater 15, Voorheesville 1.

Johnstown 7, Troy 5.

Softball:

Argyle 9, Fort Edward 0.

Weather postponement update, 5/6

 Today's rain has wiped out the following. Some dates have already been rescheduled, others have not.

Flag football: Albany @ Schenectady. No make-up date set as of press time.

Tennis: 

Schoharie @ Schalmont.

Ichabod Crane @ Troy. Reset for tomorrow.

Albany Academy vs. LaSalle at Prospect Park-cancelled.

Queensbury @ Averill Park-cancelled.

Baseball:

Columbia @ Burnt Hills. Reset for May 12.

Bethlehem @ Niskayuna.

Cairo-Durham @ Taconic Hills. Reset for May 8.

Catskill @ Greenville. Reset for May 8.

Warrensburg @ Corinth. Reset for tomorrow.

South Glens Falls @ Gloversville. Reset for tomorrow.

Lake George @ Granville. Reset for May 9.

Hartford @ Salem. Reset for tomorrow.

Scotia @ Queensbury.

Softball:

Saratoga @ Colonie. Reset for tomorrow.

Columbia @ Burnt Hills. Reset for May 11.

Cairo-Durham @ Taconic Hills. Reset for tomorrow.

Coxsackie-Athens @ Chatham. Reset for tomorrow.

Warrensburg @ Corinth. Reset for tomorrow.

Lake George @ Granville. Reset for tomorrow.

South Glens Falls @ Amsterdam. Reset for May 15.

News & notes

 We already know UAlbany will be paying Gerry McNamara a visit at Syracuse later this year. Now comes word that McNamara & the Orange may be coming to Albany as well.

Media outlets are reporting that Syracuse & Siena are in talks for an exhibition game at MVP Arena, which would take place sometime in October before non-conference play officially begins. We'll keep an eye out for more details.

The Tri-City ValleyCats cancelled their preseason game vs. Quebec Tuesday, anticipating rain hitting the 518. Instead, a split squad game was played for a maximum 5 innings, and free to the public. The 'Cats begin the season Friday in New Jersey.

Russell Sage College advanced in the Empire 8 softball tournament, outlasting Utica, 7-6, in 9 innings, thanks to a walk-off error.

Tuesday's high school scores:

Women's lacrosse:

Bethlehem 13, Burnt Hills 6.

Niskayuna 16, Saratoga 12.

Albany Academy 12, South Glens Falls 4.

Voorheesville 12, LaSalle 1.

Shenendehowa 22, Averill Park 5.

Shaker 21, Queensbury 8.

Troy 12, Ichabod Crane 2.

Men's lacrosse:

Shenendehowa 10, Averill Park 7.

Shaker 17, CBA 5.

Ballston Spa 20, Columbia 3.

South Glens Falls 20, Scotia 3.

Amsterdam 20, Hudson Falls 0.

Hoosick Falls-Tamarac 8, Broadalbin-Perth 2.

Glens Falls 10, Queensbury 6.

Schuylerville 20, Johnstown 9.

Bethlehem 10, Burnt Hills 9.

Niskayuna 16, Saratoga 3.

Softball:

Saratoga 6, South Glens Falls 4.

Averill Park 5, Ballston Spa 1.

Troy 13, Voorheesville 1 (5 innings).

Colonie 2, Bethlehem 1.

Holy Trinity 8, Mohonasen 7.

Ravena 6, Albany Academy 0.

Shenendehowa 8, Guilderland 3.

Cohoes 8, Holy Names 1.

Germantown 27, Watervliet 9 (5 innings).

Galway 5, Berne-Knox-Westerlo 0.

Chatham 8, Saugerties 4.

Baseball:

Niskayuna 3, Bethlehem 0.

Saratoga 8, Colonie 2.

CBA 5, Shaker 0.

Shenendehowa 1, Guilderland 0.

Ravena 13, Albany Academy 7.

Averill Park 14, Ballston Spa 10.

Hudson 23, Germantown 1 (5 innings).

Glens Falls 4, Schuylerville 0.

Hudson Falls 5, Amsterdam 3.

Saratoga Catholic 7, Mechanicville 3.

Lansingburgh 3, Schalmont 2.

Stillwater 11, Berlin-New Lebanon 1 (5 innings).

Voorheesville 5, Troy 4.

LaSalle 12, Ichabod Crane 1 (5 innings).

News & notes

 UAlbany's lacrosse teams now know where they'll play in the NCAA tournaments.

The men will play North Carolina, the 3rd seed, on Saturday (ESPNU, 12 noon). The women will be a little closer, as they travel to Baltimore to play 4th seeded Johns Hopkins on Friday, with a time TBA.

Albany isn't the only 518 school going to the NCAA's, though. 

Union's women's team will play Mount Union in the 1st round of the Division III tournament, Saturday at 11:30 am in Salisbury, Maryland.

RPI has a new women's basketball coach. Megan Yawman was hired Monday. She succeeds John Greene, who led the Lady Engineers to a 17-9 finish this season. Yawman, an Ithaca graduate, had been an assistant at Carnegie Mellon.

Another week, another Section II player moving to a prep school.

Marcelin Mukendi is leaving Shaker for CATS Academy, located near Boston, for next season. CATS Academy is still another team in the NEPSAC program. CATS plays in a league sponsored by Nike, one of the top manufacturers of overpriced sneakers.

This is one of those things my generation didn't have to deal with.

Monday's high school scores:

Women's lacrosse:

South Glens Falls 20, Hudson Falls 1.

Greenwich-Cambridge 6, Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 4.

Columbia 21, Ballston Spa 8.

Schuylerville 12, Queensbury 6.

Men's lacrosse:

Mechanicville-Stillwater 17, Greenwich-Cambridge 4.

Albany 15, Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 5.

Guilderland 19, Colonie 2.

Softball:

Whitehall 5, Corinth 0.

Ravena 9, Albany 4.

Shaker 7, Cohoes 6.

Scotia 6, Amsterdam 4.

Mechanicville 24, Waterford 8 (5 innings).

Cobleskill-Richmondville 11, Duanesburg 1 (5 innings).

Guilderland 4, Troy 1.

Schuylerville 18, Gloversville 4 (5 innings).

Mayfield 10, Canajoharie-Ft. Plain 3.

Greenwich 21, Stillwater 1 (5 innings).

Taconic Hills 17, Germantown 0 (5 innings).

Queensbury 12, Broadalbin-Perth 0 (5 innings).

South Glens Falls 2, Hudson Falls 0.

Coxsackie-Athens 25, Watervliet 10 (5 innings).

Hoosic Valley 27, Cambridge 0 (5 innings).

Fort Edward 17, Hadley-Luzerne 5 (5 innings).

Argyle 24, North Warren 1 (5 innings).

Granville 10, Hartford 0 (5 innings).

Ballston Spa 5, Glens Falls 2.

Fort Ann 8, Warrensburg 2.

Schoharie 5, OESJ 2.

Northville-Wells 4, Johnstown 0.

Baseball:

Saratoga Catholic 9, Waterford 0.

Flag football:

Columbia 13, Troy 12. The Lady Horses' winning streak stops at 8.

The Albany Times-Union's weekly power rankings for softball and baseball are out, and, once again, Troy High, now 9-4 after losing to Guilderland, was passed over in Class AA. In fact, the Class AA rankings are all screwed up.

With their win, South Glens Falls goes to 11-3 overall, which would put them at #2 instead of #5, behind top-ranked Columbia. Ballston Spa, now 8-4 per the paper's records with a win on Monday, should be bumped from the top 5. The bias against the Colonial & Foothills Councils couldn't be more obvious.

Left up to ye scribe, the top 3 would be Columbia, South Glens Falls, & Troy. The rankings do not appear in today's print editions due to space limitations.

News & notes

 The Albany Firebirds just keep on winning.

The 'Birds completed a 3-0 road trip by beating Washington, 42-34, on Saturday night. Albany is 4-0 as they return home to play Kentucky this coming Saturday at 7 pm. In fact, four of the next five games will be at home.

If you're like me, and you're looking up the USBL site looking for NY Phoenix results, you may have to dig deeper.

The Phoenix play in the 95x40 league, which represents the USBL's Eastern conference. The Phoenix sit in 2nd place in the division at 11-4, having played one fewer game than the division leading Capital Seahawks. The current homestand continues Thursday vs. San Diego, and then, Baltimore comes in on Saturday. The Seahawks hit town at the end of the month.

Siena lost the services of goaltender Vito DeBellis due to injury in the MAAC men's lacrosse semi-finals, and it cost them in the finals against Marist, as the Red Foxes advanced to the NCAA tournament with a 12-8 win on Saturday afternoon.

Conversely, UAlbany's lacrosse teams are heading to the NCAA's, as the men captured their 3rd straight America East title in clipping Vermont, 14-11, on Saturday. On Sunday, the women followed suit, eliminating the Lady Catamounts, 13-11, for their 2nd straight title. The Siena women fell short, as they lost to Fairfield, 13-4 for the MAAC title.

Albany Times-Union reporter James Allen made a couple of blunders in his best of the week column in today's editions, both involving Troy High.

First, he claimed that Keegan Armstrong had fanned 12 in twirling a no-hitter against Ichabod Crane. The school's morning announcements on Thursday said Armstrong had struck out 13. Then, Allen got Troy's softball opponents mixed up on Friday, as the Lady Horses mercy-ruled Albany Academy, not Mohonasen, 20-3. Mohon fell victim to the mercy rule a week earlier. Maddie Schmidt joined Armstrong and flag football star Tianna Harris on the honor roll. Schmidt led Troy on Friday with 2 homers, including a grand slam, and a single, good for 6 RBI.

Time to catch up on weekend action:

Women's lacrosse:

Saturday:

Burnt Hills 17, Vestal 10.

Johnstown 16, Hudson Falls 5.

Shaker 15, Colonie 7.

Warwick Valley 18, Averill Park 6.

Men's lacrosse:

Saturday:

Averill Park 10, Saugerties 6.

Ballston Spa 17, Massena 7.

South Glens Falls 11, Columbia 9.

Mamaroneck 15, Shenendehowa 0.

Johnstown 15, Voorheesville 8.

McQuaid Jesuit 16, Niskayuna 9.

Baseball:

Sunday:

Burnt Hills 6, Saratoga Catholic 2.

Softball:

Sunday:

Coxsackie-Athens 4, Germantown 3.

News & notes

 Troy High is looking for a new men's varsity basketball coach. Again.

On Friday, it was reported that Jamil Hood would be leaving Troy after two successful seasons to return across the river to his alma mater, Albany High, where he will succeed Sean Brown, who stepped down after the 2025-6 season, ending a 13 year run.

Hood took the Flying Horses to within a game of a Class AA title in March, falling to Niskayuna in the finals at Harding Mazzotti Arena. He leaves with a Colonial Council title in his pocket to close his 2 year run.

So, what happens next?

Albany is hoping Hood can do for them what Tyler Rose did at Columbia this past season, turning around an underachieving program, which is what Hood did at Troy, helping them recover from the disaster that was Josh Pelletier's lone season in 2023-4. Rose succeeded Troy alumnus Curtis Sankey at Columbia, and turned the Blue Devils into contenders.

Would the Troy school board consider the option of having Sankey "come home"? Or do they have someone else in mind?

Stay tuned.

The Tri-City Valleycats will play their first home preseason game today vs. Brockton at 3 pm at Bruno Stadium. Thursday's game vs. Hudson Valley Community College was cancelled over concerns about the weather. We've seen that plenty of times in the big leagues in recent years. Unlike the regular season games, and the Rox will return May 22-24, tickets are just $7 today.

History was made Saturday night at the Kentucky Derby, as Golden Tempo, with Jose Ortiz aboard, came from waaaaaaaaaaaaay back to outduel Renegade, with Ortiz's brother, Irad, Jr., in the irons. Golden Tempo was trained by Cherie DeVaux, originally from Saratoga. 

DeVaux began her career as a stable worker at the Old Spa for Chuck Simon before becoming an assistant to-----who else?------Chad Brown, another Saratoga County native (Mechanicville).

Larry Collmus is on the call for the Derby, with commentary by Mike Tirico.

DeVaux, like a lot of present day trainers & owners, is waiting to see how Golden Tempo comes out of the Derby before committing him to the Preakness on May 16. With the win, DeVaux is the first woman trainer to win the Run For The Roses.

Congratulations, Cherie.