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Leading The Way

Maple Grove, Panama Sit Atop Class C, Class D

The Panama girls volleyball team, above, reached the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D championship in Glens Falls in November.

P-J file photo

SYRACUSE — The New York State Sportswriters Association released its finalists for the 2018-19 Kerr Cup recently, with a pair of local schools representing well.

The Kerr Cup is a class-by-class ranking of the overall athletic success of schools competing for New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.

Sports “where the fortunes of a school typically rise and fall with a single state-meet entrant,” such as tennis and golf are not included.

Maple Grove has earned a spot as the Class C overall champion, finishing with 32 points from five different sports.

The Red Dragons finished ahead of Cooperstown (27.5), Saranac Lake (20), Millbrook (19.5) and Lansing (18) to take home the title. Meanwhile, Panama is the Class D winner with 25.17 points from five different sports, beating out Mount Academy (18) and Chazy (17.5).

Panama is a first-time class champion while Maple Grove now has two Class C titles to its name as well as two Class D titles.

Deposit, Franklinville, Harrisville, Kendall and Whitehall all finished in a tie for fourth in Class D with 15 points.

During the football season, the Red Dragons finished the year at 6-4 overall and an even 4-4 in league play.

The combined team of Clymer/Sherman/Panama football team took home a NYSPHSAA Class C title, finishing off Section VII Moriah 26-6 to finish the year at 13-0.

The Red Dragons also posted strong results during the soccer season, with the boys program finishing the year at 17-1, eventually falling to Randolph in Section VI Class C final action.

In girls action, the Red Dragons went 17-2-1, with their campaign coming to an end with a loss to Wheatland-Chili in Far West Regional action.

Also during the fall season, Maple Grove came away with two silver medals from the NYSPHSAA cross country championships at Sunken Meadow State Park.

The boys team finished second in Class D with 87 points, behind first-place Beaver River out of Section III, which finished with 32 points. In the girls Class D race, Maple Grove finished with 50 points, just behind Tully out of Section III, which totaled 45 points.

Kylee Odell of Clymer/Sherman/Panama led the way in the girls Class D race with a seventh-place time of 19:57.1, just one step ahead of Christina Peppy of Maple Grove and her time of 19:58.5.

In volleyball, Panama ended the year at 25-2, falling to Bainbridge-Guilford in NYSPHSAA finals play while Maple Grove finished the year at 12-3.

The Red Dragons fell to the Panthers in Class D-2 semifinal play.

Moving on to the winter season, the Maple Grove girls ended the year with a 21-4 record, making it all the way to the NYSPHSAA semifinals. The boys program ended the year at 8-13, falling to Ellicottville/West Valley in Section VI Class C-2 quarterfinal play.

Coach Ed Nelson led the Panama boys basketball program all the way to the NYSPHSAA semifinal, where the Panthers fell in overtime to Oppenheim/Ephratrah/St. Johnsville and finished off the year at 18-7.

The Panama girls squad and head coach Jeff Angeletti ended the year at 21-2, falling to Franklinville in the Section VI finals.

Panama and Maple Grove had continued that success in the spring with their softball programs.

The Panthers and the Red Dragons fell in Class D and Class C Far West Regional play, respectively. Panama ended the year with a 13-3 record and a 4-0 loss to Section V Alfred-Almond while Maple Grove finished off at 17-3 with a 2-0 loss at the hands of Section V Warsaw.

Head coach Ryan Lucas led the Red Dragons baseball program to a 10-5 record and a Class C semifinals berth while Panama ended the year at 3-9 on the diamond.

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