Iona Prep guard Andre Pope decided this week that he’ll play for the College of St. Rose.

St. Rose is a very good Division II program located up in Albany. Shanty Robinson of Mount Vernon, Kyl Jones of Pleasantville and Mike DePaoli of North Salem all went there and did very well.

Pope, a Greenburgh resident, started for three seasons for Iona Prep. The 5-foot-11 combo guard scored 1,000 in his career and was the foundation for which this year’s CHSAA A Division and state championship team was built on.

He’s always been a phenomenal 3-point shooter and defender. In college, he’s going to play more point guard and will have to learn to crete more off the dribble and penetrate. Pope is such a smart player that I don’t think it will be a difficult transition for him.

Two players from the Lower Hudson Valley were drafted into the NFL today, and another agreed to a free agent deal.

Rutgers defensive backs Courtney Greene (New Rochelle) and Jason McCourty (Nanuet) were selected in the final two rounds this evening. Greene was the 245th pick by the Seattle Seahawks. McCourty was picked 203rd by the Tennessee Titans.

Former New Rochelle standout Andre Douglas, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound tackle at Temple, agreed to terms late tonight with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. New Rochelle’s Glen Lee, a Rutgers safety, is awaiting a mini camp invite.

That’s now three, and possibly four, players from the famed 2003 New Rochelle state championship football team in the NFL. Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens is obviously the other. Best team ever? Hard to dispute what these guys did in college. I’d be willing to say, and I hope I’m wrong, that I’ll never cover another high school football team in this area with four future professionals on it.

Ray cracked the Top 20 all-time in rushing yards at Rutgers in just three record-breaking seasons.

Greene started all four seasons at safety, set a school record for consecutive starts (51) and led, or was near the top, in tackles every season.

Douglas, who started his career at Rhode Island, transfered to Temple and became their top lineman. He started all 24 games.

Glen Lee never really became a starter at Rutgers but was stuck behind three future pros in Ron Girault (Spring Valley), Greene and McCourty. Jason’s twin brother, Devin, red-shirted and will return to Rutgers next season. He, too, could be a pro.

I spoke to Greene and McCourty tonight. Greene was obviously a little ticked considering he was invited to the combine, fared well there and was projected to be a fourth- to fifth-round pick. Slipping to the final 12 of the draft was unnerving.

McCourty, meanwhile, was ecstatic considering he convinced himself he wasn’t going to be drafted at all. Going in the sixth round to a team that won 13 games makes it even better. He wasn’t celebrating when I spoke to him about a half-hour ago.

“I’m not celebrating anything until I make the team,” he said. McCourty leaves for mini camp on Thursday, as does Greene.

The all-state basketball teams were released this week by the New York Sportswriters Association. To view the entire list of recipients, click here.

Here are the local guys:

Class AA
First team: Sherrod Wright, Mount Vernon
Fourth team: Dayvone Whitaker, Poughkeepsie
Sixth team: Jabarie Hinds, Mount Vernon
Eighth team: Brandon James, Poughkeepsie
Tenth team: John Calarco, New Rochelle
Eleventh team: John Perez, North Rockland
Twelfth team: Chris Ranglin, Gorton

Class A
First team: Ralph Watts, Peekskill; Daquan Brickhouse, Peekskill
Second team: Brian Voelkel, Iona Prep
Third team: Darien Thomas, Peekskill
Fourth team: Sandro Carissimo, Iona Prep
Fifth team: Matt Grossbard, Pearl River
Eighth team: Andre Pope, Iona Prep
Ninth team: Peter Aguilar, Mount St. Michael
Tenth team: Lavor Morris, Lakeland

Class B
Second team: Sir Aaron Taylor, Lincoln Hall
Fifth team: Brandon Sileck, Croton-Harmon
Sixth team: Tysean Saigo, Lincoln Hall; Akeele Leon, Blessed Sacrament
Seventh team: Floyd Leroy, Albertus Magnus; David Samuels, Blessed Sacrament
Eighth team: Najee Forte, Briarcliff

Class C
Second team: Josh O’Neill, North Salem
Third team: Joe Magliano, Blind Brook; Rob Magliano, Blind Brook
Fourth team: Jonathan Schofield, Hamilton
Sixth team: James Jensen, Valhalla
Seventh team: Shaquille Griffiths, Tuckahoe

I’ve been out of the office the last few days, so I apologize for not posting this sooner. I also didn’t get to really look over the list until today. I thought the selections were good for the most part. Here are some quick thoughts:

Class AA: Would have liked to have seen Keith Thomas of Yorktown recognized. He had a great season. Durand Scott on the second team? Are you kidding me?

Class A: Two players on the first team from Peekskill? Wow. Shows what people across the state think about the program. They got this whole class right in the selections.

Class B: I’m a huge fan of Sileck and was happy to see him recognized. But not Alex Judge? Very surprising. Also cannot understand how Samuels was dropped so low. He was the best big man I saw all season in this area. Najee Forte was a great selection after getting snubbed somewhat by the Section 1 coaches.

Class C: Very surprised Valhalla, as the Section 1 champs, didn’t get more. Jensen deserved to be higher and I think Oasiris Yates and Dan Annunziata had too good of a season to get omitted.

As I’ve said before, picking all-state tournaments is an impossible task, so I’m not criticizing. Every year somebody feels snubbed. Did I miss anyone?

Ossining speedster Jesse Drinks, a standout football and basketball player, decided today that he’ll accept a track scholarship to the University of Connecticut.

The 5-foot-8 Drinks was all-section in both football and basketball this season. As a junior in football he caught four touchdowns — one to beat Somers and the other three in the playoffs as Ossining captured the Section 1 Class A title. This season, he caught 11 passes for 432 yards and seven touchdowns, and returned a kickoff for a touchdown in this year’s sectional championship. In basketball, he averaged 11.7 points as a senior.

It’s incredible to think Drinks has earned a track scholarship considering he’s never run during the winter season. He had offers from UConn and Syracuse based on last spring season and a few weeks this season. Last spring, he qualified for the state tournament in the 100 and 200 meters and is regarded by my good buddy, Journal News writer Dan Marra, as the top sprinter in Section 1.

Currently, Drinks has run the lowest 100-meter time of the season with a 10.74 and 200 at 22.09. He was named the most outstanding male athlete at last weekend’s Red Raider Relays at North Rockland.

Marra, by the way, recently asked Drinks if he considered playing football in college and he said no.

UPDATE, 6:56 p.m.: Dan Marra just told me an interesting fact about Drinks running at UConn: His time at the Red Raider Relays would have been good enough for sixth overall at the winter’s Big East Championship. Marra, who’s rarely a wealth of information, indicated that the Big East Championship was at the New Balance Armory in Washington Heights, which is a very fast track. He would run faster there than at North Rockland.

The Eastchester football team has finally found an opponent to fill the Oct. 10 vacancy on its schedule, ending a two-month quest of the tri-state area.

The Eagles have scheduled A.I. Prince Tech in Hartford, Conn. Eastchester has agreed to travel up the 90 minutes to Hartford and take on the trade school, which has an enrollment of nearly 600.

Prince Tech’s football team has its own page on the school’s website, which includes rosters, score results and other information. According to Eastchester coach Fred DiCarlo, Prince loses only two key players from last year’s 5-4 team. They have a potential Division I-AA recruit in junior QB/DB in Kevin Manning and a 280-pound lineman. All four of Prince’s All-Conference players in the Constitution State Conference return

Eastchester contacted Prince Tech coach Robert McNamara two weeks ago. McNamara researched the Eagles and agreed to the game this week. Obviously, the Eagles are thrilled now that they have six regular season football games scheduled, just like everybody else.

The game will either be played Friday night, Oct. 9, or Saturday afternoon in Hartford.

The Journal News all-star teams were released today for Westchester/Putnam and Rockland counties.

Sherrod Wright of Mount Vernon was an easy choice for the Westchester/Putnam player of the year. Click here to see the rest of the first team, second team and honorable mention list.

Matt Grossbard of Pearl River was selected the player of the year in Rockland County. Here’s the story, and who the coaches voted to the first and second teams, and honorable mention lists.

Take a look through these and give me your thoughts. I don’t think there’s much disputing Wright as the POY for Westchester. Nor do I believe anybody had quite as good of a year as Grossbard in Rockland. The first and second teams, though, are certainly debatable, which is a sign that this was yet another very good season in high school basketball.

I spoke an hour ago at Mount Vernon with basketball star Sherrod Wright, who confirmed that he will sign on Monday with George Mason University.

The 6-foot-4 guard had narrowed his choices to George Mason, Kansas State and Central Florida, and also strongly considered Oklahoma State and Providence. But he visited George Mason a few weeks back and felt the powerhouse mid-major was the best fit for him.

Sherrod had a very wise outlook on the recruiting process. Schools like Oklahoma State and Providence came after him hard in the last few weeks, and are obviously the more lucrative choices.

“But I didn’t want to be somebody’s second option,” he said. “A lot of schools were coming after me because they knew I was still out there and they lost out on their first choice. That’s not a good situation to be in.”

Wright said George Mason has been after him since last summer and he valued the rapport he’d built with the players and coaches during the process.

As you know, Wright started on four straight Section 1 Class AA championship teams at Mount Vernon and was named Mr. Basketball as a senior. He averaged 23.2 points per game this season, routinely putting the Knights on his back in the third and fourth quarter of big games.

Sherrod will officially sign of his National Letter of Intent at a ceremony on Monday at the high school.

(NOTE: I cited a George Mason blog in my article that considered Wright the “highest rated recruit ever to sign with George Mason.” Here’s a link to the blog, which will also be a good place to follow Sherrod through college.)

Had budget cuts actually eliminated sports at Mount Vernon this school year, Sean Harris would have to pay for college. Instead, the senior basketball standout is going for free.

Thank you again to those who donated the million-plus dollars to ensure Mount Vernon had athletics. Harris will give his thanks during a ceremony at the school at 2 p.m. tomorrow when he signs a National Letter of Intent to play for the University of New Haven.

New Haven is a Division II school in Connecticut. It competes in the Northeast-10, which includes Pace, College of St. Rose and LeMoyne.

Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino called me today to inform of Harris’s decision.

“Sherrod would have gotten a scholarship no matter what,” Cimmino said. “Sean wouldn’t have.”

Harris is 6-foot and built like a fire hydrant. He pesters opposing guards with relentless in-your-face defense and has a knack of knocking down 3-pointers in big spots. As the season went on, his confidence grew and I don’t think he’s even close to reaching his potential.

He will be New Haven’s gain in that respect. So many players go to the Northeast-10 from this area and flourish. More, though, go into that league and play far beyond expectations — Desmond Quincy-Jones of Rye and Lawrence Ekperigin of Panas immediately come to mind.

Harris has a chance to fit that mold. Most college players, even at the Division II and III levels, were the stars of their high school teams. Harris, meanwhile, didn’t even start for Mount Vernon, playing behind Jabarie Hinds and Jordan Lessane. Harris knows what it means to compete for time and value what he gets. I don’t know anybody on the New Haven roster but I can promise Harris will be one of the hardest working players.

I’ll be at the ceremony tomorrow, which will be as much as celebration of his scholarship as it will be having sports at Mount Vernon. One kid getting a scholarship that otherwise wouldn’t have makes all the efforts worth it.

The first spring season edition of Varsity Central Live will premiere tonight at 8 p.m. You can view it by clicking here.

Obviously, there won’t be much football or basketball discussion (unless you want to ask a few questions). We’ll be incorporating all the spring sports — lacrosse, baseball, softball, etc. — into one show, which I will host.

Tonight’s guests include North Rockland track star Chris Carrington, Journal News baseball writer Jake Thomases and lacrosse writer Mike Dougherty.

Please remember to tune in.

James Brundage could have played running back or linebacker at the next level, perhaps even as high as Division I-AA. But the Ossining senior has opted to wrestle in college, accepting a full scholarship at Rider University.

Brundage, a two-time Journal News first-team all-star in football, will sign his National Letter of Intent during a ceremony tomorrow at the high school.

This past season, Brundage had a dominant senior season in wrestling. He captured the state 160-pound wrestling championship and went 44-2.

In football, Brundage rushed for 1,063 yards and 16 touchdowns in leading Ossining to the Class A sectional final. As a junior he gained 1,205 yards and 15 touchdowns as Ossining won the section and reached the state semifinals.

Rider has one of the top wrestling program’s in the Northeast. It finished third in the Colonial Athletic Conference and sent four wrestlers to the National Championship.

Interesting story on ESPN.com today about former Duke basketball standout Greg Paulus. Reportedly, the quarterback of the great CBA-Syracuse team that handed New Rochelle a defeat in the 2004 state final worked out today for the Green Bay Packers.

Paulus was a phenomenal talent in high school in football and basketball. He broke just about every state passing record before he was even a senior and put up a performance for the ages in the state championship, beating the Ray Rice-Geoff McDermott Huguenots in the best high school football game I’ve ever witnessed.

As you know, Paulus, like McDermott, opted for college basketball and had a great career at Duke, starting his first three seasons before falling off the map as a senior. McDermott, meanwhile, went to Providence and started for four seasons.

If Paulus can get a workout at QB with a pro team, why can’t 6-foot-7 McDermott get a shot? I imagine he will as a tight end or defensive end. That is, however, if McDermott even wants one. I’ve know Geoff since he was a sophomore. He loves basketball. He only liked football. It would be hard to imagine him beating down the doors of NFL teams for a tryout, although I think his athletic ability and size would make him a lucrative invite.

McDermott, who played through injuries throughout college, was down in Portsmouth, Virg. last week for an pro basketball training showcase. His goal is to get paid to play hoops. But if Paulus can somehow catch on as a pro quarterback, I can’t imagine it wouldn’t at least pique McDermott’s interest.

I was out of the office the last few days, celebrating Easter and enjoying the new Citi Field for last night’s Mets home opener. I did, however, keep up with the blog the last few days, as well as read through a series of scathing emails from my friends in Port Chester regarding Saturday’s article, which you can read here.

First, let me acknowledge my mistakes. Port Chester never “requested” to enter the Rockland league for football, nor did it “refuse” to rejoin the league with Harrison, Rye and Eastchester. This information was incorrectly reported in Saturday’s edition of The Journal News, and a correction will run in tomorrow’s paper and on LoHud.com. A simple phone call to Port Chester AD Joe Durney would have prevented these mistakes from getting into my story. For that, I apologize.

According to Durney, who’s email is printed below, Port Chester was arbitrarily placed in a league of predominantly Rockland County schools despite its geopraphic proximity and history to Harrison, Rye and Eastchester, and it happened without any resistence from the Port Chester program. The leagues were voted on by athletic directors and approved.

The amazing thing is that this story was not intended to be about Port Chester, nor was I trying to uncover the Crime of the Century in Section 1 Football. To be honest, I could care less which league Port Chester or any team is in. The only reason I mentioned it was because Eastchester coach Fred DiCarlo pointed to it as part of a series of events that cost it a regular season game.

The article was solely meant to shed light on the fact Eastchester was left without a football game by Section 1 and the conference administrators. Making enemies with an entire city wasn’t part of my vision. Eastchester asked for my assistance in spreading the word and helping it find a game, which is what I was attempting to do. I’ve always hesitated to write about Eastchester in fear of readers accusing me of favoritism. Knowing how sacred football games are to high school, this was a worthy cause.

I’m still committed to helping Eastchester find an Oct. 10 game, mainly because nobody else is. And I’d be willing to do this for anybody. If there’s some issue or injustice out there that you feel needs attention being brought to, I’d be happy to offer my help however I can. Never hesitate to email me: kdevaney@lohud.com.

In closing, I’d like to say that this issue will in no way impact my, or The Journal News’, coverage of Port Chester athletics. Unfortunately, I never really knew former coach Drew Ciccoria (although he seems to know a lot about me) and I dealt with coach Greg Domestico a few times during the wrestling season and have tremendous respect for him and the rapport he has with his athletes. What they think of me personally is totally irrelevant to how I do my job.

Below is the emailed response from Port Chester athletic director Joe Durney:

Dear Kevin,

Joe Durney
PCRUFSD
District Director
PO Box 246
Port Chester NY 10573

In case you missed it, I had a story in Monday’s Journal News on former White Plains basketball standout Sean Kilpatrick. You can read the story here.

Kilpatrick has signed with Cincinnati but spent last season at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass. It’s the same school Michael Beasley, Paul Harris, and Stepinac’s Melquan Bolding played at before college, and is one of the nation’s premier prep schools.

As you’ll read, Kilpatrick had a stellar season and has the coaches at Cincinnati eagerly awaiting his arrival in June. I spoke with Cincy coach Mick Cronin last week about Kilpatrick. Not only did I discover Cronin was a really good guy, he has high hopes for Kilpatrick and his natural scoring ability.

I caught up with Kilpatrick on Friday afternoon. He’s definitely gotten a little taller, probably at 6-foot-5 now, and he says he’s 230 pounds. That’s good size for a two guard in the Big East. He’ll likely see a limited role as a freshman but in two years, as a 21-year-old, he could make a major impact in the conference.

Another local basketball standout is heading to Adelphi. New Rochelle senior John Calarco committed to play for the Division II school last week, joining Gorton’s Chris Ranglin.

Calarco, a 6-foot-2 guard/forward, started for three years at New Rochelle. He was a Super 7 selection in the preseason and selected first team Tri-County by the Westchester County Basketball Coaches Association, joining Ranglin, Jabarie Hinds and Sherrod Wright of Mount Vernon, and Daquan Brickhouse and Ralph Watts of Peekskill.

As a senior Calarco averaged 13.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game. He shot 55-percent from the field and 38-percent from 3s.

Calarco was a clutch player so many times in his career. I remember his effort against Poughkeepsie at the County Center as a junior where he took over the game in the third quarter. He scored 26 points in a shaky win over Roosevelt in early December when the Huguenots were in a rut, and averaged 19.4 points in New Rochelle’s final five games. In a New Ro’s season-ending loss at Poughkeepsie, Calarco had 20 points and eight rebounds.

Best of luck to John, whose best performance might have been on our Varsity Central Live show in midseason. He’s a mature kid who plays as hard as anybody.

Updated, 9:40 p.m.: Learned tonight that Darlos James of Iona Prep will also participate in this game.

As many of you are aware, the Governors Bowl between New York and New Jersey has been discontinued (more on that in a minute). In its place will be the New Jersey vs. Northeast Football Classic on June 7 at Rutgers.

Rob Lombardo of Somers and Darlos James of Iona Prep will participate for the Northeast squad. Lombardo has committed to Navy; James will play defensive back at Maine.

The game will air live on MY9 at 3 p.m. The New Jersey squad will be coached by Phil Simms and the Northeast team will be led by Joe Theismann. You can find more information about the game by clicking on the New Jersey Football Coaches Association (NJFCA) website.

Now, there seems to be a some hostility between the NJFCA and the New York High School Football Coaches Association. On the NYHSFCA site there’s a short article on the cancellation of the Governors Bowl, which states the following:

Monday, 09 March 2009 10:27 The following is a message from the president of the association, Tom Heinzelman:
As you are probably aware, there will not be a New York – New Jersey All Star game this year.  This is a direct result of the New Jersey Football Coaches Association decision to discontinue the 11-year partnership by refusing to play ANY games in the State of New York.  Initial agreements between the two associations were to alternate sites between NY and NJ.  Unfortunately, New Jersey has informed us that they are unwilling to play at any New York venue.  Therefore, we are without a game for this year.  We will however continue to select the Golden 50 Team which represents the top 50  high school football players in this state.  It is our intention to explore all options for the continuance of an All-Star game in the future.

Furthermore, it has been noted that the former Executive Director of the NY-NJ All Star Classic is attempting to promote an All star game this year by soliciting players from surrounding states, including New York, to compete in a game with New Jersey players in place of our annual rivalry.  The NYSHSFCA does not endorse this game.  Coaches should be aware of the potential for player contact by this group.

Very interesting.