BY CHUCK SLATER
SPECIAL TO TOWNLINK NEWS + VIEWS

In sports, one doesn't often get second chances, much less get them just seconds later. But it happened for John Jay lacrosse star Shawn Smith on May 21, and because of it, the No.3-ranked Indians scored a 6-5 overtime road victory over No. 2 Rye to advance to the Class B finals against top-seeded Yorktown on May 23 at White Plains High.

With 40 seconds left in overtime, the high-scoring Smith blasted a shot at the Yorktown goal, but it hit a pipe and bounced back into play.

Teammate Jake Chinitz got the rebound and when Smith called for the ball., gave it to the charging junior midfielder. This time his shot found the net.

"They made it tough for our offense," said Smith, whose team trailed Rye by 3-l and 5-3. But goalie Rob Looney was impenetrable after that.

"Shawn Smith is a standout player," said John Jay coach Tim Schurr, "but the victory was on the shoulders of our defense and Rob Looney. Our defense was phenomenal."

"I was just in the moment," Looney said.

Yorktown defeated Somers, 12-7. Nick Mariano had five goals for the 15-2 winners, who received a scare when Somers pulled within 6-5 in the third period. "We were persistent." said winning coach Dave Marr.

A No. 1 Yorktown vs. No. 3 John Jay match also was forged for the girls' B final at Mamaroneck on May 23.

Yorktown erupted from a 4-4 halftime tie against No. 4 Somers with five consecutive scores, then held on, 13-11. Katie Comerford had four goals for the winners and Nicole DeMase notched a like number for the losers. "We just dug ourselves too deep a hole," said Somers junior Emma Schurr, who had four assists. "I can't wait for next season."

"We looked at the scoreboard (at halftime)," said Huskers senior Amanda Makar. "We decided we're here to play."

John Jay stunned No. 2 Ursuline, 22-12, as Molly O'Reilly had six goals and five assists and Amanda Flayhan had five goals and three assists.

""They beat us twice during the season," Indians coach Christine Smith said. "by one goal in the final seconds and by two goals. We're due."

In the other girls game involving a local team, Putnam Valley, No. 2 in Class C, whipped No.3 Irvington, 16 13, and moved into the final on May 23 at Mamaroneck against Albertus Magnus, which upset No. 1 Pleasantville.

Eva Robson, Erin McCracken and Sabrina Cummings each had four goals for coach Kurt Worell's Valley 15-3 squad and Malissa Wagner scored thrice. Kayleigh Hartnett had 17 saves. "We've got a deep, well balanced team," Worell said.

Three locals lost in other semifinal showdowns:

No. 7 Lakeland/Panas saw its upset streak end when it squandered an early 6-l lead and fell to No. 3 and defending champion Mamaroneck, 7-6, in overtime in Class A. In Class C, No. 3 Hen Hud got three goals from Jake Koch but fell to No. 2 Pleasantville on a goal with six seconds left, 9-8, and No. 4 Croton Harmon lost to No. 1 Bronxville, 12-4.

By Frank J. Rich

The Dow has surged above 15,000, an all-time record. Profits for major corporations are high and getting higher. The efficiencies that recession caution forced on America's finest and biggest companies delivered high productivity results and extraordinary profits. Big business is doing well. What about small business America?

Apparently, others are wondering over the same question, not least, The Wall Street Journal. A recent poll drew the same conclusion many have had for, well, all the years of The Great Recession. Small business is still counting the days before recovery and greater fortunes.

Curiously, the WSJ looked at the data - empty Main Street shops, no or slow growth of revenues, local buyers now in the habit of spending less, and unemployment and underemployment that trumps pent-up demand for goods and services - then concluded that small business America is suffering from a " jobs skills gap." Simply translated it means that small businesses are doing better but have not been able to take growth initiatives because of a shortage of qualified labor. So far so good, but what followed may be the real reason for the slow recovery of Main Street businesses. In far too typical fashion the mainstream media identified the problem and found a convenient solution and washed their hands of it in favor of the next news sensation.

BRUCE THE BLOG
BY BRUCE APAR
MAYOR, TOWNLINK

On the stage of the slightly renamed and emphatically rejuvenated Paramount Hudson Valley (dotcom), John Platania was getting in his frontman licks as the band played on. Soon, Peekskill resident and performing-dervish violinist Daisy Jopling materialized to trade riffs with the man who for years kicked axe in Van Morrison's band.

Outside, several minutes earlier, on a warm and sunny May 15, 2013, Peekskill's Acting City Manager Brian Havranek and Kurt Heitmann, CEO of Red House Holdings, transacted the lease, signifying the ceremonial encore of an historic entertainment landmark seven months after it unceremoniously got the hook due to insufficient funds, about 300,000 simoleons' worth.

Now "Under New Management," one of the encouraging signs, oddly enough, is that Mr. Heitmann and Co., at the outset, seem suitably realistic about the challenges of transforming the venue into a healthy moneymaker. For the first six months, under the deal between operator and the city, which owns the building, Peekskill will absorb certain operating costs so new management can find its – pardon the pun -- "see" legs. Part of the deal also calls for the City to collect 5% of box office receipts.

There already are events scheduled, from rock-and-rollin' violin virtuoso Daisy Jopling's June 9 concert with the Westchester Putnam Youth Symphony to a physique competition June 29. (Jopling tix are available through brownpapertickets.com; 800.838.3006.) See my interview with Daisy Jopling here http://youtu.be/s56t9Mp6ZZU. Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster, joined by officials of Red House Entertainment and City of Peekskill, cuts ribbon to officially open Paramount Hudson Valley. Photo by Bruce Apar

One well-placed source, familiar with the backstage drama behind Paramount's recent checkered history, told me that among positive changes is that Red House, unlike the prior arrangement, is neither a not-for-profit nor a public company, both of which imply a board of directors (BoD), where everyone has a vote plus at least one opinion, but not necessarily expertise or experience administrating the specific category of business at hand, in this case live entertainment. (In Corporate America right now, high-profile boards of directors are under fire, viewed with a jaundiced eye as well-compensated hangouts for cronies rather than chambers of objective, prudent governance.)