Special Event For A Fallen, Local Baseball Star Tonight - Big Week In High School Football - In memory of Maspeth firefighter Michael Weinberg, ex-St. John’s and minor league baseball player, a rally will be held in front of O’Neill’s in Maspeth tonight from 5 to 11 p.m. It will benefit of the Widows and Orphans of the New York City Firefighters. Members of the New York Rangers and other sports figures will be on hand. A rally in honor of Maspeth resident Michael Weinberg and benefitting the FDNY’s Widows and Orphans Foundation will be held tonight (5-11 p.m.) in front of O’Neill’s Restaurant at 64-21 53rd Drive. Weinberg, an all-city high school catcher from Grover Cleveland High School and an All-Big East outfielder for St. John’s University, was killed in the World Trade Center tragedy when he raced to the scene on his day off to aid the victims. Christ the King rebounds The Christ the King football program was floundering. The Royals, minus three key players, opened the season being blown out 27-0 by a good St. Peter’s eleven from Staten Island. Then after a week off because of the Twin Tower disaster, it took CK just one play—a 77-yard breakaway by Holy Cross star Woody Aime—to feel disaster might be recurring again. Just 37 seconds elapsed, and the Royals were down by seven. Aime’s jaunt came on the first play from scrimmage this past Sunday as the Royals faces turned red. “The score deflated the kids initially,” said CK coach Mike Cassidy. “But they hung in and played extremely well the rest of the game.” The CK game plan was to contain Aime, one of the CHSFL’s top backs. And they did after that initial breakaway. Aime had 120 yards on 15 carries, most of them on the 77-yard jaunt. But Christ the King still couldn’t mount an attack. CK has a new offense and it “hasn’t kicked in yet” according to Cassidy. “But the St. Peter’s game woke us up and the kids are playing harder.” Quarterback Steven Shell, a three-sport athlete, has a throwing arm injury, so that added to the offensive woes. The offense isn’t doing the job yet. So the defense has to come up big. They did with Shell playing a key role. He showed he is capable on the other side of the ball. “I wanted to do something to get things going, “ said Shell. “I saw the QB [Danny Meara] take a three-step drop and look to his left, I stepped in front of the receiver and caught the ball.” Shell, showing his athletic skill and speed, picked off the pill and was gone to the races, up the right sidelines for a 55-yard scoring run late in the third quarter. But CK still trailed 7-6, as the Knights Erik Giron had split the uprights on a PAT. Then it was up to Shell again, this time as QB on the offensive side of the ball. He rolled right and connected with senior wide receiver Omar Gaines for the two-point conversion and the difference in the game to that point. There was just more than four-minutes left in the third period. Then the defense took over again, stymied the Cross offense and the 8-7 score held up. “We are big, but not fast,” said Cross coach Tom Pugh. “Their defense was disrupting. Especially the nose tackle [Justin Capace] and middle linebacker [Rolando Garcia]. And our QB is short [5’8”] and had trouble throwing over the big linemen. “The defense played a good game. They weren’t going to score on us. But we gave them the game with the intercept.” “We were so focused on stopping him [Aime] and for him to score like that was frustrating,” said Garcia. “But it woke us up.” “Garcia is one of our leaders,” added Cassidy. “He’s the best linebacker in the league,” SFP drops another St. Francis could only manage a 20-yard scoring pass from Pete Mazzurco to Jason Phillip in a 21-7 loss to Iona Prep as the Li’l Terriers lost for the second straight time. SFP’s ground game was held to just six yards rushing. Bayside loses in double OT After trailing 12-0 at the half, the Commodores (0-2) came back after intermission for two scores including an 11-yard scoring aerial as regulation time was expiring. But Bayside lost 20-12 in the second overtime. Beachboys, Magnet romp Marty Senall’s Beach Channel turned on the full burners in a 44-0 blanking of Springfield Gardens. Ben Nieves and Ricky Richardson each had a pair of six pointers in the romp. Coach Jimmy Ryan of Campus Magnet has to be happy to see his Bulldogs (2-0) roll over Long Island City, 40-13, with tailback Courtney Jones leading the way. Jones scored three times and gained nearly 20 yards over land. Magnet had six tallies on the ground and totaled 364 yards on its ground attack. In other PSAL games featuring Queens squads, Flushing was beaten 35-8 by Grand Street Campus; Bryant was blanked 8-0 by George Washington; Tottenville edged August Martin, 14-6; and John Adams dropped a 30-24 decision to Erasmus. It was the Dutchmen’s first win since 1998. New field boost for Rocks The new artificial turf at Far Rockaway has given the Sea Horses big boost as they improved to 2-0 with a 30-0 blasting of Truman High School. Before the new surface, the Rocks played on a rocky field and had few players who ventured out to suit up. Now its different, as coach Les Sabbah has numbers, and the future looks even brighter as the junior varsity is also a numbered outfit. It was the second straight shutout for the defense who had three intercepts and a pair of fumble recoveries. “Battle of Boroughs” St. Francis College’s veteran baseball coach Frank Del George, taking advantage of the new minor league diamond in Coney Island, has organized a “Battle of the Boroughs” college tournament to be held at the KeySpan Energy Park tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. St. John’s turned down Del George’s invitation because of earlier commitments, so he replaced the Red Storm with the New York Tech Bears from Long Island. Tech will play along with LIU, Wagner from Staten Island and Manhattan College and Fordham University from the Bronx and the Terriers. On the opening day, the LIU Blackbirds, coached by Queensite Frank Giannone, former catcher for the Blackbirds and Msgr. McClancy, will take on Tech at 3 p.m. Then tomorrow night at 7, Fordham battles Manhattan. The two losers of Friday night’s clashes meet at 10 a.m. Saturday. But they are no longer in the running. Then Wagner meets the survivor of the LIU-Tech contest at 2 p.m. and St. Francis opposes the Fordham-Manhattan winner at 7 p.m. On Sunday, the losers of Saturday’s games play at 11 a.m. with the title game at 2:30. St. Francis College has four former Queens high school standouts in the starting lineup led by receiver Ron Scrimenti of Middle Village, an Archbishop Molloy grad. The foursome include third baseman Rob Cacchioli (St. Francis Prep), returning from an injury; shortstop Mike Cannone (Holy Cross) and centerfielder Jason Florio (Christ the King).

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