E-Hall, T-ville in final

Erasmus Hall and Tottenville will play after all.

The PSAL football rivals, scheduled to meet in the final week of the regular season beforeHurricane Sandy hit, will face each other Dec. 4 at Yankee Stadium for the coveted title after convincing PSAL City Championship division semifinal victories yesterday.

No. 1 Erasmus Hall, last year's runnerup, throttled No. 7 Curtis, 286, behind three touchdown runs from Jonathan Samerson and another from Curtis Samuel, who scoredona74yarddash to pay dirt and ran for over 100 yards on the ground.

No. 2 Tottenville ousted defending champion and fourthseeded Lincoln, 218, on Staten Island. The Pirates, knocked out in the semifinals the past two years, got three touchdown passes from Brandon Barnes, two to Kevin Coughlin, and picked off Lincoln quarterback Javon Moore four times. Moore did throw a scoring strike to Darnell Phillips.

Though the two teams did not meet this year, they saw one another in the semifinals a year ago, when Erasmus Hall rallied for an overtime victory. The latest chapter in the rivalry will have even more at stake.

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Green Bay in way as Giants try to snap annual skid

What we know now about these Giants and what we know soon after now will mean all the difference.

By around midnight Sunday night, the Giants either will have shown themselves to be a worthy contender in the NFC playoff chase, or else living on fumes off last year's Super Bowl triumph.

They are rested and healthier than they have been in weeks, in first place in the NFC East, riding a two-game losing streak, playing at home, brimming with incentive and talking up this six-game closing stretch with all the proper urgency.

The challenge of facing the Packers always is immense, but if the Giants aren't up to it, if they continue to go 0-for-November, what's to say they are going to awaken any time soon?

Getty Images

Aaron Rodgers

"Dallas is right on our tails. We know what our schedule is like the rest of the way,'' Justin Tuck said. "They're coming in our house, Sunday night football, the whole world gonna be watching. This is probably a team, if everything goes right, we'll see again in the playoffs, hopefully. We both are fighting for positions in the playoff race.

"We've played [shoddy] football the past couple weeks. We really would like to swing this momentum back in our favor. We really like to come out this football game feeling very confident about where we are as a football team heading into the rest of the schedule. It will be a great measuring stick for our football team to see exactly where we are.''

A look inside the game:

BEST BATTLE

Packers LT Marshall Newhouse vs. Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul. Newhouse has started every game, but he hardly is a franchise left tackle. Last season, his first as an NFL starter, he allowed eight sacks and eight quarterback hits, according to Pro Football Focus. Newhouse is greatly improved but figures to need help here. Pierre-Paul has shown flashes but, unlike 2011, hasn't had that "wow'' game, yet.

HIT THE SACK

The Giants used to get all the pub about being a feared defensive front, but it's the Packers who come in as the masters, as their 33 sacks is second only to the Broncos' 35. Actually, it's not the Green Bay front that is applying the pressure, as LB Clay Matthews leads the Pack with nine sacks — no one else on the team has more than three. That's why the absence of Matthews to a hamstring injury is so huge. He cannot be replaced, so the Giants catch a big, big break.

ELI SAYS HELLO AFTER BYE

Naturally, Eli Manning says he hasn't given his remarkable post-bye success any thought, but it's real and it's spectacular. In his past four games coming off the regular-season bye week, he has thrown 10 touchdowns and only one interception. He hasn't had a vintage performance in more than a month, hasn't compiled a quarterback rating above 78.9 in five games and hasn't thrown in a scoring pass in three straight games for the first time since he was a rookie.

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E-Hall, T-ville in final

Erasmus Hall and Tottenville will play after all.

The PSAL football rivals, scheduled to meet in the final week of the regular season beforeHurricane Sandy hit, will face each other Dec. 4 at Yankee Stadium for the coveted title after convincing PSAL City Championship division semifinal victories yesterday.

No. 1 Erasmus Hall, last year's runnerup, throttled No. 7 Curtis, 286, behind three touchdown runs from Jonathan Samerson and another from Curtis Samuel, who scoredona74yarddash to pay dirt and ran for over 100 yards on the ground.

No. 2 Tottenville ousted defending champion and fourthseeded Lincoln, 218, on Staten Island. The Pirates, knocked out in the semifinals the past two years, got three touchdown passes from Brandon Barnes, two to Kevin Coughlin, and picked off Lincoln quarterback Javon Moore four times. Moore did throw a scoring strike to Darnell Phillips.

Though the two teams did not meet this year, they saw one another in the semifinals a year ago, when Erasmus Hall rallied for an overtime victory. The latest chapter in the rivalry will have even more at stake.

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Green Bay in way as Giants try to snap annual skid

What we know now about these Giants and what we know soon after now will mean all the difference.

By around midnight Sunday night, the Giants either will have shown themselves to be a worthy contender in the NFC playoff chase, or else living on fumes off last year's Super Bowl triumph.

They are rested and healthier than they have been in weeks, in first place in the NFC East, riding a two-game losing streak, playing at home, brimming with incentive and talking up this six-game closing stretch with all the proper urgency.

The challenge of facing the Packers always is immense, but if the Giants aren't up to it, if they continue to go 0-for-November, what's to say they are going to awaken any time soon?

Getty Images

Aaron Rodgers

"Dallas is right on our tails. We know what our schedule is like the rest of the way,'' Justin Tuck said. "They're coming in our house, Sunday night football, the whole world gonna be watching. This is probably a team, if everything goes right, we'll see again in the playoffs, hopefully. We both are fighting for positions in the playoff race.

"We've played [shoddy] football the past couple weeks. We really would like to swing this momentum back in our favor. We really like to come out this football game feeling very confident about where we are as a football team heading into the rest of the schedule. It will be a great measuring stick for our football team to see exactly where we are.''

A look inside the game:

BEST BATTLE

Packers LT Marshall Newhouse vs. Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul. Newhouse has started every game, but he hardly is a franchise left tackle. Last season, his first as an NFL starter, he allowed eight sacks and eight quarterback hits, according to Pro Football Focus. Newhouse is greatly improved but figures to need help here. Pierre-Paul has shown flashes but, unlike 2011, hasn't had that "wow'' game, yet.

HIT THE SACK

The Giants used to get all the pub about being a feared defensive front, but it's the Packers who come in as the masters, as their 33 sacks is second only to the Broncos' 35. Actually, it's not the Green Bay front that is applying the pressure, as LB Clay Matthews leads the Pack with nine sacks — no one else on the team has more than three. That's why the absence of Matthews to a hamstring injury is so huge. He cannot be replaced, so the Giants catch a big, big break.

ELI SAYS HELLO AFTER BYE

Naturally, Eli Manning says he hasn't given his remarkable post-bye success any thought, but it's real and it's spectacular. In his past four games coming off the regular-season bye week, he has thrown 10 touchdowns and only one interception. He hasn't had a vintage performance in more than a month, hasn't compiled a quarterback rating above 78.9 in five games and hasn't thrown in a scoring pass in three straight games for the first time since he was a rookie.

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Arafat's remains said to be exhumed Tuesday

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed Tuesday as part of a renewed investigation into his death, a Palestinian investigator said Saturday.

Arafat died in November 2004 in a French military hospital, a month after suddenly falling ill. Palestinian officials claim he was poisoned by Israel, but have not presented evidence. Israel has denied such allegations.

Earlier this year, the detection of a lethal radioactive substance in biological traces on Arafat's clothing sparked a new investigation. Tests were inconclusive, and experts said they need to check his remains to learn more.

AP

Yasser Arafat

On Tuesday, Swiss, French and Russian experts will take samples from Arafat's bones, said Tawfik Tirawi, who heads the Palestinian team investigating the death. They will examine the samples in their home countries.

Arafat will be reburied the same day with military honors, but the ceremony will be closed to the public, Tirawi told a news conference.

He did not specify when results would be announced but said the probe could take months.

Earlier this month, workers began prying open the concrete-encased tomb in Arafat's former government headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Palestinian Authority, the self-rule government in the West Bank, had hesitated before agreeing to exhume the remains, in part because of cultural and religious sensitivities.

Since mid-November, the gravesite has been surrounded with a blue tarpaulin and roads leading to the Arafat mausoleum were closed. Arafat is still widely revered in the Palestinian territories, and Palestinian officials said they don't want the process observed by media and others.

The new probe into his death began this summer, after a Swiss lab discovered traces of polonium-210, a deadly radioactive isotope, on clothes said to be Arafat's. The clothes were provided by Arafat's widow, Suha, and given to the lab by the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera. Separately, Mrs. Arafat asked the French government to investigate, while the Palestinian Authority called in Russian experts.

Arafat's death has remained a mystery for many. While the immediate cause of death was a stroke, the underlying source of an illness he suffered in his final weeks has never been clear, leading to persistent conspiracy theories that he had cancer, AIDS or was poisoned.

Many in the Arab world believe Arafat, the face of the Palestinian independence struggle for four decades, was killed by Israel. Israel, which saw Arafat as an obstacle to peace, vehemently denies the charge.

There is no guarantee the exhumation will solve the mystery. Polonium-210 is known to rapidly decompose, and experts are divided over whether any remaining samples will be sufficient for testing.

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Mark Rex’s words: Sanchez is Gang Green quarterback

Whenever the Jets lose, the question has to be asked: Is it time for Tim Tebow to replace Mark Sanchez at quarterback?

Jets coach Rex Ryan continued to say no after last night's 49-19 thrashing by the Patriots at MetLife Stadium.

"Mark will be the starting quarterback next week and we'll go from there," Ryan said.

Complicating matters now is the fact Tebow has two broken ribs. But even if Tebow were totally healthy, the Jets seem committed to sticking with Sanchez.

"You can't blame it on just one individual," Ryan said. "I think Mark does give us the best chance to win right now. That's what we'll do."

Sanchez finished the night with decent statistics, completing 26-of-36 passes for 301 yards. But he continued to kill the Jets with turnovers. Sanchez was intercepted while the Jets were driving in the first quarter — leading to a Patriots touchdown — and fumbled the ball away after colliding with guard Brandon Moore's rear end. New England recovered that fumble and ran it for a touchdown.

"I thought Mark threw the ball well," Ryan said, sounding delusional.

At the end of his press conference, Ryan was asked about his own future with the Jets. It appears Ryan will miss the playoffs for the second straight year. Does he believe he will be back?

"I do," Ryan said. "I think our team will play a heck of a lot better. I don't think anybody will ask that question by the time the year is over. That's my personal opinion."

brian.costello@nypost.com

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Jets’ fireworks in blowout ‘L’ a dud

The Jets stadium operations had some bad moments along with the team in last night's 49-19 blowout loss to the Patriots at MetLife Stadium.

When Nick Folk kicked a field goal at the end of the first half to cut the Patriots lead to 35-3, a single batch of fireworks went off in a pitiful, comical display.

In the third quarter, the Jets showed a Waste Management Ad that told fans to save money for Jets playoff tickets. Um, it looks like the Jets fans will have some extra money for Christmas presents this year.

The crowd let the Jets know what it thought of their performance with boisterous boos at halftime and the loudest "Tebow" chants of the season.

* DE Muhammad Wilkerson said he suffered a neck injury, but is fine. ... The 49 points allowed are the most under coach Rex Ryan and close to the franchise record. The Jets allowed 56 points against the Patriots on Sept. 9, 1979 and against the Oilers on Oct. 14, 1962.

* Jets WR Clyde Gates suffered a head injury and did not return. The team also said WR Chaz Schilens suffered a head injury. ... The Jets signed WR Jordan White and CBs Donnie Fletcher and Darrin Walls off the practice squad before the game.

* RB Shonn Greene is now 10th all-time on the Jets career rushing list with 3,062 yards. The Jets inactives last night were: QB Greg McElroy, RB Kahlil Bell, CB Aaron Berry, DT Damon Harrison, G Caleb Schlauderaff, G Hayworth Hicks and TE Hayden Smith.

marc.berman@nypost.com

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Pats roll without star TE

So much for the Patriots missing Rob Gronkowski.

Minus its Pro Bowl tight end, New England could "only" muster a 49-19 humiliation of the Jets last night at MetLife Stadium that showed the Patriots probably won't miss a beat — at least on offense — while Gronkowski sits for a month or more with a broken arm.

Tom Brady certainly didn't look like a quarterback playing without his favorite target, completing 18 of his 28 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns without an interception as the 8-3 Patriots rolled up 475 yards overall and continued to pile up points at an astonishing pace.

Reuters

GOBBLE, GOBBLE: After taking a bite out of the Jets during the Patriots' 49-19 victory last night, New England quarterback Tom Brady took a bite out of a turkey leg.

After scoring 59 at home against the Colts just four days earlier, New England nearly matched that total last night. The Patriots have scored 190 points in their past four games combined — nine more than the franchise did during the entire 1990 season.

"It's just everybody stepping up, doing their jobs and doing it the way they're supposed to and just trying to contribute any way they can," said Wes Welker, who led New England with seven catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. "A lot of guys stepped up tonight and made a lot of big plays, and that's what we need."

The Patriots welcomed back fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez from a troublesome ankle, but Hernandez wasn't nearly the factor running backs Shane Vereen and Steven Ridley and receiver Julian Edelman were in helping hand the Jets a humiliating loss.

Vereen turned in the most electrifying moment of the night, taking a swing pass from Brady early in the second quarter and blazing his way down the left sideline 83 yards for a score that gave the Patriots a 14-0 lead.

Vereen's highlight-reel play turned out to be the first domino to fall in a second quarter that was as memorable for the Patriots as it was nightmarish for the bumbling Jets. A defensive turnover and a special-teams turnover followed, and New England had a 28-0 lead just 52 seconds later.

"I've never seen that before, personally," Vereen said of what would turn into a 35-point Patriots second quarter. "But that's what happens when you play hard."

Edelman, who left the game with a concussion in the second half, was another big reason for New England's eruption, providing their final two scores of the half. The first came when he picked up a fumbled Joe McKnight kickoff return and ran it back 22 yards, and the capper came on a 56-yard touchdown grab five minutes later.

Brady and the Patriots didn't take their foot off the pedal in the second half, either, and used their frenetic no-huddle to fluster the Jets throughout. New England finished an impressive 11-for-15 on third downs while handing Bill Belichick his 200th career coaching victory.

"There's no coach I'd ever want to play for than him," Brady said.

bhubbuch@nypost.com

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Fractured ribs keep Tebow off the field

The crowd might have been calling for it and Mark Sanchez's play may have warranted it, but Jets backup quarterback Tim Tebow was about as likely to get on the field as one of the members of the team's Flight Crew.

Tebow didn't play in the Jets' 49-19 loss to New England last night at MetLife Stadium because of two fractured ribs, an injury he sustained in the Week 10 defeat at Seattle.

"I was only going to play Tim if we absolutely had to have him," coach Rex Ryan said. "You could tell he was hurting. His breathing was a little bit different. I was like 'Shoot, I'm not going to play this kid.' I wouldn't play my son if it was that kind of situation."

Last night was the first time all season Tebow did not take a snap on either offense or special teams. Though he dressed and third-string quarterback Greg McElroy was inactive, there was no scenario short of disaster that would have brought Tebow into the game.

Tebow couldn't pinpoint exactly when the injury happened, but did say it definitely occurred in the Jets' 28-7 loss to the Seahawks.

"It was on offense," Tebow said. "I didn't really know. I just kept playing and started to feel it later on."

Tebow, who was listed as questionable on the injury report, had to do some lobbying on his own behalf to even put pads on.

"I appreciate [Ryan's] concern, obviously," Tebow said. "I had to do a little bit of talking just to dress. I just want to be there for my teammates in case they needed me in an emergency situation."

Even if Tebow had played, he might have done more damage to his already battered body. After playing last Sunday against the Rams and practicing fully all week, he hinted he might not have given the ribs enough time to heal.

"You try to do whatever you can for your team and sometimes there are some setbacks with that," Tebow said. "Obviously playing in St. Louis and then trying to go and practice, it's tough to let it get a chance to heal."

The good news, if any, is that the Jets have a 10-day layoff until the Cardinals come into MetLife Stadium on Dec. 2, giving Tebow's ribs a little bit extra time off to recover.

"Yeah, [The ribs] are getting better, they need a little time," Tebow said. "I think that's up to the trainers and the coaches."

This isn't the first time Tebow has suffered a rib injury in his NFL career. Last season, in the Broncos' playoff loss to the Patriots, Tebow fractured the second rib on his right side, but because the season was over, he didn't clearly remember the timetable for his recovery.

Regardless of the rib injury, the 30-point blowout or the Jets' 4-7 record, Tebow is trying to keep things positive for his teammates.

"We've got to find a way to improve," he said. "We have five more games [we have to] try to get some wins, keep it positive, keep working hard, keep getting better. We don't know what our future holds and try to improve every day."

asulla-heffinger@nypost.com

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1 killed, 19 wounded in first violence since Israel-Hamas cease fire declared

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man and wounded 19 people as crowds surged toward Gaza's border fence with Israel on Friday, a health official said, the first violence since a truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers took hold a day before.

The shooting did not appear to pose an immediate threat to the Egypt-brokered cease fire, which called for an end to Gaza rocket fire on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. The truce came after eight days of cross-border fighting, the bloodiest between Israel and Hamas in four years.

REUTERS

Palestinians stand close to the fence as an Israeli tank is seen on the border between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip today.

The Gaza prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, has urged militant factions to respect the cease-fire. It appeared unlikely Hamas would retaliate for the Friday's shooting because that could jeopardize the militant group's potential gains from the cease-fire deal, such as an easing of restrictions on movement in and out of the Palestinian territory.

Hamas officials were not immediately available for comment. Nafez Azzam, a spokesman for Gaza's Islamic Jihad, said the shooting was a violation of the truce and that Egypt was informed.

On Friday, hundreds of Palestinians approached Israel's border fence in several locations in southern Gaza, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman. In the past, Israel's military has barred Palestinians from getting close to the fence, and soldiers opened fire routinely to enforce a no-go zone meant to prevent infiltrations into Israel.

Since the cease fire, growing numbers of Gazans have entered the no-go zone.

In one incident captured by Associated Press video, several dozen Palestinians, most of them young men, approached the fence, coming close to a group of Israeli soldiers standing on the other side.

Some Palestinians briefly talked to the soldiers, while others appeared to be taunting them with chants of "God is Great" and "Morsi, Morsi," in praise of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, whose mediation led to the truce.

At one point, a soldier shouted in Hebrew, "Go there, before I shoot you," and pointed away from the fence, toward Gaza. The soldier then dropped to one knee, assuming a firing position. Eventually, a burst of automatic fire was heard, but it was not clear whether any of the casualties were from this incident.

Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said a 20-year-old man was killed and 19 people were wounded.

Israel's military said roughly 300 Palestinians approached the security fence at several locations in southern Gaza, tried to damage it and cross into Israel. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air to distance the Palestinians from the fence, but after they refused to move back, troops fired at their legs, the military said. It also said a Palestinian infiltrated into Israel in the course of the unrest, but he was returned to Gaza.

The truce allowed both Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step back from the brink of a full-fledged war. Over eight days, Israel's aircraft carried out some 1,500 strikes on Hamas-linked targets, while Gaza fighters peppered Israel with roughly the same number of rockets.

The fighting killed 166 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, and six Israelis.

In Cairo, Egypt is hosting separate talks with Israeli and Hamas envoys on the next phase of the cease-fire — a new border deal for blockaded Gaza. Hamas demands lifting of all border restrictions, while Israel insists that Hamas must halt weapons smuggling to the territory.

In Israel, a poll showed that about half of Israelis think their government should have continued its military offensive against Hamas.

The independent Maagar Mohot poll released Friday shows 49 percent of respondents feel Israel should have kept going after squads that fire rockets into Israel. Thirty-one percent supported the government's decision to stop. Twenty percent had no opinion.

Twenty-nine percent thought Israel should have sent ground troops to invade Gaza. The poll of 503 respondents had an error margin of 4.5 percentage points.

The same survey showed Netanyahu's Likud Party and electoral partner Israel Beiteinu losing some support, but his hard-line bloc would still able to form the next government. Elections are Jan. 22.

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