The high school football season doesn’t officially commence until early September, but if you’re feenin’ to see some early action, there’s a boatload of scrimmages, many involving more than two teams, taking place early Saturday morning that should feed your hunger.
Two in particular stick out.
If you want to take make your way to Lockport high school at 9am, you’ll get a chance to see six of the best teams Western New York have to offer. New York State Class-AA champion North Tonawanda and Class-A champs Sweet Home heads the tilt as well as Williamsville South and its first-team All-WNY quarterback Joe Licata. St. Francis, Grand Island and host Lockport are also involved in the six-team scrimmage.
It appeared Dan Murphy’s lacrosse season was over before it started when the Orchard Park sophomore broke his arm while playing club hockey this winter.
However, he stayed in touch with the sport as he recovered from the injury by becoming the modified boys team’s manager, a position offered to him by Coach Derek Gilham.
Just a couple days after breaking his arm, Murphy said he stopped in to the modified practice to pick up his younger brother Chris, who is in eighth grade. While talking with Coach Gilham, Murphy was asked if he would be interested in helping out with the team.
The matchups for the 2010 Monsignor Martin vs. ECIC high school basketball challenge have been made official. Once again, St. Mary’s of Lancaster high school will host the action as it will showcase members of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association in basketball competition against members of the ECIC.
For the first time, the event is sponsored by Adpro Sports, with the enjoyment of the student-athletes as the main objective, along with a strong focus on a healthy spirit of cooperation and competition between the private Catholic institutions of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association and the public schools of Section VI and the ECIC, per the challenge’s press release.
Among last year’s thrillers, then No. 2 Nichols defeated top-ranked at the time Niagara Falls high school.
Orchard Park senior Jocelyn Redlinski finished third in the pentathlon among both Division I and II participants at this weekend’s New York State Track & Field Championships.
She earned 3098 points in securing third place by finishing seventh in the 100-meter hurdles, eighth in the high jump, seventh in shot put, fourth in long jump and tenth in the 800-meter run.
Redlinski previously captured first place in the pentathlon at the Section VI championships for the second consecutive season by earning 3036 points.
The Tonawanda high school baseball team is advancing to the Class B New York State Final Four for the first time in school history. They accomplished this Monday in Dansville, New York by upending Wellsville to win their first-ever Far West Regional.
For the second straight year, the St. Mary’s High School girl’s softball team journeyed to New York City in search of a Catholic state championship. For the second straight year, they travel back to Lancaster empty-handed.
The girls didn’t bring their “A” game with them, losing in the semifinal on Tuesday to Archbishop Molloy High School, 7-2. The Lancers hurt themselves throughout with a lack of hitting and untimely errors.
St. Mary’s committed three errors in the game, two of them in the second inning which allowed two unearned runs to score on pitcher Lauren Wesolowski; giving Malloy an early lead they never relinquished.
With an 8-7 win over Hamburg this weekend, the Orchard Park baseball team advances to the Section VI Class AA championship against Clarence to be held at Sal Maglie Stadium in Niagara Falls on Tuesday, June 1 at 4:30 p.m.
The Quakers jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings. A.J. Witkowski hit a three-run inside-the-park homerun in the bottom of the first inning. Dylan Baun connected on a 3-run double in the bottom of the second.
Hamburg came back to within one run by scoring thrice in the top of the sixth, but were shut down in the seventh by Witkowski, who got two quicks out and a strikeout to finish off the Bulldogs.
Ilio DiPaolo’s Restaurant in Blasdell was the setting Thursday night for the 15th annual Ilio DiPaolo Scholarship Awards dinner, honoring the best high school wrestlers in Western New York.
Over 200 family, friends and organizers were in attendance, including Hall of Famer quarterback Jim Kelly, original Buffalo Bills trainer Ed Abramoski and former professional wrestler Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer.
These scholarships are awarded to individuals who excel in academics as well athletics, while contributing to their family and community.
Congratulations to Clarence high school star softball pitcher Jen Sansano. The senior tossed a shutout in a 1-0 win over Williamsville South to earn the 63rd win of her career, breaking the record of former Clarence hurler Stephanie Wydra, who pitched from 2003-06.
Sansano had 18 strikeouts to bring her record total to 899 for her career and has 263 strikeouts this season alone. The 899 career whiffs is also a school record, surpassing Wydra’s 743.
Sansano will be taking her game to St. Bonaventure at the collegiate level next year after choosing the Bonnies over Canisius. She also considered the University of Georgia before deciding to stay closer to home.
As we know by now, after more than a century of Buffalo Public high school football, the Harvard Cup is no more. The nine teams that comprised the long-standing league has officially disbanded and joined Section VI.
While it’s debatable how long it will take before city schools can become competitive against the biggest and best football programs Western New York has to offer, we now know exactly what division where each of the schools will be placed.
Robert Kugler was one of the true emerging high school football players in the area by the end of last season. The Orchard Park junior finished the sesaon with 64 tackles and two forced fumbles, earning him a spot on the First-Team, All Western New York football squad. Colleges, major ones at that were lining up in pursuit. 2010 figured to be a fun year to watch him perform.
Football is certainly in his bloodline. His father is Sean Kugler, the now-former Buffalo Bills offensive line coach. Unfortunately Kuglar is no longer with the Bills and now holds the same position with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Even sadder for fans of Orchard Park, his family has made the move with him.
Kuglar has transferred to North Allegany High in Pennsylvania, along with his brother Patrick, who showed promise last year as a Freshmen. While it’s unkown if their student body knows what’s coming their way, it’s now known where the older brother will be going to college in 2011.
Southwestern High School star quarterback Zack Sopak will continue his football career next year by attending Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, PA.
Sopak quarterbacked the Trojans to a pair of New York State Class-C titles and was the MVP in both title games. Southwestern became just the fourth school in WNY history to win back-to-back state championships.
Sopak won the Connolly Cup, presented to Western New York’s most outstanding football player. He completed 101 of 161 passes for a school record 1,847 yards and 21 touchdown passes. He also rushed for 805 yards and 10 scores.
He lost all of one game in three years as their starting quarterback.
Washington & Jefferson is a perennial Division III powerhouse with 26 consecutive winning seasons. Coincidently (or definitely not) their coach is Mike Sirianni, a 1990 Southwestern graduate and older brother Sopack’s high school coach Jay.
It’s one of the oldest clichés in sports, “losing was the best thing that could have happened.” But sometimes clichés are actually cliché because they hold a lot of truth, and in the case of Bishop Timon’s lacrosse team, their loss to West Seneca East two weeks ago may just have been that loss.
Since being upset by the Trojans, Timon have only conceded nine goals in four games and on Tuesday night Timon sent a reminder that they are still one of the best teams in Western New York after a 16-1 trouncing of Monsignor Martin rivals Canisius.
The most impressive part of Timon’s win is the fact that Syracuse-bound Chris Kane did not find the net. Instead it was freshman Tommy Gioia, junior Sam Connors and many others contributing on offense, while junior Brian Sullivan, the best long pole defender in Western New York, showed again why the University of North Carolina cannot wait to get him to Chapel Hill.
Hard work and passion have allowed Orchard Park’s Erich Rassow to transform into one of the premier faceoff specialists in Division III college lacrosse.
The St. John Fisher College junior and 2007 graduate of Orchard Park was named the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week on April 13, in addition to receiving the Empire Eight Conference Player of the Week honors for the week ending April 11.
Rassow, a management major, is Fisher’s primary faceoff man, taking 388 of 450 chances. By winning an incredible 70.1 percent of his faceoffs, his success helped the Cardinals to a 16-2 record this season.
“If your team can get the ball and possess the ball for most of the game and dictate the speed of the game, you have a great advantage in determining the outcome,” Rassow said in a recent interview.
It’s not easy to see at first glance, but Jessica Grogan is a fiercely competitive athlete. The Canisius College sophomore and 2008 Orchard Park graduate is among the most dedicated athletes in collegiate synchronized swimming.
In her second year on the Canisius College synchronized swimming team, Grogan continues to demonstrate the devotion and perseverance required to compete among the top athletes in the sport.
Synchronized swimming is true act of athleticism that challenges the body and mind. Competitors painstakingly practice routines to ensure the precision of their actions, because even the most minute misstep will result in a reduction of points. It is for that reason the synchronized swimmers spend 20 hours a week in the pool and countless hours outside the water practicing their techniques and creating masterful routines that exhibit their skills.
The New York State boy’s basketball All-State teams are out and Western New York is especially well represented. Of the five class divisions, three represent an athlete from New York being named its respective Player of the Year.
Will Regan (Nichols) is the state’s Class-A Player of the Year while Darale Young (Middle College) captured the same honor in Class-C and Chris Secky (Maple Grove) in Class-D.
Regan and Secky were recently named the Western New York Co-Players of the Year by the Buffalo News.
Both Secky and Regan finished their careers by eclipsing the 2,000 point plateau. Secky finished with 2.067 points, good for ninth all-time in Western New York while Regan ended with 2,008. Both were key members for their state championship winning teams.
Daemen College had a good 2009-10 season, finishing 18-13 overall and 9-7 in AMC (American Mideast Conference) league play before seeing their season end with a two point loss to Cedarville in the AMC semi finals.
Looking to build on their success, the school has recruited three of the best players from the Western New York high school ranks to join their squad next year.
The Wildcats have landed local recruits Mark Coppola (Williamsville South), Troy Nowak (Orchard Park) and Aaron Davis (North Tonawanda) to a an already talented mix that includes last year’s leading scorer, Devon Dawson (formerly of St. Joes high school).
Since the start of Buffalo Sports Daily last September, one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most over the first six months is covering high school basketball and Nichols in particular. As a diehard hoops fan residing in a city without a professional franchise and only borderline mid-major colleges, the high school scene gives me the hoops fix I often crave.
I got the chance to cover a lot of Nichols games this year and they’ve been a team that’s fascinated me. I’ve seen a lot of good teams over the years but there was something about this Vikings team that stood out. They seemed to be a complete team; strong play up front (Will Regan, Connor Vandegriff), good perimeter shooting (Stan Wier, Andrew MacKinnon), a true floor general running the point (Ron Canestro) and a coach (Greg Plumb) who’s basketball intelligence trickled down to his talented players. It had me wondering if the team I was impressed with all season could compete with and beat the very best in the entire state.
Someday when we look back at the accomplishments of Maple Grove’s Chris Secky, we’ll reflect on one of the more storied high school careers Western New York has seen in many, many years.
Let’s start with football. Secky was a two-time New York State Sportswriters Association player of the year in football and as the quarterback led his school to the 2008 state Class D championship. During his junior season, he threw all of one interceptions in 13 games.
His senior year he had to “settle” for making it to the Sectional Semi Finals and earning first-team, All-WNY by the Buffalo News for the second straight season. He was also a finalist for the Connolly Cup Award, given to the Player of the Year. Maple Grove went 21-2 with Secky as the starting quarterback during his career.
But that’s nothing compared to his basketball prowess.
Three high school basketball teams from Section VI can proudly call themselves 2009-10 New York State champions.
Maple Grove won the Class C state title while Middle College stormed to a Class C crown in action at Glen Falls over the weekend. Clymer won the state girls’ Class D championship at Hudson Valley Community College.
For Middle College and Clymer it’s their first-ever state championships. Maple Grove won a title for the second time in three years.
Congratulations to the WNY Varsity Hockey Federation All-Stars. The team consists of Bryan McPalane (Orchard Park), Josh Baker (Frontier), Dylan Arnold (Canisius), David Evert (Niagara-Wheatfield), Mark Arnone (Kenmore East) and Trevor Clark (Williamsville South)
Jake Rosen (Williamsville North), Paul Steinig (Canisius), Brian Osieja (West Seneca East), Bryan Komasara (Niagara-Wheatfield), Robert Neff (St. Joes) and Evan Korn (Orchard Park) comprised the second team.
Baker, Arnone and Clark also received extra recognition. The three were named to the All-New York State second team squad.
Evert, Arnold and Rosen were named All-State Honorable Mention.
Two of the five boy’s high school basketball teams from Western New York will be advancing to Glen Falls to play for a state title after a long day of Far West Regionals at Buffalo State College.
Maple Grove defeated Section V Houghton 52-36 to advance in Class D. All-WNY selection Randall Secky scored a game-high 24 points for Maple Grove and went over 2,000 career points in the process.
Middle College also advanced locally in Class C action, dominating Mynderse Academy from Rochester, 96-50. Sean Muhlhern was dominant for Middle College inside, scoring 20 points while Devon Alexander scored a game-high 23 points and Darale Young added 21.
The Section VI Class A and B overall champions were crowned in high school basketball at Buffalo State College Tuesday night. Williamsville South is the Class A champ after throttling East high school 65-46. Olean won the Class B crown for the fourth consecutive year with a $@@# victory over Akron.
The South vs. East game had all the makings of a classic but never materialized into a close game. Junior sharpshooter Joe Licata, who’s also the football star quarterback, drilled seven three pointers for a game-high 24 points as the Billies stormed out the gate and blew East away early.
While interviewing Jamestown star guard Carlos Rivera following his team’s semi final victory over North Tonawanda earlier in the night, he told me he was so excited to be playing Orchard Park on Saturday night to celebrate his birthday and try to win a Section VI Class AA championship. While Rivera certainly meant no disrespect to the Red Devils of Clarence, he along with nearly everyone else assumed they would fall at the hands of top seeded Orchard Park in the other semifinal game.
Standing a mere five feet, seven inches on a good day, Carlos Rivera hardly looks the part of an intimidating basketball player.
Rivera may be diminutive in stature but his play was gargantuan Thursday night, scoring 26 points from all over the gym to go with an assortment of steals, assists and body spills as his Jamestown Red Raiders advanced to Saturday’s Section VI Class AA final with a 57-34 throttling over North Tonawanda.
The senior scored 19 of those 26 points in the second and third quarters while the game’s outcome was still in doubt. It only seemed fitting he’d close the scoring with the game’s last three points on a long distance bomb as a Lumberjacks defender sent him crashing to the floor.
The high school football season doesn’t officially commence until early September, but if you’re feenin’ to see some early action, there’s a boatload of scrimmages, many involving more than two teams, taking place early Saturday morning that should feed your hunger.
It appeared Dan Murphy’s lacrosse season was over before it started when the Orchard Park sophomore broke his arm while playing club hockey this winter.
The matchups for the 2010 Monsignor Martin vs. ECIC high school basketball challenge have been made official. Once again, St. Mary’s of Lancaster high school will host the action as it will showcase members of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association in basketball competition against members of the ECIC.
Orchard Park senior Jocelyn Redlinski finished third in the pentathlon among both Division I and II participants at this weekend’s New York State Track & Field Championships.
The Tonawanda high school baseball team is advancing to the Class B New York State Final Four for the first time in school history. They accomplished this Monday in Dansville, New York by upending Wellsville to win their first-ever Far West Regional.
For the second straight year, the St. Mary’s High School girl’s softball team journeyed to New York City in search of a Catholic state championship. For the second straight year, they travel back to Lancaster empty-handed.
With an 8-7 win over Hamburg this weekend, the Orchard Park baseball team advances to the Section VI Class AA championship against Clarence to be held at Sal Maglie Stadium in Niagara Falls on Tuesday, June 1 at 4:30 p.m.
Ilio DiPaolo’s Restaurant in Blasdell was the setting Thursday night for the 15th annual Ilio DiPaolo Scholarship Awards dinner, honoring the best high school wrestlers in Western New York.
Congratulations to Clarence high school star softball pitcher Jen Sansano. The senior tossed a shutout in a 1-0 win over Williamsville South to earn the 63rd win of her career, breaking the record of former Clarence hurler Stephanie Wydra, who pitched from 2003-06.
As we know by now, after more than a century of Buffalo Public high school football, the Harvard Cup is no more. The nine teams that comprised the long-standing league has officially disbanded and joined Section VI.
Robert Kugler was one of the true emerging high school football players in the area by the end of last season. The Orchard Park junior finished the sesaon with 64 tackles and two forced fumbles, earning him a spot on the First-Team, All Western New York football squad. Colleges, major ones at that were lining up in pursuit. 2010 figured to be a fun year to watch him perform.
Southwestern High School star quarterback Zack Sopak will continue his football career next year by attending Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, PA.
It’s one of the oldest clichés in sports, “losing was the best thing that could have happened.” But sometimes clichés are actually cliché because they hold a lot of truth, and in the case of Bishop Timon’s lacrosse team, their loss to West Seneca East two weeks ago may just have been that loss.
Hard work and passion have allowed Orchard Park’s Erich Rassow to transform into one of the premier faceoff specialists in Division III college lacrosse.
It’s not easy to see at first glance, but Jessica Grogan is a fiercely competitive athlete. The Canisius College sophomore and 2008 Orchard Park graduate is among the most dedicated athletes in collegiate synchronized swimming.
The New York State boy’s basketball All-State teams are out and Western New York is especially well represented. Of the five class divisions, three represent an athlete from New York being named its respective Player of the Year.
Daemen College had a good 2009-10 season, finishing 18-13 overall and 9-7 in AMC (American Mideast Conference) league play before seeing their season end with a two point loss to Cedarville in the AMC semi finals.
Since the start of Buffalo Sports Daily last September, one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most over the first six months is covering high school basketball and Nichols in particular. As a diehard hoops fan residing in a city without a professional franchise and only borderline mid-major colleges, the high school scene gives me the hoops fix I often crave.
Someday when we look back at the accomplishments of Maple Grove’s Chris Secky, we’ll reflect on one of the more storied high school careers Western New York has seen in many, many years.
Three high school basketball teams from Section VI can proudly call themselves 2009-10 New York State champions.
Congratulations to the WNY Varsity Hockey Federation All-Stars. The team consists of Bryan McPalane (Orchard Park), Josh Baker (Frontier), Dylan Arnold (Canisius), David Evert (Niagara-Wheatfield), Mark Arnone (Kenmore East) and Trevor Clark (Williamsville South)
Two of the five boy’s high school basketball teams from Western New York will be advancing to Glen Falls to play for a state title after a long day of Far West Regionals at Buffalo State College.
The Section VI Class A and B overall champions were crowned in high school basketball at Buffalo State College Tuesday night. Williamsville South is the Class A champ after throttling East high school 65-46. Olean won the Class B crown for the fourth consecutive year with a $@@# victory over Akron.
Standing a mere five feet, seven inches on a good day, Carlos Rivera hardly looks the part of an intimidating basketball player.
