Another awesome audio slideshow -- an emotional weekend at The Ralph

For those who were at this weekend's Section VI football championships, or for those who wished they could have been there, you cannot click here fast enough.

That's a link to an audio slideshow by News photographer Mark Mulville. Hear the coaches and fans while taking a look at some great photos of all the teams involved in the five-game championship weekend.

If you missed it, Mulville did a slideshow on last weekend's cross country championships.

---Keith McShea

Comments

[Mike Ferrentino]

How could anyone take the play calling away from someone named Ferrentino?? Thats WACKKKKKK !!! Only kidding..I dont worry about stuff that i dont need to worry about (still 10-0). I believe the close scores are more a byproduct of teams getting geeked for the #1 team in the State and better competition.. Every game OP plays, they are the opponents Super Bowl. Go section 6

[team]

by the way teams stack the box just to stop op's run which has contributed to much of the pass sucess this year. Some teams don't even worry about op's slot wr's. But this is how a team works when 1 guy is focused on u have to switch it upand op has definately done this so far.

[Concerned OP fan]

I was not at the game so i dont know everything.I did hear about the coaching change and noticed it on TV.We just want to know why change now when everything is going so well. I never said NT was weak .Jantzi always has his team ready to play and he has great athletes.

[Fran]

Mike
OP does not have a GREAT line, but they are pretty good. OPs offense is no mystery to anyone. It is basically "Here we come...Stop us". So the OP line deals with a lot of extra guys in the box because of that. Considering that, I think they do pretty well.

[Mike Ferrentino]

Concerned OP: I agree with all that stuff.(what i said on the show I mean..LOL) Here is the difference. NT is also a good/great team. You weren't playing a garbage team. NT is a whole lot better than most people think. Before the game I predicted (WGR550.com) that the game would be a nail biter. I dont think OP is soooo tremendously better than all other opponents. I believe they have some line deficiencies ; real good coaches may be able to exploit them. NT did. NOW I am not saying that they have a bad line, because they dont. I think the healthy 2007 line was a bit more superior. Sometimes your coaches ,for example, also realize these deficiencies exist and are forced to call plays accordingly as the competition toughens.It may not seem like a great call to the fans, but it may be the safe call in the matchup that they are looking at. Parents sometimes think that their team is soooooo much better that all games should be a rout. Other teams are also good, and deserve our respect. Routs are rare this time of year and a few breaks here or there can turn a game around for an under dog. Jantzi is a very good coach and OP had their hands full because of his great preperation. We can always question the play calling, but lets give the opponent credit too.

[player]

the key to winning games like Fran said is to control the ball and not risk turnovers. Its not like "jeff" has been getting the ball 30 times as he did last year(o yea by the way they made it farther than any other op team ever has doing just that)you ppl just try to break teams up. Go to the games and cheer but otherwise be quiet b/c op does open it up in times they need to. Let them play and compete for a championship.

[concerned OP fan]

That's not what were saying.A win is a win.But the NT game was to close for comfort.Thank God we have the defense we have.Ferrento maybe you need to read over Transcripts from your show. The whole segment was about how NT made mistakes or they may have won.

[Mike Ferrentino]

FRAN: AMEN... They are all real good players..Jeff is special. Let the coaches Coach. Let the players play. Let us knuckleheads enjoy your championship..GO SECTION 6

[Fran]

So your complaint is that they should win by bigger margins?
They should open up the offense and risk game changing turnovers instead of playing it basic and letting the best defense in WNY win the game for you?
No thanks! I think I will side with the coach who has racked up twenty one wins the last two seasons.

[concerned OP fan]

Wow did anyone say Jeff wasn't good.Hes great!All you hear on the radio TV and on the blog is OP needs to open the offense up. How NT and Frontier could have beat OP. Well if they would open the offense up they wouldn,t be close.Buck coaching your kid is one thing but firing your offensive coach because he opened up the offense is another. Jeff Tundo is a great player we all know that but so is Robinson,Nesi,Nowakowski,Goltz. They just need to mix it up. We just want one question answered. Why the day after the Lancaster game did Tundo take over the play calling.The statement about what you people did to the man and his family is out of line .That was one man not the comunity!

[buck]

you people from op are crazy. you cry when you win, you cry when you lose. leave the tundo kid alone. you wouldnt be where you are today without him. im not saying hes the only one but come on. the dad thing is a joke, it happens all over the us where dads coach at the school where there kids go. only in wny would that be a problem. lets be serious football here is second rate compared to the rest of the country. i coached my kid for 9 years and listened to all the whining about coaching my son. he put up with more bs from me than anyone else on the team did. he had to go home with me, watch tape with me. as far as tundo goes last year what you people did to that family wasnt enough? if his avg. goes down maybe just maybe its the line or the fact your facing tougher teams. the kid deserves all the credit he gets. he runs hard hits the hole the right way, and absolutely punishes kids at the end of the run. good luck to the tundos and the op parents who understand the game and the coach.

[Mike Ferrentino]

Hey Buck: Wish I saw the boys too. From what I have heard they were great. I am sure I will get out to see them next year. I am not a big basketball guy. I will cover some hockey in 09 for WGR 550, but little basketball. I hear great things about Christian from some of my impartial contacts. 2009 should be a special year for him. I will look for his name in the hoop box scroes. Stay healthy and HAVE FUN on the court.

[buck]

mr. ferrintino i didnt hear from you after alden got whacked. fredonia was a solid team. i know we were better than that game. 5 turnovers in the first half isnt gonna win many games. i wish you could have seen the boys play, it was a special group.. look forward to your posts. christian has one more year. do you follow basketball?

[Mike Ferrentino]

I have watched all of WNY's teams play for along time. What I am hearing here is silly and childish. Jeff Tundo is a superb runner. He squares up coming through the hole. He runs with a forward lean that is better than all other WNY runners, and he has great vision. He punishes tacklers and he seldom fumbles. Tundo has been extremely reliable for 3 years. If you were the head coach, and I dont care about the father / son thing wouldn't you want to rely on your most reliable weapon in crunch time? Hoppy is a marvelous football player and OP will not win a title without him. He has options at the line of scrimmage and he exercises them when he feels the need with audibles. I think that the coaches have increased his workload every game . He will be relied on more as the Quakers progress. Jeff's numbers are down, and when I talk to him or Coach about that, they couldn't care any less. They know how important Hoppy is to the teams success. These are smart people here folks. We all need to stop with this silly talk. It is shocking to hear this craziness when the team is 10-0 and #1 in the state. My God man how terrible it is to win every game! Coach Tundo and both Ferrentino's and Will Theil and everyone else, PLEASE DO NOT STOP doing what you do best. Thats Coaching a great group of kids. Please keep winning for all of us WNY HS Football junkies. Oh by the way, I dont care (as I know you dont either) if Jeff , or Kyle or Neussle, or Selby , or FONZIE scores the TD that brings a AA State title to WNY..Good Luck to all 5 of our champions.

[Concerned OP fan]

No one is saying we have to do it with Hoppy alone.The argument is why Tundo took the offense away from Farentino.The play calling has evolved from last year. That's exactly what I'm saying. But has stalled after the lancaster game. Of course its a total team effort.

[Remember, this chance may be it!]

Whoaaa! What happened here?

Trying to stay objective, I thought that the 4th down pass to Neussle was nice (and new), and the Hoppy runs were what put us on top. In no way was this West Genny revisited, with double digit carries of 2 yards or less. It is obvious the play calling has evolved and progressed since last year.

I know this argument is out there, however I didnt see much evidence for it in this last game. A dropped pass, which was a great play call, led to the first punt and that punt (actually 2 punts) was a terrible play. Poor execution for Hoppy no doubt, as was the overthrow to Robinson over the middle and the pass in the dirt a little later on. Furthermore, he had some AWESOME passes! It seemed apparent Hoppy called his own number on a couple of plays that seemed like pass plays, resulting in a touchdown when we really needed it! I am not singling his mistakes out by any means. Special teams and the defense share in the overall responsibility just as much as anyone since they made a couple of big mistakes early (see the first touchdowns: Hicks, and Perla respectively).

Thiel said after the game that was one of the great characteristics of this "D" is that they dont get too emotional, and THEY know when they mess up and do a good job correcting it. It was obvious with the second half play of the defense. At this advanced stage in the season if you think OP is gonna walk all over everyone with Hoppy alone, its not gonna happen. How many times did he get sacked? So you want more passing? I am sure we are gonna see stronger pass rushing in the next few games. Its all about ball control. It is gonna take a total team effort, speaking of which.... pouring on this talk at this time helps nobody, certainly not the frame of mind of the players if they hear it.

[Concerned OP fan]

I think he did? Everyone remember the Lancaster game. Its a travesty to see what the kid has to go through to make a play.OP administration needs to take a stand on this one FOR THE WHOLE TEAM!

[opbooster]

Its all about giving jeff carries. I dont want to take anything away from jeff but kyle is our best player. i cant understand why we dont use his strengths more. I actually do realize, i just wonder why others dont. does kyle have the option to audible at the line line maple grove does? knowing tundo, i'd say no. but does anyone know?

[opbooster]

I agree with you 100% opfan. Did you see the play calling from the d game. if we had their coach we would be scoring 50 a game. hoppy is our best player and we dont use him enough.maple grove was the best coached,most organized team this weekend. they could beat a lot of bigger teams.
how do we look next week with the matchup?

[Concerned OP fan]

Why won't anyone just say it: The problem with OP is Tundo took over the offensive play calling.He is not the most creative man except when it benefits himself. It is so sad that the kids worked so hard to be brought down by the head coach.Let see if he can be the man that we all want him to be and return OP back to what they have worked so hard for.

[cuzola]

Awesome!

[cuzola]

AWESOME! KEEP 'EM Comin'!