Prep Talk

Are you ready for some high school football? Opening night is finally here. 

We will be all over Western New York with myself and a great Buffalo News team. I couldn't imagine a more anticipated opening night, and we're going to do our best to bring you all of the sights, sounds, scores and highlights.

Tonight is also a celebration of the life of Chuck Funke, who died Wednesday evening of stomach cancer. The longtime Section VI chairman's vision and passion for high school football is evident in a legacy that includes the section's eight state championships in the last two years.

His memory will be honored with a moment of silence before all of this weekend's varsity and junior varsity football games.

4:45 p.m. Games on the radio tonight include Lancaster at Orchard Park on WGR (550 AM), the Intense Milk Game of the Year returns to WJJL (1440) and as they broadcast Niagara Falls at Riverside at 7, and WSPQ (1330) has Springville's opener against Pioneer.

4:48 p.m. The first kickoff in Western New York this season occurs in Amherst, which has a 6 p.m. start scheduled against West Seneca East, so that's where I'm headed to meet up with videographer/reporter Lauren Mariacher. Stay tuned.

5:58 p.m. After a moment of silence in memory of Chuck Funke and the National Anthem, we're ready to kick off at Amherst.

6:20 p.m. After the first quarter at Amherst. There's no score.

6:27 p.m. With 6:24 left in the second, Amherst just punted out of its end zone with the game still scoreless.

Some highlights from Amherst thanks to Lauren Mariacher:

I'm off to Riverside, where the Frontiers are hosting Niagara Falls in the highlight game of the Buffalo Public Schools' debut in Section VI.

6:58 p.m. Arrive at Riverside just in time for kickoff.

Video reporter Joe Popiolkowski put together this report after lengthy pregame ceremonies celebrating the opening of Riverside's new field and the Buffalo Public Schools' entry into Section VI:

Here the full audio from the pregame ceremonies at Riverside, thanks to Joe Pops:

I was on the sidelines for the kickoff:

7:18 p.m. Riverside's first drive failed in Falls territory with an interception on fourth down; Riverside got some points soon after, however, when a third-down shotgun snap deep in Falls territory went over the quarterback's head and through the end zone for a safety. Riverside leads Niagara Falls, 2-0.

7:30 p.m. Update here from All-High Stadium: Hamburg leads Lafayette, 6-0, after the first quarter.

Update from Rochester and St. Joe's golf/assistant hoops coach Jack Herlan: St. Joe's stopped Aquinas on the Little Irish's first drive, then went in for a score on their first possession. St. Joe's, 7-0.

7:32 p.m. End of the first quarter here: Riverside 2, Niagara Falls 0.

7:32 p.m. Updates from Rich Kozak, broadcasting the game here for WJJL: Orchard Park scores on its opening drive against visiting Lancaster for a 6-0 lead; Joe Licata with two passing touchdowns as Williamsville South takes an early, 14-0, lead on visiting Lake Shore.

7:32 p.m. Update from St. Joe's at Rochester, where Aquinas has taken a 14-7 lead with five minutes left in the first half.

Not much to update here, where the defenses have dominated. Riverside had the best chance for a touchdown with a pass play that looked to be a score but couldn't be reeled in by the receiver. Riverside has at least three sacks in the first half as they have been very good in pursuing Falls quarterback Dale Stewart. There's 2:43 left in the second quarter with Riverside still up, 2-0.

Update from All High Stadium, and a bit of a surprising one: Lafayette leads Hamburg, 8-6.

8:06 p.m. Update via Kozak and WJJL that the OP-Lancaster game is under a delay due to a serious injury to an OP player.

8:08 p.m. At halftime here, Riverside leads Niagara Falls, 2-0. Riverside's defense came up big by forcing a fumble after Falls had advanced inside the Riverside 10 in the final two minutes.

Update from Williamsville South and boys soccer coach Peter Sugg from the press box: Joe Licata is 12 of 18 for 219 yards and four touchdowns as South has a 35-7 halftime lead on Lake Shore.

8:18 p.m. Update from Rochester, where a long TD pass (57 yards) and a long interception return for a TD (95) leads to a 28-7 lead for Aquinas at halftime.

Update from Lauren Mariacher at Maryvale: Cleveland Hill leads the Flyers, 20-0. Video highlights to come.

I'm hitting the road to Frontier, where Jamestown is visiting in what was a 7:30 p.m. kickoff, before finishing at OP.

8:47 p.m. Pulled into parking lot at Frontier just after hearing the most shocking football score in a while -- WGR update has Kenmore West leading at defending state Class AA champion North Tonawanda, 25-8. WOW.

Here's an update from Lauren Mariacher at Maryvale. Cleveland Hill has a 28-7 lead over crosstown rival Maryvale in the third quarter.

Here are Mariacher's highlights from the first half at Maryvale:

Just my luck at Riverside -- just after I left (for Frontier) and Joe Pops left (for All High), Niagara Falls' Ladondre Crittenden took the opening kickoff of the second half back for an 80-yard touchdown and a 6-2 lead.

On the radio, I just heard Lancaster get an Alex Debbins field goal to cut the OP lead to 6-3 late in the second quarter. They were delayed for a lengthy period due to an injury to an OP player who suffered a broken arm, WGR reported.

8:56 p.m. Update from Joe Pops at All High: Hamburg's Mike Davison runs for a TD to put the Bulldogs up, 12-8, on Lafayette with 8:32 left in the game.

Here's an update from back in the office, where Web team guru Geoff Nason let me know that we have a photo gallery posted, which will be updated throughout the night.

9:38 p.m. After a lot of blog updating, I picked a great time to make the long run (and the long run back) to Frontier's field.

Junior quarterback Jimmy May ran in from 1 yard out in the final minutes; Frontier added another TD as they ran out the clock to beat Jamestown, 13-0.

Here's May's winning touchdown:

It was great. I ran to the field as I heard Frontier was on the 1; a timeout was called; then on third and goal May nearly ran right at me.

Other updates: Niagara Falls beats Riverside, 9-2; Lackawanna has a 36-20 lead at East Aurora with 7:46 left; St. Joe's lost, 48-21; Hamburg had a nice second half and is up, 24-8, on Lafayette with 2:50 left.

9:59 p.m. Just pulled into the Orchard Park parking lot, and heard a big cheer from the crowd -- I turned up the radio to learn that Okoya Anderson scored on an 18-yard run; the extra point was good to give OP a 20-3 lead with 6:34 to play.

WGR reported that it is a final score at NT: Kenmore West 33, North Tonawanda 22. Wow again. Noted blogger TML1000 said it would be closer than people expected. Nice job by him.

Update from Lauren Mariacher at East Aurora: Lackawanna wins, 44-20.

Update from a few hundred yards from where I'm typing this: Lancaster quarterback Ryan Radke runs for a 68-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 20-10. I think I gotta get out of the car. :-)

10:40 p.m. The final at Orchard Park is 27-10 as the Quakers get a very big win against AA South rival Lancaster. It wasn't the prettiest game -- at one point in the second quarter the teams traded turnovers on four straight plays.

Anderson added a 59-yard interception return for OP's final score. He had a great day with 21 carries for 135 yards and the one rushing touchdown. Junior Kyle Witkowski was 13 for 25 passing for 140 yards and one touchdown to Ben Johnson (7 catches, 76 yards).

Coach Gene Tundo said after the game that the team's thoughts were with senior lineman Alex Dimitrievski, the player who was taken off the field in an ambulance due to a broken leg. OP also lost junior tight end/linebacker James Fitzgerald in the first half.

Here are highlights from Joe Pops and Hamburg's big second half in its 24-8 win over Lafayette:

And here are highlights from Lackawanna's big opening win at East Aurora:

And postgame reactions from Lackawanna coach Bruce Lakso:

Postgame reaction from Lackawanna quarterback Christian Smith:

11:45 p.m. Wow. What an opening night. I still can't get over the big win by Kenmore West at North Tonawanda (30-22). Some people who heard the score on the OP sidelines couldn't believe it. Huge win for the Blue Devils. That's the great thing about sports, and every new season. Always great stories to tell.

Clarence had a great win under its home lights for the first time, taking care of Iroquois, 37-12. Silver Creek with a nice statement win in Class D by beating Maple Grove, 33-7. That's also the case for Lackawanna and Cleveland Hill, whose highlights are above.

If you haven't seen it already, check out the high school home page for our football scoreboard as well as a fall sports scoreboard.

11:59 p.m. That scoreboard is now complete. Some ADs and coaches (who didn't call us) will be getting an email from us on Tuesday.

Mixed results for the city on their first night -- two very impressive small school wins from Burgard and Grover Cleveland, and Riverside and Lafayette looked good early, but the city goes 2-4 overall.

Here's my wrapup for the night from OP:

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As always, we want to read about what you saw tonight as well, so let us know about the players, teams -- even the hot dogs -- in the comments section below. Hopefully you've registered and are ready to go; if not, take a moment to register and we'll see you on here soon.

---Keith McShea

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