Prep Talk

West Seneca East capitalized on four interceptions in the first half on their way to defeating Williamsville South.

Week Four of high school football kicks off tonight. I'll be heading to West Seneca East, which hosts Williamsville South at 7 p.m. in a great Class A South matchup of top 10 large schools. 

I'll have live play-by-play updates from that one. Lauren Mariacher and our staff of video/photographers will be at additional games.

We encourage you to tweet updates with the hashtag #preptalkscores attached -- that's the quickest way for us to share the information through the live chat (tweets with that hashtag will automatically show up). You can also certainly still tweet those updates to @bufnewspreptalk and @KeithMcSheaBN.

Our high school scoreboard page is getting back up to speed. It has been going through some growing pains -- and still has some to get through -- due to our transition to a redesigned web site. Check out the standings link on the right side; we have some bugs to work out but we're excited about that (see football here). We appreciate your patience with us during this major switchover.

* * * 

We'll be back with another live blog to monitor Saturday's games, and on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m., Lauren Mariacher and I will bring you our third episode of PrepTalkTV Sunday, our live 30-minute wrapup show here at buffalonews.com. PrepTalkTV Sunday follows the 7:30 broadcast of our Bills wrapup show, [BN]TheHuddle; Lauren and I will be hosting that as well.  

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Our third Thursday night live chat of the school year is tonight at 9 p.m.

We'll talk about this weekend's upcoming Week Four football schedule and the entire fall sports season.

As always, anything in the world of high school sports -- or our coverage of it -- is up for discussion.

I promise I'll get to your question or comment -- but please be patient. It can get busy fielding all of the questions and I can only answer one at a time. And PLEASE don't enter your question/comment multiple times -- that only makes things more hectic.

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Here are our previous chats: Week One kickoff chat (the post includes an archive of 2011-12 chats) and Sunday's post-PrepTalkTV Sunday chat.

Week Two Thursday chat and post-PrepTalkTV Sunday chat.

Week Three Thursday chat and post-PrepTalkTV Sunday chat.

If you have a question but you won't be able to make the chat, post one in the comments section here, email me or Tweet it and I'll do my best to address it.

---Keith McShea

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Every week a panel of voters participate in The News' large and small school football polls, and every week we tell you how The News voted.

The News is one of 10 voters on the large and small school polls. 

LARGE SCHOOLS

1. Orchard Park (3-0) [1] -- This is easy. Except for one misguided soul.  

2. Bishop Timon-St. Jude (1-2) [2] -- Yes, I'm still keeping them here. Too many pollsters are writing the Tigers off due to their injuries. They lost big to Aquinas just like anyone else other than OP would (actually, Timon played Aquinas much tougher in Rochester than St. Francis did at home in Week One). Standout running back Adam DiMillo returns this week as Tigers return to Rochester to face the Wilson Magnet team that St. Joe's beat in Week One. After that, it's five straight league games.  

3. Sweet Home (3-0) [3] -- Nice win at AA Kenmore West on Saturday to add to those over North Tonawanda and Kenmore East. I did think about them at No. 2 but it wasn't as tough a choice as some of the headache-inducing choices below. The combined record of their three opponents is 2-7. Win over Ken West (28-6 on road) not much more impressive than Jamestown's (27-8 at home). 

4. West Seneca East (3-0) [6] -- Win over South Park in the city helps move them up my ballot while others (Clarence, Jamestown) dropped. Notable: WSE won at home against Will East, which I thought would win some games -- and Will East beat 2-0 Iroquois this past week. WSE gets another great home game against a tougher team from that district in Williamsville South.

5. Lockport (2-1) [8] -- This poll is starving for statement wins. Lockport delivered one with 38-8 domination of a Hutch-Tech team that yes, is winless, but played Iroquois (2-1) and Kenmore West (1-2) tough. From what I saw in the opening loss to OP, not to mention a 31-6 rout of a solid Starpoint team, I definitely like them here. 

6. Jamestown (3-0) [5] -- A nice gutty win in the fourth quarter at Lancaster (29-22), but I thought they'd handle the Redskins like they did their first two opponents (big wins over Kenmore West and Niagara Falls). West Seneca West dominated Lancaster two weeks ago. This is where the poll starts giving me a headache.

7. Canisius (3-0) [NR] -- Looked great in routing McKinley, but it should be noted that it was a very mistake-prone McKinley. The three-point win over St. Mary's two weeks ago leads to consistency/credibility issues (which is why I did not have them in the top 10 last week). Take away that confusing St. Mary's game and they're top five, maybe top three, maybe top two. Did I mention this poll is giving me a headache? 

8. St. Joe's (3-0) [7] -- Just when you think a game is going to help you figure things out, St. Joe's routs St. Francis in the first quarter, St. Francis takes advantage of some errors to make it a game in the final 30 seconds of the half, and then turnover-after-turnover-after-turnover-after-turnover prohibit St. Francis from coming back in a scoreless second half. My head is really throbbing now. 

9. Williamsville South (2-1) [10] -- Looking forward to Friday night at WSE. Billies have bounced back from Timon loss with two wins, but it's tough to tell how good they are -- they own 35-20 win over Hamburg (which picked up first win over Lake Shore this past week) and a 42-14 domination of lineup-messed-up Bennett. Does anyone have some Advil?  

10. West Seneca West (2-1) [9] -- I kept the Indians in here after a big loss at OP, but most every team would meet that same fate, especially teams to be considered for this spot. As I mentioned before, they dominated Lancaster, which gave Jamestown fits, which is another thing that is helping (or not helping) my poll headache.

WSW stays in over St. Francis, McKinley and Grand Island, which is 3-0 against teams that are 2-7. ... Williamsville East and Kenmore West might be next. ... Clarence drops off my ballot after the loss to Frontier that was precipitated by the season-ending injury to Mark Armstrong. The Red Devils were up, 17-0, before their QB went down. For those saying that Timon's injuries should affect their poll standing, there's a big difference here: Clarence lost at home to unranked Frontier. Timon finished off their win over South, played Ohio power Steubenville very tough (21-7 loss) and hung in there into the second half at Aquinas. ... For what it's worth, I think Hutch-Tech is the best 0-3 large school.

SMALL SCHOOLS

1. Alden (3-0) [1] -- Ahh, easy choice. My headache may be subsiding. 

2. Depew (3-0) [2] -- Another easy choice. Definitely feeling better. And just two Fridays until these guys head to Alden.

3. Cheektowaga (3-0) [3] -- Nice win over Lackawanna -- although I'm not sure how good the Steelers are, and part of that is Amherst's fault, more on that later. 

4. Cleveland Hill (3-0) [4] -- They hang on for the OT win at Akron, and the win over Maryvale doesn't have the same sizzle, again, that's Amherst's fault, but we like them here.

5. St. Mary's (2-1) [6] -- Authoritative small-school win over Cardinal O'Hara (40-18) following their very nice effort against Canisius.

6. Pioneer (3-0) [9] -- Like the tough home win over East.

7. Maple Grove (3-0) [8] -- Certainly the D team to beat after always-tough win over Randolph. Might have a claim on two or three spots higher than this one, but after three weeks we're not ready to go there. The rest of D is tough to figure -- certainly might deserve more teams here. One of them is Chautauqua Lake and former MG assistant Dan Greco, who host the Red Dragons this week. 

8. Burgard (2-1) [5] -- Routed Lew-Port (which just beat Amherst), lost in OT to Cheektowaga, beat Springville on a Hail Mary. Playing Cheektowaga tough helped keep them in the top 10.

9. Akron (2-1) [NR] -- After two big wins, OT loss at home to Cleve Hill, which makes them very worthy of a spot.

10. Maryvale (2-1) [7] -- With Amherst loss to Lew-Port, the Flyers' rout of Amherst now doesn't look as great to us. Also lost to Cleve Hill and won at Tonawanda. Class B West now has presented seemingly solid wins by all of its teams other than Lackawanna and Tonawanda.

Next up? Tough to tell who should be next on the D list, but Chautauqua Lake, Portville, Frewsburg ... while Randolph and Silver Creek aren't far behind. Could be Salamanca, whose 3-0 mark is good but we're not sure what's up with C South so far. Eden is 3-0 but two have been squeakers against teams that aren't close to making this list (althought Springville has played squeakers against three good teams -- could be the best 0-3 small school). East is in the conversation after a two-point loss at Pioneer. We might need several weeks to figure out how good Lew-Port, Amherst and Lackawanna are.

Don't like what you're reading? The comment space is below, let us know via Twitter or facebook (addresses below), or join the live chat Thursday evening at 9.

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Here is our Week Three episode of PrepTalkTV Sunday.

It features highlights from big wins by St. Joe's, Canisius and Burgard -- which did so with a Hail Mary pass with one second left.

We have interviews with Sweet Home coach John Faller and senior quarterback Mike Torrillo. We also have a special interview segment with Prep Talk alumni and former All-Western New York standouts Casey Kacz (Sweet Home) and Ryan Carney (Olean), who were a major part of Buffalo State's huge victory at defending Division III national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday.

Here are our previous episodes of PrepTalkTV Sunday, which airs live at 8:30 p.m. every Sunday: Week Two (OP routs Clarence, winning in West Seneca, interviews with Canisius); Week One is not available (featured Timon's win at Will South and interview with Ryan Dougherty, OP's win at Lockport and interview with Ben Holmes)

For all of our videos, including many more clips and highlights from each week, check out our video home page.

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

buffalonews.com/highschools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

With Week Three of high school football complete, our third episode of PrepTalkTV Sunday will air tonight at 8:30 p.m. right on the home page of buffalonews.com. 

We'll have highlights, post-game interviews and analysis, and we will have guests in studio, including Sweet Home coach John Faller and senior quarterback Mike Torrillo. We'll also have special guests in Buffalo State players (and All-Western New York alums) Casey Kacz and Ryan Carney following the Bengals' momentous win at Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday.

Afterwards, I'll have a live chat right here. Let us know what you thought of the show (and our Bills show [BN]TheHuddle) as well as the third weekend of high school action.

As always, anything in the world of high school sports -- or our coverage of it -- is up for discussion.

As always, please just ask questions once. I promise I'll get to them.

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

buffalonews.com/highschools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Week Three Saturday is highlighted by the first major showdown between Monsignor Martin large schools: St. Francis at St. Joe's at 2 p.m.

I'll have live play-by-play updates from that one and I may stop by All High for the finish of the 4 p.m. matchup of Williamsville South at Bennett. Our staff of video/photographers will be out and about as well.

We encourage you to tweet updates with the hashtag #preptalkscores attached -- that's the quickest way for us to share the information through the live chat (tweets with that hashtag will automatically show up). You can also certainly still tweet those updates to @bufnewspreptalk and @KeithMcSheaBN.

As of Saturday afternoon, our high school scoreboard page is still being worked on due to our transition to a redesigned web site. If it remains down, you can still track all the football scores (and any other scores tweeted to #preptalkscores) via the blog. We appreciate your patience with us during this major switchover.

* * * 

We'll be back at 8:30 p.m. Sunday night when Lauren Mariacher and I will broadcast PrepTalkTV Sunday, our new, live 30-minute show here at buffalonews.com. It features highlights, interviews and a ton of features. I'll have a live chat following the broadcast at 9 p.m.

PrepTalkTV Sunday follows the 7:30 broadcast of our Bills wrapup show, [BN]TheHuddle; Lauren and I will be a part of that as well.

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Week Three of high school football kicks off tonight. I'll be heading to All High Stadium for a nice matchup of 2-0 teams as Canisius of the Monsignor Martin Association takes on McKinley of Section VI Class A North at 7 p.m. 

I'll have live play-by-play updates from that one. Lauren Mariacher and our staff of video/photographers will be at additional games. Here's our preview story on this weekend's top games.

We encourage you to tweet updates with the hashtag #preptalkscores attached -- that's the quickest way for us to share the information through the live chat (tweets with that hashtag will automatically show up). You can also certainly still tweet those updates to @bufnewspreptalk and @KeithMcSheaBN.

Some great news: as of Friday afternoon, our high school scoreboard page is getting back up to speed. It has been going through some growing pains -- and still has some to get through -- due to our transition to a redesigned web site. Check out the standings link on the right side; we have some bugs to work out but we're excited about that (see football here). We appreciate your patience with us during this major switchover.

* * * 

We'll be back with another live blog to monitor Saturday's games, and on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m., Lauren Mariacher and I will bring you our third episode of PrepTalkTV Sunday, our live 30-minute wrapup show here at buffalonews.com. PrepTalkTV Sunday follows the 7:30 broadcast of our Bills wrapup show, [BN]TheHuddle; Lauren and I will be a part of that as well.  

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk