Keith & Lauren welcome guests from Niagara Falls boys basketball and look back at the week in high school sports.
0:00 -- Opening, discussion of McShea's Prep Talk column on Oracle Charter.
3:40 -- Interview with Niagara Falls coach Sal Constantino and seniors J.J. Wilkins and Jermaine Crumpton
16:25 -- Wrestling (Clarence, Wednesday's matches, Mariacher's blog on the 'Pit' at Iroquois
27:20 -- Sacred Heart girls basketball (including coach Sister Maria Pares' pregame speech & a flashback to the Sharks' PTTV visit last week)
33:25 -- Amherst boys basketball (including coach Chris Kensy's postgame speech after the Tigers first win in Maryvale in 10 years, one that came over Maryvale coach Mark Kensy, Chris' dad)
37:45 -- Look at this week's boys basketball polls
39:10 -- PrepTalkTV Rewind (St. Joe's basketball, Lockport girls basketball coach Bill Shaw's halftime speech, Tonawanda girls basketball, Mount Mercy's "Mercy's Heroes")
43:15 -- A look ahead at ton of action from Thursday to Tuesday; closing.
For this week's PrepTalkTV Weekly -- which you can see right here tonight at 9 -- we'll welcome in Western New York's No. 1 large school boys basketball team has they head into a super weekend of matchups.
Niagara Falls coach Sal Constantino and seniors Jermaine Crumpton (who has signed with Canisius College) and Jaleo Wilkins will be our in-studio guests for what will be another loaded show of highlights from boys and girls hoops as well as wrestling. We'll also have more highlights in PrepTalkTV Rewind, our weekly look at the boys basketball polls and a look ahead to this weekend and beyond.
At first glance, it's a dungeon, a poorly-lit basement, a
storage area for the school's old junk.
While the “Pit" at Iroquois High School is a place for
rusted school desks and athletic equipment from as far back as 1968, it is
also a place that has soaked up more than 40 years of wrestling tradition.
I can't even begin to count the hours I spent in that wrestling
room underneath the gymnasium, while I waited after my basketball practices
for my father, the coach then, and my three brothers to wrap up their
practice.
It's not an exactly comfortable place for a young girl; it's
dark and smells like sweat. But when you spend
that much time down there you would begin to notice less the smell and more
the spirit of such a place.
Every week during the basketball season a panel of voters participates in The News' large and small school boys basketball polls.
And every week we let you know, like the title says ... how The News voted.
This is just one ballot -- there are nine other voters in each poll. This week's News poll is available via the high school home page.
It's a Super Week, and we're not talking about Sunday's football game. As you'll see throughout the blog, there are several big-time games this week -- there's even one on Super Bowl Sunday that is worth a bit of hype.
1. Niagara Falls (10-1) [last week: 1] -- The 100-18 win over Kenmore East revived calls for the Niagara Frontier League to allow Falls to play as an independent. I've said they should have remained that way since the 2005 Federation championship team.
It's a pretty huge night in high school sports -- and it's a pretty huge night at Clarence. That's where Lauren Mariacher and I will be for two big events.
Wrestling's seventh "Border Brawl" takes place as the Red Devils, ranked first in Western New York, host No. 3 Lancaster at 6:30 p.m. Next door (in the divided gym) at 7:30, the No. 9 large school Clarence boys basketball team hosts ECIC I rival Jamestown, which is ranked third.
Among the other top matchups tonight include No. 1 girls basketball large school Sacred Heart vs. No. 7 Holy Angels at Villa Maria College at 6:30; the father-son matchup of boys basketball coaches Chris (Amherst) and Mark (Maryvale) Kensy in their ECIC III matchup at Maryvale at 7:30; and a high-quality Monsignor Martin small school showdown as No. 7 St. Mary's visits No. 4 Nichols at 7:30.
I'll have updates from games in the live blog below and I'll also be providing #preptalkscores updates on Twitter, which will also appear in the blog.
Keith McShea has covered high school sports at The News since his hiring in 1999. The 1995 University at Buffalo graduate and Long Island native (North Babylon Bulldogs) covers — and live blogs — everything from scrimmages to state championships & helps head The News' All-Western New York selections.
Lauren Nicole Mariacher joined The News in 2009 after graduating from the Columbia University School of Journalism. The Elma native and Iroquois graduate can usually be found on a sideline, capturing highlights for PrepTalkTV. She also hosts Prep Talk's weekly live show, with Keith McShea, as well as The News' live postgame Bills show — [BN]TheHuddle.
