Prep Talk

By Keith McShea

Today was a momentous day for Western New York baseball as two high school players were selected in Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft. 

Clarence pitcher Mark Armstrong was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the third round, 104th overall.

Amherst catcher Jonah Heim was taken by the Baltimore Orioles in the fourth round, 129th overall. 

Below are the Western New York players who were drafted as high school players, according to baseball-reference.com's database (the search is set for players from New York; many are from NY colleges).

This list includes last time a player was selected (Hoppy in 2009), the last time a player was selected as high as Armstrong (Rehbaum in the second round in 1979), as well as back to the last time a Western New Yorker was taken in the first round out of high school (Matt Winters, who is listed as being from Williamsville, in 1978).  

2009 Kyle Hoppy, Orchard Park; 28th round by the Orioles

2003 Ricky Brooks, North Tonawanda; 11th round by the White Sox

1999 John Andrianoff, Portville; 19th round by the Astros

1996 David Wesolowski, Williamsville North; 15th round by the Marlins

1996 Aaron Bouie, Albion; 33rd round by the Rays

1996 Gerald Perkins, Roy-Hart; 71st round by the Marlins

1989 John Vandemark, Lockport; 62nd round by the Astros

1983 Louis Monte, Bishop Turner; 29th round by the Yankees

1980 John Sullivan, Grand Island; eighth round by the Athletics

1980 Mark Gabriel, Niagara Catholic; 24th round by the Pirates

1979 Chris Rehbaum, St. Joe's; second round by the Indians

1978 Matt Winters, Williamsville; first round by the Yankees

Continue reading "Clarence's Armstrong taken in third round, Amherst's Heim in fourth, in MLB draft; with the history of WNY HS picks" »

By Keith McShea

The spring season's Championship Week continues today with several major events, including the Section VI girls lacrosse finals tripleheader at All High Stadium.

That's where I'll be, providing play-by-play updates in the live blog below for the Class A (Lancaster vs. Frontier, 3:30 p.m.), B (Hamburg vs. West Seneca East, 5:30) and C games (Lake Shore vs. Amherst, 8 p.m.). 

The Georgetown Cup series between St. Joe's and Canisius is set to get started (4:30 at St. Joe's) after yesterday's postponement, as is the Section VI Class A boys lacrosse final of Orchard Park vs. Clarence at Hamburg (5:30). There are also several softball finals and semifinals and baseball finals on today's schedule. 

If you are at one of today's big games, be sure to tweet updates with the hashtag #preptalkscores. Those tweets will automatically appear in the live blog below. 

Check out our SCOREBOARD PAGE for today's complete schedule, which will be updated with results as soon as we have them.

Continue reading "Live from the Section VI girls lacrosse finals: Lancaster, Hamburg repeat; Amherst wins 9th in a row (with video interviews)" »

By Keith McShea

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 week starts the postseason -- today there will be play-in rounds in both the Monsignor Martin Association's Manhattan Cup playoffs and the Section VI tournament.

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. The direct link is here.

Here's last week's ballot (Week Eight, Feb. 12 -- Valentine's edition). Previous polls: Week Seven, Feb. 5 (Canisius No. 1), Week Six, Jan. 29 (Super week); Week Five, Jan. 22 (inauguration), Week Four, Jan. 15 (MLK), Week Three (Jan. 8, back from two-week holiday break); Week Two (special Christmas edition, Dec. 18); Week One (Dec. 11). Also, here's last year's final 2011-12 post. 

With not much movement in the poll and not many games left, here's a look at this week's ballot along with each team's remaining schedule:

LARGE SCHOOLS

1. Canisius (17-4) [last week: 1] -- Crusaders playing at a very high level right now, right according to plan.

Continue reading "How The News voted: Let the playoffs begin" »

By Keith McShea

The final Tuesday of the regular season has quite a few interesting matchups. I'm going to start the evening by checking out Akron at CSAT at 6:30 before heading to Depew at Amherst at 7:30. Some other intriguing games have Hutch-Tech at McKinley at 6, Iroquois at new No. 10 large school Williamsville South and St. Joe's visiting Frontier in a nice nonleaguer.

I'll provide updates in the live blog below. When I have my laptop out I'll be able to do play-by-play, otherwise I'll send #preptalkscores updates via Twitter, which will also appear in the blog. 

Your tweets with the hashtag #preptalkscores are welcome -- as they will appear in the live blog as well. Every night, scoring update tweets (in any sport) are welcome to those on Twitter -- just use the #preptalkscores hashtag.  

Check our scoreboard page for a complete schedule of tonight's games; the scoreboard will be updated as we receive game reports throughout the evening.

Continue reading "Tuesday Night Live from Amherst's rout of Depew & your #preptalkscores" »

By Keith McShea

Hello from the University at Buffalo and the Section VI Wrestling Championships -- great to have both Division I and II in one spot so we can bring you all of the action. Our head might be spinning a little, but we'll do our best with the live blog. 

I'll have match-by-match updates in the live blog below and I'll also be providing #preptalkscores updates on Twitter (those will also appear in the blog). 

Your tweets with the hashtag #preptalkscores are welcome -- they will appear in the live blog as well. Every night, scoring update tweets (in any sport) are welcome to those on Twitter -- just use the #preptalkscores hashtag.  

Check our scoreboard page for a complete schedule of tonight's action; the scoreboard will be updated as we receive game reports throughout the evening.

Here are the championship bouts:

Continue reading "Live from the Section VI Wrestling Championships & PrepTalkTV video" »

By Keith McShea

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 week marks a change at the top as Canisius takes over the No. 1 large school spot for Niagara Falls. Canisius had a great start to what should be a fun month, winning at Timon Friday, beating Section V Class AA power Fairport (then ranked second in the state) on Saturday, becoming the top-ranked team in the Class A state poll on Monday and ascending to The News No. 1 spot today. 

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. Here's the direct link.

Here's last week's ballot (Week Six, Jan. 29 - Super week). Previous polls: Week Five, Jan. 22 (inauguration), Week Four, Jan. 15 (MLK), Week Three (Jan. 8, which followed a two-week holiday break); Week Two (our special Christmas edition, Dec. 18); Week One (Dec. 11). Also, here's last year's final 2011-12 post. 

LARGE SCHOOLS

1. Canisius (15-3) [last week: 2] -- I said I was waiting to see Niagara Falls and Canisius this past weekend to see if there was a move to be made for this spot, and the results made it a clear one. Canisius was all over Fairport from the start and then made the plays to hold on. Fairport, Bishop Kearney (which Falls lost to Sunday) and Webster Schroeder (which Falls lost to Saturday) are considered to be tightly grouped together when it comes to who is the best Class AA team in Section V. 

Continue reading "How The News voted: Happy February to Canisius" »

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.

By Keith McShea

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. 

Here's last week's ballot (Week Five, Jan. 22). Previous polls: Week Four, Jan. 15, Week Three (Jan. 8, which followed a two-week holiday break); Week Two (our special Christmas edition, Dec. 18); Week One (Dec. 11). Also, here's last year's final 2011-12 post. 

LARGE SCHOOLS

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. 

Continue reading "How The News voted: Super Week (& we're not talking football)" »

Amherst coach Chris Kensy credits free throws and rebounding in Tigers' win over Maryvale, which is coached by Mark Kensy, Chris' father.

It is a Super Tuesday in high school sports today with major matchups and championships in baseball, softball, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse. If you are at a game and getting your Tweeter on, make sure to tweet to #preptalkscores.

I'll be spending the afternoon and evening at the Section VI girls lacrosse championships at All High Stadium. We'll also have reporters at the Monsignor Martin boys lacrosse championship and the Georgetown Cup baseball semifinals. 

While I'll have updates from those games, tweets to the hashtag #preptalkscores will also automatically show up in the live blog below. So if you are a game tonight and you're updating via Twitter, be sure to include that hashtag. I'll have periodic tweets updating the girls lacrosse finals at @KeithMcSheaBN, but most of my play-by-play updating will come in the live blog.

Check out today's full schedule on our scoreboard page, where you can check back throughout the evening for updated scores and highlights.

See you out at the games, in the blog and on the tweeter. :-)

* * * 

Note: Super Tuesday is so super-full of high school playoff action that we're covering, that my Prep Talk column & the Power 10 will appear in Friday's paper instead of its traditional Wednesday. That actually will be a better fit for the Power 10 since the pool of teams will be whittled down by then. 

* * * 

Postgame show from the Section VI girls lacrosse championships: 

Lancaster coach Julie Buccieri, sophomore Allie Stewart and junior goalie Karli Pawlak:

Hamburg coach Katy Ryan and senior Amanda Obenshain:

Amherst coach Jodi Battaglia, senior Carly Martin, sophomore Grace Lawson and sophomore Emily Bitka:

* * *

A later addition I overlooked on my phone originally -- because it's quote far away. It's video of Frontier's final possession in the A game, on which a free position was stopped by Emily Pawlak in the final seconds.

The best part about the clip is watching Lancaster coach Julie Buccieri on the far right of the Redskins' sideline. Early on a foul is called, and let's just say she's not thrilled -- then she ends up watching the final play by herself far down the sideline while coaching the defense.

(Be sure to blow up the video to full-screen for a better look.)

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

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