Hello from state championship softball at the Adirondack Sports Complex in Queensbury.
Niagara-Wheatfield is here in Class AA, Falconer in B and Frewsburg in C.
I'll have updates throughout the day, but a light drizzle is limiting me to the iPhone right now.
9:48 a.m. Niagara-Wheatfield leads Cicero-North Syracuse, 2-1, after one in the AA semifinals.
Falcons leadoff dynamo Caitlin Attfield led off with a bunt single and came home on this fielder's choice:
The N-W rally ends with C-NS centerfielder Jenna Tartaro tracking down a nice shot off the bat of Alyssa Depetris.
10:15 a.m. Not a good bottom of the second for N-W: C-NS scores seven to take an 8-2 lead after two. The rain has picked up to a harder drizzle now.
10:30 a.m. We are suspended due to rain in the bottom of the third. C-NS leads, 8-2, and has the bases loaded with no out.
10:55 a.m. Down the road at the Morse Athletic Complex, Frewsburg has a 4-2 lead on Haldane in a C semifinal heading to the bottom of the second. Raining here but there hasn't been a delay. Frewsburg had a four-run first in which they sent 10 batters to the plate.
11:14 a.m. Haldane scores three in the bottom of the second to take a 5-4 lead. At the end of the inning, the umpire calls a delay to address puddles at home and near third.
11:44 a.m. Play restarted fairly quickly, with Haldane adding four runs in the bottom of the third to take a 9-4 lead. Haldane with a pair of well-hit gappers to drive in their runs.
11:50 a.m. Frewsburg hasn't sent more than three batters to the plate in an inning since the first. 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth.
12:13 p.m. Ouch for Frewsburg. Seven more runs for Haldane, which now leads, 16-4, after four innings.
12:23 p.m. We are back down the road at Adirondack, where C-NS scored a run to take a 9-3 lead after three. This going back and forth & trying to time it right is going to be tough :-).
12:49 p.m. Back at Morse and Frewsburg got two back but trails, 18-6, in the bottom of the sixth. And Haldane just stole a base. Why???
12:51 p.m. Single makes it 19-6.
12:54 p.m. Two-run single made it 22-6 before the inning ended. Heading to the top of the seventh.
1:26 p.m. Section VI is 0-2. Frewsburg lost, 22-6. Niagara-Wheatfield lost, 9-2.
At the end of the Haldane game, their coach added insult to a blowout with some unsportsmanlike conduct I'll elaborate on later when I'm on a laptop and not an iPhone.
1:53 p.m. B semifinal has started.
2:02 p.m. Windsor gets one in the first after two errors and no hits. With one out, Emma Benson hit a fly to left that would have been a good running catch but the ball went in and out of the glove for a two-base error. Cara Martin followed with a hard-hit ball that went under the second baseman to score Benson.
Update from Binghamton: Dunkirk baseball has lost, 6-2. Check this link from The Journal News of Westchester County for some details (sorry for old school link but we're still updating via iPhone):
http://baseball.lohudblogs.com/
3:15 p.m. Been conserving energy with the iPhone. Windsor has a 4-0 lead heading to the bottom of the fifth. Windsor added three runs in the second.
3:22 p.m. Falconer gets one back with an RBI single by No 9 hitter Allyson Roach. She drove in Shelby Overturf, who walked then moved to third on two fielder's choices. Heading to the sixth.
3:47 p.m. It's a final: Windsor 4, Falconer 1.
Ballgame over. Section VI softball season over. Western New York high school season over.
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My apologies about not updating this sooner (I'm writing it Monday). Saturday was a longgggg day (my story is here), Sunday was spent traveling (and recovering :-) ).
The unfortunate incident I witnessed at the end of the Class C semifinal was this:
Haldane is leading Frewsburg, 22-6, and as I noted in the blog, they were stealing bases very late in the game with a huge lead. Unnecessary and could be called classless, but it is a separate issue from what I'm about to describe.
Frewsburg, on the wrong side of the worst kind of score, seemed to be handling it as well as they could. An infielder committed an error by booting the ball late in the game, and the Frewsburg assistant joked with her that she might have tried to kick it directly to a teammate for a great play.
They were losing a big-time game, but Frewsburg seemed to have everything in perspective.
Not so on the other side.
In the top of the seventh, the last ups for Frewsburg in the game -- which was, as a reminder, 22-6 -- the leadoff batter hit a hard comebacker to the mound and was thrown out by the pitcher, who had been hit with the ball and was in some degree of pain. As the batter returned to the dugout, she passed home plate, where she received some encouraging words and a high-five from the on-deck batter.
Then I noticed that the on-deck batter had a very surprised look on her face and appeared to be talking to the catcher. The on-deck batter said something to the effect of, "No, I wasn't talking about that ... I was talking about a different thing."
The pitcher stayed in the game and the blowout ended promptly two outs later. Then I saw the same on-deck batter, with Frewsburg coach, at the end of postgame handshake line talking with the Haldane coach. It was a brief conversation in which the Frewsburg player looked to be attempting to explain some kind of misunderstanding.
According to Frewsburg people, the Haldane coach had yelled at the on-deck batter because he thought the Frewsburg players were celebrating the fact that the pitcher had been hurt. That's why the batter was in shock that she was being yelled at for something she didn't do. At the end of the game, the player wanted to explain this misunderstanding to the Haldane coach, who apparently wasn't buying the explanation. I saw the Frewsburg coaching staff make a NYSPHSAA representative aware of the Haldane coach's actions.
The player is a sophomore -- actually almost all of Frewsburg's players are sophomores (one senior, two juniors on roster) -- and after the game the incident left her upset to the point of tears.
It's an incident that didn't need to happen. A coach should speak to -- much less yell -- at an opposing player only in the rarest of cases, and this certainly didn't qualify. There was also an opportunity to smooth out what could have been a bad misunderstanding during the handshake, one that was initiated by the Frewsburg player, but that was, according to Frewsburg, rebuffed by the Haldane coach.
It's an utter lack of perspective, which in my opinion is the worst thing about high school sports. Coaches and parents (and sometimes players) that go overboard in the way they handle themselves and in the way they deal with the action on the field hijack what is a wonderful athletic and educational experience and take it places it shouldn't go. They take things too seriously to the point where they embarrass themselves.
Coach, you won a state semifinal game -- and left a girl on the other team in tears. Congratulations.
Haldane lost the state championship game later Saturday afternoon.
Hello from Brockport State for the Far West Regionals in softball. We've got a tripleheader, starting with the biggest and ending with the smallest of the top three classifications.
The Class AA final is scheduled for 2 p.m. and pits Niagara-Wheatfield against Greece-Athena. That's followed by the 4 p.m. A final between Williamsville East and Pittsford-Mendon and the 6 p.m. B final of Falconer against Mynderse Academy.
The winners today advance to the state final four in Queensbury on Saturday.
2:13 p.m. The captains meeting at home plate -- we're a bit delayed here as Wheatfield's bus was late to the venue.
Greece-Athena: Leadoff Olivia Miller 3b, Kelsey Johnson 1b, Riley Johnson ss, Chelsea Touchstone of, Emily Shoemaker lf, Sierra Valentine p, Lexi Stiewe dp, Kristen Cardella rf, Marissa McKenna c; Brianna Capezzuto is at 2b.
2:19 p.m. We are under way. Greece-Athena bats first as the away team.
2:27 p.m. One runner for Greece but no damage. Miller flew out, Kelsey Johnson reached on an error at short and moved to second on a wild pickoff attempt by the catcher, but she stayed there after a flyout to right by Riley Johnson and a strikeout, looking, by Touchstone. Middle of first: No score.
2:41 p.m. Niagara-Wheatfield has to love this start. The Falcons send nine batters to the plate and score three runs on just one hit. Attfield bunt singled, then went all the way to third on a wild throw. On the first pitch to Gruarin, she put down a bunt back to the pitcher and Attfield slided acrosse home plate for the run.
I'm furious with myself for missing the play with the iPhone. If it was the second pitch, I woulda had it. Ugh. Attfield had a great head-first slide across the plate right below us.
Gruarin went to second as the throw home went behind the catcher. Crooks blooped out to second. DeVantier walked. Gonyea singled opposite-field to right to score Gruarin and move DeVantier to third. Maranto walked to load the bases after a Gonyea steal. DePetris grounded to short and she came home to get the force and the bases remained loaded on the fielder's choice. Baron walked to force in a run. Mazierski struck out. End of first: N-W, 3-0.
2:46 p.m. Another great half-inning for Wheatfield as Sciria strikes out the side: Shoemaker, Valentine, Stiewe. Middle of the second: N-W, 3-0.
2:58 p.m. More good things for N-W. Six batters, four hits and two more runs. Attfield doubled to start against a bunt-defense, five-player infield, scooting to second when the ball got past the center fielder. Gruarin singled, Attfield scored. Crooks struck out looking. DeVantier blooped a single to right to drive in Gruarin. Gonyea blooped a single to center, just over the shortstop. With runners on first and second, Maranto hit a liner to short, and Riley Johnson nabbed it out of the air and stepped on second, almost in one motion, for an inning-ending double play. End of second: N-W, 5-0.
3:02 p.m. Sciria keeps cruising. Three up, three down. Strikeout of Cardella, McKenna lined softly to first, Miller popped out high to first. Middle of third: N-W, 5-0.
3:06 p.m. First quiet inning for N-W as Valentine may have settled down in the circle. DePetris grounded to the pitcher, Baron struck out, Mazierski lined out to left. End of third: N-W, 5-0.
3:09 p.m. Three up, three down again for Sciria. Kelsey Johnson flies to left, Riley Johnson grounds to short, Touchstone grounds to pitcher. Middle of fourth: N-W, 5-0.
3:15 p.m. Another quick one for N-W as Attfield lines out to left, Gruarin pops out foul to the first baseman, and Crooks flew out to left. End of fourth: N-W, 5-0.
3:20 p.m. A hint of a rally but still only three batters for Athena. The no-hitter for Sciria is over (wasn't my fault -- I didn't mention it :-) ). Shoemaker reaches on an infield single; Valentine struck out swinging. Then Shoemaker went on a steal and Maranto threw to Attfield who swept a tag as Shoemaker arrived and the call is out; definitely a close play, tough to tell if there was actual contact on the tag. Stiewe lined out to short to end the inning. Middle of fifth: N-W, 5-0.
3:24 p.m. Innings going quite quickly. Three up, three down for the Falcons as DeVantier fisted a liner to short, Gonyea foul-popped out to catcher and Maranto grounded to second. End of fifth: N-W, 5-0.
3:30 p.m. Cardella flew out to right, McKenna grounded to first, and then Miller delivered a solid single to left. The inning ended when Kelsey Johnson grounded to Sciria. Middle of sixth: N-W, 5-0.
3:37 p.m. Nothing for N-W. Grounder to short by DePetris, single to left by Baron, foul pop by Mazierski which is caught nicely by a sliding Kelsey Johnson, grounder to second by Attfield. End of sixth: N-W, 5-0.
Three outs to go for the Falcons. 3-4-5 batters upcoming for Athena.
3:57 p.m. Whoops. Forgot to update the blog before going to get quotes :-)
We have a FINAL SCORE: Niagara-Wheatfield 5, Greece-Athena 0.
In the seventh, Riley Johnson was hit by a pitch then was out on a fielder's choice that put Touchstone at first. Shoemaker walked to put runners at first and second, but then Sciria finished it off. Valentine flew out to right, which went as a sacrifice. Sciria fielded a grounder by Stiewe and threw her out to end the game.
Here's the final out:
It is the first trip to the state final four for Niagara-Wheatfield softball.
Back with the A game in a few moments. Infield practice going on.
4:27 p.m. Starting lineups being announced now. We'll try and type those in right now.
Williamsville East is the visitor.
Williamsville East: Leadoff Dani Silvestri lf, Marci Tirone cf, Jenna Reilley ss, Jenna Allers rf, Catherine Krok 3b, Tara Schiumo 2b, Sam Weaver p, Machenzie Klun 1b, Dana Larkin dp (for Jami Cohen c).
Pittsford-Mendon: Leadoff Courtney Case ss, Jenna Lazar 2b, Lauren D'Hont cf, Brittany Grage p, Anna Valentine 1b, Kelsey Julien rf, Michelle Hochman c, Katie Brennan lf, Erin Lyons 3b.
4:39 p.m. One hit but nothing more for Will East in the top of the first. Silvestri grounded to third. Grage struck out Tirone and Allers with a single to right from Reilley in between. Middle of first: No score.
4:45 p.m. Two strikeouts for Weaver, but a run for Pitt-Mendon. Case struck out looking, Lazar singled to right, D'Hont struck out swinging. Grage then blasted a fly ball deep to center, over Tirone's head for a double that scored Lazar. Valentine ended the inning with a grounder to third. End of first: Pitt-Mendon, 1-0.
4:53 p.m. Two baserunners this time for East, but another inning-ending strikeout. Krok grounded to third, Schiumo legged out an infield single, Weaver lined out, Klun reached on catcher's interference, putting runners at first and second, and Cohen struck out swinging. Middle of second: Pitt-Mendon, 1-0.
5:01 p.m. The inning started tamely enough but ended poorly for the Flames. Julien and Hochman grounded out to pitcher and third, respectively. Brennan then grounded to third and it looked like the ball might be headed down the line, but Krok went full extension on a dive to keep the play to a single. When Lyons followed with a double to deep left-center, it looked like Krok's play would be huge as it kept a run from scoring. However, the hits kept coming as Case smacked a single just out of the reach of Schiumo for two RBIs and a bloop single by Lazar scored Case (who moved to second on the throw home and to third on a stolen base). D'Hont ended the inning with a grounder to Weaver. End second: Pitt-Mendon, 4-0.
5:05 p.m. Nothing doing for East. Silvestri grounded out, Tirone struck out swinging, Reilley lined out to left. Middle of third: Pitt-Mendon, 4-0.
5:13 p.m. More hits for Pitt-Mendon, but a strong finish for Weaver prevents any more scoring. Grage led off with a single, Valentine flew out to right, Julien doubled on a ball that apparently went over the third base bag. Will East coach Ron Schumacher came out to protest afterwards but it wasn't a long discussion. But with runners on second and third, Hochman flew out to right -- with Allers throwing home strongly to prevent an attempted tag-up -- and Brennan went down swinging. Weaver got the last two strikes on an off-speed strike that was taken, then got a swinging strikeout with a hard one. End of third: Pitt-Mendon, 4-0.
5:21 p.m. Baserunners, but no hits or runs for East. Allers walked, Krok struck out after two foul bunts, Schiumo was hit by a pitch, Weaver grounded sharply to the pitcher, who threw to third for a nice fielder's choice. The inning ended with Klun grounding to second. Middle of fourth: PItt-Mendon, 4-0.
5:28 p.m. More runs for Mendon. Lyons led off with an infield single that banged off the knee of Reilley; she was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Case; Lazar singled and moved to second on a throw home. D'Hont grounded to third, but after she was out at first, Lyons broke for home. She scored, the throw was wild, and Lazar came around to score. More runners but no more scoring as Grage wlked, Valentine singled and Julien grounded to pitcher. End of fourth: Pitt-Mendon, 6-0.
5:31 p.m. Very quick inning for East. Strikeout swinging for Larkin, Silvestri grounded to pitcher, Tirone grounded to short. Middle of fifth: Pitt-Mendon, 6-0.
Allers is now pitching; Weaver replaced her in right.
5:43 p.m. Another long inning for Mendon, and another run. Hochman singled to right, Brennan sac bunted her over, Lyons popped out. Case reached on an infield single on which Reilley made a great play to get in front of it on a dive, then even tried to throw her out while sitting on the dirt. Lazar followed with a single which Schiumo nearly tracked down in shallow right; that scored Hochman. D'Hont struck out to end the inning. End of fifth: Pitt-Mendon, 7-0.
5:50 p.m. Will East gets a run thanks to Reilley's leadoff blast to center field which went for a triple. Allers grounded out to second to score the run. Krok fisted a soft liner to short. Schiumo walked but the inning ends with a Weaver groundout to third. Middle of sixth: Pitt-Mendon, 7-1.
5:55 p.m. Ka-blam. Grage turns on one and blasts a home run over the left-center field fence -- the fences are an even 200 feet away all around. In bottom of sixth: Pitt-Mendon, 8-1.
5:58 p.m. No more damage as the next three go down. End of sixth: Pitt-Mendon, 8-1.
Three more outs for the Flames to mount a comeback.
6:12 p.m. At leadoff there was a great battle by Machenzie Klun, who fouled off eight pitches before muscling a single over third base. Great at-bat by Klun to start a rally for East.
Alissa Davis flied out to deep left as a pinch hitter; Silvestri reached on an infield single to deep short; Tirone fouled out to first. Reilley grounded to short but the throw was wild, allowing two runs to score. The game ended with a great catch by center fielder D'Hont on a blast by Allers.
We have a FINAL SCORE: Pittsford-Mendon 8, Williamsville East 3.
6:20 p.m. Just finished interviews -- this was the final game of Ron Schumacher's 34-year coaching career.
Back with the B game in about 15 minutes or so.
6:43 p.m. Starting lineups being introduced. Falconer is the visitor.
Mynderse: Leadoff Megan Tuttle ss, Allie Deal rf, Abby Dygert c, Courtney Johnson p, Mariah Foser lf, Sydney Rogers 2b, Meghan Felice 3b, Alysha Bachman 1b, Jessica Parish cf.
6:50 p.m. First pitch of the B game. Since I have to write up three games, I might skimp on some details here. I'll still have scoring updates and probably inning updates.
6:55 p.m. Falconer threatens but does not score in the top of the first. Stuart reached on an infield single, but then Johnson struck out Erickson and Shannon G. Cherise G. reached on an error by the shortstop, with the wild throw allowing Stuart to third and Cherise G. to second. Johnson then got Hines to end the inning with a groundout to short. Middle of first: No score.
7:04 p.m. A mini-threat for Mynderse as well, but Cherise G. gets a strikeout to end the inning. Tuttle started with a strikeout, Deal walked, Dygert popped up, then Johnson thumped a single up the middle to put runners at first and second. Cherise G. got Foster on a swinging strikeout. End of first: No score.
7:07 p.m. Quick and quiet second for Falconer. Two very strong plays by shortstop Tuttle, who goes into deep short to get Overturf -- thanks to a sweep tag by Bachman; then she went deep on a hard shot by Spallino, threw off the base but again Bachman reeled it in and stepped on first in time. Ashley G. ended the inning with a foul out to catcher. Middle of second: No score.
7:15 p.m. Only four batters for Mynderse, but one was a big one. After a leadoff strikeout to Rogers, BOOM. Righty Felice turned on an inside pitch and her high fly homer landed well over the left field fence. Cherise G. struck out Bachman and then Parish rolled out to first. End of second: Mynderse, 1-0.
7:22 p.m. Roach strikes out, Stuart with another hit on a single to left, but then Erickson strikes out and Shannon G. is out on a fielder's choice as they got the out at second. Middle of third: Mynderse, 1-0.
7:44 p.m. Lots of good news to update for Falconer fans. Cherise G. had two strikeouts in facing four batters in the bottom of the third, and then Falconer blew up in the top of the fourth.
Cherise G. led off with a single that landed her at third when her solid shot to center scooted past the center fielder, then Hines singled to right to drive her in. After Overdorf' bunt attempt was caught on a pop out to the pitcher, Spallino reached on an error on the first baseman, who couldn't handle the throw from the third baseman. Ashley G. bunt singled to load the bases. Roach then lined out to center.
Then the most impressive HOME RUN of the day, as Stuart clobbers a GRAND SLAM to very deep left to turn a tie game into a 5-1 Falconer lead.
Here it is ... hard to see the ball, but it lands well past the fence in left center.
Then Erickson made it back-to-back HOMERS just left of center to make it a 6-1 lead. Shannon G. was hit by a pitch, stole second and move to third on a passed ball before Cherise G. -- who led off the inning -- flew out to deep center. Middle of fourth: Falconer, 6-1.
7:50 p.m. Three up, three down for Mynderse with two strikeouts for Cherise G. End of fourth: Falconer, 6-1.
7:56 p.m. Wow. Another HOME RUN for Falconer. Spallino gets around on one and another one goes sailing well over the left center wall. That came with two outs in the inning. Middle of fifth: Falconer, 7-1.
8:11 p.m. We're heading to the bottom of the sixth and Falconer's lead is four. Mynderse got two runs in the bottom of the fifth without a hit: two hit by pitches, a sac bunt, a walk, a wild pitch (scored one) and a sac fly (scored another). In the top of the sixth, Falconer went down on two fly outs and a pop-up. Middle of sixth: Falconer, 7-3.
8:20 p.m. Cherise G. rebounded from a shaky inning with as strong an inning as you could want: she struck out the side. End of sixth: Falconer, 7-3.
8:25 p.m. Falconer sends five batters to the plate but no runs. Falcons are now three outs away from the final four. Middle of seventh: Falconer, 7-3.
8:34 p.m. We have a FINAL SCORE: Falconer 7, Mynderse 3.
Here's the final out.
Interview time for me. Gotta run.
11:28 p.m. Thanks to the Brockport Tim Hortons for becoming a satellite office for The Buffalo News High School Sports Desk. Got some food, drink, a seat and an electrical outlet to do my story ... and to do a re-do of an update of my story after my computer locked up. Gotta love it.
I'm back tomorrow evening for Silver Creek boys lacrosse's attempt to make the state championship game, which should be very exciting. I'll have the live blog going for that but the 8 p.m. scheduled start is a real booger for my deadline. We'll get it done.
Hello from the Glens Falls Civic Center and the Class C and D finals, both of which were scheduled to start at 2 p.m. but will get under way much later as the schedule has been pushed back a bit. Falconer is in the Class C match, Randolph in Class D.
Here are the Division I and Division II stories from the Section VI wrestling championship. And here are plenty of extras from the Division II meet Saturday night at Niagara County Community College. But first, a couple observations.
1. This was the second straight year NCCC served as host for the event, and it's a great venue. There's plenty of parking, and NCCC coach Eric Knuutilla (one of the nicest men you could ever meet) does a great job having the gym ready. The support staff, including announcers and officials, also do a good job of keeping everything moving as close to on time as possible.
2. Another thank you to Ross Conti, an assistant coach at Fredonia and committee member of the Wrestling Review of Western New York, the group that does such a great job seeding and ranking area wrestlers. Conti is a walking encyclopedia of wrestling knowledge.
112-pound champion Tom Page, Eden: Page moved ahead with a takedown in the second period to defeat teammate eighth-grade teammate Alex Smythe. Here's Page's father, also Tom Page, on what it's like for two teammates to wrestle each other: "It's extremely difficult because they're so familiar with each other's style. It's unfair to both, but some coaches say it's a privilege. I'm proud of both of the athletes, because they've done a fantastic job."
The elder Page said he wrestled both at 112 because they were the best at that weight class and deserved a chance to showcase what they could do at the sectional level. Nothing wrong with that logic.
119-pound champion Kevin Strong, Frewsburg: It's the second trip to states for Strong, who improved to 43-2 on the season. Here he is on his game plan from Saturday: "I was working on holding him down and taking it slow. Once I got my points I was very careful." Strong beat Newfane's David Ciaramella, 9-0.
125-pound champion Emory Rowe, Ripley: The smallest wrestling school in Western New York had two finalists, including one champion in Rowe. He scored a late takedown to earn a 5-3 decision over Jake Baer of Olean, a raw talent in just his third year of wrestling. Here's Rowe on the end of the match: "I was just looking for an opening and I saw him loosen up, so I dove for it and got it."
140-pound champion Devin Kramer, Depew: The Most Outstanding Wrestler of the meet scored three late points to break a 2-2 tie with Ben Haas of Salamanca and win his second sectional title (he won at 130 last year). The 130- and 140-pound divisions are packed with talented wrestlers. Kramer, a senior who is a member of the Cobra Wrestling Academy, is 36-4 on the season.
145-pound champion: Dominic Montesanti, Medina: Montesanti put forth a dominant performance despite being hampered by a knee injury. He's wrestling on a torn meniscus in his right knee. Here he is on competing hurt: "It's been a real bother, but it's my senior so I couldn't get surgery. It would put me out for the rest of the year. I have one last chance to be a state champion, so I have to tough it out."
Montesanti took sixth at the state tournament last year after dislocating his elbow and having to injury forfeit two matches at 140.
171-pound champion John Mistretta, Southwestern: Mistretta beat Greg Burroughs of Fredonia for the third time this season, never the easiest thing to do. Mistretta has a unique style that could make him a tough out at the state tournament.
189-pound champion Colin Palmer, East Aurora: Palmer is unbeaten on the season (24-0) after missing time early due to injury.
215-pound champion Pat Langworthy, Southwestern: Langworthy (33-6), a junior, won a wild weight class. Consider: the seventh seed, Panama's Cody DiDomenico, beat No. 2 Bashar Srouji of Lew-Port in the quarterfinals. Langworthy, the third seed, then beat DiDomenico. On the other side of the bracket, top seed Justin Taylor of Portville was upset by fourth seed Jake Eddington of Gowanda in the semifinals.
285-pound champion Theo King, Roy-Hart: King and 96-pounder Zach Bickle won titles for the Rams. Here's King on what he hopes it means for the Niagara-Orleans League school: "I hope it can inspire more people to come out for the team next year and continue to build the tradition of the program."
That's it for now, although we may have some video later of a few matches (if I can figure out the technology).
Here are some additional notes on the eighth-graders as well as notes on all sorts of cross country topics:
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Among the top 18 at the 15-team Bemus Point Invitational were more eighth graders (five) than seniors (four).
Caroline Benson of Maple Grove won the race, while two other fellow eighth-graders were teammates … Emma Verdonik (fifth) and Abby Sirwatka (18th). Falconer's Kirsten Holmberg was third and Fredonia's Micaela Tramuta was 11th.
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Kiki Dy is an accomplished swimmer who came to the Newfane program from field hockey, while Sarah Ziemba and twins Kelly and Kate Bocknewetch all excelled in modified track and cross country last year.
Dy "fell into our lap," said Newfane coach Mike Heitzenrater. "Because of the way our league is run in swimming, with the girls competing in the winter, she could never qualify for states. So she said, "I want to do cross country and get to the states.' "
The youngsters have meshed well with senior Bethany Dewey and juniors Erin Hannah and Amy Lanighan.
It may have helped that Newfane had a significant amount of spots to fill in its lineup after graduating much of its team last year.
These are the updates to the football schedule we have received, almost all a result of the dropout fall out caused by Brocton, Hinsdale and Walsh pulling the plug on their seasons:
Week One
Sherman vs. Forestville at Silver Creek - Friday, Sept. 4, 7:30 p.m.
Clymer at West Valley - Saturday, Sept. 5, 1:30 p.m. Week Two
Portville at Silver Creek - Friday, Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.
Falconer at Randolph - Friday, Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.
Pine Valley at Westfield - Friday, Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m. Week Three
West Valley at Pine Valley - Friday, Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m.
V-Charles Finney at Salamanca - Saturday, Sept. 19, 7:30 p.m.
Bishop Timon-St. Jude has a bye week (after being scheduled against Walsh) Week Four
Cattaraugus-Little Valley vs. Forestville at Silver Creek - Friday, Sept. 25, 7:30 p.m. Week Five
Randolph at Portville - Friday, Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m. Week Six
Silver Creek at Franklinville - Friday, Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m. Week Seven
Frewsburg at Ellicottville - Friday, Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m. Niagara Catholic at Allegany-Limestone - Friday, Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m.
