September 19, 2010 - 7:10 AM
Week Three of PrepTalkTV went from Thursday to Saturday night -- here's our wrapup, which includes action from all three days:
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Scroll down here on the blog or click here to watch a special edition of PrepTalkTV on Kenmore West's victory and the school's tribute to the late Brian Dugan.
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You can find all of our videos easily by going to the video player and clicking the "PrepTalkTV" tab.
---Keith McShea
buffalonews.com/high-schools facebook.com/preptalkblog twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk
April 12, 2010 - 3:39 PM
Yes, the All-Western New York basketball issue just came out.
And yes, this is a post about the 2010-11 schedule.
One of the top early-season showcases is already set: the Cataract Classic at Niagara Falls. Event organizer Sal Constantino emailed the schedule to us today.
As always, a great mix of teams and some great matchups. Here it is:
Friday, Dec. 10I sure hope the Pastor-Cooper Tournament is the week before (Nov. 29-Dec. 3) -- that's the way things have gone down the last two years. I've covered a state championship football game on the last Sunday in November and then seen some hoops at Daemen the next day.
We won't have a building-the-schedule post up for a little while yet, but if anyone out there has some confirmed dates, please feel free to add them here or to email me at kmcshea@buffnews.com.
---Keith McShea
February 27, 2010 - 10:34 PM
The seventh episode of PrepTalkTV wrapped up the Section VI quarterfinals, including big wins by Clarence and North Tonawanda, and looked ahead to Championship Week at Buffalo State and Jamestown Community College.
The video is accessible at the buffalonews.com home page or via our video player page.
Reporter/videographer/producer Lauren Mariacher and I will be right back at it Sunday for the Manhattan Cup championship at 6 p.m. at Canisius College and we'll be catching some of the Section VI championship action next week.
Let us know what you think.
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Here's your own PrepTalkTV DVR loaded with our previous episodes:
* Manhattan Cup semifinals (Feb. 23): Nichols-Canisius showdown set after both win big.
Continue reading "Video: PrepTalkTV heads to the final four" »
February 12, 2010 - 11:43 PM
SANBORN -- Greetings from Niagara County Community College, site of the Section VI wrestling championships this weekend. Division I (large schools), finished a couple hours ago, while Division II (small schools will wrestle all day Saturday, with finals set to start at 4:30 p.m.
We're finished with our print responsibilities for the night and have plenty of notes left over to share. First, an observation: The simple finalist information sheet each coach fills out for his wrestlers is a valuable tool for the announcer and media in attendance. One of the toughest aspects of covering high schools sports is the availability of (reliable) statistical information, so when coaches have stuff like that prepared, it helps journalists write a better, more complete story on their student-athletes.
On to the winners and some information about them, as well as additional quotes that didn't make the paper.
96-pound champion: Steve Michel, Lancaster: Michel beat teammate Eric Lewandowski, 4-3, in a match I'm not sure either wanted to wrestle. Lewandowski was emotional after the loss, while Michel didn't seem to take much happiness out of his second straight 96-pound title. Here he is on the move that gave him the deciding points: "I shot a sweep single, then I hooked his leg and I stepped over."
103: Ronald Rodriguez-Spencer, Cheektowaga: The Class AAA winner improved his record to 32-5 and was the youngest competitor (eighth grade) to win a sectional title.
112: Tim Schaefer, Lancaster: Schaefer is 3-for-3 in sectional tournaments. He won at 96 in seventh grade, 103 last year and now 112 as a freshman.
119: Dylan Caruana, Kenmore West: One of the best matches of the night, Caruana held off Daiquann Burney of Sweet Home with a late reversal for a 6-3 decision. Here's Caruana on the fantastic finish: "The end was really exciting. I just didn’t want to give up that take down. He was about to get behind me and I couldn’t let him do it. I was only up by a point, so it was real close." Caruana has won two most outstanding wrestler awards this season, at the Orchard Park Tournament and last week at the AAAA tourney.
125: Joey Malvestuto, Niagara-Wheatfield: Plenty on this match in the print product, but a quick note: Malvestuto has overcome a broken hand and knee injury this season. He's rounding into form and improved to 31-3. Opponent Ben Mikac lost his first match of the season, falling to 34-1.
130: Joe Kalinka, Iroquois: The first of three Iroquois champions on the night, Kalinka (46-2) will make his second straight tip to states. He won the AAA tourney last week, while his opponent, Mike Feeney of Lockport, won the AAAA tourney.
135: Pat Mix, Lake Shore: Both Mix and opponent Zack Fummerelle had just one loss entering the mach. Mix took control with an early takedown, then held on for the win. Nice celebration by the Lake Shore coaches and Mix after the match, too. A school not known for its wrestling program made nice strides this season.
140: Jimmy Kloc, Iroquois: Kloc, who is a pitbull on the mat, looked like he was going to cruise, but Gage Bateman of Sweet Home gave him all he could handle. A fitting final for a weight class my wrestling go-to guy, Fredonia assistant coach Ross Conti, called the deepest of the tournament.
145: Jacob Beichner, Williamsville East: Beichner was the only wrestler not seeded first or second (he was third) to win. His reaction after winning showed all that's right with high school sports: a tearful hug with his parents. Here's Beichner on what the win meant to him: "He was beating me up pretty good in the beginning, but I’ve been training my whole life for this moment. I just wasn’t going to let that stop me. I knew he was getting tired and he was breaking. It’s my senior year, I just went full force." The loss was the first of the season for Irvin Buck of Niagara Falls.
152: Kris Duge, Clarence: It was the 38th win of the season for Duge, a senior.
160: Raleigh Defields, Iroquois: Defields was struck with pneuomia during the season and didn't start to get healthy until the end of January. He had dropped an earlier decision by one point to his opponent Friday, Lancaster's Sean Woods. Defields was a fun interview after his match. Here's some of what he had to say: "I set a goal as a freshman that I always wanted to at least win [a] class [tournament] and going to states is just an awesome bonus." On his recovery: "I've been busting my hump in practice getting my conditioning levels back and it paid off because I could have gone another minute if need be." On the end of the match, which went to overtime: "I looked up at the clock with five seconds left, held on for dear life and smiled."
171: Tony Lock, Pioneer: A sophomore who has progressively improved this season, Lock picked up his 40th win.
189: Angelo Malvestuto, Niagara-Wheatfield: Falcons coach Rick Sweney called him the best wrestler ever to come through Niagara-Wheatfield, which sums up Malvestuto's career well. He was the only one to record a pin Friday night.
215: Kyle Colling, Pioneer: A 2009 national champion, the only surprise in Colling's title is that it didn't come by pinfall. According to Conti, it's believed Colling could become the first wrestler in state history to win class titles in Division I and II, due to Pioneer moving up to Division I this season (he won Division II last year).
285: Jim Donner, Niagara-Wheatfield: Donner gets a chance to build on his fifth-place finish at last year's state tournament.
Talk to you tomorrow from the Division II tournament.
---Jay Skurski
February 9, 2010 - 5:17 PM
Greetings on the busiest night of boys basketball all year. Lots of games, lots of big matchups.
4:51 p.m. Just got a call from fellow reporter Lauren Mariacher, who headed to Burgard to shoot video of Grover Cleveland's 4:15 p.m. game there. There was no game and she was told by a student that it had been called off.
She's headed to McKinley's hosting of East (5:30), and so am I. The plan is to head to Niagara Falls at North Tonawanda and possibly Maryvale at Depew after that.
6:39 p.m. Quite the developments here at McKinley, which took a 42-26 halftime lead on East. Yes, you read that right.
Ten of East's players, including all five starters, were suspended prior to the game and the Panthers were forced to go with JV callups to fill out its lineup for today. The suspensions were due to academic reasons.
The length of the suspensions is not known -- they are at least for one week, according to coach Starling Bryant. The length of the suspensions could also differ for different players.
Said Bryant during halftime: "It could be one week, it could be two weeks or it could be permanent. They didn't do what they were supposed to do academically. They didn't hold up their end of the bargain. At East, it's academics first. It could be a week, or it could be sectionals, and I'll go with the young boys."
East entered the game 12-2 overall, co-ranked second among large schools in Western New York, and 9-0 in the Yale Cup. The Panthers were one of two unbeatens in the Yale Cup (along with Middle College, which won Monday to go to 10-0).
6:46 p.m. At the end of the third quarter, McKinley leads East, 59-41.
The five East starters who were suspended were Domonique Jackson, Tremell Fisher, Andre Jackson, Dale Gray and Deon Robinson.
The only two regulars not to get suspended are Jason Oden and Chris Boyd.
6:49 p.m. The McKinley lead is up to 63-41 with 6:44 left in the game.
This is clearly a major blow to East, which I had voted No. 1 in the large school poll the last three weeks. The Panthers were the favorite in A-2 and had the kind of team, I thought, that was capable of a run to Glens Falls. Many fans were already looking forward to a East-Williamsville South overall Class A final.
We'll have to see. If East gets enough of its players back by sectionals, they may still be able to make that kind of run. The Yale Cup is a much different story, and Middle College is now firmly in front of what was expected to be a thrilling finish. Middle, Grover and East have yet to play this season -- the first game among them over an exciting final two weeks is Middle College's game at Grover Cleveland on Thursday.
6:53 p.m. McKinley 71, East 44 with 4:30 left in the game. Stunning stuff.
Many of the suspended East players are watching the game from the front row of the bleachers. Tough lesson to learn for those guys. Hopefully it's not to late for them to perhaps turn things around -- in the classroom and then on the basketball court.
7:02 p.m. We have a FINAL SCORE: McKinley 84, East 53.
I'm off to NT. I'm hoping WLVL-AM is on the air for my ride up there :-)
7:37 p.m. No WLVL for the ride, but it's still the second quarter so we'll be fine.
I walked into NT with the home team having a two-point lead, but while I was getting set up Darrik Bloomfield followed a three-pointer with a sweet putback of a teammate's airball -- Bloomfield caught it from under the basket and reverse layup-ed it all in midair -- to put NT up, 30-18 over Niagara Falls with 3:50 left in the second quarter.
7:39 p.m. Falls gets a bunch back in a hurry and cut it to 30-24 with 2:44 left in the quarter.
7:45 p.m. At halftime, North Tonawanda leads Niagara Falls, 38-27.
NT coach Erik O'Bryan seems pretty loose -- he walks by me as I'm hunched over the laptop and I hear, "say hello to Prep Talk Nation."
It was 16-16 after one quarter. Aaron Davis leads NT with 12 points while Bloomfield had all 10 of his in the second quarter. Davon Marshall leads Falls with 12.
The reports regarding Jordan Street are correct. He is ineligible and not listed in the scorebook for Falls.
7:58 p.m. An early timeout on a scramble on the floor -- NT leads, 37-29, with 6:33 left in the third.
8:07 p.m. Falls calls a timeout with NT having taken a 46-35 lead with 2:14 left in the third.
UPDATE from Wilson: Host Lakemen lead Medina, 30-16, at halftime.
8:13 p.m. At the end of the third quarter, North Tonawanda leads Niagara Falls, 46-35.
UPDATE from Depew: Host Wildcats lead, 15-14, over Maryvale after one quarter.
8:21 p.m. NT calls a timeout with 5:11 left and holding a 51-41 lead. Marshall has hit back-to-back threes for Falls.
8:27 p.m. With 1:44 left in the game, NT calls a timeout with a 55-45 lead.
8:30 p.m. Two free throws by Maurice Respress and Falls calls a timeout with 1:21 left; NT leads, 55-47.
8:40 p.m. We have a FINAL SCORE: North Tonawanda 61, Niagara Falls 54.
North Tonawanda SWEEPS Niagara Falls. What a season.
The scorebooks from the game are to the right.
Who thought Niagara Falls was going to lose in the Niagara Frontier League this season? Who thought Niagara Falls was going to get swept this season? Wow.
NT handled the Falls pressure early, then just beat the Wolverines the rest of the way. The Jacks were an extremely confident team, moving the ball well on offense, rebounding well and playing good defense. Falls was limited largely to outside shots, and they didn't have a good shooting night.
8:50 p.m. Finished with some interviews and some video stuff and we're going to try and make it to Depew for the end of what has been a close game (Maryvale led, 24-23, at halftime).
9:36 p.m. Made it to Depew in time for interviews, but not in time to catch the game that ended with this FINAL SCORE: Maryvale 54, Depew 49. Maryvale clinches at least a tie for the ECIC III title.
Hey, we tried to get there in time, but when we arrived we were swimming upstream into the huge crowd leaving the gym. (Thanks much to Sean Bruso for texting me updates from Depew).
More details, video and scores to come so stay tuned.
10:10 p.m. Got some details sent in to the paper.
Here are a few notable finals that are in (we'll have the scoreboard up as soon as possible):
* Wilson takes control of the Niagara-Orleans race with a 52-34 victory over Medina;
* Grand Island makes some noise by thumping visiting Lockport, 79-67;
* Cleveland Hill with a very nice ECIC IV win, 53-45, at Alden -- where Lackawanna fell just last week;
* Bishop Timon-St. Jude wins at home over St. Francis, 58-54, bouncing back from Monday night's loss at Nichols;
* Some drama in ECIC I as Clarence handles visiting Frontier, 61-55, after the Falcons had wins over Jamestown and Orchard Park. Speaking of OP, they escape Lancaster with a 61-60 win.
11:12 p.m. Man, this video stuff is not easy. "Keith talking, take 47." ... "Cut!"
Among the later scores to come in came from one of the later starts -- St. Joe's wins at Maple Grove, 72-44. I'm not sure many expected that kind of margin no matter which team came away with a victory.
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Our scoreboard is up.
Our roundup has been posted as well.
The debut of PrepTalkTV has been posted.
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Of course, let us know which game you saw and what you think of this busy, news-making night in high school hoops.
---Keith McShea
February 8, 2010 - 2:26 PM
When it comes to the biggest and possibly even best day of the boys basketball season, Tuesday just might be it.
There are 47 games on the schedule, which I believe is a season-high. And there are several big ones.
Which leads me to one question:
First of all, the Yale Cup games are eariler, so I should be able to catch at least part of one (maybe two if my pickup hoops game goes short and the first Yale Cup game goes long) before moving on to one of the above prime-time contests.
Grover Cleveland is at Burgard at 4:15 p.m. and East is at McKinley at 5:30. (Note: the Hutch-Tech vs. Middle College game has been moved to 5:30 p.m. today at Hutch-Tech.)
Among the games listed above, there are four major rematches from this year and an intriguing nonleague rematch from last year.
The biggest upset of the season, and one of the biggest of the decade (whether it is last decade or this one :-) ) was North Tonawanda's 64-62 overtime win at Niagara Falls, the first-ever Niagara Frontier League loss for the Wolverines. Falls' first-ever attempt to avenge an NFL loss gets started at 7 p.m.
St. Francis started making noise in the Monsignor Martin Association when it beat Bishop Timon-St. Jude at home, 56-54, on Jan. 20 to start a four-game win streak. The Tigers are coming off a top-notch victory at Canisius while Frannies has stumbled a bit with a loss at Nichols and a home loss to Canisius; tip-off in South Buffalo is 7:30 p.m.
The ECIC III battles between Maryvale and Depew have been outstanding for the last several years -- the Wildcats avenged their only loss of the season by winning at Amherst on Thursday. Back on Jan. 5, Depew won at Maryvale, 42-35. Tonight's battle is at 7:30.
The Niagara-Orleans League race likely rests on the 7 p.m. tipoff of Medina at Wilson. Medina won at home in the teams' first meeting, 62-53, on Jan. 15.
St. Joe's makes its first trip to Maple Grove for a 7:30 tip. Last year the Red Dragons lost at St. Joe's, 79-64. The Marauders are struggling while the Red Dragons and Chris Secky appear to be primed for that Class D playoff run that everyone has been talking about since last year. A very intriguing matchup here.
Other games on the fast-breaking Tuesday include Lockport at Grand Island in the NFL, Orchard Park at Lancaster in ECIC I, Cleveland Hill at Alden in ECIC IV and St. Mary's at Niagara Catholic in a Monsignor Martin small school battle.
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Part of me wanted to let the voters literally decide where I end up, but due to logistics and some Web work I'll be taking care of with reporter/videographer Lauren Mariacher (stay tuned), I can not completely put my traveling fate in your hands. Not that I don't trust Prep Talk Nation, of course. For instance, the trip to Maple Grove would be great, but the travel time involved would wipe out any possibility of seeing some games beforehand and would also throw a wrench into some significant postgame Web plans we have.
I'd have to say I'm leading to Falls at NT considering the historical impact of the teams' first meeting this year. I thought after NT's home loss to Lockport last week that perhaps the game had lost all of its luster, but then Falls struggled to beat Kenmore West so we're kind of back where we started -- trying to make sense out of the NFL.
But vote early and often (:-) ), and, of course, let me know why in the comments section below. I certainly am looking forward to seeing what the people's choice is.
---Keith McShea
January 28, 2010 - 7:06 PM
It is a slow-go out there tonight, and it looks like I may have only one stop. We'll see.
7:05 p.m. I've just arrived at Lockport, where Falls has a 36-31 lead on the host Lions in the second quarter. I've kept track of the game thanks to 1340 WLVL-AM.
7:16 p.m. At halftime we're enjoying the Lockport Royal Lions stomp team. Falls has a 45-35 lead. Falls has threatened to turn it into a blowout but Lockport has hung around -- if the Lions stop hanging around, I might try and make it to St. Francis.
7:50 p.m. Falls wins, 86-65. We are headed south and we'll see if we can catch the end of St. Joe's at St. Francis. Got a dunk from both sides on video, so that's cool. I'll post those later.
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Videos from Niagara Falls at Lockport:
January 12, 2010 - 10:50 PM
This one is definitely worth a separate post as well: North Tonawanda 64, Niagara Falls 62 in overtime.
Whoa.
I know Falls isn't what it was from past years, but this is still a shocker. I also know Falls had some bumps against Lew-Port, but I thought their game at Ken West on Friday -- of which I saw the beginning of -- showed it was clearly ahead of the pack in their league. I saw NT early on -- albeit without Aaron Davis, and yes, it was early -- and I just didn't think NT had the firepower to beat the Falls.
Honestly, I never considered going to the game tonight -- a game that becomes Falls' first loss in the Niagara Frontier League since the school was formed in 2000.
The loss also marks the fifth for Falls against a Western New York team -- they had lost only to Bennett (2002) and Sweet Home (2007) in Section VI championship games and to St. Joe's during the 2005-06 season before losing to Nichols, 68-53, earlier this season. It's also their first loss a home to a Western New York team, and it's been a few years since they lost at home to anyone -- I believe the Wolverines lost in the Cataract Classic to Henninger a couple of years ago.
We'll have more details posted at buffalonews.com/highschool later tonight.
---Keith McShea
December 20, 2009 - 6:00 AM
You are now looking at the most popular video that my iPhone and I have posted at buffalonews.com:
The video was posted very late Wednesday night as part of my story on Nichols' 68-53 landmark victory over Niagara Falls. It is also part of the extensive video wrapup of the game here on the blog.
But it sure has been popular. The highlight, which starts with a nice drive by Falls' Kenny Stokes and flows into a great Nichols fast break finished off by a dunk by Nichols' Will Regan, had been viewed more than 1,700 times as of Saturday evening.
The previously most popular video, with 1,207 views, was Nate Benoit's winning field goal as Grand Island beat Williamsville South, 23-20. It's available with my game story as well as my live blog post.
In fact, the Nichols-Falls hoop video needed less than 36 hours to topple a video that has been up for almost two months.
We can certainly attribute a large amount of the hits to Regan being a committed recruit to the University of Virginia. The video was linked at Virginia's athletic site, which paid me a nice compliment on the story but said of my iPhone video, "alas, it's not Scorsese quality."
---Keith McShea
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.
@KeithMcSheaBN | kmcshea@buffnews.com
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.
