Prep Talk

By Keith McShea

As the storm has passed, I'm headed down to Silver Creek to see the No. 2 small school Black Knights host Randolph at 7:30 p.m. Silver Creek is also the second-ranked team in the state. 

It is not as a full a night of #preptalkscores as originally scheduled thanks to today's snowstorm. Here's our blog post from earlier regarding games that we know had been postponed. There are still some meaningful matchups, notably Bishop Timon-St. Jude at St. Joe's in a Monsignor Martin battle of top 10 teams, and Williamsville South at ECIC II rival and leader Sweet Home, which ranked 10th among large schools.

I'll have play-by-play updates from Silver Creek 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 games; the scoreboard will be updated as we receive game reports throughout the evening.

Continue reading "Friday Night Live from Silver Creek's big win over Randolph, plus your #preptalkscores" »

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.

We'll see if they can repeat Eden's feat of winning a state title in Class B.

It should be interesting to update two matches at once, but we're going to try.

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Following the match, provide your input in the comments section.

---Keith McShea

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

Go to the Prep Talk Live page for blogging, video and photos from all of the Section VI championships at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Let us know what you thought of the game in the comments section.

---Keith McShea

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

Some updates from today's high school action -- review it all, as well as the Section VI track and field championships at the buffalonews.com high school home page:

Panama beat Pine Valley, 7-2, in the Class D softball final.

Westfield beat Randolph, 4-3, in the Class C softball final thanks to a walkoff RBI single by Rachel Quagliana.

Olean beat Depew, 4-0, in the Class B final for the Huskies' first sectional title.

In the boys lacrosse state Catholic final downstate, Bishop Timon-St. Jude loses, 10-9, at Iona Prep.

Silver Creek held off a furious Raiders' rally to win its second straight Section VI Class C title, 17-16. The game was suspended Friday night due to lightning with Silver Creek leading, 13-9, late in the third quarter.

In the girls lacrosse Far West Regionals at Amherst, Lancaster got off to a quick, 4-1 start in the A game before Pittsford surged back, scoring 12 unanswered goals in a 16-6 victory over the Red Devils. 

In Class B, superpower Canandaigua dominated West Seneca East, 23-4.

Amherst fell in the Class C game to Honeoye Falls-Lima, 18-6.

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).

---Jay Skurski

Next up on your championship poster page lineup: Randolph football.

After six teams survived sectional, regional and state championship playoffs to win state titles, we at The News are honoring each champion with a poster page. They are similar to the pages we produced last year for the four football state champions.

The commemorative posters include photos, rosters, complete schedules and results and a summary of each team's road to the finals.

The pages started Saturday. There will be a team championship poster page in each day following, except for Wednesday (Bills poster day).

Also definitely check out the online end of things, where we have produced some awesome audio slideshows detailing the teams' run to the championships.

Here's the schedule:

Saturday: City Honors girls volleyball.
Sunday: Eden girls volleyball.
Monday: Randolph football.
Tuesday: Southwestern football.
Thursday: Sweet Home football.
Friday: North Tonawanda football.

All of the pages will also available for purchase at our buffalonews.mycapture.com site (which can also be accessed via the link to the audio slideshows above).

For a special 25 percent discount online, enter the code: preptalk. (cool code huh?)

This championship week also includes the boys basketball preview on Tuesday and the All-Western New York football issue on Saturday, Dec. 12. The All-WNY football issue will include not only the team, but the final polls, coach of the year award and all of the all-league teams.

---Keith McShea

High school fans, make sure you check out The Buffalo News over the next week.

After six teams survived sectional, regional and state championship playoffs to win state titles, we at The News are honoring each champion with a poster page. They are similar to the pages we produced last year for the four football state champions.

The commemorative posters include photos, rosters, complete schedules and results and a summary of each team's road to the finals.

The pages start Saturday. There will be a team championship poster page in each day following, except for Wednesday (Bills poster day).

Also definitely check out the online end of things, where we have produced some awesome audio slideshows detailing the teams' run to the championships.

Here's the schedule:

Saturday: City Honors girls volleyball.
Sunday: Eden girls volleyball.
Monday: Randolph football.
Tuesday: Southwestern football.
Thursday: Sweet Home football.
Friday: North Tonawanda football.

All of the pages will also available for purchase at our buffalonews.mycapture.com site (which can also be accessed via the link to the audio slideshows above).

For a special 25 percent discount online, enter the code: preptalk. (cool code huh?)

This championship week also includes the boys basketball preview on Tuesday and the All-Western New York football issue on Saturday, Dec. 12. The All-WNY football issue will include not only the team, but the final polls, coach of the year award and all of the all-league teams.

---Keith McShea

Photographer Mark Mulville compiled some great photos, sounds of some of the voices that helped teams win state championships (and one of the voices that covered them) in some awesome audio slideshows about our state champions. There will be slideshows for all six state champions, corresponding with the six state championship pages we are producing.

---Keith McShea