Prep Talk

Check the Prep Talk Live page for live coverage of state championship football and outstanding photography from The News' Mark Mulville.

What did you think of the game? Let us know in the comments section below.

---Keith McShea

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

John Moriello of the state sportswriters association breaks it down for all of this weekend's five football finals at the Carrier Dome. Of course, four of those games feature Section VI teams.

Check out the fact-filled previews here. There are predictions, too: North Tonawanda loses, Sweet Home, Southwestern and Randolph win.

---Keith McShea

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

It's deja vu all over again for Section VI football, which has four teams playing for state championships at the Carrier Dome.

Our Randolph preview story is in today's paper. Sweet Home (Thursday), Southwestern (Friday) and North Tonawanda (Saturday) will follow.

Let us know why you voted the way you did, and see you this weekend as we bring you the games to you from the Carrier Dome via Prep Talk Live.

---Keith McShea

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

Here's the info we came across in putting together our story about Randolph in today's paper

The basics: The Section V football site has plenty of basic info as well as the lineup of the entire state football tournament.

Here's our history of Section VI football in the state tournament, which includes last year's tremendous results as well as all previous years, from the regionals to the state finals. ... Section4football has great overall history of the state, including the two Section IV teams that are taking on Section VI teams this weekend.

Here are last week's Class D rankings, in which Randolph was second and Moriah was fifth, will almost certainly have Randolph at No. 1 after it walloped previously top-ranked Groton, 61-8. The state rankings are part of the gallons of info available at the outstanding Road To Syracuse site administered by John Moriello of the state sportswriters association.

There is some great basic background info on Moriah in the Class D semifinal preview done by Kevin Witt of the Times-Herald Record of Middletown downstate as part of the paper's top-notch varsity845.com site. 

Here's the hometown newspaper coverage of Moriah's win, the game story from the Press Republican of Plattsburgh.

Here's last year's News story by Miguel Rodriguez about Maple Grove's 55-7 win over Moriah in the state championship game. Here's our live blog from the game

---Keith McShea

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

High school football fans HAVE to check out the work of The News' Mark Mulville at our refurbished photo gallery section.

It's galleries.buffalonews.com.

Photos are bigger, easier to view and -- cha-ching -- they are available for purchase with a couple of clicks. All four state semifinal football games are on there and there is some great stuff from the wins by North Tonawanda, Sweet Home, Southwestern and Randolph.

They beat the pants off (and then some) of some goofball reporter's iPhone pictures on here. :-)

---Keith McShea

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

Check the Prep Talk Live page for live coverage of playoff football and outstanding photography from The News' Mark Mulville.

What did you think of the game? Let us know in the comments section below.

---Keith McShea

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

Section VI sent four teams to the Carrier Dome for the state championships last year. Four teams will try and repeat the feat this weekend.

See you here tonight as we bring you the games to you from Rochester via Prep Talk Live.

---Keith McShea

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

Around this time of year, we bop around the Web doing a lot of research and then pass on the links to you. Here's where our research of our state semifinal football preview took us. The preview appears as part of Football Friday.

First and foremost, of course, is the link to Prep Talk Live, where I'll have coverage of all four Section VI teams' games this weekend along with Mark Mulville's kick-butt photos.

Here are the basics:

* The Section V football site has plenty of basic info as well as the lineup of the entire state football tournament.

* Here's our history of Section VI football in the state tournament, which includes last year's tremendous results as well as all previous years, from the regionals to the state finals.

* Section4football has great overall history of the state, including the two Section IV teams that are taking on Section VI teams this weekend.

* We again will be live from Rochester's Marina Auto Stadium, where this link shows you what I can attest to first-hand -- that the stadium, for the third straight year, remains a work in progress. The picture of the work being done on the luxury box isn't too far from the appearance of our indoor/outdoor press box. Hey, as a colleague of mine says, it's not shoveling coal. There is electricity and a place to work, even if the entire press box is to one side of midfield. But it is far from an ideal venue for a state semifinal. 

* Here are this week's state rankings, part of the gallons of info available at the outstanding Road To Syracuse site administered by Moriello of the state sportswriters association.

Going class-by-class ...

Continue reading "Research material: State football semifinals" »

If you haven't seen them already, check out Pete Simon's front-page story on Grover Cleveland boys soccer and Mary Jo Monnin's wrapup of all of the non-football teams searching for state titles this weekend.

So who comes home with a plaque?

As always, let us know how and why you voted in the comments section below.

---Keith McShea

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

ROCHESTER -- It was an impressive defensive effort for Randolph in its 14-6 victory over Dundee of Section V in the Class D Far West Regionals tonight at Marina Auto Stadium. More so considering the Scotsman had scored 76 points just two weeks ago in winning Class D in Section V. It was the third time Dundee had scored at least 70 points in a game this season.

Here's some stats that didn't make it into the game story ... Randolph gained 14 first downs to just six for Dundee. ... Total plays were 53-39 Randolph. ... Time of possession was 29:49-18:11, also in favor of the Cardinals. ... Defensively, Brandon Durnell led Randolph with nine tackles (six solo), two tackles for losses, a forced fumble and a sack. Matt Hettenbaugh (who rushed 29 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns) had five tackles and a big fumble recovery. Ben Fluent had three tackles for losses and two sacks. Brady Morrison had two tackles for losses and one sack.

A couple coaching strategies also paid off for the Cardinals. Instead of kicking off to Dundee senior tailback Steve Webb, who entered the game with nearly 2,000 yards and 32 touchdowns, Randolph just used squib kicks. The strategy worked, as the Scotsman had just 7 kickoff return yards on three chances.

Here's a few leftover quotes that also didn't make the gamer:

Head coach Pat Slater

On the defense: "Defense did pretty good didn't they? [Defensive coordinator Brent] Brown put the kids together and the kids just came out and they played hard."

On giving up a touchdown on the first drive: "It takes time to adjust to speed in the game and for the kids to settle down. They found a weakness quick and they exploited it real fast."

On the support his team is getting: "We're excited. The community is all here. Everybody's ready to go. It's just great."

Hettenbaugh

On the defensive gameplan: "That's all got to go to coach Brown. He spends I don't know how many hours each week just studying every team. He's got it down to a tee."

On the offensive line: "Our offensive line did a really good job tonight. We worked on it all week long. We knew these guys were big, but our guys did a real good job just opening up little creases so we could just get 4 yards a pop."

---Jay Skurski