Hello on one of the most meaningful days on this school year's Western New York high school sports calendar.
We'll be reporting live from Rochester's Blue Cross Arena, site of the Far West Regional round that determines berths in next week's state public school final four. Meanwhile, Canisius and St. Mary's will play for Catholic state titles at Fordham University. Here's a preview of today's boys hoop action.
Also today: Girls basketball regionals at Buffalo State and state semifinal boys hockey with Niagara-Wheatfield in action in Utica.
I'll provide play-by-play updates from the boys regionals in the live blog below and I'll have periodic #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. You can comment on these games or others. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I'll be spending the afternoon and evening at the Far West Regional boys lacrosse games championships at Hamburg High School.
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 these games 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. :-)
Here are some video highlights from the Class C game -- pretty cool ones at that, particularly the exciting endgame. It's either really cool, or really distracting -- but there are two play-by-plays going on with the Penn Yan radio coverage along with the Time Warner Cable broadcast. And yes, I'm kicking myself for missing Zed's game-tying record-breaker. Talk about a turnover/failed clear by me. Ugh. Chest-tap (my bad):
Some of the postgame show:
More quotes from postgame interviews:
Silver Creek junior Zed Williams:
"I'm disappointed -- I wanted to win it for the seniors.
"I saw time ticking down, and I had to take a shot, in case we missed we'd get another chance -- but he made a good save."
Orchard Park coach Gene Tundo:
"We just didn't have a whole lot of scoring opportunities. They slid fast and took away our [offense]. They're just good. Big defenders, a big goalie, we just never really got in a flow.
"We didn't clear the ball well. We had the ball 8 or 9 times where we just didn't get it in the offensive zone. They' played defense the whole length of the field -- they're a good team.
On OP's defense: "They did a great job , awesome. They played great. Our goalie [Taylor Ferrino} made some great saves. They got tired. You play that much defense, you get tired."
"We threw the ball away a couple of times clearing it, and on offense, and those extra possessions hurt you.
"We needed a little spark, and we just didn't get it. Their defense shut down any hope we had. They don't really have any weaknesses. Their attack is good, middies are good, there's not really a weakness. And they play a tougher schedule, too.
"I don't think we've ever been shut out. Never. I don't think we have."
Irondequoit senior Nick Doktor:
On difference of first & second halves: "I think we were a little antsy at first. We had a lot of bad turnovers, not taking care of the ball, and that allowed them to get off to a good start. They were capitalizing on our turnovers and our mistakes. That was a catalyst for them. Another big problem in the first half was they were killing us on time of possession.
"We wanted to settle the ball down once we got it, and work our offense, and once we knew we could do that, we know we have a lot of offense, a lot of guys that can put the ball in the back of the net.
On winning on Hamburg's home field: "They had a great crowd, it was a great atmosphere, and obviously they're very comfortable here playing on their home field. We battled and they battled and it was a great game.
On Hamburg pulling its goalie in a one-goal game with three minutes to play: "We were just trying to be patient. They have a lot of guys on offense -- they could have come back as easily as we did. We were just trying to keep it from them as long as we could."
Irondequoit coach Craig Whipple:
On playing on Hamburg's home field: "It was a difficult situation -- we couldn't do anything about it. We just knew that we would have to take care of our business to come out with a win. Was it a difficult scenario? It definitely was. But I'm proud that they were able to come out and captailize and adjust to being in this environment.
On the great second half: "I think they settled down. It was a hostlie environment, and once they settled down and knew they could play their style of lacrosse they came out and did that. That represented in goals, and then it represented in everything else on the field. As soon as everyone settled down and put a few in the back of the net, they understand all right, we're comfortable. The defense settles down, the next guy hustles a bit harder and finds those ground balls and we're able to capitalize.
On Section V's sweep: "Definitely [pleased to complete the sweep]. You battle teams thoughout the year, but when you leave [the section], you want the guys around you to do well as well. So I'm excited about that.
On faceoffs: "It defintely changed the flow of the game. It enabled us to get back in there because we were seeing more poss on offense, and I thought if we were to see more possessions on offense, that we would establish goals, and once we get comfortable scoring , you thrive off of that and you build off of that.
On if Hamburg pulled its goalie too early -- with three minutes left in one-goal game: "Not necessarily.
"I think they respected the fact that our six guys on offense are really good ballhandlers. I think they respected the fact that we were going to be able to capitalize and maybe even put one more by them. I appreciate the fact that they went out swinging. They wanted the ball back. If they created a turnover , who knows, they could have went down there, got a goal and got the momeneum. I don't think it was necessarily too early for them. I think they knew we've been in a lot of tight games before this year [and were able to close them out]."
Hamburg coach Jerry Severino:
"We were supposed to end this game in a different way. We played a great first half, I was so happy with the way they were playing. We were really attempting not to have what happened in the second half. But Irondequoit was a great challenge. They took advantage of our mistakes. Honestly, we played our worst half at the most important time of the year. We played a pretty poor second half.
"When we get on a run like that [like Irondequoit did], we say it's like sharks when they sense blood in the water, and that's what happened. They had a sense that they could do what they did; and we weren't able to stop them. The ball bounced one way a couple of times. They were much better on the ground ball; they were better on the faceoff in the second half. we made some decisions that we we'd like to have back.
On pulling the goalie late in the game: "it's risky when you do that, but we were in a desperate situation and that's the way it goes.
On faceoffs: "We had an awful lot of trouble getting the ball at the faceoff 'X'. I rotated three or four guys in, but they gained probably three or four faceoffs for every two we got. Those kind of possessions are huge."
If it's the last Saturday of August, it must be Scrimmage Saturday, and we must be on our way to seeing as much football action as we can.
We'll be bopping around Western New York today -- as we have the last two years -- to catch as much football as we can in a limited time.
Disclaimer/explainer: Regular visitors to the blog know how much I love it when fans cite scrimmages as evidence for one team being better than another during the regular season, especially when it comes to the discussion of our polls. Just because I'm interested in all of the scrimmages (and getting to as many as I can), and learning about teams and players, they are still scrimmages. Once the season starts, I don't want to hear about them. :-)
If you're out and about like we are today, we want your reviews and breakdowns of what you saw. Keep it in context -- try and notice which first-team units are out there and what the teams are trying to do. Be sure to comment here our on our Facebook page, tweet us at @KeithMcSheaBN or send an email.
8:34 a.m. We are on our way. I met up with photographer Mark Mulville at One News Plaza and we're headed to Cheektowaga for our kickoff.
Eden, Springville, Tonawanda and West Seneca East are visiting Cheektowaga. We're planning a quick stop before heading nearby to Cleveland Hill.
9:22 a.m. Great start to the day for us -- and for Eden. The Raiders, known for their ground-and-pound-and win formula, threw for two touchdowns against Cheektowaga -- including one on the first play of the scrimmage! -- and added in another touchdown as we were leaving.
We were on hand for some warmups before things got started, with Tonawanda coach Rob Gross asking his team, quite loudly, "What's this half-speed!? Why are we doing anything half speed?!"
After a fairly lenghty prepractice address by the officials, we got started as the head referee said, "Rock and roll, Scott," to Cheektowaga coach Scott Zipp.
And early misstep by Cheektowaga against Eden prompted a "Do your job!" admonition from an assistant coach to a player.
On the other half of the field, West Seneca East scored a TD against Tonawanda.
And let's go to the video:
Above is our first play of our season as West Seneca East got things off and running against Tonawanda.
Talk about a great start for Eden. This is their first play as their offense went against Cheektowaga.
A nice run for Eden.
9:30 a.m. Just about to pull in to Cleveland Hill. (Reminder for any hey-buddy-keep-your-hands-on-the-wheel fans: Mulville is driving).
9:37 a.m. iPhone update from Cleve Hill, where they haven't started due to Silver Creek being late. This may screw up some of our travel plans. We'll see.
9:48 a.m. Official addresses teams: "Next week it starts for real, today's for fun."
10:24 a.m. Back in Mulville's Honda heading north to Lockport. It's a super bummer that Cleve Hill was behind because we're a half hour off the ideal schedule I had set up for the day. That's alright. Every game (and every assignment) isn't going to go as planned and you've got to make those key adjustments, right?
On the bright side, we saw the first-stringers for all four teams at Cleve Hill. The defenses ruled the first round as a fired-up Silver Creek unit bottled up Burgard and the Cleve Hill defense kept Cardinal O'Hara out of the end zone.
Daryl Spencer had a nice sack for a big loss for Cleve Hill on defense, then looked very good with some rollout completions on offense. Zeddie Williams, who should be the feature back after the graduation of older brother Zach, looked solid out of the backfield for Silver Creek. Burgard also had some very solid run stops.
Here are the top videos from Cleve Hill:
10:36 a.m. It's a long trip to Lockport. We're just on to Transit from Millersport & the I-990. Six top programs in action up at Emmet Belknap Intermediate: St. Francis, Sweet Home, North Tonawanda, Williamsville South, Grand Island and the host Lions.
Trying to plot out a backup plan -- a main stop for us is Orchard Park, which is hosting Canisius in a scrimmage that started at 10.
11:02 a.m. Got to Lockport in time to catch the tail end of Jordan Johnson of Sweet Home leading the offense against Will South. Johnson and Sweet Home looked to be moving the ball fairly effectively -- he had a touchdown pass to the far left side of the field called back on a penalty. We didn't see a ton of Sweet Home against Will South but we saw a few more plays against Lockport.
Williamsville South and Grand Island were paired up on the other end and there were some hard hits, including a busted play for South that almost resulted in a hit on coach Kraig Kurzanski, who was in the customary coaches' spot behind the huddle.
St. Francis finished strong on defense against Grand Island and then paired up with North Tonawanda. I caught the second half of that pairing, with NT making some nice stops on defense.
Here's our best video from Lockport:
11:31 a.m. We're on the road again, heading south and hoping to fit in a stop at Riverside but that might not be a great decision with OP are key final stop.
11:37 a.m. Just talked to PrepTalkTV partner Lauren Mariacher at Canisius. The first-stringers are done there -- she has video and interviews from there so I might not go down there. I think we'll head to Riverside.
11:40 a.m. Just checked in with Lauren again. Canisius and OP will be on the field for another hour, so Mark and I are going to squeeze in a visit to Riverside, which is hosting McKinley, Bishop Timon-St. Jude and Maple Grove.
Even if we stay just a few moments, we'll be able to get some video, photos and some looks at the teams. Right now we've seen 14 teams in three stops.
With Scrimmage Saturday, it's certainly about quantity, not quality.
11:54 a.m. And JUST when we think we've come up with a great plan, we pull into the Riverside parking lot and pass a kid wearing orange-and-black carrying his shoulder pads out.
"That's not a good sign," says Mark.
It wasn't. The Riverside field was empty.
The kid was from McKinley. Arghhhhhhh.
If I wrote what I'm feeling right now, I'd get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Maybe two.
Off to OP. Arrrrrrgh. Sigh.
1 p.m. We caught the very end of the Canisius scrimmage at Orchard Park, did some interviews and filmed an intro for PrepTalkTV. Lauren Mariacher is working on that and it'll be posted later today.
I'm headed back to One News Plaza to get some more videos and details posted before heading out to evening scrimmages at Iroquois and Amherst.
More updates to come ...
3:02 p.m. Here is the finished PrepTalkTV product (now starring on the buffalonews.com home page):
3:49 p.m. I've posted a bunch of video here, and I'll have more to come from the six-team Lockport scrimmage as well as some from my next two stops -- Iroquois and Amherst.
4:26 p.m. Hello from the awesome back field setting at Iroquois.
5:40 p.m. Note to football coaches and athletic directors. If you want Prep Talk hanging out at your scrimmage for a long time, have it at night :-).
Got a good long look -- along with the Prep Talk blog's "Milt Latimer" -- at Lackawanna, Frontier, Iroquois and Niagara-Wheatfield, seeing all of their first-strings go at in in their second go-round of '1's.
Lackawanna was very impressive with Keith Taggart leading the way not only at running back but on defense. Some big hits there.
Niagara-Wheatfield sure looked the part, sporting uniforms which looked ready for gameday, right down to every player's pulled-up red calf socks with a black Falcon logo on them. Coming off a winless season and with a new coach in Tim Hagerty, the program looks like it has a little spark. The sideline was extremely into the final offensive session against Iroquois in the first go-round.
Iroquois and Frontier both had good spurts in their session against each other, some nice run stuffs and scoring drives. Frontier got a spark on its offensive series after it made a change at quarterback.
It looked like a productive scrimmage for all four teams.
Here are the video highlights, which were included the best stuff I saw all day:
With six stops and 20 teams seen, now I'm off to Amherst for the final stop of the day.
6:25 p.m. Arrived at Amherst, which is hosting West Seneca West, Kenmore East and Hutch-Tech.
7:09 p.m. Saw some nice play at Amherst's Dimp Wagner Alumni Field, where it appeared that the hosts were the top unit -- not too surprising based on last season and the Tigers' returning experienced players, but certainly impressive nonetheless. Amherst is very fast, and they showed it off on both sides of the ball against a West Seneca West unit that made a few unforced errors, including some turnovers on offense. The Tigers had one player sprint from the backside to chase down a run, and also sped to big gains off of short passes.
Hutch-Tech had some nice run stops and moved the ball better than Kenmore East did in their two series.
The highlights:
And check this out -- I call it a day and walk off the field, and as I walk out of the gate, I run into Tonawanda coach Rob Gross. He was the first coach I saw this morning, and the last coach I see as I leave. Can't make this stuff up.
I think that gives us a very strong finish to our Scrimmage Saturday -- looks like we're ready to go for next weekend.
Hello again from Growney Stadium at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, site of the state semifinals in boys lacrosse for the Western half of the state.
We were here on Saturday for the Far West Regionals, when Silver Creek became the first Section VI team to win a regional game to advance to the state final four. The Black Knights will try to continue their historic playoff run as it faces Cazenovia of lacrosse power Section III (Syracuse area).
7:24 p.m. The game is scheduled for 8 p.m., but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. We have 4:32 left in the third quarter of the Class B game between Irondequoit and Jamesville-Dewitt (J-D just took a 4-1 lead).
8:03 p.m. We have a final score in the Class B game: Jamesville-Dewitt 9, Irondequoit 6.
With the ceremony going on now and warmups to follow, it's going to be a close call for my deadline, which is before 10 p.m.
8:13 p.m. Yikes. There are just over 26 minutes counting down on the scoreboard, giving us a first faceoff at about 8:40 p.m. Yikes again.
With that yikes-like stuff in mind, I'm going to do a lot of prep work before the game.
When the action starts, I'll go to the live blog below. Please be mindful that I'll do my best to post comments but my primary goal is to have an account of the action for my story. I won't be able to answer many questions if any. Thanks much for your understanding.
After the game, feel free to make comments on the post.
Hello from St. John Fisher, the site for today's Far West Regionals in boys lacrosse. The day starts with the Class A game between Clarence and Pittsford at 1, the Class B game pits Niagara-Wheatfield against Irondequoit at 3:30 and the Class C game has Silver Creek facing Penn Yan at 6.
1:17 p.m. No blog until now because there's been nothing to blog about.
We're in a lightning delay, with 17 minutes counting down on the scoreboard clock, so we're running a half hour behind. That's, of course, if there isn't any more lightning. Some good news is that a very steady rain has just let up a bit and the heretofore grey skies seem to be lightening (not to be confused with lightning).
In the mean time, feel free to browse our Section VI championships post, which includes a bunch of video interviews and a few highlights (from farrr away :-) ).
1:22 p.m. Update: The Class A faceoff is now scheduled for 1:55 p.m.
My take on today is that Clarence and Niagara-Wheatfield are not expected to win and it would be a surprise if either won. Pittsford is 19-0 and has been highly regarded all season; Irondequoit is a regular here and is 16-3 with two losses to Section V Class A teams (one was Pittsford) and one to Duxbury, Mass. In the regular season, the Section V teams in Class A and B have won nonleague games against Section VI teams to the point where it appears that Section V teams have the edge this year.
Now, Class C could be a lot of fun. Penn Yan is a state power and Silver Creek has had a season-long goal of making it to the state final four. No Section VI team has ever won the Class C regional since it was formed in 2000. It will be fun to see how the Black Knights' explosive offense and stickwork do up against one of the top programs in the state for decades.
Penn Yan is 16-3 against its typically tough schedule, but Section VI fans can point to Clarence's 7-6 win at Penn Yan as encouraging. Silver Creek recorded a big win over Orchard Park this season, and, of course, Clarence beat OP in the Section VI final.
1:56 p.m. That 1:55 time was pretty much dead-on. Teams are concluding warmups right now and introductions will soon begin.
2:10 p.m. My apologies on some browser problems at the start.
Pittsford calls a timeout with Clarence doubling the ball with 6:39 left in the first quarter.
Clarence's Jack Lally won the first faceoff, Clarence failed to convert an extra-man chance; senior Zach Johnson has had two great saves on Pittsford -- going low with the stick. One very poor turnover by Clarence a possession ago, but otherwise it's not like they look like they are out of place here.
2:14 p.m. Pittsford takes a 1-0 lead as Corey Parke blows by a short stick and scores on the left side with 4:40 left in the first.
It was a lengthy possession during which Johnson with another fine stop -- getting a leg on a shot.
2:16 p.m. James Burke rolls off a defender and scores nicely for a 2-0 Pittsford lead with 3:24 to go in the first.
2:18 p.m. Pittsford goalie is double-teamed near midfield and it's another timeout for the Panthers with 2:02 left in the first.
2:23 p.m. Man, Clarence has a knack for getting goals in the final seconds of quarters.
At the END OF THE FIRST QUARTER, Pittsford leads Clarence, 2-1.
The Red Devils got on the board with a really pretty play as Charles Warkenthien had his defender fall down; he then went to the cage, drew a defender and went cross-cage to Dave DeCirce to scored on the open side.
2:27 p.m. Tyler Skowronski drives and draws a foul with 9:42 left in first.
2:29 p.m. Great stick check by Andrew Larson gets possession for Pittsford after the expiration of the man-up.
2:30 p.m. Parke with a nice individual run down the left side and a goal for a 3-1 Pittsford lead with 6:57 left in the first. After a lengthy empty possession by Clarence, including the man-up, Parke got taht goal with some quick work.
2:33 p.m. Clarence gets a goal with 6:16 left on a very nice play by Wittig, who takes a hit but finds Troy Boller for the goal and a 3-2 game. The hit results in a man-up for Clarence, which wins the faceoff with Lally and a wing man doing nice work, and coach Mike Silverstein with 6:04 left in the second quarter.
2:38 p.m. Some nice defensive work by Clarence to get the ball down and the officials grant a timeout with 3:23 left in the second although the ball may have popped loose on a check. Pittsford coaches take turns yelling at the sideline official, with one marching down the sideline purposely to berate the referee.
2:43 p.m. Clarence has possession for the final minute, but they can't make it another quarter with a final-second goal.
At HALFTIME, Pittsford leads Clarence, 3-2.
2:55 p.m. We're going live-chat for the second half.
Here's the Class B game:
5:19 p.m. The second half has just started. We're going old school with the updates with the game pretty much out of hand. An official just visited the press box so the timekeeper was aware of the mercy rule, in which a running clock is instituted after a team takes a 12-goal lead.
5:22 p.m. Now 14-4 after Enright scores from Coholan with just under nine minutes left in the third quarter. N-W had a lengthy possession before that goal.
5:24 p.m. Timeout Niagara-Wheatfield with 7:49 left in third.
5:26 p.m. Miller scores off a pass from Kostyk with 6:04 left. ... Followed by George Jerman scoring right off the faceoff with 5:54 left in the third. A running clock starts after the next faceoff as it is now 16-4.
5:29 p.m. Bissell scores off a nice feed from Patterson to make it 16-5 and the clock stops at 5:00 left in the third.
5:36 p.m. With 29.7 seconds left in the third, Irondequoit scores with Brandon Costanzo and the lead is back to 12 at 17-5.
5:37 p.m. At the END OF THE THIRD QUARTER, Irondequoit leads Niagara-Wheatfield, 17-5.
5:40 p.m. Mo Bissel finishes off a pass from Dubec to make it 17-6 with 10:33 left.
5:42 p.m. Kostyk scores for a 18-6 lead with 9:22 left.
5:46 p.m. Brad Thomas answers an Irondequoit goal and with 5:24 left it is 19-7.
5:52 p.m. 20-7 after a man-up goal by Irondequiot's No. 23, who is not in the program. Not a good thing when players not in the program are scoring on you, of course.
Reported as Joel Romer.
5:54 p.m. We have a FINAL SCORE: Irondequoit 20, Niagara-Wheatfield 7.
6:30 p.m. Time for the Class C game. And back to the live blog ...
Here's Silver Creek's celebration from the sideline to the field:
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.
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.
