It's a pretty nice lineup of high school action tonight. Lauren Mariacher and I will be hitting at least a few stops tonight.
We'll both be starting our night at the 6 p.m. girls basketball game as No. 1 small school Cardinal O'Hara takes on No. 6 large school Nardin at Canisius High School.
Other possible stops on a busy night: Also at 6, McKinley hosts Middle Early College in a boys basketball matchup of ranked schools; at 7, the St. Joe's and Canisius hockey teams go at it at Northtown Center; at 8 p.m., St. Joe's basketball hosts Bishop Kearney of Rochester. There are also some key ECIC II boys hoops games as Hamburg heads to Sweet Home and Williamsville South plays at Iroquois.
I'll have updates from games in the live blog below either directly in the blog or by using #preptalkscores updates on Twitter that will appear in the blog.
One of Western New York’s own, Bill Hurley, will speak on Monday at the Elks Lodge, 33 Legion Parkway in Lancaster as part of the WNY Football Coaches’ Association weekly clinic.
Hurley, a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, is currently an assistant coach at Robert Morris University.
His career as a quarterback at St. Joe's was punctuated by a sensational 1974 senior season in which he was honored as first-team All-Catholic, first team All-Western New York and first-team All-New York State. Hurley set many single-season and career records at St. Joe's, the most significant was his 381-yard rushing total (on 17 carries) against Bishop Turner, a New York State record.
At Syracuse, he continued to put up big numbers. As a sophomore, Hurley threw for 329 yards against ninth-ranked Penn State, breaking the school record by nearly 100 yards. Hurley was a four-year starter at Syracuse (as well as captain and team MVP junior and senior years), and set 23 game, season, and career records. He became just the third quarterback in modern NCAA history to rush for at least 2,000 yards and pass for at least 3,000 yards in a career.
A two-time honorable mention All-American and All-East quarterback, Bill was ECAC Offensive Player of the Year in 1979, selected for the Blue/Gray Football Classic, and was MVP of the East/West Shrine Game and Hula Bowl. He also led the Orange to an Independence Bowl championship in 1979. Hurley spent four seasons in the NFL as a safety with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, and Buffalo Bills.
Note: The interviews in this video are, in order, with St. Mary's coach Dan Gill, St. Mary's senior Erik Simmons (not Canisius), St. Mary's senior Devin Redden (not Jake Cercone), Canisius coach Kyle Husband, Canisius senior Aaron White (not Erik Simmons), Canisius senior Matt Hart, and Bishop Timon-St. Jude coach Jim Palano. Our apologies regarding some technical errors on-screen.
For those who won't be able to attend Saturday's showdown of St. Joe's at Canisius (this reporter is one of them due to a family event), there is a chance to watch the action.
Canisius is doing a web broadcast of the game as it launches what it is calling its "CHS Sports Network."
The game will be called by past Canisius parent John Murphy, the voice of the Buffalo Bills and sports anchor at WIVB Channel 4, and current parent, Jack Armstrong, the color analyst for the Toronto Raptors television broadcasts and the NBA on TSN.
The showdown of the No. 1 large school Marauders, who are coming off a stunning upset home loss to St. Francis, and the No. 2 Crusaders, who won in overtime at Bishop Timon-St. Jude the same night, is the third of three games at Canisius' Bernard J. Kennedy Field House. The freshman game is at noon with the JV game at 1:30 p.m.
As Canisius' press release advises, fans should get there early. The gym "traditionally reaches capacity before the tipoff of the varsity matchup at 3:30 p.m."
The broadcast is a great idea, and I'm not just saying that because I'll be out of town. For schools like St. Joe's -- which has been a leader in school broadcasts as it has done web radio for both football and basketball the last few seasons -- and Canisius, it is certainly a great way to share their biggest games with their extensive alumni in Western New York and beyond.
PrepTalkTV was on the court and the ice Thursday night -- and that's where St. Joe's won a pair of big games.
Check out highlights, interviews and analysis as well as coverage of big wins for MST Seneca and Frontier -- plus a lookahead to the season's final week:
Tonight, our focus is on one game, as it should be.
We'll have a live blog going below from the terrific 7 p.m. matchup of top-ranked large school Canisius at No. 3 St. Joe's.
Tweets to the hashtag #preptalkscores will automatically show up there. So if you are out at one of tonight's many other good matchups, and you're updating that game via Twitter, be sure to include that hashtag. I'll have periodic tweets updating the game at @KeithMcSheaBN, but most of my updating will come in the live blog.
Check out tonight's full schedule on our scoreboard page, and check back throughout the night for updated box scores and highlights.
See you out at the big game, in the chat and on the tweeter. :-)
Add another postseason honor for St. Joe's quarterback Chad Kelly.
Kelly, who was The Buffalo News Player of the Year and was the only player from New York to participate in last week's Under Armour All-American game, was announced today as the New York State Sportswriters Association Class AA Player of the Year.
Here are the Plays of the Weekend for Week Five of high school football.
Watch video highlights below and vote in the poll:
1. Patterson Off To The Races: Alden's Justin Patterson left defenders in his path as he ran 76 yards on this touchdown run in Alden's 14-13 win over Depew in a battle of unbeatens.
2. Kelly Krunch: It isn't very often Chad Kelly gets sacked, but St. Francis' Joseph Smith delivered the quarterback quite the blow on this play. St. Joe's defeated St. Francis 27-20.
3. Akeel Airborn: St. Francis' Akeel Lynch usually uses his feet to get the ball to the end zone. This time he sent some airmail 35 yards to Jarrett Dolegala for The Red Raiders' first score of the game.
4. Lake Shore Sack Attack: Lake Shore's defense delivered back-to-back- sack's to South Park's quarterback Maurice Howie in the first quarter. Final score: Lake Shore 29, South Park 6.
5. Zach Zips On By: St. Francis' Zachary Wells wiggled through defenders to return this kickoff 78 yards and into the end zone.
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.
