Prep Talk

By Keith McShea

For this week's PrepTalkTV Weekly -- which you can see right here tonight at 9 -- we'll welcome a team fresh off one of the biggest wins in school history (and that's any sport). We'll have the Cardinal O'Hara girls team on one night after beating Sacred Heart in a battle of Western New York's No. 1s.

And yes, we said the team. Part of the reason that O'Hara is a great story -- besides its undefeated record -- is that there are just eight players on the team, so they'll all be on hand along with coach Dan McDermott. 

We'll have another loaded show of highlights from boys and girls hoops as well as hockey, wrestling and swimming -- including a couple of "[BN] The Locker Room" videos of coaches' pregame speeches. We'll also have more highlights in PrepTalkTV Rewind as well our weekly look at the boys basketball polls and a look ahead to this weekend and beyond.

As usual after PrepTalkTV Weekly, I'll have a live chat following the show.

Here's a rundown of the show:

0:00 -- Opening, discussion of McShea's Prep Talk column on Depew Boys & Girls Club
3:10 -- Interview with Cardinal O'Hara girls basketball team, including coach Dan McDermott, senior Leah McDonell and junior Keyonte Edwards
13:40 -- Clarence hockey's win over Frontier, featuring [BN] The Locker Room footage of coach Rick Brooks
18:30 -- Canisius boys swimming dominates St. Joe's to start strong weekend
21:45 -- Canisius boys basketball moves to No. 1 in The News poll and the state Class A poll; featuring [BN] The Locker Room with coach Kyle Husband from Friday's win at Timon
25:50 -- Look at this week's boys basketball polls
28:10 -- PrepTalkTV Rewind (St. Francis wrestling, Iroquois girls basketball, a special guest star on the Bucky & Sully show), followed by discussion of concussions in football and a mention of locals on National Signing Day
35:55 -- Discussion of this weekend's big championship wrestling meets
38:05 -- A look ahead to upcoming action from Thursday to Tuesday; closing.

Continue reading "PrepTalkTV Weekly starred Cardinal O'Hara girls hoops; live chat talked seedings we're expecting" »

The News' tribute to the state champions of the fall season continued today with a poster page devoted to the Clarence girls swimming team.

We have run poster pages on Orchard Park football (with the All-Western New York team on Dec. 3) as well as girls volleyball champions Eden (Dec. 26) and St. Mary's (Dec. 31).

You can purchase high-quality versions of the championship pages at buffalonewsstore.com.

There will also be a page devoted to the state cross country champions.

The Scholastic Spotlight page returns on Tuesday, as do the basketball polls.

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

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

 Sydney Modeas of Clarence on the pros and cons of having the state swim meet in your own backyard:

  "It would be fun to travel just to stay in a hotel with your team that kind of team-bonding stuff," she said. "It does help that you can sleep in your own bed and eat your own food. You're not tired or tight from long car rides. I feel both ways. If it was somewhere else, I'd enjoy it, but being here is fine too. I swim at this pool [ECC] so much it's kind of like my home pool kinda. I like that the walls are not slippery. It feels good. Water sometimes feels thick, but this is like the perfect texture." 

---Mary Jo Monnin