Notre Dame

Press release:

A total of 120 teen leaders from New York State, including six from St. Joseph Catholic School and Notre Dame High School in Batavia, targeted Altria Group executives and shareholders on Thursday, May 16^th, with an anti-tobacco, anti-nicotine message for the fourth consecutive year.

Their actions, centered outside the Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Va., and areas nearby, focused on why the tobacco giant baited consumers and public health officials with the promise of withdrawing pod-based nicotine products from the market in order to combat teen vaping use, only to invest billions in an e-cigarette company.

“Altria blamed nicotine pods and fruity flavors for fueling a surge in teen vaping,” said Brittany Bozzer, coordinator of the Reality Check program of Tobacco-Free GLOW. “If that’s the case, then why did they invest in Juul, the company that made these types of e-cigarettes so popular?”

Altria Group poured $12.8 billion into the e-cigarette company Juul Labs. This investment will allow Juul products to be displayed alongside regular cigarettes in the nation’s retail outlets, a combination that undercuts earlier promises Altria made with former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to clamp down on the youth vaping “epidemic.”

“Despite what they say, Altria spends billions marketing their deadly products right in front of us, first cigarettes and now Juul,” said Krysta Hansen, a Notre Dame High School sophomore and Reality Check champion.

“Their goal is to create a new generation of customers—just in a different product. Enough is enough, already!”

The demonstrating teens represent Reality Check of New York and some were dressed in waders and carried fishing poles with a fresh catch of Juul nicotine pods and Marlboro cigarettes dangling from them.

Eight Reality Check teens and two youth leaders were given shareholder proxy tickets and went inside the meeting to address corporate tobacco executives and ask questions.

Some youths took their stories right to the biggest fish – the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Altria Group, Howard Willard.

They want Altria executives, as well as the entire tobacco industry, to know that they won’t be “Fuuled” by Big Tobacco investment in Juul and will continue to carry out the awareness-raising work they start in Richmond in their communities back home.

Public health officials and youth leaders for Reality Check, who have successfully fought to eliminate youth-attracting marketing tactics like colorful packaging and candy flavors in cigarettes through the years, see this as their next big battle to reduce teen tobacco use.

Studies show that kids who shop in stores with tobacco marketing, such as gas stations and convenience stores, are 64 percent more likely to start smoking than their friends who don’t.

Reeling in more information:

Findings on youth tobacco use and tobacco industry marketing in places where children and young adolescents can see it indicate:

• The average age of a new smoker in New York is 13 years old, and 90 percent of adult smokers say they first tried smoking by age 18.
• The U.S. tobacco industry spent an estimated $9.5 billion on advertising and promotion of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in 2013. This includes nearly $220 million annually in New York State, or nearly $602,000 a day.
• Stores popular among adolescents contain almost three times more tobacco marketing materials compared to other stores in the same community.

Last week's Altria shareholders demonstration was a joint effort between Reality Check NY, No Limits of Nebraska, and Counter Tools of Chapel Hill, N.C., a nonprofit organization that provides training to public health workers who are working on point-of-sale tobacco control.

Reality Check is a teen-led, adult-run program that seeks to prevent and decrease tobacco use among young people throughout New York State.

In preparation for demonstrating on Thursday, the Reality Check youth spent all day Wednesday learning about tobacco control policies; how the tobacco industry contracts with retailers; and how they can stand up, speak out and make a difference in the fight against Big Tobacco.

For more information about Reality Check, visit realitycheckofny.org.

The New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Tobacco Control funds Tobacco-Free GLOW to increase support for New York State’s tobacco-free norm through youth action and community engagement. Efforts are evidence-based, policy-driven, and cost-effective approaches that decrease youth tobacco use, motivate adult smokers to quit, and eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.

Notre Dame High School kicked off Inclusion Month with an assembly this morning. In March, Notre Dame highlights diversity and acceptance of all people.

Notre Dame dominated Hammondsport in their first-round Class D1 Section V playoff game at Notre Dame on Wednesday night, winning 85-40.

Gabe Macdonald scored 27 points, Colin McCulley scored 17, and Keith Szczepanski added 14 to pace the Fighting Irish.

Spencer Misit scored eight and Andrew Moore scored six. In all, nine Irish put points on the board.

"I think this was a team effort and I thought everybody contributed," Coach Mike Rapone said. "We played really well on both ends of the floor and rebounded well, passed the ball well. Keith was dominant inside and we got him the ball in areas where he could be effective."

Rapone thinks the road to the Class D1 finals runs through Mount Morris, which is where the Irish, now 12-9 on the season, head to next at 7 p.m., Saturday. Mount Morris is ranked second and is 17-3.

"Mount Morris is a very good team," Rapone said. "They got a few guys who have been starting for three years. This is the year they've been pointing to. They think they got a chance to win it all which they do. So this is a big test for us."

Also on Wednesday night, Batavia beat PalMac 87-41. Coverage is coming.

Tomorrow:

• Elba vs. Bradford, 7 p.m. at Elba
• Alexander vs. Geneseo, 7 p.m., at Alexander

Longtime rival Notre Dame stopped Elba's effort to finish the regular season undefeated Tuesday night, beating the Lancers on their home court, 59-47.

Elba is now 18-1 and the Lady Irish are 18-2. Both teams have 13 league wins and so finish the regular season tied atop the Genesee Region.

Entering Class D2 sectional play, Elba should be the #1 seed as it shoots for its third consecutive sectional title.

Notre Dame is ranked #6 in Class B1. Batavia High School is ranked #1 entering into sectionals.

For the Irish, Callie McCulley scored 23 points and had 13 rebounds. Stevie Wilcox scored 12 points and had seven rebounds. Morgan Rhodes scored 10 points and Amelia McCulley scored eight.

UPDATE: Stats for Elba: Taylor Augello, 19 points and eight rebounds. Maddie Muelhig, 13 points, and Leah Bezon, seven points and seven rebounds.

For the seventh time in 13 games this season, the Alexander Trojans topped 60 points en route to their 10th win, beating Notre Dame at Notre Dame, 63-52.

Chris McClinic led the Trojans with 24 points, hitting a pair of three-point baskets along the way, and senior captain Ryan Davis scored 13 points.

"At the beginning, we were able to attack their two-three zone," said Trojan Coach Wayne Hanley. "We were able to get through it pretty quick and made them change things up. I thought Notre Dame did a good job shooting but we did a good job on the boards."

With eight wins against Genesee Region competition (10-3 overall), Alexander is tied for the league lead with Lyndonville and Elba. 

The Trojans lost a home game to Elba on Wednesday, 61-45, and have also lost to Greece-Odyssey, 91-54, and to Cal-Mum, 73-63.

"The kids are playing really well," Hanley said. "We faced some tough competition. Greece-Odyssey, then we played Cal-Mum, and that helped us prepare for the GR itself. The GR is very tough this year. We’ve played some tough games but we’ve been focused every game so I think that has really helped us out."

For Notre Dame, now 6-8, Spencer Misiti scored 16 points, Gabe Macdonald scored 12, and Zachary Cocking scored 11.

Thank you to Coach Hanley for participating in a video interview. Unfortunately, the audio did not come out well enought to use with this video.

UPDATED Jan. 19: WNY Rebels annual AAU Basketball Tryouts for boys and girls will be held on Sunday Jan. 27 and Sunday Feb. 10 at Norte Dame High School gymnasium. Cost is $10 per player. (Jan. 20 tryouts are cancelled due to the snowstorm.)

The school is located at 73 Union St. in the City of Batavia. Questions? Contact Otis Thomas via email at  otisthomas33@yahoo.com

The schedule both days will be as follows:

Fifth / Sixth Grade Girls -- 8 to 9 a.m.

Fifth / Sixth Grade Boys -- 9 to 10 a.m.

Seventh / Eighth Grade Girls -- 10 to 11 a.m.

Seventh / Eighth Grade Boys -- 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Ninth / 10th Grade Girls -- 12 to 1 p.m.

11th / 12th Grade Boys -- 1 to 2 p.m.

Ninth / 10th Grade Boys -- 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Last evening the Genesee region girls basketball rivals, Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus the Oakfield Hornets kept the crowd cheering on both sides for an entertaining evening contest at Notre Dame High School.

Both teams battled the ball through four quarters to a close four-point game after Oakfield scored with 16 seconds left on the clock trailing 41-37. A technical was called against the hornets and foul shots benefited the Irish favor in the remaining seconds to finish on top 45-37.

Oakfield’s Coach Jeff Schlagenhauf’s postgame summary:

“We talked about getting off to a good start in their gym, it’s a tough place to play but great environment for high school basketball. Defensively we stuck to what we wanted with our game plan.

"It all came together in that early part of the game, knowing full well that they would make adjustments. Coach McCulley does a great job with his kids. We were able to weather that storm going into halftime with the lead. But we talked in the locker room, they were going to keep coming, it’s their gym, they’re a good ball club and that’s what they did.

"They really kind of took it to us in the second half a little bit of the standpoint of taking us out of what we wanted us to do. Couple things changed for us after halftime -- offensively we stopped running our plays and could not get the drops. They got a couple easier baskets that did not happen for them in the first half.

"I think that was a little bit of the momentum shift that happened for us not being able to score and they took that lead, four, five points and kind of hung there the rest of the game."

Notre Dame’s Coach Tom McCulley postgame summary:

“After the first quarter being down by 10, we talked about not panicking and do what we can do, were a good team. Oakfield obviously came out with more energy than we did and they got up big, but we got players that can do good things out on the court offensively and defensively and by that we had to dig in, get some stops. 

"Oakfield was getting some easy buckets back in transition on us and we were not getting back very well in the beginning half. Once we started getting back and getting into a half court man to man coverage, they didn’t get so many good looks at the basket and we were able to claw back into it.

"We have some young players that are in new roles this year that have never been in before. When you play a quality team like Oakfield, sometimes you got to get your feet wet, you have to get in the rhythm of the game before you start to feel comfortable and that’s what exactly happened.

"We were able to weather the storm in the first half, Amelia and Sara got comfortable in the game and were the ones that were open. Oakfield was doubling Callie and Stevie when they were in the paint and Sara and Amelia knocked off some huge shots in the third quarter and that got us up and gave us a spark and we never really gave it back.”

Notre Dame Callie McCulley had 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks. Amelia McCulley added 12 points and Stevie Wilcox 10 points. Oakfield-Alabama Kelsey Shlagenauf had 15 points, Shelby Carson 10 points.

Photos by Thomas Ognibene. To view or purchase click here.

With Notre Dame down two starters, the Lady Irish could never quite get its offense in sync, giving Wellsville the chance to pull away with a 55-46 win in a round-one game of the annual Batavia Rotary Club Tournament at Genesee Community College.

With Stevie Wilcox and Emma Finch out, Wellsville was able to concentrate its defense of Callie McCully. Even so, McCully still came away with 26 points.

Amelia McCully scored nine points.

For Wellsville, Jana Whitehouse scored 19 points and Marley Adams scored 12 points.

Wellsville faces Batavia in the championship game Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Photos by Thomas Ognibene. To view or purchase photos, click here.

Oakfield-Alabama came back from a nearly game-long deficit late in the fourth quarter to tie its opening round game against Notre Dame in the Lions Tournament smaller schools bracket to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

The Hornets went on to win in overtime, 73-68.

Joey Burdick scored 21 points for OA, with Travis Wiedrich scoring 17, Aiden Johnston, 16, and Ty Kornow, 15.

For Notre Dame, Gabe McDonald had a double-double with 28 points and 13 rebounds. Spencer Misiti scored 12 points and Keith Szczepanski scored nine points.

In the smaller school bracket championship tonight at 7 p.m., the Hornets will play Elba.

Photos by Steve Ognibene. To view or purchase photos, click here.

Battle of high school hockey teams headlined the Falleti Ice Arena last evening where Notre Dame dominated Genesee Ice Devils 8-1.

In first-period action, the Irish came out flying led by Alex Totten who scored two goals and one assist. Max Hutchins added two assists and outshot Genesee 10-3 to lead 3-0 after the first period.

Second period Genesee had some opportunities and led in shots 10-8 but did not capitalize in the Irish zone. Hutchins added a goal and assist. Alonso Storey added his second goal of the night and Notre Dame led 5-0 after two periods. Storey also added a goal and assist later in the game.

The Irish added three more goals by Totten, Hutchins and Scott Tanner to lead 8-0. Ice Devils Ian Kemp replaced Alex Hunt midway through the third period. Goalie Mitchel Pangrazio for Notre Dame lost his shutout attempt with 12 seconds left in the game, where Carter Wasilewski put the puck over his glove to score for Genesee. Matt Frieday and Cameron Smith each picked up assists.

Pictured above is Alex Totten of Notre Dame scoring the first goal against Genesee’s Alex Hunt.

To view or purchase photos click here.

The Elba and Notre Dame early-season matchup at Elba was everything you expect an Elba vs. Notre Dame game to be: raucous crowd, and a battle to the end between two talented teams.

This time, the Lancers came out on top 52-48, but it wasn't easy.

The Fighting Irish built up a 10-point lead, thanks to some hot shooting from Lucas Calarco and Spencer Masiti, and led 33 to 27 at the break but Elba kept the pressure on throughout the second half and seemed to wear Notre Dame down by the fourth quarter.

"We shot the ball pretty well," said Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Rapone. "Our biggest thing tonight is we didn’t execute the last four minutes. We took some bad shots. We made some bad turnovers and made a few defensive mistakes. When you’re doing that on the road, you’re not going to come out on top against a good team."

The Lancers were led by Jon Boyce, who scored 28 points and snagged 19 rebounds.

"John's one of the best players in Class D basketball," said his Coach Ciaci Zambito "The way he worked, the way he's gotten himself into shape and just his dedication, he deserves a game like tonight. He went out on his last home game against Notre Dame and I think he made a statement for himself. I'm super proud of him."

With Elba down two key players, Colton Dillon and Gregory Huntington, Boyce said he knew his role on the team but that didn't put any pressure on him.

"It sometimes feels like it's on me but then again it's not on me because I look at our team, I look at who is out there, who's out there playing with me," Boyce said. "Everyone knows their roles. We all have our own strengths."

This game, freshman Zack Marshall stepped up and contributed 11 points, hitting three three-point shots in the second half to help give Elba the boost it needed to mount a comeback.

For Notre Dame, Gabe Macdonald scored 15 points. Misiti and Calarco each scored nine points.

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