Section V

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish staged a furious comeback on Saturday night, rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period to force overtime, before dropping a 4-3 decision to Irondequoit in Section 5 hockey action at Lakeshore Hockey Arena and Sports Center in Rochester.

Junior Vin DiRisio’s goal with 35 seconds left in regulation – after Coach Marc Staley had pulled freshman goaltender Frank Falleti Jr. for an extra attacker – tied the game for the Irish, who fought back after trailing 2-0 after the first period (for the second straight game) and 3-1 early in the third period.

With the loss, the Irish end the regular season at 7-3-1 and finish second to Irondequoit, 9-2-1, in their division.

Notre Dame, however, held on to the No. 1 seed for the Section V Class A Tournament due to its strength of schedule and posting six victories over teams with winning records.

“You get more power-ranking points by beating teams with winning records,” Staley said, who added that ND earned points for taking the game to overtime.

The Irish will face either Pittsford or Webster Schroeder on Tuesday night at the Batavia Ice Rink in the first round of the eight-team tournament.

Hilton and Victor, both at 10-2, are seeded second and third, respectively, while Gates/Wayne/EI/Wheatland, 9-3, is the fourth seed.

In last night’s game, Irondequoit took control early as sophomore defenseman Leo Letta redirected a shot by senior forward Bryce Billitier past Falleti at the 2:44 mark.

With senior goaltender Vaughn Letta thwarting several excellent chances by junior Gavin Schrader, Vin DiRisio and freshman Joe DiRisio, Irondequoit was able to take a 2-0 lead at 12:40 when Eli Velepec beat Falleti after passes by Billitier and Bruin Giudice set it up.

The Irish began to assert themselves in the second period as Schrader’s relentless work in the corners and rushes up the ice put Irondequoit on its heels. Falleti made a couple of sparkling saves as well to prevent the Eagles increasing their lead.

Goaltender Letta continued to come up big for Irondequoit until a Vin DiRisio slapshot beat him at the 10:23 mark with ND in a two-man advantage situation. Cooper Hamilton and Joe DiRisio assisted.

ND outshot Irondequoit 14-5 in a period marked by some hard checking and, at times, “chippy” play.

In the third period, only 32 seconds had elapsed when Irondequoit's Jordan Flynn, who was closing in to Falleti’s right, fired a cross-ice pass to Billitier, who tucked it into the open side of net to make it 3-1.

The Irish wasted little time pulling within a goal again as Joe DiRisio got one past Vaughn Letta with help from Schrader and Wyatt Krolczyk at 1:55.

ND continued to put pressure on Irondequoit but goalie Letta stood tall. When he stymied Schrader in front of the net with 47 seconds left, it looked bleak for the visitors.

After an Irondequoit timeout, Falleti headed to the bench as ND had a faceoff in Irondequoit’s zone. The move paid off when Vin DiRisio slapped the loose puck past Letta. Schrader and Joe DiRisio assisted.

In the five-minute overtime, Joe DiRisio had a golden opportunity in front of the net but, again, Letta was equal to the task. Moments later, Leo Letta skated free and drilled it past Falleti to the glove side.

With the win, Irondequoit earned the No. 1 seed in the highly competitive Section V Class B Tournament, which features four other teams with just two or three losses – Canandaigua Academy, Penfield, Brockport and Webster Thomas.

The Irish fired 39 shots to Irondequoit’s 28 after being outshot 12-9 in the first period.

“We did not play a solid first period for the second game in a row, but it’s also the second game in a row that we battled back,” Staley said. “Going down 3-1 in the first shift of the third period, a lot of teams would have folded. But this team didn’t. They showed something to each other tonight that they’re in this thing to battle right to the end.”

For the season, Schrader has 17 goals and 17 assists, Vin DiRisio has 17 goals and 13 assists and Joe DiRisio has 12 goals and seven assists. Hamilton and Krolczyk have 14 and 13 assists, respectively. Falleti has a 3.41 goals against average.

Photo: Zack Gilebarto and Stone Silverling combined for 41 points on Tuesday night to lead host Batavia to a 62-51 win over Greece Olympia to raise its record to 4-0.

An emotional Senior Night at Batavia High School started off for Head Coach Buddy Brasky introducing his senior players by player appreciating them for the hard work and dedication.

This despite a season that was going to be empty -- with no stats, records and history for the basketball squad in the nearly 40 years of his coaching career due to the coronavirus pandemic. These boys were excited to play when they found out that the season was a go.

The Devils opened up with a six-point early lead in the first quarter. The Greece Olympia High School Spartans came within two, 11-9 after one quarter.

A seesaw second quarter exchanged buckets by both teams to a 17-17 tie with two minutes left in the half. A big three-point bucket by senior Zack Gilebarto ignited the Devils to a 10-point run to make it 27-17 with 20 seconds left. At the half, Batavia led by seven, 29-22.

In the third quarter, Batavia expanded its lead to 41-25. GO was held to only 6 points in the quarter.

Midway through the fourth GO showed some signs of life with 10 points by Nate Miller and eight points by Darrell Williams, but Batavia held on to win. Gilebarto scored 22 and Stone Siverling 19, while Alex Hale tallied 12 points for Batavia.

Batavia will play Greece Olympia on the road this Saturday at 2:15 p.m.

To view and or purchase prints, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene.

Yesterday at Pinnacle Athletic Complex in Victor the Batavia Blue Devils indoor track squad set the bar higher with new personal records in multiple events.

Since announcing the start of the season in January the double-digit Section V squad for both boys and girls have had challenges to overcome.

Head indoor track Coach Nicholas Burk said “Our athletes have now been practicing for five weeks and we're just starting to see the results of consistent training. It takes time to see results from our workouts, but we're reaching that point of our season where our athletes times and performances are going to start improving.”

In a phone interview after the meet, Burk spoke about new rules with COVID-19 for student athletes, training and the outlook this season.

"We've been very fortunate for the opportunity to practice and honestly besides keeping small separate groups in practice, we've been able to have pretty consistent and productive training," the coach said. "We've been utilizing the weight room, Van Detta, the high school gyms, and running outside for practice.

"With approximately 80 athletes involved, we've had to use multiple locations to keep our groups small. We have two remaining league meets but are looking for some event specific meets to go to as well. Some of our pole vaulters went to a pole vault meet at Gates, and we're hosting a high jump/shot put meet this week.

"Sectionals is on March 7th and our girls’ team will be competing for their 17th Sectional Championship and our boys are looking for their 10th. We don't have all of the information for Sectionals yet, but we expect it will be a very tough meet with great competition. We'll keep working towards our goals try to be ready to compete March 7^th.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Team Highlights

Boys

Jacob Long / 44' 2" Shot -- (First Place)

Austyn Fernandez / 41' 8.5" Shot – (PR) (Second Place)

Dan Seava / 40' 10.75" Shot – (PR) (Third Place)

Fabian Vazquez / 55 Hurdles -- 8.63 (First Place)

Jesse Reinhardt / High Jump -- 5'10" (Second Place)

Jamarion RIchardson / 55m -- 7.01 (Third Place)

Jamarion Richardson / 300m -- 40.80 

Jonah Epps, Cody Harloff, Nate Canale, Dom Grillo / 4x8 team -- 9.33.30 (First place)

Girls

Rebekah Daniszewski / 37' 10.75" Shot -- (First Place)

Emma Radka / 28' 9.75" Shot – (PR)

Elizabeth Kingston / 25' 10" Shot – (PR)

Samantha Davis / 19' 10.25" Shot – (PR)

Campbell Riley / 1,000m -- 3:35.82 (Third Place)

Melanie Quinones / 3,000m -- 13:25.92 (First Place)

Melanie Quinones / High Jump -- 4' 6" (Second Place)

Team information provided from coaches Buckenmeyer, Boyce and Geiger.

For all results click here.

Press release:

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, the Section V Athletic Council met and determined the tournament structure for winter high-risk sports.

The team sports of boys basketball, girls basketball, and ice hockey will have a closed sectional tournament in which only the top eight teams in each classification will make their sectional tournament. Wrestling will hold class sectional tournaments starting on March 12.

The Fall II Sports Season (which includes boys volleyball, competitive cheerleading, football, and girls volleyball) will begin on March 1, and the regular season will end on April 23. Sectionals must be completed by May 2.

Indoor Track & Field is now looking to host a sectional tournament starting on Thursday, March 4.

Press release:

Today (Jan. 26) at 4 p.m. members of the Athletic Council, the governing body of Section V Athletics, voted on many items related to the authorization of high-risk sports to begin on Feb. 1, pending approval from local departments of health. Any section of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) has the authority to determine a later start date than what is provided by NYSPHSAA.

All high-risk sports will need approval from their local departments of health before they can proceed. Section V Athletics reaches 12 different local departments of health and the request for approval has been made to each of them as of Monday, Jan. 25.

Winter high-risk sports are basketball, ice hockey and wrestling. The winter high-risk sports season will begin on Monday, Feb. 1, pending department of health approval. The regular season must end by Saturday, March 6, and sectionals will conclude by Sunday, March 14. Our leagues are now responsible to determine the regular-season schedule within the dates mentioned above. 

For the winter high-risk sports season, the sectional tournaments will be a closed sectional format to be determined and all events will be hosted at the higher seed. The Fall II sports are competitive cheerleading, football and volleyball. We will finalize start and end dates for the Fall II sports season in the coming weeks.

Spring sports are baseball, boys golf, boys tennis, lacrosse, softball, and track & field. The NYSPHSAA spring sports season start date is Monday, April 19. We will continue to be sensitive to spring sports that have already missed a complete season and sectional/state championship last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

At this time, only two spectators per athlete are permitted according to the New York State Department of Health, but local departments of health can be more restrictive. Section V will make every attempt to livestream events as they were in the previous seasons. 

Section V Athletics announced eight scholarship winners today to fall sports student-athletes, including one from Genesee County.

The $250 scholarship is awarded to students who excel in scholastics and athletics. Winners are selected based on a letter of recommendation from their coach, their high school transcript and activities sheet, as well as their responses to application questions. There were more than 80 applications for this season’s scholarships.

Press release from Section V:

Girls Soccer: Hope Hersom, Byron-Bergen High School
Hope has been playing soccer for six years, and also participates in basketball and track and field.

She says that highlights from this season include “getting to play my last season with an amazingly talented and young team, making it to the final round of sectionals, and all the positive support I received from my school, family and friends.”

In the fall Hope plans to attend college to study Mechanical Engineering.

She shares that one word that best describes herself is “positive -- no matter what the score was, what was going on, or whether it was a game or practice, I always walked off the field with a smile and encouraging words.”

Last evening at Van Detta Stadium the Batavia Girls Varsity Soccer Team defeated Midlakes in a thriller three-hour Section V class B1 quarter final game by a score of 2-1 in two shootouts.

Batavia jumped to an early 1-0 lead eight minutes before halftime on a tip in goal by Olivia Halpin. In the second half, 13 minutes later Midlakes score off a corner kick tip in by Batavia's goal keeper to even the score at 1.

Both teams were evenly matched and shots ending the regular play was 11-10 in Batavia's favor. Batavia's Ava Reinhart had a chance in the second overtime to win the game with a miss in the top right corner crossbar. 

In the third overtime Batavia's next best chance was on a pass from Olivia Halpin to Piper Harloff that just missed in front of Midlakes' goalkeeper.  After the fourth overtime, the game went unchanged to a fifth overtime shootout. Both teams scored three goals and missed two.

Then a final sixth overtime decided in a single round robin play. Isabella Walsh scored for Batavia and goal keeper Maddie Barone stopped Midlakes on her attempt to end the game by a 2-1 win to advance Batavia to the class B1 semifinals versus eight seed Greece Olympia this upcoming Monday evening.

Greece Olympia won by forfeit to undefeated number one seed Pal-Mac because of their school is shutdown due to COVID-19.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene.

The Lady Dragons knew going into this game not to underestimate the 11^th seed Letchworth Indians Saturday afternoon at Gates Chili High School where the Class C1 Section V division title was on the line. 

Both teams tested each other’s game plan and remained even through the first quarter with Letchworth leading 10-9 after 1. Pembroke’s Emily Peters led the team with three three-point buckets along with a couple buckets by Dekari Moss and Serene Calderon to get a nine-point lead into halftime 29-20.

Brooke Degroff scored twice for Letchworth in the second quarter and finished third in points on the afternoon with eight. The Indians could not connect in the second quarter with some missed shots and Pembroke's defense holding tight in the paint.

Second half the Indians kept the Dragons scoreless through the first four minutes of play. Dana Callaro hit a big three-point bucket to ignite Letchworth on a ball controlling third quarter where the Indians were on a roll, hitting four more points in the paint. Pembroke did not give in and after a timeout was called they seesawed the points with Letchworth to lead by one -- with the score at 35-34 after three periods of play.

Fourth quarter Pembroke tightened their defense and, like the second quarter, Letchworth's luck was running out. Many missed field goals helped the Dragons capitalize and Serene hit a big three-point bucket to lift the lead to four and go on a point-scoring streak. Indians got into foul trouble, Dekari Moss and MacKenna Johnson both scored buckets and free throws to help the team win the game and back-to-back titles in two years.

Calderon finished the game with sixteen points, Peters 15 points and Moss 14 points for the Dragons. Indians' scorers Bliss and Callaro had 11 and 9 points, respectively.

Photos by Thomas Ognibene via Steve Ognibene Photography.

To view or purchase prints click here.

The second-seeded Batavia High Blue Devils rallied from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to force overtime before dropping a 63-58 decision against visiting Newark tonight in the quarterfinals of the Section 5 Class B1 boys’ basketball tournament.

A long two-point basket by junior guard Zach Gilebarto with 6.6 seconds left in regulation tied the score at 48-48 and, following a miss at the buzzer by Newark’s Josh Green, the teams moved into the four-minute OT.

The Blue Devils took a 50-48 lead in the opening seconds of the extra period on a layup by senior center Camden White, but it was short-lived as senior guard Dustin Case nailed a three-pointer to put the Reds up 51-50.

Newark went ahead 53-50 on a put-back by senior forward Devin Agosto before Gilberto came through again with another three-pointer to knot things up at 53-53.

Two free throws and a short jumper by Agosto gave the visitors a 57-53 edge but White sank a layup at the 1:20 mark to pull BHS within two.

The Reds made it 59-55 on a pair of free throws by senior forward Blade Case, before Gilberto responded with a three-point play on a driving layup and foul shot to make it 59-58 with 12.9 seconds to play.

Batavia fouled Case who calmly made two free throws to put Newark up 61-58 and, following timeouts by both teams, a three-point shot by senior guard Caeden White bounced off the rim.

A pair of free throws by Green with 1.6 seconds left closed out the scoring and enabled Newark to avenge a 48-47 regular-season loss to Batavia on Feb. 11 in Newark.

In tonight's rematch, Newark took a 14-10 lead after the first quarter -- Camden White scored seven of his game-high 17 points to keep Batavia within striking distance – before Batavia responded to take a 26-22 halftime advantage behind five points each from junior guard Alex Hale and junior forward Stone Siverling.

A pair of three-point shots by Blade Case in the third quarter sparked the Reds to a 36-31 lead as Batavia struggled from the field, hitting just two baskets in the period.

The Newark lead ballooned to 45-35 with 4:22 left in the final stanza before the home team staged a furious comeback.

A free throw by Gilberto and two by Camden White after an offensive rebound made it 45-38. A steal resulted in two more free throws by Gilberto, before Green sank two free throws for Newark to put the score at 47-40 with only 1:06 on the clock.

Batavia wasn’t finished, however, as Gilberto sank a three-pointer from the top of the key to pull his team within four. A free throw by Blade Case made it 48-43 but a corner three by Hale with 25 seconds left gave Batavia life.

Hale committed his fifth foul to stop the clock and the strategy worked when Newark missed at the foul line, giving Batavia another chance and setting the stage for Gilebarto’s clutch basket just inside the three-point line to tie the score at 48-48 and push the contest into overtime.

Gilebarto scored 16, Hale 14 and Siverling nine for Coach Buddy Brasky’s squad, which finished its season at 14-7 and played the final game on the BHS gymnasium floor as a new one is scheduled to go in on July 1.

For Newark, Green led the way with 16 while Blade Case had 14, Agosto 14 and Dustin Case 12.

The seventh-seeded Reds, 12-10, advance to the semifinals against No. 3 Waterloo. The other semifinal match pits No. 1 Geneva against No. 5 Hornell. The semis are scheduled for Tuesday night.

Top photo: Batavia's Zach Gilebarto launches a game-tying long shot with 6.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime.

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

Below,​ Camden White scores inside for Batavia.

Below, Max Rapone fights for a loose ball.

Below, Newark's Devin Agosto drives to the basket.

Below, the Blue Zoo cheering on their Blue Devils.

Below, Alex Hale gets ahead of the field for a layup.

Below, faces tell the story as time runs out after a hard-fought game.

The Oakfield-Alabama/Elba Aggies racked up 514 yards on their way to a 55-0 victory at Van Detta Stadium in the eight-man football Section V semifinal game against Frewsburg.

OA/Elba plays Mercy Grove at Van Detta at 1:30 p.m. next Saturday (Nov. 16) for the sectional championship.

QB Colton Dillon ran for 193 yards and scored three touchdowns. Ty Mott ran for 155 yards and scored two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.

Ty Kornow scored on a 59-yard run and Gaige Armbrewster scored on a 30-yard run. Nick Munger had a TD reception.

Peyton Yasses was involved in 18 tackles, Jayden Hughes and Dylan Rykert, 14 each, Alex Hoy, 13. Rykert had four sacks, CJ Gottler, three, and Yasses, Hughes, Dillon had one apiece. Joey Burdick had two interceptions.

The Batavian's sideline coverage is authorized by Section V Athletics.

Photos below by Kristin Smith. More photos available here and here.

Top seed Byron–Bergen Bees faced the number two Le Roy Knights in Section V Class C Girls Volleyball Championship in Avon Friday night.

In the first match, Le Roy seemed to dominate and was threatening to upset the perennial favorite Bees. As the match ended, with the teams swapping the lead with every position, the Bees came out on top.  

In the second match, the Bees controlled the Knights and led the entire match for a Bees' win.

In the third march, the Knights rallied back and won. 

The fourth Match was all Bees. They went to work and easily finished off the Knights to win the series. 

Byron–Bergen won 3 to1 for the sectional championship.  

Congratulations to both teams for terrific winning seasons. 

The Batavian's coverage of sectional play is authorized by Section V Athletics. 

Last evening at Eastridge High School, Batavia girls swim team defeated Eastridge 87-56. Batavia won points in eight of 11 events, picking up their second win of the season.

For a complete list of results click here: Eastridge vs. Batavia

Photos by Steve Ognibene.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

In a very tight sectional semifinal class D3 matchup Notre Dame of Batavia edged CG Finney last evening in five sets 25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20 at Wayland Cohocton High School.

Notre Dame took the first set win but CG Finney came on strong catching the Irish down two sets to one. Lots of energy flowed from play to play for Finney, which carried the momentum into the fourth but the Irish delivered with some key kills and digs to force a deciding set.

The Irish got off their heels and back in the game in the fifth to win it and send them to the finals against Hammondsport, who they play at SUNY Geneseo college tomorrow at 3 p.m. There was a lot of heart played by both teams especially the underdogs CG Finney.

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Section V Girls Championships were held yesterday Rochester Institute of Technology college. The Batavia cheerleading team won the Division 2, Small A school sectional title, which ended the nine-year drought since back in 2008.  

"We had a rough start," said Co-Coach Stacy Squire. "We had to change everything the day before homecoming when unveiling the new routine. Placed second in our first two competitions but kept improving our scores and working hard.

"These kids worked so hard this season and wanted this more than anything. Justine and I couldn't be more proud and happy for them!"

Senior Elisa Swinehart, pictured below with both coaches, was chosen for the Nancy Saxton Leadership Award, which is given to a senior on the championship team. 

Coach Squires spoke of how Elisa was chosen for this award. She is the definition of dedication to her team. Cheerleading is her passion, it shows in practice and performance times. She is first to be ready to start practice and the last to make sure the mats are rolled every day. She inspires her team to push themselves and get what her coaches ask of her done.

Pictured above, from left, in front row: Kelsey Verton, Natalie Clark, Bethany Ruffino, Felicity Anderson, Lydia Wahr, Taylor Smith​.

Back row, from left: Coach Stacy Squire, Elisa Swinehart, Morgan Olverd, Karleigh Amthor, Julie Wetsell, Kendra Cook and Coach Justine Briggs.

Not pictured: Kristen Corp.

Story and photos submitted by Stacy Squire and Sherri Buchholz Wahr​.

A new high school football season opens tonight, but if you were hoping to see a game, you'll need to get out of Genesee County to do it.

All three local teams with games this evening -- Batavia, Oakfield-Alabama and Le Roy -- are starting the season on the road.

The only home game this weekend is Elba/Byron-Bergen hosting Alexander. Game time is 1:30 p.m., Saturday.

Tonight, the Batavia Blue Devils open a new era under Head Coach Brennan Briggs, the son of a Section V Hall of Fame head coach who had great success over two seasons as the JV coach at Batavia.

Game time in Bath is 7:30 p.m.

Oakfield-Alabama is in Attica at 7 p.m. and Le Roy's game is at 7:30 p.m. in Geneseo (WBTA will broadcast this game).

Other games tomorrow include Notre Dame at Holley (1:30 p.m.) and Pembroke at Finney (1:30 p.m.).

Coverage note: The Batavian will cover tomorrow's game in Elba. I know there are many Blue Devils fans eager for us to cover BHS, but that won't be possible until week 5. BHS is on the road tonight and next week, and I'll be out of town during weeks three and four. Next week we'll cover O-A at Notre Dame. Week 5, we'll cover Hornell at Batavia. Coverage for weeks 6 and 7 will depend on which games will most likely determine who's going to sectionals.