byron

Back in 1982, the Batavia Lions Club and Pete Arras decided putting together a basketball tournament would be a good idea to give some good basketball teams a chance to play on the court at Genesee Community College and make it possible for Batavia and Notre Dame to play each other.

Little could anybody have known, here we are in 2008 and the tournament is stronger than ever. It is also probably regarded as one of, if not, the best boys basketball holiday tournament in Section 5. There are typically around 2,000 people that attend the tournament at GCC every year.

That original tournament featured Batavia, Notre Dame, a very good Byron-Bergen squad and Albion. (The photo above is the original photo of the coaches).

With the Fighting Irish and Bees hooking up late in the previous season, so that was a great way to start the tourney. The two squads played in February with B-B winning 51-48. 

The opening round rematch was a stunner, with Byron-Bergen knocking off Notre Dame 54-43. Albion knocked off Batavia 62-45 

The Bees went on to claim the first Batavia Lions Club championship with 35-30 win over Albion, with Bill Ferris claiming the MVP trophy.

Ferris was also the MVP in the second year as the Bees routed ND 47-30 and then Batavia 80-43.

Notre Dame was the favorite when they matched up with B-B in the finals in the tournament's third year, but it was again the Bees claiming the title with a 52-48 victory. Notre Dame's Jim Pursel was actually the MVP of that tournament, mostly because of his 29 point effort in the opening round win over Albion.

History was made in 1985 when Batavia and Notre Dame finally had a chance to play each other in the finals. With ND playing in the Genesee Region League and Batavia in the Monroe County League, these teams never get a shot to go against each other.

Tournament MVP Ron Nenni dropped in 20 points and the Fighting Irish toppled Batavia 65-52.

The tournament has seen many changes in participants over the years, with teams like Oakfield-Alabama, Attica, John Marshall, Nichols, Bishop Timon, Perry, Williamsville North, Akron, Pembroke, Le Roy, Caledonia-Mumford, Iroquois and Alexander all having experienced playing in the classic tournament.

Despite not winning until 1989, Batavia leads the tournament with wins with 13. The Blue Devils have won the last four titles, and seven of eight. Timon knocked Batavia off in overtime in the opening round of the 2003 tournament and then toppled Notre Dame 48-44 in the finals.

Byron-Bergen - which hasn't played in the tournament since 1994 is tied with Notre Dame for  second in tournament titles with five. 

Perry has won two championships and Timon has the other.

There have been some special performances over the years. The most recent was by Batavia's Michael Chmielowiec - a senior at the University of Rochester - who set the single game scoring record with 40 points against Bishop Timon in 2004. He also owns the tournament scoring mark with 64 points.

There have been four other 30-plus point performances: Tom McCulley of Notre Dame dropped in 38 in 1991, Batavia's Phil Santiago scored 35 points in 2002, PJ Leavy of Batavia had 33 in 1995 and Notre Dame's Tim Wascott had 32 in 2002.

Leavy had 57 points in that 95 tournament, Albion's Ernie McDonald had 49 total points in 1983 and Batavia's Rick Lundy had 48 in 1997.

This year's tournament features the same four teams that have been in the last three tournaments. Batavia opens up against Albion at 7 p.m. Monday night, with Notre Dame and Perry following at 8:45 p.m.

The consolation game is at 7 p.m. Tuesday with the finals at 8:45 p.m.

Admission is only $2, includes a program with rosters and money raised helps the Lions Club to provide scholarships to local students.

If you are interested in checking out basically the entire history of the tournament, check out this link on Flickr for over 80 photos and stories from tournaments in the past.

Here is a link to the entire history of the tournament, with the scores for every opening round, consolation and championship game as well as MVP of that year's tournament.

Also, feel free to share past memories if you've played or watched memorable tournaments.

Also, here is the video from this year's team at the Lions Club dinner introducing the teams.

(most clips in the post and flickr gallery are used with permission from The Daily News)

Anthony Dimarzo, 18, of Byron was arrested yesterday in his home at 6404 Millpond Road, for allegedly possessing marijuana.

The arrest by Sheriff's deputies came after a probation office reported his suspicion that Dimarzo had marijuana in his house.

Dimarzo is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 5.

Here it is: Episode four in our series Cooking with the Dairy Princess. In this episode, your favorite princess and mine, Anika Zuber, is welcomed by a speical guest. Enjoy! 

Don't forget! You can visit The Batavian at Blip.tv to see this video in large format, as well as many of our other videos. Simply go to The Batavian's video channel at: thebatavian.blip.tv.

Casual Fridays or dress-down days are observed by businesses and organizations throughout the nation. At Byron-Bergen Central School they are a weekly event that has raised thousands of dollars for local organizations and charitable causes. Each fall the Byron-Bergen Faculty Association democratically designates a recipient to present the donations to that were collected through the school year. Through the generous donations of less than 120 members during the 2007-2008 school year, BBFA was able to collect $1600 to present to this years recipient, The Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern. 

The Wheatland-Chili boys soccer team dominated the Genesee Region League, going 9-1, and also finished 16-3 overall and captured the league title.

For that, the Wildcats were rewarded with the Coach of the Year, Player of the Year and three first-team Genesee Region League all-star selections.

Coach of the Year Mike Skivington's squad finished three games ahead of Byron-Bergen in the GR standings.

Senior Garhett Varin easily won the league scoring title with 24 goals, he was tied for tops in assists with 10 and had a combined 58 points. He was an easy choice for the all-star team and Player of the Year.

Keeper Tony Pipitone had a goals against average of just .744 and gave up just 14 goals in 1,525 minutes played

Defender Steve Abbey also is an all-star from Wheatland-Chili.

Byron-Bergen also had three all-stars, led by senior Jordan Kiessling. Kiessling had a goal and an assist as a midfielder.

Junior Casey Longhini led the Bees in scoring with 10 goals and seven helpers for 27 total points.

Junior Dakota Longhini was recognized after scoring twice and dishing out eight assists.

Senior Jason Gaylord had five goals with two assists, for 12 points to lead the contingent of three Kendall players on the all-star squad.

Sophomore Brandon Moore had an assist and makes the team as well as junior Paul Brightly, who scored three goals and dished out three assists.

Lyndonville junior Joe Ianni was fourth in the league in scoring with 12 goals, four assists and 28 points and leads the group of three Tiger all-stars.

Aaron O'Connor had five goals and three helpers with Tyler Silversmith handing out two assists as a defender.

Four Holley players are all-stars.

Sophomore Nick Troup is going to have a great career as he already finished third in the GR in scoring with 11 goals, nine helpers and 31 total points.

Fellow sophomore Brandon Comden had 12 goals, three assists and 27 points with seniors Colton Orbaker scoring four goals with four assists and defender Eric Spychalski scoring once while passing off for three assists.

Senior forward Andy Hagen wound up second in the league in scoring with 16 goals, seven assists and 39 points to lead a pair of Attica players on the squad.

Brandon Reiner - a junior - had eight goals and four assists and is the other Blue Devil.

The second-team selections are:

Lyndonville - Jesse Follman, Aaron O'Connor.

Attica - Joe Wolak, Brandon Storch.

Kendall - Colt Tooley, Joel Mendoza.

Wheatland-Chili - Vince Rubert, Schuyler Johnston, Alex Stryker.

Byron-Bergen - Kody Weinert, Justin Barrett, Tyler Sass, Kevin Rickard.

Holley - Greg Knapp, Eddie Bower, Tim Pratt, Caleb Orbaker.

 The Genesee Region League is typically very strong in volleyball, with Byron-Bergen, Notre Dame and Attica as top squads almost every year.

Those teams, a couple of others in the GR as well as Le Roy and Batavia are all kicking off the playoffs on Wednesday.

Byron-Bergen is 19-1, has won six consecutive sectional championships and will get the top seed in Class C, hosting No. 8 Marion in the first round at 6:30 p.m. 

Le Roy earned the top seed in Class CC with a 9-7 record and will host No 8 Sodus at 5 p.m.

Pembroke is a seventh seed and will be playing Mynderse at Victor at 5.

Batavia is a fourth seed and hosting No. 5 Aquinas at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Class BB with No. 4 Attica will host No. 5 Waterloo at 7 in Class B.

Notre Dame is a third seed - earning a bye - in Class D and is hosting either Houghton or Romulus at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Alexander was a ninth seed in Class DD and was at Perry Tuesday night, but got knocked out in the first round, 20-25, 25-19, 25-19, 26-16.

Chelsea Turcer had seven kills and seven aces for Alexander.

We have few details about the accident at this time. No bus passengers were hurt. A person in one of the other two vehicles was reportedly injuried. We'll update this post either later this evening or tomorrow morning.

(UPDATE 5:59pm): Genesee County sheriff's deputies are still investigating the crash and have not yet put together a report. We have been told that no information will be available until that happens. We will be sure to pass along that info once it comes our way, hopefully by morning.

(UPDATE 7:59am): Genesee County sheriff's deputies released a report on the crash early this morning. The Byron-Bergen school bus was stopped on Route 237 in Byron. Its red lights were flashing, and a student was getting off the bus. Kathleen A. Miller, 44, of Byron, was stopped in her SUV behind the bus. James A. Wright, 51, of Le Roy, had been unable to stop in time and crashed into the back of the SUV, pushing that vehicle into the back of the bus. No students were injured on or off the bus. Miller was taken to the hospital for treatment of a minor head injury.

Jennifer L. Bobzin, 37, of Byron, was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester yesterday afternoon following a crash in Byron, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. She remains there this morning in guarded condition.

Bobzin was driving on Byron Road when an 18-wheel tractor trailer failed to stop for the stop sign at the intersection of Walkers Corner Road. Bobzin's car passed underneath the tanker, shearing part of the roof as it struck the tanker and striking a few tires on its way out the other side.

Emergency crews took Bobzin to the hospital for a head injury. The driver of the truck, Ronald L. Sprague, 51, of Pavilion, does not face any charges at this time. State police did not find any "operating deficincies" on the truck. Investigation of the crash is ongoing.