Sports

 The Alexander wrestling team topped Pavilion 48-30 last night.

The Trojans had four pins in the victory, topped by Steve Geyer, who pinned Ray Colvin in just 13 seconds at 119 pounds.

Lucas Trzecieski downed Mike Thayer in 47 seconds at 130 pounds, with Dylan Shea (152 pounds) and Dan Ognibene (285) also recording pin fall victories.

You can see complete results from the match here.

 The Cortland cross country team recently captured the NCAA Division III championship, finishing tops out of 32 teams in the field at the D3 championships at Hanover College.

The coach of that squad is Steven Patrick, a Batavia High graduate. He has had a nice career at Cortland.

In the spring of 2008, Patrick was named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Men's Outdoor Track and Field Division III Atlantic Region Coach of the Year. He guided Cortland to a second-place national finish along with a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title and an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III runner-up finish.

 If you are heading out to some of the big games this weekend, remember to bring your video camera.

Section 5 Talksback is hosting a contest that each week will award the best cheering sections for area basketball teams.

Last year we saw some great performances from fans like the O-A Crazies, The Attica Wolf Pack and the Elba Sherwood Shakers. 

It seems like every school has a student cheering section and you can be rewarded with a pizza party if you make a video showing off your cheering section.

These are the rules to the contest:

Basic Rules:

-Film your cheer/fan section.

-Upload the video to YouTube

-Post the URL here and it will automatically show up as an embedded YouTube video.

-The official SectionV.Talksback.com and Salvatore's judges will look at the videos for creativity, number of students involved, positive support for the school's teams.

-Winner will receive a $50 gift card to Salvatore's Old Fashioned Pizzeria to supply a pizza party for their cheer section. (based on two sheet pizzas and 3-4 two liter drinks)

-If the winner is from a school outside of Salvatore's delivery area, SectionV.Talksback.com will arrange to deliver pizzas within a 30mile range of a Salvatore's Restaurant. If the winner if from a school outside of the 30 mile range they will have to arrange pickup/delivery on their own. 

Here is a great opportunity to represent your school while cheering on your boys and girls basketball teams, and get free pizza out of the deal.

Post your entries here.

If you are interested in learning more about the teams Batavia will be playing basketball against in the Monroe County League, the Democrat & Chronicle has a look at the league posted this morning on the Web site. 

Tim Smith poured in 16 points as the Oakfield-Alabama boys basketball team escaped Holland 60-51 in the opening round of the Barker Tournament Thursday.

Point guard Brad Riner scored nine points with six assists and five steals and Noah Seward added seven points with 11 rebounds.

O-A (1-0) will face tournament host Barker tonight in the finals as the Raiders downed Lyndonville 57-47. Ray Paul scored 21 points for Barker. 

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Tyler Sass dropped in 20 points as the Byron-Bergen boys basketball team on its opener 56-45 over visiting Warsaw.

Trevor Laurie had 12 points and eight boards and Kurtis Fannon pitched in nine points.

Travis White scored 20 points and Ricky Ryan grabbed 11 boards for the Tigers (0-3).

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Jaycee Shirk owned the paint as the Batavia girls basketball team shut down Albion 39-29 in the opening round of the Elba Tournament at GCC.

Shirt had six blocks and 10 rebounds to go with her eight points for the Blue Devils (3-0).

Brittany Mazurkiewicz had 13 points with six steals and Brittany Wormley pitched in seven points.

Paige Golden had 14 points for the Purple Eagles (0-1).

Elba thrashed Attica 56-23 in the other first round game, meaning Batavia will battle Elba in Saturday night's finals.

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Attica won a pair of wrestling matches on Wednesday. Those results weren't posted on Armdrag.com until today.

The Blue Devils beat Byron-Bergen 47-15 and Lyndonville 48-19.

 For the past three years, Derek Wolfley has been one of the top players in the Genesee Region League and a big reason why the Attica basketball team has had success. 

But now Attica's best player ever is at Iona, where he is playing Division I basketball. He was the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,474 points and had 932 career rebounds.

Life without Wolfley begins this season for the Blue Devils.

While it is no easy task to replace a legend, Attica now has a chance to develop a new identity around some very talented players that aren't in one players shadow anymore.

The most talented of those players is junior guard Tate Westermeier. The 6-foot, 155-pound shooting guard has a natural ability to score and is going to be the focus of the Attica offense.

Westermeier plays basketball year-round and was productive as a sophomore last year, on Attica's 15-6 squad. He even scored 16 points in the season-ending 62-52 loss to Freddie Thomas in the sectional quarterfinals.

While Westermeier is going to be responsible for a lot of the scoring, senior Shawn Dupuis will also be a top option.
 

Wolfley is the biggest name Attica lost from last year, but Dustin Keicher was a solid point guard and the Blue Devils will be filling that role with a pair of sophomores.

Brad Clark looks like the top option to run the point and led the team in scoring during Wednesday's loss to Midlakes. Classmate Zach Fleiss is also going to be running the point.

Even though Attica lost the 6-foot-6 Wolfley, there is still plenty of size in the paint.

Senior Matt Sheffield is 6-foot-5 and Bryan Thompson is 6-foot-2, with both expecting to see a lot of playing time.

The other big man has a familiar name - Craig Wolfley. He is the younger brother of Derek, but is a different type of player.

Derek could pull up and hit jumpers from anywhere with his trim and athletic frame. Craig - a junior - is 6-foot-4 and weighs 242 pounds. He handles the ball well for a big man and is a decent scorer, but doesn't have Derek's scoring ability. Any forward for Attica will have a lot to live up to, but when you share a last name with the school's best player of all time, it can be that much more pressure.

Attica has a long history of sectional playoff failures in the "big 3", but the football team won a quarterfinal game this past fall and the basketball team took notice. They will be trying to win the GR Division I title, and then make some history of their own come playoff time.

 When the Elba basketball team walked off the court in the Section 5 Class DD semifinals last year, it was after an amazing 12-point comeback victory over rival Notre Dame. It was a huge upset.

The Lancers then lost to Fillmore 53-43 in the finals, but are hoping to carry over the momentum from that sectional run to this season.

Juniors Phil Ostroski and Sonny Guiliano were major factors in that run and both return to lead a physically strong Elba squad into the 2008-2009 season.

Ostroski was a huge player on the squad last season when he had to fill in for a team that had suspension issues early on, and he was a unique talent - a big body that could step outside and shoot the 3 at any time.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound forward will be the go-to guy for the Lancers and could very well be one of the top scorers in the league this season.

Guiliano is going to run the point this season after seeing good minutes a year ago. He's also big, at 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, and has the ability to put the ball in the basket as well. He will mix scoring with a pass-first attitude (he nearly had a triple-double in Elba's 54-33 win over Barker in the season opener).

Both players have the ability to star each and every night out.

But that isn't all the Lancers bring to the table.

Forwards Max Torrey and Theo Tomczak and guard Adam Shuknecht all received quality playing time last season and will add depth to the squad.

Elba also has a couple of new editions that will help out.

Senior Cody Torpey did not play basketball last season, but returns to the court and brings a lot of speed to the squad. He isn't expected to do a lot of scoring, but will do the things that don't show up in the boxscore.

The other name to watch is sophomore Crosby Lamont, who is called up to the varsity squad because of his potential. He will come off the bench and provide a spark for coach Rick Pcionek.

Elba's record was just 13-11 last year, and the team lost stars Ian Woodworth, Rocco Zambito and Casey Hoover to graduation, but should be able to challenge some of the elite teams in the Genesee Region League this season because of a physical style of play that will frustrate teams that lack size.

Genesee Region All Stars: L to R: Volleyball – Liz Geandreau ’11 and Brittany Morelli ’09; Cross Country – Ashley Calarco ’09 [4^th straight year!] and Jill Marshall ’09. Jill also earned a Sectional patch for a 7^th place finish in this year’s Section V Class D meet in this her first year of Cross Country competition!

Nicole Mickey ’09 represented ND on the Genesee Region team vs. the Livingston County II team at Cal-Mum on Sunday, 11-9-08 in the Exceptional Senior Soccer game.

2008 GR League All Star selections from ND - L to R: Rick Lair ’09 [Lineman], Matt Thompson ‘10 [Kicker], Kevin Francis ’09 [Receiver] Craig Houseknecht ’09 [Lineman].

2008 Section V Class D Individual Awards earned during the 11-1-08 Class D Final Football game vs. Dundee – L to R: Justin Shenck ’09 [Sportsmanship Award], Rick Lair ’09 [Outstanding Offensive Lineman] and Craig Houseknecht ’09 [Outstanding Defensive Lineman].

This year's Batavia wrestling team has the potential to be one of the best the school has ever had, and the season started off on a very positive note Wednesday.

The Blue Devils beat Victor 35-28 as Batavia had two pins and another tech fall win.

Ryan Darch had a huge pin fall victory at 160 pounds, beating Nick Payne in 1:40. Trey Henderson had the other Batavia pin as he dropped Dakota LaRue in 5:16 at 130 pounds.

Joe Muoio had the tech fall victory at 135 pounds, taking care of Matt Acquilano 17-0.

You can see the rest of the results here.

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After dropping its season opener, the Pembroke boys basketball team has gotten hot, winning the next two games.

The Dragons thumped visiting Holley Wednesday night 53-34 as Ken Babcock scored 14 points and pulled down 15 boards to lead the way.

Andrew Wright scored a game-high 16 points with Matt Phelps pitching in nine.

Holley lost its season opener and was led by Jeff Lutes, who scored 10 points. Brian Mitchell added nine. 

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No player scored in double figures for Attica as the Blue Devils lost a road game at Midlakes 54-34.

Brad Clark had nine points with Tate Westermeier and Craig Wolfley adding eight apiece.

Derek Reafsnyder had 15 points to pace Midlakes (1-0).

Attica falls to 1-2.

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A total of five Holley wrestlers pinned Alexander grapplers as the Hawks scored an easy 61-17 win.

Defending state champion Quenton Murphy led the way with a :58 pin over Brandon Toporczyk at 125 pounds.

Tim Banks, Dillon Murphy, Kyle Steadman and Sean Baylor had the other pins for the Hawks, who improve to 1-0 while the Trojans dip to 0-2.

Wheatland-Chili senior forward was not only the Genesee Region League Player of the Year, and a sectional champion; he was named to the All-Greater  Rochester first-team by the Democrat & Chronicle.

Varin led W-C to a 19-4 record and a second consecutive sectional championship, while scoring 27 goals with 13 assists. He finished his high school career with 51 goals and 31 assists.

Teammate Tony Pipitone made the second-team as a goalie.

The GR also had a bunch of honorable mention selections.

Steve Abbey (Wheatland-Chili), Dakota Longhini (Byron-Bergen), Jordan Kiessling (B-B), Jason Gaylord (Kendall), Brandon Moore (Kendall), Paul Brightly (Kendall), Andy Hagen (Attica), Brandon Reiner (Attica), Tyler Silversmith (Lyndonville), Joe Ianni (Lyndonville), Jordon O'Connor (Lyndonville), Colton Orbaker (Holley), Eric Spychalski (Holley), Nick Troup (Holley), Brandon Comden (Holley). 

You can see the entire All-Greater Rochester list here.

 Batavia grad Mike Hoy is a freshman on the Geneseo men's basketball team, and he witnessed an amazing shot last night by one of his teammates.

Scott Morton hit a crazy shot with 1/10 of a second left to go to give Geneseo the 85-84 win over Oswego State. Hoy was held scoreless in 15 minutes of play, but did hand out two assists.

The shot earned the top spot on ESPN's top plays today. 

You just have to see the video on this one (followed by an interview with Morton).

 The Elba girls basketball team had an off year last season, losing seven games and only making it to the sectional semifinals.

But the Lancers beat rival Notre Dame to make those finals, and return a lot of players from that squad in addition to some new faces that make this one of the most athletic and deep Elba teams in years.

Seniors Katie Newton and Julie Webster and juniors Julie Marshall and Chelsie Pangrazio all have varsity experience and will all get plenty of playing time as coach Tom Nowak intends on pressing hard and playing everybody on the roster.

But possibly the two biggest names on Elba's roster heading into the season were not on the team last year.

Senior guard Sarah Schwartzmeyer was a star on varsity as a sophomore, with the ability to score, rebound, pass and play defense. But she took a year away from the game to work on her softball skills. She is one of the top pitchers in Section 5.

She returns and immediately steps into a leadership role. She will be relied upon to score and maintain the flow of the game.

The other different face is Missy Call.

Call is a junior this year, but got a ton of experience playing on the Oakfield-Alabama varsity team last season. She can shoot the ball, play defense and is a good distributor of the ball.

There are a few youngsters up on the varsity squad that will also make an impact. Sophomore guard Cassy Engle, freshman Meg Stucko and eighth-grader McKenzie Bezon should all provide sparks this season.

Both Notre Dame and Elba had off years last season, but both are back up this year, and the Dec. 16 and Feb 10 games are highly anticipated games on the GR schedule.

Tuesday Night Morrisons Garage Co-ed

Franz Stumpf   234--222--213--669

Mike Barone    249--223---------665

Scott Bliss        213--238--214--665

Frank Stumpf   228--224----------661

Dan Cone         221--213---------640

Rick Morrison  212--216----------636

Dave Barone   236-----------------624

Chuck Bobo     229----------------620

Justin Burdick  216--220---------610

Curt Haight       237--230---------603

Bryan Conley      243

Dave Carlson     236

Chase Cone       227

Gary Brennan Jr. 224

Ray Zauner          224

Nick Grasso        223

Bud Ulander        223

Patrice Haight    182--187

 The Alexander girls basketball team returns four starters, have a foreign exchange student with some talent and are expected to make a run at a Genesee Region League title.

The Trojans went 9-12 last season, and were upset by Gananda in the opening round of the sectional tournament last season. 

Two of the stars in that game - Anna Dominick and Katie Kochmanski - are returning with fellow starters Rachel Pettys and Chelsea Turcer.

Dominick scored nine points per game with three steals and Pettys averaged eight points with seven rebounds. Turcer had five points and three dimes per game.

Pettys and Kochmanski were stars in the paint as Kochmanski pulled down a team-high nine rebounds to go with her seven points per game.

Rebounding is a huge part of coach Marcia Hirsch's coaching philosophy. She preaches rebounding first and foremost, with the belief that if you win the battle on the boards, you are probably going to win the game.

Even with those four returning players, you would expect the Trojans to have a pretty strong team. But they got a nice surprise when the season started.

Foreign exchange student Anni Lehtola from Finland, has a ton of game. The 5-foot-9 guard/forward is a strong rebounder, scorer and defender; which adds a huge boost to an already stacked team.

Alexander has already shown signs of what they can do.

In the opening round of the Attica Tournament last weekend, the Trojans were beating Class A Batavia before the Blue Devils came back late in the game and won 57-48. Alexander then went on to beat Attica 44-32 in the consolation game.

While Division I should be tough this year, Alexander might very well have the pieces in place to be the top dog in that division. 

The Elba boys basketball team is 1-0 after an easy 54-33 win over Barker Tuesday night.

The Lancers were led by senior forward Phil Ostroski, who had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Sonny Giuliano pitched in nine points with 10 boards and nine assists and Cole Bronson and Sam Lamont each helping out with eight points.

 Greg Brown led Barker (0-1) with 13 points.

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Josh Laureano dropped in 21 points but it wasn't enough for his Kendall team, which lost to Northstar in the season opener, 68-58.

Mark Driesel was also in double figures with 10 points.

Donald Harris had 22 points and Manny Mederois added 20 for Northstar, which improves to 3-0.

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Erik Pokornowski scored twice and handed out two assists in leading the Batavia Hockey team to a 5-1 win over Churchville-Chili.

Josh Marr scored his first two varsity goals for the Blue Devils, with Patt Finnell getting a goal with an assist and Corey Kocent and Tim Finnell adding two helpers each.

Brandon Corcoran made 20 saves for Batavia (1-1).

It wasn't too long ago that the Alexander boys basketball team was one of the worst programs in all of Section 5, even going 0-20 one year.

But coach Wayne Hanley has done a nice job building the program in recent years and the Trojans went 9-10 two years ago - sharing the Division I title - and finished 8-13 last season. Now Hanley's squad is looking to take that next step and become an above .500 squad that can compete for league and sectional titles every year.

The 2008-2009 Trojans have the potential to be the team that can start competing with the best league teams night in and night out.

The reason Alexander can look for bigger things this year is a strong group of returners, along with a pair of talented sophomores playing on the varsity squad.

It has been a long time since Alexander won a sectional game and last year's was able to hang with Caledonia-Mumford in the first round last year, but wound up losing 66-52. Kyle Woodruff was the second-leading scorer last season and returns as the go-to guy this year.

The GR honorable mention all-star of a year ago can shoot the 3 and was a nice compliment to Josh Bender, who was the top scoring option. He now becomes the guy expected to lead the team in scoring on most nights.

Seniors Andy Bittner, Mike Galletti, Tyler Sheeler , Matt Zaso and Jordan Leitten were all contributers last season as well, giving the Trojans six seniors to lead the team.

Junior guard Stephen George also saw action last season.

But the biggest impact on the team could be the youngsters, a pair of sophomores that are starting the season on the varsity squad.

Guard/forward Troy Shelnut might be one name you've heard already. The 6-foot-2 scorer poured in 18 points in his varsity debut, a 72-70 loss to Geneseo in the opening round of the Alexander Tournament last Friday (George and Bittner were also in double figures in that game). Shelnut followed that up with a team-high five points in a 71-25 loss to Livonia in the consolation game.

The other sophomore is guard Jared Quinn, who also scored five points to lead the Trojans in the second game.

While the Trojans aren't expecting to be a dominant team in the league this season, there is no reason why the team can't contend for a league title and try and win a playoff game or two.

Monday Night Independent Ladies League 12/1/2008

Lorrie Gilbraith   224---181------582

Janet Ciociola     202

Marlene Penders  193

Loraine Caton      182

Monday Night Mens Carlson Imaging 12/1/2008

Bud Ulander        224------------631

Carmen Copani     221

Doug Vanson        215

Jayson Quilliam   214

Mike Barone        213

Monday Night Bob Harris Realty 12/1/2008

Rob Stefani       231---256------- 673

Chuck Bobo        215---217---225 667

John Gerace       211---238---211 660

Lin Jursted        225---214------ 631

Mike Sputore     215------------- 617

Tom Hahn           235

Casey Palmer Jr. 224

Matt Cryer         214

Jeff Davin          212

In Tuesday's Daily News sports, the Genesee Region League volleyball all-stars are featured on the front page.

Byron-Bergen won the GR title with a 21-2 record, but lost in the sectional finals to Nazareth.

The list of all-stars are

Katie Boxler (Attica), Mary Cocking (B-B), Meghan Fahy (Kendall), Jessica George (B-B), Krysta Lougheed (B-B), Stephanie Maurer (Pembroke), Mary McCormick (B-B), Brittany Morelli (Notre Dame), Kayla Konieczny (B-B), Jackie Algier (Attica), Liz Geandreau (Notre Dame), Samantha Skryp (Lyndonville) and Chelsea Turcer (Alexander).

The Coach of the Year was Kristen Partridge.

 Batavia grad Kevin Saunders is the male Athlete of the Week at Fredonia State after a huge game against D'Youville.

The junior guard poured in 14 points with five rebounds in a 66-44 win over D'Youville. He also hit 4-of-7 3-point attempts and dished out two assists.

Fredonia held former Oakfield-Alabama star James Davis - a freshman at D'Youville - scoreless in that game. Davis did have a block, a rebound and an assist in the contest.

The Blue Devils are 5-1 after beating Pitt-Bradford 84-79 last night.