Sports

The LeRoy fans who braved the dismal weather for today’s Western Regional football matchup with Southwestern were treated to an emotional roller coaster ride.

As the rain began to intensify, so too did LeRoy’s turnover problems. Turnovers - in the form of a fumble and interception - on their first two possessions proved frustrating. A sustained drive on LeRoy’s third possession had the Oatkan Knighs faithful cheering. Then, just as suddenly, the LeRoy crowd was silenced as the ball was fumbled away near the Southwestern goal line. LeRoy turned the ball over twice more in the first half, both times after moving the ball deep into Southwestern territory. To compound the problem, the Trojans capitalized on LeRoy’s miscues.

At half time I spoke with LeRoyan John Arneth, a long time Oatkan Knight supporter. “You can’t beat a good team with that many turnovers in one half. Period.” He went on to specify the need to control the ball, particularly at this stage of the season. “This time of year all the pretenders have gone home. Good teams will capitalize on your mistakes.” Southwestern fit’s the latter category well as they turned three LeRoy turnovers - two fumbles and an interception - into scores. “Right now they are not beating us so much as we are beating ourselves. But they are playing a mistake free game”, Arneth concluded.

Two former Oatkan Knights, John Piazza and Kevin Pike were on hand to root for LeRoy. When I asked Piazza, a former LeRoy linebacker in bygone years, what he thought of LeRoy’s chances, he said, “You’ve got two great teams on the field. LeRoy’s got a lot of heart. They’re hanging in there. Hopefully the momentum will swing our way.” It takes one to know one. Once a Knight, always a Knight. Or so it seemed. Though it took some time in coming, John Piazza’s words would be prophetic. In the meantime, LeRoy capitalized on a Southwestern fumble. Travis Fenstermaker put the ball in the air and Mike Humphrey made a remarkable catch in the end zone to put renewed life into the LeRoy crowd. Just as quick as their hopes soared, they came plummeting back to earth Soutwestern returned the ensuing kickoff for considerable yardage and the very next play scored on a pass play of their own. But the LeRoy faithful would not be deterred. “LeRoy has some amazing athletes on the field”, said Kevin Pike. ”It’s a great atmosphere here at UB. We’ll have a better second half.”

Trailing by eighteen points with four minutes left, the Oatkan Knights kicked the roller coaster into high gear - and on an uphill ride. In the time remaining, LeRoy brought the fans to their feet, scoring two touchdowns, both conversions - one for two points and two successful onside kicks.

Then, just as quickly, despite all the last minute gut checking, time ran out on a great season, with a seventh turnover.

The Iona College basketball team is playing right now (7:30 p.m.) and the game is being broadcast on the Internet here.

This is where you can watch Attica grad, and one of the best players in the history of the Genesee Region League make his Division I college debut.

The Blue Devils' all-time leading scorer, Derek Wolfley, is a freshman on the squad. Enjoy the game. 

 (UPDATE: Derek did not get in the game. The Gaels are playing in a tournament next weekend, so hopefully he will get a chance to make his college debut then.)

 Le Roy (10-0) vs. Jamestown Southwestern (10-0)

10 a.m. Saturday, at University at Buffalo

The Le Roy football team has cruised to big wins for most of the season, and then ran into its biggest challenge of the season in the Section 5 Class C finals last week in Oakfield-Alabama.

This might be an even bigger challenge as Southwestern is traditionally a very strong Class B team that has moved down to Class C this season.

The Oatkan Knights do have experience with Class B schools, beating Batavia 27-13 and Hornell 41-19.

But Southwestern has had a bigger year than either Batavia or Hornell. The Trojans are undefeated, the second-ranked team in the state (Le Roy is No. 1), has a strong defense and an amazing offense.

While we all know about Le Roy's big wins, Southwestern has many of its own, including a 44-2 win over Westfield/Ripley, 28-0 victory over Allegany-Limeston and a 42-6 win over Falconer.  Falconer beat Le Roy the last time the Far West Regionals were played in Buffalo in 2006.

Westfield's last victory came in the Section 6 Class C championships with a huge defensive effort, beating Silver Creek 21-0.

The Oatkan Knights will have their hands full with the Trojan offense.

Coach Jay Sirianni is an offensive-minded coach and has the ultimate weapon in quarterback Zack Sopak. Sopak is one of three rushers that are over 600 yards rushing, but also has the ability to throw the ball.

Running backs Levi Bursch and John Mistretta are both at about the same number of yards as the quarterback.

The offense will keep the defense guessing.

“Our line does different things on different plays and they do a great job up front and it just opens holes for our backs,” Sopak told The Buffalo News after winning the sectional title, the second for the program. 

2004 is the only other time Southwestern has won a sectional championship, playing Hornell in the Class B Far West Regionals. You can find a complete history of the Far West Regionals in this complete  look at the history of the game.

Le Roy's offense has been spectacular all season long and will be battling a very good defense, which has not given up more than 14 points in a game this season.

Linebacker Ryan Buzzetto leads the defense with 83 tackles.

Class C offensive Player of the Year Travis Fenstermaker leads the Le Roy offense with 1,234 passing yards with 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions, with most of those passes going to Mike Humphrey, who has caught 49 balls for 747 yards and 12 scores.

Andrew Alexander will also get plenty of opportunities to run the ball, having picked up 1,466 yards and 14 touchdowns on 188 carries.

Le Roy has 14 sectional championships, and one state title. That lone championship came in 1995. 

 Attica's Derek Wolfley dominated Genesee Region League competition last season and finished as the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,474 points. He also had 932 career rebounds.

He landed a Division I basketball scholarship at Iona College and the Gaels open up the season on Friday with a home game against Hampton University.

Wolfley's college career is getting off to a tough start after the 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward has been fighting mono. Here is what coach Kevin Willard said in his blog about Wolfley.

"Derek has had the toughest time adjusting because he is just getting over mono and is trying to get back into shape. He had the worst first practice of any freshman I have ever seen – even worse than Rashon Dwight last year. But he has come back strong and is starting to play very well. He is a great passer and has a very good 17 foot jump shot. Derek’s new best friend is Khyl Farrison our strength coach. I feel bad for Derek."

Iona went 2-28 last season, but signed eight talented freshman for this season.

Here is some video of Wolfley playing at Attica.

The fantastic season of the Notre Dame Boys Cross Country Team wrapped up with a third place finish at the New York State Cross Country Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park in Long Island.  Beaver River was the winning team with 57 points and Barker squeaked ahead of ND by one point.  Junior Kevin Pawlak was the top Irish harrier, finishing in 18th place in 18:05.  Freshman Quin O'Connor, ND's #1 man, was injured on the first downhill of the race after the mile mark, but fought through the final two miles to finish in 24th place in 18:15 (it was discovered yesterday that he fractured his heel in the race.  He will be back on his feet in late December).  Senior Eric Shormann had another great race and finished 40th, with Seniors Matt Jackson 44th, and Taylor Alexander 55th.  Junior Nate Flumerfeldt came in 71st and Freshman Marshall Argenta was 109th. 

The Pembroke team ran to a seventh place finish with 156 points.  Newark Valley won a one point decision with 62.  Colin Bartholomew taking 24th place.  Matt Seward was 48th, Adam Mahaney 69th, Kyle Mauer 70th, Mark Riegel 91st, Ben Farley 103rd, and Ethan Burns 108th. 

Other area racers included:  Class C Girls: Kristina Martin of Holley placed 21st, Katie Piechowiak of Attica placed 60th.  Class D Girls:  Kim Mills of Oakfield placed 7th, Liz Valento of Pavilion placed 10th.  Class B Girls:  Angela Jarvela of Batavia finished in 23rd place.  Class C Boys:  Frank Johnson of Letchworth placed 14th, Jaked Krautweist of Leroy placed 34th and Jack Bennett of LeRoy placed 51st.  Class D Boys:  Kevin Grazioplene placed 8th, Justin Richardson of Pavilion placed 17th, and Craig Cicero of Perry finished 25th.

Congrats to all the Cross Country runners from the area on a great season!

Notre Dame and Batavia High alums will be getting together to play some basketball and raise money for a good cause on Saturday, November 29 at Notre Dame.

The Hometown Hoops for Hope game will feature Batavia and Notre Dame grads battling each other on the court.

The game is going to be held to raise money for the Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation, which is set up in honor of Michael Napoleone, who passed away from Burkitt's Lymphoma/Leukemia.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and admission is just $2 at the door.

From the Batavia Muckdogs:

Today, Red Wings Management, LLC announced that Travis Sick and Casey Freeman will accept new positions as general managers of the NY-Penn League champion Batavia Muckdogs’ front office.  Mr. Sick and Mr. Freeman were both instrumental in running the operation throughout the 2008 season.

Freeman, 31, joined the Muckdogs in May as the Director of Food and Beverage.  In that capacity, he was responsible for the significant upgrade to the food service operation at Dwyer Stadium.  Freeman’s background is in food and facility management.  He studied Hotel Resort Management at Finger Lakes Community College and earned a B.S. in Sport Studies at St. John Fisher College.  He performed an internship with the Red Wings organization in 2003.  Freeman will become the General Manager of Stadium Operations, effective November 11th.

Sick, 23, spent the 2008 season as Director of Ticket Operations for the Muckdogs, after joining the team in April.  Travis was born in Wayland, New York and attended Wayland-Cohocton Central School. He graduated from St. John Fisher College with a B.S. in both Sport Management and Business Management.  Travis was an intern with the Rochester Red Wings organization in 2007, working in the Group Sales and Promotions departments. He will become the General Manager of Baseball Operations November 11th.

In their new capacities, both gentlemen will sell group tickets and advertising, with Sick’s additional focus being on marketing, public relations and baseball matters , and Freeman’s on concessions, merchandise, website and stadium management.

“I am excited about the opportunity that we’ve been given,” said Travis Sick.  “We’re both very eager to get out there and start doing the job we know we can do for this franchise.  We’ve spent a season getting to know Batavia and its people, and I am confident we will do a job that will make the community proud.   This is a great time to be with an organization - coming off a championship season.  I can’t imagine it being any better.”

Casey Freeman added “We’ve learned a lot this past year, and will continue to learn.  But this is a job that we are both well prepared for and looking forward to.  We understand that there will be challenges in turning this into a high functioning franchise, but we like the enthusiasm we see in this town. I just returned from a New York Penn League meeting, and my goal is to bring this franchise up to the level of some of the other successful franchises in our league.  The other teams are very supportive of our efforts and they promise they will do all they can to share insight into their success. With that and the support of the Red Wings, we certainly have a great start.”

“We are very pleased to be able to retain these two fine young baseball executives within our organization”, stated Naomi Silver, Chairman of the Board of Red Wings Management and the Rochester Red Wings, its parent company.  “They did an outstanding job for us this past season and we are confident that they will be effective in their respective areas of responsibility.  These are two individuals who have a good working knowledge of how a baseball organization should run, and they each have a genuine interest in providing the fans and sponsors of Muckdogs baseball with a quality experience.  They will do what is necessary to grow this franchise.”

Both men will continue to work closely with Red Wings’ General Manager, Dan Mason.  “I see real talent in these two gentlemen.  They both know that it takes a lot of heart and a lot of hard work to make an organization a success.  They have skills and a work ethic that is critical to our line of work, and they love their jobs.  I think they both have very bright futures, and I am very pleased to be able to keep them both on our staff”, said Mason.

The Muckdogs front office will be launching a significant sales initiative this month in anticipation of a very positive public response following the capture of the New York Penn League Championship.  Mr. Mason stated “An organization can wait years for the kind of success we had on the field in our first year running this team.  The fan response has been really great.  It is an exciting time in this franchise’s history, and that of this community.  To have gone from the team almost disappearing to being the best in the League is incredible. Experience tells us that the year following a championship is always a big year and Travis and Casey are ready for that job.”