Sports

Prattsburgh coaching legend Jim Burke knew victory No. 500 was going to come at a point, probably sooner than later.

His Viking squad overcame a tough Whitesville squad and got their coach that historic win with a 57-48 victory Friday night in the opening round of the Honeoye Holiday Classic.

"One reason why we are happy is that it puts us in the championship game tomorrow," said Burke, who now has a career record of 500-155. That was in the front of our minds. It was awesome because there were so many people here from Prattsburgh and there was a (celebration) afterwards. It was pretty awesome."

Whitesville only has eight players on the roster, but gave Prattsburgh everything they could handle, and the Vikings needed a big third quarter run to pull out the victory.

Burke and his team ended last season with a loss to Northstar Christian in the Class D finals, leaving him one win short of the milestone.

"What bothered us most last year was losing, not, not getting 500," said Burke, who is good friends with Notre Dame coach Mike Rapone, and even beat him when Rapone was at win No. 499 last season. "If you come back, you know you will win one more. It was tough for the kids with the great work ethic last year that didn't get a patch. That was the worst part of it."

When you have 500 wins, you have a lot of career highlights. Burke lists his top highlight as the 1991 season, when the Vikings went 29-0 and won the state title.

Prattsburgh will be playing Honeoye in tomorrow's championship game. Honeoye beat Genesee Valley 52-50 in the opening round.

"The weight is gone, especially for the kids" Burke said. "They had a card made up and everything before the game, so you know it was on their minds. It wasn't just the kids, but the community. They feel it and were talking about it. I'm so glad to get it off our shoulders so we can just go play."

Burke is not ready to commit to another year after this one, but if this is it would go out as one of the top coaches in Section 5 history.

"I will probably have some thinking to do over the summer," Burke said. "But it is getting close to the end. I'll know at the end of the season. There are a lot of factors involved."

Wheatland-Chili's Garhett Varin led his squad to an 18-3 record and the Section 5 Class DD championship this past soccer season.

The senior had 25 goals with 11 assists and earned Genesee Region League Player of the Year, which was announced by The Batavian in our GR all-star write-up on Oct. 29.

 The Democrat & Chronicle lists the Players of the Year for each league in Section 5 this morning.

Wheatland-Chili senior attacker Garhett Varin of Wheatland-Chili had 61 points, 25 goals and 11 assists, in leading his team to an 18-3 record to date and the Section V Class DD championship. He had five goals and an assist in the sectionals. Wheatland also beat Andover 2-1 in the State Class D Qualifier Game.

You can see the entire roundup of Players of the Year here.

 The Democrat & Chronicle this morning announced the Section 5 Players of the Year in every classification.

The only local player to receive the honor was Le Roy's Travis Fenstermaker in Class C. He won the Offensive POY, which was announced on The Batavian on Nov. 6.

Here is what the D&C writes about Fenstermaker.

Le Roy senior quarterback Travis Fenstermaker had 59 completions out of 98 attempts for 970 yards and 18 touchdowns through his team's first eight games of the season. He was also 1-for-2 on field goal attempts and 29-for-31 on extra point kicks. He will attend Buffalo in the fall, where he will play baseball and pursue a degree in physical education.

You can check out the entire write-up of the Players of the Year in each class here.

Senior midfielder Brittany Luckey had a fantastic high school soccer career, and will be ending it with a second big honor.

The five-year starter for Le Roy had already won Livingston Conference Division I Player of the Year and now is named to the All-Greater Rochester second-team by the Democrat & Chronicle today.

Luckey was a three-time captain for the Oatkan Knights, who won the Section 5 Class B title this season. Well, actually shared it with Greece Odyssey after playing to a 0-0 tie. Odyssey moved on to the state tournament after winning a shootout.

Luckey scored 31 goals and had 81 assists in her high school career and led Le Roy to a sectional title three times in five seasons. The Oatkan Knights went 12-2-6 this season. She scored 12 goals with 22 helpers this season.

No other local players made the AGR first or second team, but 17 players received honorable mentions for the Genesee Region League.

Julie Brooks (Holley), Hannah Wilson (Alexander), Abby Shilvock (Alexander), Lindsey Hall (Alexander), Christina West (Attica), Corinne VanSchoick (Holley), Rachel Warren (Pembroke), Rachel Pettys (Alexander), Chloe Smith (Wheatland-Chili), Emily Troup (Holley), Hillary Bates (Oakfield-Alabama), Julie Marshall (Elba), Todne Crowe (Byron-Bergen), Kaila Browe (Kendall), Chelsi Clark (Elba), Stacy Maskell (Byron-Bergen), Nicole Sharick (Pembroke).

Stacy Hein of Batavia received an honorable mention for Monroe County. You can check out the entire All-Greater Rochester girls team here.

 A common question I get when covering games is : How can I print stories?

I know a lot of parents and grandparents want hard copies of game coverage on The Batavian, and that ability is now here.

All you have to do is click on the title and at the bottom of the post there is a link that says "Printer-friendly version". Just click on that and then print. 

This new feature will come in handy in the future. And football fans can go back by searching for old stories, and then print them.

 The Democrat & Chronicle released its preview capsules for Section 5 hockey teams, including Batavia and Notre Dame. They can be read here. 

Notre Dame junior Stephanie Lapple has been named to the All-Greater Rochester team by the Democrat & Chronicle.  

Lapple had the lowest scoring average in Section 5 this past fall, averaging 39.75 during eight golf matches. She tied for sixth at sectionals with a 90, earning a trip to states. She also won the City-Catholic qualifier with a 42.

ESPN.com's Elizabeth Merrill has a very interesting piece on the Web site today that is well worth checking out.

Merrill talks with Buffalo Bills tackle Langston Walker about the difficulties that come with being an oversized NFL offensive lineman. 

It's Tuesday, an off day for the Bills, and Walker wants to demonstrate a few things he can't have as an NFL big man. He pulls into a car dealership and says he wants to drive a Mini Cooper. After a couple of laughs and nervous looks, he shoehorns himself into the car, pushes the seat all the way back, and turns the ignition. It is not a flattering -- or comfortable -- ride.

The 6-foot-8, 366-pound 29-year old is in his second season with the Bills.

 The first Genesee Region League wrestling match of the season took place on Monday as Kendall downed Alexander 51-27.

The quickest victory of the match took place at 112 pounds as Kendall's Gabe Sobiersky pinned Kyle Shea in 1:49. Complete results of the match can be found here.

 Byron-Bergen grad Mike McInally won all four of his matches at the 2008 Oneonta Red Dragon Invitation this weekend and because of that was named the Empire Conference Wrestler of the Week.

The RIT junior beat Niagara Community College's Jared Lemke in the finals, 6-1, to capture the tournament title.

McInally is 5-0 now on the season and has a career record of 73-17.

His RIT wrestling squad will be hosting the RIT Invitational this weekend. A full day of wrestling starts at 9:30 a.m. at Clark Gym at RIT.

 Three Genesee Region League teams will tip-off the high school boys basketball season Friday night in tournament play.

Alexander is hosting a tournament and will be playing Geneseo at 7 p.m. Wellsville and Livonia are the other two squads in the tourney and are scheduled to play at 3 p.m.

The winners will be in the finals on Saturday.

Wheatland-Chili is in the Northstar Tournament and Attica will be in the Warsaw Tournament.

The boys basketball season will be getting started this weekend and opening day could be a historic one for one of Notre Dame's Section 5 rivals.

Prattsburgh will be playing Whitesville and coach Jim Burke could join Notre Dame coach Mike Rapone in the 500 win club if the Vikings pick up a victory.

The game is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. and you won't even have to leave the house to keep up with potential history. The game will be broadcast on WABH 1380 AM and locally it can be heard on the net at www.localsportsedge.com.

 There is that photo again.

The front page of Tuesday's Daily News sports has basically the same photo as the Genesee Region League girls soccer all-stars, just a team photo. I have never been a fan.

But again, Daily News sportswriter Alana Stage writes a stat-packed roundup of the GR boys soccer all-stars. She leads with the Wheatland-Chili squad that went 19-3 and are Class DD champions. 

The Batavian also led with the Wildcats in our roundup of all-stars, which ran on Oct. 29.

The winter high school season is just getting going, so this is the only local information in today's paper.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Attica grad Derek Wolfley only played two minutes in his college debut.

But he spent a lot more time on the floor in his second game and his Iona basketball team thumped Valparaiso 75-55 Saturday night.

Wolfley played 15 minutes and went 0-for-1 shooting the basketball, but had an assist and two blocked shots. 

 Mike Chmielowiec was one of two players to make the All-Tournament Team at the Chuck Resler Tournament, but his University of Rochester basketball team didn't walk away with the title Saturday night.

The Batavia grad set a career-high in the opening game and followed that up with a 16 point performance in the finals. But Ithaca walked away with the 81-72 victory to claim the title.

Senior captain Mike Chmielowiec had a hunch he was in for a big season when he spoke to The Batavian Friday afternoon.

Well, he's off to a hot start.

Chmielowiec hit 10-of-18 attempts in scoring a career-high 25 points in University of Rochester's season-opening 78-62 win over Pitt-Bradford last night in the opening round of the Chuck Resler Tournament.

He also connected on 3-of-5 3-point attempts in the game.

Rochester will play Ithaca in the championship tonight.

 Former Attica star Derek Wolfley made his NCAA Division I basketball debut last night for Iona.

He actually started the game for the Gaels, playing the first two minutes of the game.

Wolfley had a turnover and a personal foul. Iona nearly surprised No. 24 ranked Wisconsin, leading during regulation. But Wisconsin came back and tied the game at 52 in regulation.

The Badgers went on to win 60-58 in overtime.

Iona falls to 1-1.

 Last year's Oakfield-Alabama basketball team was very good.

The Hornets went 20-3 last season, with the final loss coming to East Rochester in the sectional semifinals.

That team had a ton of talent, with James Davis and John Gerber graduating after the season. But, Davis missed a lot of time due to injury, and essentially four starters return to the squad to try to capture a GR title for a second straight year and finally win a sectional championship for the school.

The biggest name on the roster, not just because of his size, is Noah Seward. The big man averaged a double-double last season, scoring 11 points with 10 rebounds per game. He's had three years on varsity and is expected to be a premier player in the post this season.

Brad Riner may not have Seward's size, but he's just as tough. Both were stars on the very successful football team and Riner will run the point for the Hornets.

He is a defensive-minded player that will look to turn defense into offense, while distributing the ball like a true point guard is expected to. He has plenty of varsity experience and will also score when needed.

Guard Tim Smith won't admit it, but he's going to be expected to pitch in on the scoring end of things. While Davis and Gerber were the focus of the offense when they were on the floor, Smith managed to have some pretty solid games putting the ball in the hoop.

Expect him to be a big part of the offensive gameplan. A.J. Kehlenbeck is a big body with the ability to play solid defense and put the ball in the basket.

Oakfield-Alabama also has plenty of depth, with several players returning from last years team and newcomers that were on the 20-0 jayvee squad last season.

The only really big change you will see from the Hornets is at the top as Gary Kurkowski returns to coach the varsity squad because Merritt Holly stepped down. Kurkowski has been a part of the program for a very long time, coaching at every level.

His coaching style is very similar to Holly, so there won't be a big change. But many of the players respect his old school approach to the game.

The only way to top the Division I title and semifinal appearance of a year ago will be a championship, which is a long term goal for O-A. First the squad must get through a tough regular season and mesh as a unit - with a few players still banged up from football season.