Skip to main content

Notre Dame

Notre Dame hockey beats Batavia for first time in a decade

By Brian Hillabush

Scoring early and slowing down the game.

That was the plan for Marc Staley and the Notre Dame hockey team, which was facing an experienced Batavia squad with a lot more wins Thursday night at Faletti Ice Arena. 

The Fighting Irish scored twice in the first period and then shut down Batavia's powerful scoring line en route to a 3-1 victory. It was the first time Notre Dame has beaten its cross-town rival in a decade.

"We've been the underdog every time we've played Batavia High for the last 10 years," said ND coach Marc Staley. "We played that role. But the kid do understand that we are improving and we showed that tonight."

Freshman Jack Nenni had his second career two goal game, opening the scoring mid-way through the first period. It was his fourth goal of the season.

"We are two different teams," Staley said. "When we play from the lead, we are tough to play against. When we score first we are 7-2-1. We knew that if we scored first it would be big, we can play our game plan as we have it laid out. If we fall behind we have to make adjustments."

Nenni added an empty-net goal in the third period after Batavia had scored to make the game interesting. His first time scoring two goals in a game came as an eighth grader last season.

"He has been struggling and we told him to just come out firing," Staley said. "I was thrilled that he had a big game on a big night."

Batavia's other first period goal came from Jason Harasimowicz, who also had an assist.

Ivan Madaferri had two assists for the Fighting Irish.

The defensive game plan was to shut down Batavia's potent first line of Erik Pokornowski, Pat Finnell and and Cory Kocent, and Notre Dame did just that. All three are in the top 10 scoring in Section 5, but didn't manage a goal Thursday night.

Will Mulcahy had Batavia's goal.

"All four of our defensemen played great," Staley said. "We worked on clearing the puck. It sounds simple, but if we had to take some icing calls, we were fine. We wanted to slow the game down. They have speed so we backed them all into the middle and we knew Thomas (Dehr) would stop all the shots from the outside."

Dehr stopped 17 shots for the Fighting Irish, who improve to 8-8-2.

Notre Dame had not defeated Batavia (13-8) in 10 years, but took the Blue Devils to overtime twice last season.

Batavia hockey in good shape for sectionals

By Brian Hillabush

As the high school hockey season is wrapping up, the seedings have the Batavia hockey team in a good place.

The Blue Devils have a 13-7 record and are currently the third seed in Class B. That means that the team will receive a bye as the top four get the opening round off.

Teams No. 5 through 12 will have to play in the first round.

Notre Dame is 7-8-2 and a ninth seed.

Batavia and the Fighting Irish will be playing today at Faletti Ice Arena at 6 p.m.  This is the final game of the season for the Blue Devils while the Fighting Irish has one more game on Saturday at Victor.

The opening round of sectionals is on Feb. 21.

Batavia has three scorers in the top 10 in all of Section 5.

Pat Finnell is fourth with 17 goals and 24 assists with Erik Pokornowski coming in at sixth with 15 goals and 21 assists. Cory Kocent is seventh with 14 goals and 21 assists.

Batavia goalie Adam Kurek and Notre Dame's Thomas Dehr both have six wins in goal. Batavia's other goalie is Rich Paganello, who has five wins.

HS boys highlights for Wednesday

By Brian Hillabush

Notre Dame jumped out to a 27-6 lead in the first quarter at home Wednesday night. That meant that the Fighting Irish simply had to fend off the Elba boys basketball team to get a 77-43 win.

Kevin Francis is still scoring like crazy as he lead all scorers with 27 points to help ND improve to 14-3.

Tommy Rapone had 10 points and six rebounds with Gianni Zambito, Greg Barr and Nick Bochicchio getting seven points apiece.

Matt Thompson and Nick Wetherwax had six points each.

Elba was led by Sonny Giuliano's 13 points, with Phil Ostroski scoring12 points and Dan Ramsey pitching in 11.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Byron-Bergen hasn't done a lot of winning this year, but improved to 4-13 with a 55-52 victory over visiting Holley

David Garnish was the star for the Bees, getting his first carrier double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. Tyler Sass had a team-high 15 points with Trevor Laurie pitching in seven points.

Brian Mitchell had 18 points and Chad Barhydt added 17 for the Hawks (4-17).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wheatland-Chili's Rick Agosto scored 20 points with 10 boards in a 61-54 win over Lyndonville.

Andy Lund had 18 points with seven boards and Garhett Varin pitched in seven points.

Erik Van Wycke had 12 points and eight rebounds for Lyndonville (1-16).

Wheatland-Chili is now 4-13.

 

Batavia and Oakfield-Alabama boys rise in state rankings

By Brian Hillabush

 The Oakfield-Alabama and Batavia boys basketball teams both moved up in the newest New York State Public High School Athletic Association state rankings.

Batavia took a major drop a few weeks back after its second loss of the season to Pittsford Sutherland, but moved up a little last week and moved up two spots in Class A this week, from No. 23 to No. 21.

The Blue Devils are 14-2.

Oakfield-Alabama (14-2) has lingered around the same area in Class C and moved up this week, going from No. 13 to No. 11.

Notre Dame did not change position in Class D. The Fighting Irish (13-3) are the ninth ranked team in the state.

HS girls highlights for Tuesday: Elba clinches division crown over rival ND

By Brian Hillabush

The Elba girls basketball team has  been a second half team all year, with several comebacks on their resume.

You can add another one as the Lancers had a very large fourth quarter to beat rival Notre Dame 53-48 Tuesday. The win wraps up the Genesee Region League Division II title for Elba, which is 13-0 in the league and 16-2 overall.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first quarter and had a 24-14 advantage at halftime. The Lancers chipped four points off the deficit with a 20-16 edge in the third quarter.

But as always, Elba's depth and pressure defense helped the squad to come from behind for the win. The Lancers scored 19 points while holding the Fighting Irish to just eight points.

"Our press just takes its toll on people as the game goes on," Elba coach Tom Nowak said. "We just have a lot of players and the ability to keep running them in and out and keep them fresh."

Missy Call hit two 3-pointers in the final period. Those six points were all she scored in the game.

Free throws have been the one weak spot for Elba this season, but the Lancers went 5-of-7 in the fourth quarter. Katie Newton hit a pair late and Rachael Cook put them up by 5 to ice the game with two at the end of the game.

Newton scored six of her eight points in the fourth and were led in scoring by Cassy Engle, who poured in 12. Cook had nine points with Katie Newton scoring eight and Sarah Schwartzmeyer pitching in six.

Jill Marshall led the Fighting Irish (11-2, 14-4) with 15 points, with Nichole Hart adding 12 points. Trisha Pike had 11 points and Liz Geandreau added eight points.

The Lancers also maintain the top seed in the Class DD sectionals. Jasper-Troupsburg is 16-1 and trailed Elba by just two seeding points coming into the game.

The Wildcats host Arkport Wednesday and should win, after thumping that team 67-31 earlier in the season. Elba has games with Lyndonville and Lima Christian remaining on the schedule.

"If we want to end up No. 1 we have to win out the rest of our games," Nowak said. "If we slip in a game, we could certainly fall to No. 2 or No. 3. If we would have lost tonight we would have fallen to third. But it was nice to come out and win the league. We were at that point and we wanted to do that tonight."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Pembroke had the edge in every quarter and dropped visiting Oakfield-Alabama 57-39.

Katie Hackett and Nicole Sharick each had a big game, with Hackett scoring a game-high 18 points with five dimes, three steals and a block. Sharick had seven boards and three assists to go with her 10 points. 

Brynne Perfitt had 10 points with Hillary Bates and Sarah Scarbrough scoring nine points apiece for the Hornets (9-9).

The Dragons are now 10-8.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Trojans keep holding on to that top seed in Class C with a 57-32 victory over host Attica.

Finnish exchange student Anni Lehtola had a monster game, scoring 24 points with 11 boards and three steals. It was a big rebounding game for Alexander as Katie Kochmanski had 10 rebounds to go with her 10 points and three rebounds.

Chelsea Turcer was also in double figures with 10 points and Anna Dominick was close with nine.

Breanna Hummel had nine points and 10 rebounds to pace the Blue Devils, who fall to 1-18.

Margaret LaFleur pitched in seven points.

Alexander is now 12-4 and maintains a slim lead over Perry in the Class C sectional bracket. The Yellowjackets whipped Mount Morris 68-24 Tuesday.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Holley trailed by a point when Emily Troup dropped in a 3-pointer with about a minute left, giving the Hawks a 51-47 win over Byron-Bergen.

Corrine Vanschoick had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds and Troup ended the day with 14 points as well.

Julie Brooks had 13 points for the Hawks (6-12).

Rory Partridge had 13 points for the Bees (9-8). Kayleigh Puma had 10 points and Kaylee Amesbury pitched in eight.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyndonville disposed of Wheatland-Chili 51-32 as Molly Burgess scored 16 points and Ashley Mahnke had seven points and 13 boards for the Tigers (8-10).

Lauren Drago scored a game-high 18 points for the Wildcats (4-11).

HS boys highlights for Tuesday

By Brian Hillabush

The Notre Dame hockey team skated to a 3-3 tie with Brockport Tuesday night in a Monroe County League match.

Dylan Versage scored two of the Notre Dame goals while Thomas Dehr was busy in net, stopping 43 shots.

Dave Roberts scored twice for Brockport (10-9-4).

Notre Dame is  7-8-2.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Kendall boys basketball team was hanging with powerhouse C.G. Finney in the first half, but Finney had a huge scoring stretch in the third and fourth quarters to get a 65-44 victory.

Jamell Johnson scored 20 of his game-high 26 points after the break for the Falcons (19-0). Kendall was outscored 18-10 in the third quarter and 24-15 in the fourth.

Finney did a good job of holding Kendall star Josh Laureano in check as scorer as he managed just 13 points, but he did have a strong game with 15 rebounds and six assists.

Chad Bentley was the leading scorer for the Eagles (10-7) with 16 points. Colt Tooley added eight points.

Notre Dame and Alexander each get two Players of the Week

By Brian Hillabush

Alexander's Kyle Woodruff and Oakfield-Alabama's Tim Smith shared the Players of the Week honors this week for Genesee Region League Division I.

Woodruff averaged 15.5 points, seven rebounds and two blocks as the Trojans beat Holley 65-62 and lost to Pembroke 75-37.  Woodruff reached the 30-point plateau in the win over the Hawks.

Smith had solid games in both of Oakfield-Alabama's victories last week. He had 14 points and four steals in a 65-43 win over Byron-Bergen and followed with a seven point, three steal effort in a 68-23 win over Holley. Smith totaled 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and seven steals in the victories.

Notre Dame's Kevin Francis had a huge scoring week to earn the honors for Division II.

The senior guard had 20 points, five rebounds, six assists and seven steals in a win over Lyndonville and followed with a 27-point, six rebound, six assist, nine steal performance in a victory over Kendall.

Notre Dame also had the Player of the Week on the girls side in Division II. 

Sophomore Liz Geandreau averaged a double-double in wins over Pavilion, Lyndonville and Kendall. She averaged 11 points and 10 boards in the victories.

Alexander's Anna Dominick wins the award for Division I as she scored a combined 27 points with seven assists and eight steals in wins over Pembroke and Holley.

HS girls highlights for Friday

By Brian Hillabush

Brittany Wormley scored seven of her nine points in the first quarter as the Batavia girls basketball team jumped out to a 14-5 lead and went  on to beat Eastridge 63-41.

Brittany Mazurkiewicz scored 18 points with five steals to lead the Blue Devils (13-4) while Jaycee Shirk added 15 points and 10 boards.

Michelle Jordan added seven points.

Emily Piacentini and Kaela Trifiro had eight points each for Eastridge (7-8).

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Nichole Hart and Liz Geandreau were both in double figures as Notre Dame downed host Kendall 48-38.

Hart had 13 points and Geandreau added 11 for the Fighting Irish (13-3). Jill Marshall scored 10 points and Hannah Scott-McGrail added eight points.

Samantha D'Agostino had 12 points for the Eagles (5-11).

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hillary Bates had a well-rounded game for Oakfield-Alabama as they thumped host Holley 44-16.

Bates scored 10 points and had six rebounds, four steals and four assists.

Brynne Perfitt was the leading scorer with 11 points and Christina Palillo added eight boards and five points for the Hornets (9-8).

Julie Brooks scored seven points for the Hawks (5-12).

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Byron-Bergen outscored Attica 14-4 in the third quarter and 13-2 in the fourth in picking up the 35-18 win.

Amanda Brown scored 10 of her 12 points in the third quarter and was assisted by Shannon Dilcher and Kayleigh Puma's seven points.

Nobody scored more than four points for Attica.

Byron-Bergen is 9-8.

HS boys highlights for Thursday: GR blowout night

By Brian Hillabush

Oakfield-Alabama led a night in which the Genesee Region League didn't have a final score within single digits.

The Hornets destroyed visiting Holley 69-23 Thursday.

Noah Seward had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds with A.J. Kehlenbeck pitching in 14 points. and Tyler Tamblin finishing with nine. Sam McCracken and Tim Smith scored seven points each.

Holley didn't have anybody score more than Eddie Bauer's six points. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Kevin Francis must have had a good time proving that he is the top guard in the league. He scored 27 points and had nine steals as Notre Dame trounced host Kendall 80-46. 

Vinny Zambito had 12 points and both Greg Barr and Nick Wetherwax added 10 points apiece for the Fighting Irish (13-3).

Kendall star Josh Laureano only managed 15 points while getting help from Colt Tooley, who scored 13. 

------------------------------------------------------------------

The first quarter was ugly, with both teams scoring just five points.

But Attica had a 13-7 second quarter lead and went on to beat Byron-Bergen 47-34 at home.

Tate Westermeier had 15 points and eight rebounds with Craig Wolfley adding six points and eight boards. Shawn Dupuis had nine points.

Byron-Bergen (3-12) was led by Tess Schramm, who scored six points.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Phil Ostroski scored 18 points to lead Elba to a 55-44 win over visiting Wheatland-Chili.

Dan Ramsey and Sonny Giuliano both scored 15 points for the Lancers (9-7).

Andy Lund scored 12 points with eight boards for the Wildcats (3-12).

Notre Dame's Charley Scott-McGrail playing at RIT

By Brian Hillabush

 When a team has a 3-17 record, that usually means that freshman get a chance to play a lot of minutes and they are building for the future.

The Rochester Institute of Technology basketball has that record and freshman Charley Scott-McGrail is definitely getting her minutes.

The freshman has played in all 20 games, getting one start, and is playing about 23.5 minutes per game.

McGrail - who was a two-time captain at Notre Dame - is scoring 5.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. She also has 16 assists, seven blocked shots and 10 steals.

HS girls highlights for Wednesday

By Brian Hillabush

Nichole Hart and Liz Geandreau had big games in Monday's win over Pavilion and duo continued its hot play in a 61-49 win over Lyndonville Wednesday.

Hart dropped in 18 points and Geandreau had a double-dobule, scoring 12 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.

Brittany Morelli also scored 12 points for the Fighting Irish (13-3) and Trisha Pike added seven points.

Ashleigh Mahoke scored 12 points and Taylor Hrovat added 11 points for the Tigers (7-9). 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Anna Dominick and Anni Lehtola split up the scoring duties in Alexander's 53-30 win over Holley.

Each scored 14 points to lead the Trojans, who improve to 10-4 and hold on to the top spot in Class C.

Rachel Pettys had a solid all-around game with seven points, six rebounds, eight steals and four assists.

Julie Brooks had 14 points and Emily Troupe added 12 for the Hawks (5-10).

--------------------------------------------------------------

As always, Elba spread the scoring around and picked up a victory. The Lancers were actually outscored 12-4 in the first quarter, but had a 20-7 run in the second and never looked back in picking up a 51-33 win over Kendall.

Meg Stucko led the Lancers with eight points and 13 rebounds with Katie Newton scoring seven points and Sarah Schwartzmeyer and Racheal Cook getting six points apiece.

Meghan Fahy led the Eagles (5-10) with 10 points.

The Lancers improve to 14-2.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Nicole Sharick scored a game-high 13 points to lead Pembroke to a 43-31 win over Attica.

Laura Moser pitched in eight points, six rebounds and two steals as the Dragons improve to 9-7.

Jackie Algier and Margaret LaFleur had eight points apiece for the Blue Devils.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Le Roy falls to 1-15 after Geneseo outscored the Oatkan Knights 15-0 in the first period and cruised to a 40-31 victory.

Allison Macomber had 13 points with 12 rebounds to lead Le Roy, with Jenna Merica scoring eight points and Megan Lowe grabbing 13 boards with five assists. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Byron-Bergen and Oakfield-Alabama evened up records as the Bees walked into Oakfield and left with a 43-40 win.

Both squads are now 8-8.

Elba and Notre Dame get a bump in Class D state rankings

By Brian Hillabush

 Both Elba and Notre Dame got small bumps in the NYSSWA girls polls for Class D this week.

The Lancers are 13-2 and jump from No. 9 in the state to No. 7 while the Fighting Irish are 12-3 and move up from No. 20 to No. 19.

Jasper-Troupsburg is 16-1 and ranked ninth.

It appears those three squads will be fighting for the Class DD championship as they are top three seeds.

Both Elba and Notre Dame have games tonight and we will have scores as soon as possible.

Notre Dame and Oakfield-Alabama have GR titles pretty much wrapped up

By Brian Hillabush

It appears that Oakfield-Alabama and Notre Dame have the regular season titles wrapped up when you look at the standings and schedule of remaining games. 

I am going by what is on the Section 5 Web site and there may be make-up games I don't know about, but as of this point I think Oakfield-Alabama has won Division I and Notre Dame is the Division II champion.

The Fighting Irish are 12-3 and have a five games left to play. The only team in striking distance is Elba at 8-7. Elba has just four games left, including one against Notre Dame. So if my math is correct, Notre Dame has clinched the Division II title.

Oakfield-Alabama (13-2) has a four game lead over Pembroke (9-6) with four regular season games left on the schedule, with one of them being against the Dragons on February 11.

Pembroke has four games left, so that the Dragons still have a little bit of chance to sneak in there.

It will be interesting to watch and see if Notre Dame or Oakfield-Alabama finished with the overall GR title, with just a game between the two.

The Genesee Region League will also be hosting the Niagara-Orleans League in a tournament between the two leagues at Genesee Community College on Feb. 13 and 14.

 

Oakfield-Alabama back in the state rankings

By Brian Hillabush

 The new state rankings were just released and Oakfield-Alabama is back in the top 15 for Class C.

The Hornets (13-2) were in the top 15, but dropped out last week. They are back in the state rankings at No. 13 this week.

Batavia had dipped down into a tie for 25th last week but move up to No. 23 this week in Class A.

Notre Dame did not move up or down, remaining at No. 9 in Class D.

HS boys highlights for Tuesday

By Brian Hillabush

Andrew Wright is heating up at the right time for the Pembroke basketball team, and that could be huge as the season wraps up and sectionals begins.

Wright won Player of the Week for last week and is already making a statement for this week, with 28 points and 10 rebounds in a 68-38 blowout over Attica on the road.

Big man Ken Babcock pitched in 16 points and nine rebounds while Steve Moser added 11 points with five steals.

The Dragons also played some solid defense, holding the Blue Devils (7-8) to just one player in double figures as Tate Westermeier scored 10 points.

Bryan Thompson had nine points and Greg Zybczynski had eight for Attica.

Pembroke is now 9-6. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Noah Seward was big in the paint in leading Oakfield-Alabama to a 65-43 win over Byron-Bergen.

Seward scored 14 points with 11 boards and four blocked shots.

Brad Riner scored eight points with 10 dimes and four steals with Tyler Tamblin scoring 10 points and Sam McCracken adding eight for the Hornets (13-2).

Tyler Sass led the Bees (3-11) with nine points and four boards.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Elba held Kendall's Josh Laureano to just 12 points, but two of those came in the final minute to wrap up a 44-37 win over the Lancers.

Phil Kludt and Colt Tooley had 13 points apiece to lead the Eagles, who improve to 9-5.

Sonny Giuliano had 13 points with Dan Ramsey adding 12 to lead the Lancers.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Kevin Francis scored 20 points and Greg Barr added 16 as Notre Dame thrashed Lyndonville 80-58.

Pretty much all of the scoring came from three players as Erick VanWycke had 17 points, Ken Urbanik had 16 and Muhammad Akram finished with 12.

------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Humphrey dropped in 23 points to lead Le Roy to a 60-42 win over Geneseo.

Eric Stella had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Brock Pasquale added eight for the Oatkan Knights.

Dylan Colville scored 22 points for Geneseo.

----------------------------------------------------------

Kyle Woodruff went off for the Alexander basketball team, scoring 30 points with 10 rebounds in a 65-62 win over Holley.

Stephen George had 13 points and Jared Quinn added 10.

---------------------------------------------------------

The Batavia hockey team gave up two goals to Chris Roeder and one to Anthony Mandrino, Vince Pettrone in a 5-2 loss.

Corey Kocent scored both Batavia goals. Adam Kurek had 17 saves for the Blue Dvils (12-7-1).

Victor is 12-7-2.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Jeff Wadhams scored his third goal to complete a hat-trick late in the third period in leading Geneva/Waterloo to a 5-3 win over the Notre Dame hockey team.

Dylan Versage, Brett Perfitt and Jason Harasimowicz had a goal each for Notre Dame (6-8-1).

Pembroke boys and girls win final home meet of the year

By Brian Hillabush

Sue Fleming of Pembroke submitted these results from the final Pembroke home swim meet of the season, a make-up with Notre Dame. The Dragons won both the boys and girls meet. The first photo is of the team continuing the tradition of throwing coach Tripp into the pool. Fellow coach Dave Seward followed at his own will. They do this every year in the final meet of the season. 
The second photo is of her son Chris winning the 100 freestyle.
 
 
Pembroke Girls 54        NotreDame Girls 40
Pembroke Boys 57        Notre dame Boys 39
 
 
200 girls free style- 2nd place Samantha Grodem 2:16:77 pembroke
200 boys Free Style- 1st place Tyler scoins 2:09:87  pembroke
                        2nd place Nick Barth 2:10:24 pembroke
 
200 boys Im          2nd place Shelby O'Neil  2:32:98  pembroke
100 girls free style   2nd place Samantha Grodem 27.75 pembroke
50 boys free          1st place Adam Swereniak  24:75 pembroke
50 boys free 2nd heat 1st place Luke Thomas   28:12 pembroke
100 girls butterfly 2nd place Alexandria Wilson 1:22:49 pembroke
100 boys free style    1st place Chris Fleming 57:13 pembroke
                          2nd place Tyler Scoins 1:10:46 pembroke
100 girls free style   1st place leah Gass 1:19:97  
                        2nd place Melanie Mercurio 1:27:03 both pembroke
Boys 100 backstroke  1st place Dylan Pratt 1:05:32
                                          2nd place Chris Fleming 1:05.72 both pembroke
 
 
 
 
At The Batavian we are interested in all the local sports information from youth to high school to bowling. Please contact brian (at) thebatavian (dot) com to submit results or get information on how to get your team and league coverage.

Some highlights from the GR swim meet this past Saturday

By Brian Hillabush

Whealtand-Chili's Nick Westrich was the boys swimmer of the meet and Notre Dame's Lucy Norton was the girls swimmer of the meet at Saturday's Genesee Region League Championships at Gates-Chili.

Norton (100 freestyle, 100 backstroke) was a double winner and Westrich (200 IM, 100 breaststroke, 400 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay)  was a quadruple winner. 

Westrich set meet records in the IM and with the 400 free relay.

Byron-Bergen's Baxter Ritsema (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle) was a double-winner for the boys and ND's Haley Alexander (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) was a double-winner for the girls.

Tyler Scoines won the 200 freestyle for Pembroke while in the last event of the meet Dylan Pratt, Ethan Burns, Chris Fleming and Adam Sewerniak won the 400 free relay, setting a school record time of 3:35. 

Wheatland-Chili finished first in the boys competition with a two point win over Pembroke.

Harley-Allendale-Columbia was the winner in the girls competition, beating out Byron-Bergen by two points.

 

(Thanks to Sue Fleming for the photo of the Pembroke relay team and result information.)

Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation is making a difference

By Brian Hillabush

When Michael Napoleone was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma/Leukemia, he wasn't going to give in without a fight.

The child fought the disease, and was as strong and positive as any eight year old kid would be in the situation.

But, he couldn't fight anymore and wound up passing away from the cancer on December 30.

Michael played youth baseball and football before becoming ill. He was also a big Notre Dame fan and was able to visit the University of Notre Dame three months before his passing.

While Michael was fighting the disease, the Batavia community rallied and helped the family out. The Napoleone's were struggling to to pay for food, gas and medical bills.

They appreciated what the community was doing for them.

After Michael's death, parents Michael and Laurie founded the Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation, with the hopes of raising money to help fight childhood cancer.

At Monday night's game between Pavilion and Notre Dame, there was t-shirts and hats as well as raffle tickets for sale to raise money. The game was called "The Michael Napoleone Foundation Cancer Awareness Girls Basketball Game" and both Pavilion and Notre Dame's team was wearing shirts to support the cause.

Dave Pero is Michael's uncle and got together with Pavilion coach Verne Brooks to work out the details of setting up the fundraising game.

The Pavilion girls wore t-shirts that said "Gopher a cure", which plays off the Golden Gophers mascot. Notre Dame's shirts said "Irish for a cure".

The Foundation started small but with the support of the community has grown to be pretty big and is helping a lot of people out. Money has been raised by countless donations and fundraisers. 

At last count, 63 families have been helped out by the foundation in just over a year.

The Foundation also purchased the scoreboard at Lyons Park in Michael's memory, after youth football was banished from Dwyer Stadium.

The big one is donating $5,000 to the Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong Memorial. That money went towards purchasing a machine that analyzes cells. A test like that used to take the hospital a week, and now it can be finished within a day.

The Foundation has also made large donations to United Memorial Medical Center and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

If you are interested in donating to the charity you can e-mail the Foundation at michaelnapoleonememfoundation1@verizon.net.

 

Notre Dame girls get revenge on Pavilion

By Brian Hillabush

Pavilion beat Notre Dame 40-36 in the Rotary Club Tournament earlier this season. But the Fighting Irish got revenge Monday night, picking up a tight 45-43 home victory.

Nichole Hart and Liz Geandreau were the heroes in picking up this win as Hart poured in 18 points - including four 3-pointers - and Geandreau had nine points, but grabbed 15 rebounds.

The 15 boards was an astonishing number as Pavilion's Marcy Ethington is a force in the paint.

The game was tight throughout as the Fighting Irish had a 27-23 lead at halftime and was up 35-32 after three periods of play.

But the Golden Gophers had no quit in them as they opened the fourth quarter with Amie Brooks dropping in a pair of free throws and making it a 1-point game.

Geandreau had a bucket for Notre Dame and after a turnover,  Brooks made a steal and scored to make it 37-36.

The Fighting Irish then took an eight point lead with Hart scoring five points and Geandreau adding a basket to make it 44-36 with a few minutes left in the game.

Ethington scored, Danielle Tallo hit a 3-pointer and Brooks scored to make the score 44-43 with a minute remaining.

Geandreau got to the line and hit 1-of-2 foul shots.

The Golden Gophers (10-6) had a few decent looks, but wound up having to foul as the clock ran out. Brooks scored 16 points and Ethington added 10.

Jayvee call-up Carly Pike had six points to go with Hart's 18 and Geandreau's nine. The Fighting Irish are now 12-3.

Notre Dame grad Berardini and his Brockport hockey team 11-5-3

By Brian Hillabush

Notre Dame graduate Chris Berardini  has seen a lot more ice time in his sophomore season, and the Brockport hockey team is having a strong season.

Berardini only played in five games as a freshman, but has already played in 10 as the Golden Eagles are 11-5-3.

Berardini has scored two goals and handed out three assists so far this season.

 

Authentically Local