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Notre Dame JV football team completes undefeated season

By Howard B. Owens

Information and photo provided by John Borrelli.

The JV football squad for Notre Dame beat Alexander yesterday to finish out the season with a 7-0 record.

If the varsity beats Attica tonight, it will be the first time in school history that both JV and varsity went undefeated in the same year.

The team is comprised of the following players and coaches:  Peter Daversa, James Farmer, Larry Infantino, Connor Logsdon, Casey Midwick, Chris Morris, Michael Muehlig, Ethan Osborn, Charlie Stevens, Jack Sutherland, Robin Zhang, David Bohn, Freddie Cunningham, Carson Decarlo, Isaiah Flow, Jordan Lyons, Brad Misiak, Tyler Reese, Jake Weatherwax, Jordan Weatehrwax, Caleb Wolcott, Jimmy Zickl, Nico Zambito, Head Coach John Borrelli, Assitant Coaches Chuck Tomaszewski, Bill Sutherland, Bob Zickl, Otis Thomas and Mikey Rapone.

McCulley's six TD tosses against Finney gives QB team's single-season record

By Howard B. Owens
Tim McCulley (file photo)

Norte Dame's senior quarterback Tim McCulley set a new school single-season touchdown pass record today as the Fighting Irish beat Finney 66-24.

McCulley tossed six TD passes, giving him 24 on the season, surpassing the record of 18 set by Doug Condidorio in 1979.

The 24 touchdown passes put McCulley at sixth on Section V's all-time list for a single season. The record is 31, set by Shawn Mizro of Newark in 2002.

McCulley completed 14 of 20 passes for 226 yards, giving him 1,217 on the season. He's completed 68 passes so far this season.

Norte Dame next faces Attica to end the regular season, 7 p.m. Friday in Attica.

With the victory, the Irish (6-0) secure the #1 seed in Class D sectionals.

McCulley also rushed for 50 yards, scoring once on the ground.

Cam Chamberlain carried the ball nine times for 108 yards and two TDs. Peter Daversa also had a rushing touchdown and had 55 yards on two carries.

Leading the receivers was Luca Zambito with 83 yards on four receptions and three TDs scored. Charlie Hebert had four receptions for 61 yards and a TD. Jason Hart grabbed three passes for 31 yards and a TD. Josh Johnson converted two of his receptions into a TD and had 37 yards gained on the day.

Hebert had eight tackles and Joe Zickl had 7.5 tackles. Jack Sutherland, six, Jason Hart, six, Rui Han, five, and Johnson, four and a half.

Time of possession in the game was lopsided in Finney's favor, 36.33 to 11.27. Mike Jones rushed for 224 yards and scored twice on 28 attempts.

In other football action Saturday, Attica beat Elba/Byron-Bergen, 28-6. Attica pulled off the victory even without star running back Matt Perry.

Attica and Alexander are tied for second in the Genesee Region League with records of 5-1, while ND is in first with a record of 6-0.

Batavia beat Greece Arcadia 43-19. Brandon Stevenson gained 72 yards and scored a TD and nabbed an interception. Greg Mruczek was 5-7 passing for 92 yards and two TDs, both pulled in by Jacob Radka.

Notre Dame girls beat Lyndonville 3-0 in soccer

By Howard B. Owens

Photos and information provided by Pete Welker.

In girls soccer, Notre Dame beat Lyndoville yesterday, 3-0. Seventh-grader Callie McCulley scored her first goal and Bailee Welker had two goals to lead ND to victory. McCulley and Taylor Perzia both had assists in the game.

Top photo: Taylor Perzia.

McCulley is congratulated by teammates on her first goal.

Bailee Welker

Hannah Bowen

Hannah Green

Irish Run Well at McQuaid

By Eric Geitner

 

The Notre Dame XC team participated in the 49th annual McQuaid Invitational on Saturday.  The meet featured over 7,000 runners from over 245 schools representing 5 states and Canada. The modified boys led the day off with Tyler Fuller finishing 166th with 12:13 and Trevor Nellis 176th in 12:18.  Chris Neal placed 254th in 14:34.

 
The varsity boys then took to the 3 mile course with Dylan Fix breaking out to finish 69th for the Irish in 18:03.  Ryan Fuller placed 115th with 18:47, Justin Carlson 168th in 19:41, one shoe wonder Dennis Bleier 194th in 20:05 and rounding out the scoring was Bryan Moscicki in 217th with a 20:36.  The Irish placed 30th in the 42 team field.  Caleb Nellis placed 255th with a huge PR of 21:40 and Ryan Shormann placed 304th with a big PR of 24:53.
 
The girls team placed 16th in the 26 team 'seeded' race.  Laurie Call led the Irish placing 26th with the second fastest ever ND time of 19:12 and Anna Warner ran the third ever fastest ND time of 19:30 and placed 33rd.  New faces represented the third and fourth runners as Serena Strollo-DiCenso and Isabelle Bliss had an amazing race to place 112th and 113th respectively with times of 21:38 and 21:39.  Shelby McGinnis rounded the scoring out for the Irish with her 129th finish of 22:07.  Abby Bleier placed 142nd with 22:27, Emily McCracken 161st with 23:21, Rose Flumerfeldt 183rd with 24:43 and Emily Sherman 202nd with 27:23.
 
The Irish are next in action on Tuesday against Holley, Keshequa, and Geneseo at Holley's Canal Park.
Modified runners Chris Neal, Tyler Fuller and Trevor Nellis
 
Dylan Fix leading the Irish
 
Laurie Call nearing the 2-mile mark
 

McCulley throws for five TDs, ND crushes Elba/Byron-Bergen

By Nick Sabato

Notre Dame ended its three-game losing streak to Elba/Byron-Bergen with a dominating 40 to 7 victory.

For the second consecutive week, Tim McCulley scored five touchdowns for the Fighting Irish, this time all through the air as Notre Dame controlled the game from start to finish.

The Irish opened the scoring as McCulley hooked up with Josh Johnson for a 13-yard TD strike in the first quarter to go up 6-0.

McCulley would later find Jason Hart on a one-yard toss to give the Irish a 13-0 lead. In total, McCulley would throw four touchdown passes in the first half, two more to Johnson on plays of two and 51 yards respectively.

The senior quarterback went 18-for-27 passing for 335 yards and also picked up another 61 on the ground.

The Lancers would get on the board just before the end of the half on a three-yard pass from Garrett Chapell to Chad Kowalik.

Charlie Herbert was on the receiving end of the fifth and final touchdown pass from McCulley late in the third quarter. Herbert racked up 134 yards on six grabs, while Johnson had 161 on seven catches.

The Fighting Irish defense was stout all game, holding Chapell to just 13-of-33 passing for 127 yards and intercepting him four times, once by Johnson.

“Our skilled guys had a good game today, although we did have a couple of lapses,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Rick Mancuso. “I’m really proud of the overall effort, of the great effort that got us to this point, but we have a lot to work on and we are going to get back at it on Monday.”

Brandon Naylor had a strong game for Elba/Byron-Bergen (2-2), carrying the ball 16 times for 100 yards. The Lancers will next travel to Oakfield-Alabama next Friday night.

Notre Dame (4-0) is the only remaining unbeaten team in the Genesee Region League, and they will take on Pembroke next Saturday.

Also Saturday, Batavia lost to Canandaigua Academy 49-12.

Photos by Howard Owens.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

McCulley shines as Notre Dame pounds Alexander

By Nick Sabato

Tim McCulley accounted for five touchdowns as Notre Dame routed Alexander 41 to 12.

Both teams entered the contest with 2-0 records, and went toe-to-toe for the first quarter, until the Fighting Irish opened things up.

McCulley started the scoring by capping a 17-play, 88-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Alexander would quickly respond though, scoring on a 75-yard drive, finished by a Dylan Scharlau one-yard run.

However two plays later, the Notre Dame senior quarterback ripped off a 63-yard touchdown run and the Irish never looked back. McCulley would hook up with Josh Johnson on a 30-yard touchdown pass to head into halftime with a 20-6 lead.

Notre Dame received the ball to start the third quarter and proceeded to march 67 yards on 11 plays, capped by a 24-yard touchdown toss from McCulley to Luca Zambito.

McCulley would later intercept a Nelson Burke pass, and capitalize with one more touchdown pass to Charlie Herbert to put the game on ice.

One bright spot for Alexander was the play of Scharlau, who ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns, while the Irish defense held Burke to just 2-of-10 passing for 12 yards and two interceptions.

Notre Dame got one final touchdown after Johnson returned a Trojan onside kick 54 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

McCulley finished the game 10-of-21 passing for 171 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, while also rushing for 108 yards and two scores.

Senior Andrew Mullen had a solid game for the Irish, rushing for 124 yards on 21 carries, while Zambito added four catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.

The Fighting Irish improve to 3-0 and will travel to Elba/Byron-Bergen next week. The Lancers have beaten Notre Dame the last two seasons, keeping them from an undefeated record.

Alexander (2-1) will host Attica next Friday night. 

More stats: Scharlau had seven tackles and one sack. Zach Laird had seven tackles. Jonathan George had eight tackles. Kelsey Patten also recorded a sack for Alexander. For Notre Dame, McCulley rushed for 107 yards on 19 carries. Luca Zambio had four catches for 54 yards and a TD. Charlie Hebert had two receptions for 60 yards and a TD. Josh Johnson gained 35 yards on two receptions and scored. Joe Zickl led the defense with 13 tackels. Dakota Weidman notched the team's only sack.

In other football action today, Elba/Byron Bergen moved to 2-1 with a 41-6 over Holley on in the first game on Holley's brand-new football field. Garrett Chapell, who was 3-6 for 67 yards, threw for two TD and ran for one. Brandon Naylor carried the ball in twice. Austin Yockel snatched his third interception on the season. The Lancers had 315 yards total offense to Holley's 50. Mike Shanley had 11 carries for 107 yards. Andy Underhill had 14 tackles and half a sack. Naylor, 10 tackles, Hunter Taylor 11 and 11 for Steel Truax.

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Photos by Howard Owens.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Irish Harriers run well in West Seneca

By Eric Geitner

The Notre Dame Cross Country Team traveled to Buffalo to participate in the West Seneca Invitational at Sunshine Recreational Park on Saturday. 

The Notre Dame Girls Team prior to racing

 

The lady Irish finished in 6th place in the small school division with 137 points.  Laurie Call ran the 3.1 mile course in 20:25 to place 6th with teammate Anna Warner in 10th place with 20:34.  Emily McCracken placed 40th (23:06), Shelby McGinnis 43rd (23:33) and Abby Bleier 52nd (24:01) to score for the Irish.  Also in the race was Emily Sherman placing 80th and Rose Flumerfeldt 90th.

Anna Warner and Laurie Call at the start

Emily McCracken, Abby Bleier and Emily Sherman

Shelby McGinnis

Rose Flumerfeldt on her way to the finish

Anna Warner and Laurie Call with their top ten medals

 

The Irish also had representation in the Freshman/Sophomore race with Serena Strollo-DiCenso placing 16th in 24:20 and classmate Isabelle Bliss in 17th with 24:21.

Serena Strollo-DiCenso and Isabelle Bliss

The boys finished in 11th place in the small school race behind the tight 4-pack of Ryan Fuller in 56th (19:50), Justin Carlson in 59th (20:02), Dylan Fix in 61st (20:03) and Dennis Bleier in 66th (20:17).  Bryan Moscicki closed the gap to finish 97th in 22:01.  Caleb Nellis (24:30) and Ryan Shormann (28:30) also represented the Irish.

Justin Carlson and Ryan Fuller at the start

Dylan Fix and Dennis Bleier

Brian Moscicki

Ryan Shormann

Caleb Nellis

 

Irish Open Regular Season with 3 Wins

By Eric Geitner
    Anna Warner of ND -- photo by David Warner
 
The Notre Dame boy's and girl's Cross Country teams opened up their season going 3 -1, beating Byron Bergen, Mount Morris, and Cal-Mum.  Big school Wayland-Cohocton were able to knock off the Irish. 
 
Anna Warner led the girls finishing 2nd in the race with Laurie Call in third.  Emily McCracken finished 9th, Shelby McGinnis 13th, Abby Bleier 15th, Serena Strollo-DiCenso 16th, Isabelle Bliss 18th, Emily Sherman 24th and Rose Flumerfeldt 29th. Byron Bergen was led by 5th place finisher Kim Lovett and 10th place finisher Charlene Clay.  Byron Bergen beat Mt. Morris and Cal-Mum. 
 
The Notre Dame boy's team was able to place 3 in the top ten with Ryan Fuller leading the way in 5th place, Dylan Fix 7th, and Dennis Bleier 8th.  Justin Carlson placed 11th, Bryan Moscicki 18th, Caleb Nellis 31st and Ryan Shormann 34th.  Byron Bergen finished 2nd and third in the race from the efforts of Robbie Schrenker and Sean Donovan respectively.  The Byron Bergen boys beat Mt. Morris.  Cal-mum's Everett Gieger easily won the race in 17:54, 2:15 faster than 2nd place.
 
Next up for the Irish is the West Seneca Invitational at Sunshine Park on Saturday.

 

ND Harriers Open up 2013 Season

By Eric Geitner

The Notre Dame Cross Country Team opened up its 2013 season at the 4th annual Dash-in-the-Dark 2 mile relay at Oakfield High School.  The race consists of a 3 person relay, with each leg completing 2 laps of a one mile course....under the lights!!!!!

 

The girls relay of Laurie Call, Emily McCracken, and Anna Warner finished 3rd among the small schools.  Laurie Call had the 2nd fastest time among the 16 competing small schools and ove 60 runners, running 12:29.40 and Anna Warner was the 5th fastest running 12:49.18.  Emily ran 13:58.42.  The 'B' relay of Shelby McGinnis (14:27.26), Emily Sherman (15:43.59) and Serena Strollo-DiCenso(15:14.15) finished in 12th.  Abby Bleier (14:56.34) and Rose Flumerfeldt (16:12.73) also represented the Irish.

 

The boys team split up to have a little inter-team competition, with the relay squad of Ryan Fuller (12:12.95), Dennis Bleier (12:44.22), and Bryan Moscicki (14:02.83) taking 12th place among the small school and the relay of Jusitn Carlson (12:17.17), Dylan Fix (12:36.85), and Caleb Nellis (16:10.98) finishing 22nd.  Ryan Shormann also completed his first XC race covering the 2 mile in 16:30.

 

The Irish open up their regular season Tuesday at Genesee County Park Course 2 at Area A off Raymond Road.

Batavia Kiwanis honor top 10 seniors

By Howard B. Owens

The Kiwanis Club of Batavia honored the top 10 seniors of Batavia High School during its weekly luncheon today.

Honorees were Jenna Mancuso, Niha Idrees, Alexis Logsdon, Andrea Raphael, Rachel Paige Henrici, Rebecca Zinni, Maria Robusto, Lindsay Wrobel, Mark Zinni and Zachary Hale.

Winning awards were Logsdon for citizenship, Samantha Mitchell for band, Wrobel for orchestera and Kaitlin Logsdon for chrous.

Last week the club honored the top 10 seniors from Notre Dame: Timothy Bergman, Ashleigh Cheverie, Margaret Marchese, Madison Cluck, Riley Norton, Jeongui Park, John Tipton, Grace Bergren, Julian Blackburn-Baskin, and Lindsay Hilburger. Awards were given to Peter Kehl, vocal, Cheverie, instrumental, and Bergren, citizenship.

UPDATE: Joe Scanlan e-mailed us pictures from last week's lunch with Notre Dame.

Notre Dame drops playoff game to Lyndonville

By Howard B. Owens

Without walking seven batters, maybe Notre Dame beats Lyndonville 3-0, Head Coach Mike Rapone said after the Fighting Irish lost to the Tigers 7-3 in a Section V Class D semifinal game at Dwyer Stadium.

Starter Tyler Stroud, normally in command of his pitches, struggled to get the ball over the plate and squandered an early lead. With only a couple of hits, the Irish saw their 3-0 lead slip to 3-2 and then disappear to a 4-3 deficit.

Two of those runs scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball after walks helped Lyndonville base runners advance to third.

"Walks, passed ball, ground out, and little by little we let them back into the game and we never got the momentum back," Rapone said.

Rapone praised the effort of Lyndonville but repeated, it was the walks that did in his team.

"Their pitcher threw a nice game," Rapone said. "He kept us off balance. We didn't hit the ball that well. I think if we didn't walk seven guys, the three runs might have been enough."

The Batavia Blue Devils beat Livonia today to advance to the Section V Class BB championship game in Geneva at 6 p.m., Friday against Pal-Mac. In the Class C final, Pavilion was eliminated by Bolivar-Richburg.

Top photo: Tommy Prospero scores in the first on a steal of home. The Tigers' catcher dropped the ball.

To purchase prints of photos from this game, click here.

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Photo: Notre Dame golf team takes second consecutive Section V title

By Howard B. Owens

Notre Dame's golf team won a Section V title in a tournament at the Livingston Country Club in Geneseo.

From left: John Lapple -- 81, Drew Morabito -- 85, Coach Bill Sutherland, Noah Hoy -- 83, Ben Warner -- 87, and Jared Thornton -- 92. This is the second year in a row that they have won the Section 5 Class C Championship with the same five players.

Photo and information submitted by David Warner.

Notre Dame picks up eight Section V Class D titles at meet

By Howard B. Owens

Notre Dame's track team picked up eight titles in yesterday's Section V meet at Wheatland-Chili.

Front Row -- The girls 4x800 championship team: Abby Bleier, Shelby McGinnis, Anna Warner and Emily McCracken and discus champ Meghan Duell.

Back Row -- The boys 4x800 team Brad Misiak, Arron Carlson (also won the 400m hurdles), Jeffrey Antolos (also a 3x individual winner -- 3000m steeplechase, 1600m and 3200m) and shotput champ Rui Han.

For full meet results, click here.

Photo and info submitted by Bare Antolos.

Batavia, Notre Dame pitchers dominate in Section V play at Dwyer

By Howard B. Owens

Two home-field pitchers, two dominant performances, a pair of very similar results for Batavia and Notre Dame in Section V playoff games at Dwyer Stadium on Friday.

Behind the 15-K, two-hit performance of Zach Hale, the Blue Devils shutdown Newark 1-0.

In the night cap, Alec Covel was just as masterful for the Fighting Irish. In the process of striking out 10, Covel gave up only one hit, and that wasn't until the top of the 6th inning, leading Notre Dame to a 2-0 victory over Alfred-Almond.

Batavia Head Coach Rick Saunders said Hale pitched the game of the year.

"What a performance," Saunders said. "The whole game is Hale. He got the base hit, and then I pinch run for him, and he's the winning run."

Mike Rapone, head coach of Notre Dame, was just as impressed with the performance of Covel, who started only three games this season prior to Friday because of an injury. Both Rapone and Covel said he came into the game, fresh, strong and eager to pitch.

"He threw only 78 pitches," Rapone said. "He was pounding the strike zone. His curve ball was sharp. He's a great player. He really is."

Both Newark and Alfred are lower seed games, but in sectionals top-ranked teams are going find themselves going against the best pitcher of their opponents.

"Their kid pitch great, too," Rapone said. "That's the thing with sectionals. They've got a .500 record, but they probably won every game that he pitched and maybe they lost all the ones he didn't, so you never know what you're going to run into when you get into sectional tournament. I mean, for a nine seed, heck, that kid threw the ball well."

Saunders was equally impressed with Newark's starter.

"i don't know anything about their pitcher, but I'll tell you, he is quality," Saunders said. "He threw a real nice fastball and a sweet curve ball."

Batavia was limited to four hits, but still managed to get a couple of runners to third. It made Saunders a little nervous when his offense couldn't close the deal.

"We had our chances," Saunders said. "Those games bother me more than anything, when we see guys on third base many times, one out, and you don't score, you go 'oh-oh, something bad can happen.' Nothing bad happened because Hale was in control of the game."

Being out on the mound in a big 1-0 game is exactly where he wanted to be, Hale said.

"I usually throw better later, but especially after we got that run," Hale said. "It really gave me a boost. I'm like, hey, better close it out.

"The rush is crazy," he added. "When you're out there every batter means something. It's not like it's a 10-0 game."

Covel said he just likes to be in that commanding situation, taking control of the game.

"All of my pitches working and with the strong defense behind me, it just gives me all the confidence in the world," Covel said.

Slide show from Batavia game. To order prints, click here.

Slide show for Notre Dame game below. Click here to purchase prints.

Notre Dame pulls out victory in regular season finale over Lyndonville

By Howard B. Owens

The Notre Dame girls softball team closed out the season Friday with a come-from-behind victory over Lyndonville in game played at GCC.

As the defending state champions, the Fighting Irish finish out the season with a 10-8 record, which is good enough to make it to the first round of sectional play, but Head Coach Rick Mancuso said the team still needs to eliminate some mistakes to advance further.

"We're getting better," Mancuso said. "The girls are working really hard. We're not probably where we want to be, but we'll see what happens. We'll throw our hat out there and see how it goes."

Friday's game was a seesaw battle, with Notre Dame and Lyndonville exchange the lead just about every inning.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, down 10-9, the Irish needed to string some hits together and plate two runs to pull out a victory.

The team was loose and confident at the start of the inning and got the job done to notch an 11-10 victory.

"The girls did a great job of rallying back any time we got down," Mancuso said. "They showed a lot of character today."

In the slide show is the sequence of shots from Maddie Mancuso's slide into home in the 4th inning. She was called out. You make the call.

To purchase prints, click here.

Notre Dame and Batavia fans, remember those championship seasons

By Howard B. Owens

Parents, ensure the moments from the recent basketball season are preserved for years to come -- buy prints of photos from the games of the Batavia Blue Devils and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

We captured the post-season action (and for the Notre Dame girls, the Rotary Tournament). (State championship photos are not for sale because of NYSPHSAA rules.)

Click the graphics in this post for links to the galleries of each of the games, which includes all sports covered so far in 2013 for both schools. Or for Batavia, click here, and for Notre Dame, click here.

And for today only, we'll offer one more time: become a member of The Batavian Club and receive a free 13x19 print of the basketball photo of your choice. Click here for details.

Photos: Notre Dame High School's 'Make Some Noise Area-Wide Talent Show'

By Daniel Crofts

In this short video, St. Joe's fourth-grader Andres Mateos demonstrates the use of a Bo, a martial arts weapon from Korea.

Andres was one of many talented youths from Genesee County competing in the "Make Some Noise Area-Wide Talent Show" at Notre Dame High School last night.

Proceeds from this event will be donated to the Western New York chapter of "Make Noise 4 Kids," a nonprofit organization that raises money and awareness in the fight against pediatric cancer.

Here are some of the other performers:

Natalie Matuszak (Notre Dame) singing and playing the guitar for "I Wouldn't Mind" by He is We.

Nathan Beck (Notre Dame) singing and playing the original song "Can't Wait."

Kathryn Fitzpatrick (John Kennedy School) singing a cappella "Wizard and I" (from the Broadway musical "Wicked").

Matuszak and Gabrielle Linsey (Notre Dame) dancing to Rihanna's "Right Now."

Peter Kehl (Notre Dame) singing "Bring Him Home" from "Les Miserables" (dressed as Jean Valjean).

Laura Guiste (Batavia High School) singing "Love Story" by Taylor Swift.

Jon Korzelius, Tyler Hamm and Tristan Korzelius (all from Oakfield-Alabama) performing "The Pit and the Pendulum," a rock medley of original and popular rock songs.

Hailey Natalizia (Pembroke) singing "I'm Gonna Love You Through It" by Martina McBride.

Due to some technical difficulties, I was unable to take pictures of all the performers. My apologies and congratulations on a job well done to the following:

Keara Zerillo, Erin Phillips and Serena Strollo-DiCenso (St. Joseph School), who sang "Wings" by Little Mix.

Kyle Kendall (John Kennedy School), who performed a ball spinning act.

Fiona Beck (St. Joseph School), who sang and played "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones.

Jake Krajewski, Tyler Barrett, Peter Kehl, Janelle Fancher and Lydia Moens (Notre Dame), who performed a short play called "The Legend of Krately House."

Tyler Hamm and Jon Korzelius (Oakfield-Alabama), who performed a drum duet.

Tracy Read and Beth Johnson-Walsh (Oakfield-Alabama), who sang and played the piano for "Hometown Glory" by Adele.

The winners of the contest were, left to right, Beck (first place), Cheverie (honorable mention), Phillips, Strollo-DiCenso and Zerillo (honorable mention), Kehl (third place), Korzelius and Hamm (second place) and Natalizia (pictured separately).

So as to fit them all in clearly, here is a picture from the other side:

Natalizia was happy to be another honorable mention.

As first prize winner, Beck was awarded $150. He donated his entire winnings to "Make Noise 4 Kids."

An MVP game for Mel Taylor helps Notre Dame claim Class D state championship

By Howard B. Owens

Team leaders step up in big games, and that's what Mel Taylor did Sunday to help the Fighting Irish secure a St. Patrick's Day victory in the Class D Girls State Championship game at Hudson Valley College in Troy.

"I figured Mel would come up big today," said Head Coach Dave Pero. "She struggled yesterday, and she’s the type that if she struggles once, she’s not going to struggle a second time."

Notre Dame beat Oriskany 52-40 to capture the team's second state championship (the first came in 1999). It was Pero's first state championship as head coach of the Lady Irish.

Taylor finished with 24 points and was named MVP, but it was her 12 points in the first half that put Notre Dame in a position to win.

"Mel is great ball handler," senior Riley Norton said. "She’s very smart. She sets up our offense. Without her, we know we wouldn’t have gone anywhere. It was a team effort, but Mel played amazing tonight. It was a great night (of) play, amazing."

As usual, the Fighting Irish defense made it very hard for an opponent to take many shots and then keep them off balance when they do, but like the semifinal game against Fort Edward, the Lady Irish couldn't get many of their own shots to drop, except for Taylor.

On Taylor's back, Notre Dame carried an 18-18 tie into the half.

"In the locker room we all said, 'just keep shooting' " Norton said. "Miss as many as you want because it’s going to happen. It’s always going to happen. If you get down on yourself then obviously you're not going to score."

Norton, who finished with 14 points, only hit three of her 10 three-point tries on the game, but two of those came early in the third quarter to help spark a rally that put Oriskany in a deep hole.

The Irish outscored Oriskany 22-10 in the quarter.

"We tried to wear them down with our press and they finally collapsed for about two minutes, and that’s all it takes in a game like this," Pero said.

For several of the girls, this is their second state championship in 12 months. Some of the team played on the 2012 softball team.

For Laurie Call, this was her third state championship. She also has a patch on her jacket for cross-country.

"It feels pretty great, but I just take it one thing at a time," said the junior from Oakfield. "I'm just so blessed and honored to be doing this."

While Call is credited with three points total for the game, she is many ways the spark plug of the team. Her main contribution -- defensive play that makes it hard for opponents to organize their offenses -- isn't something that gets measured on stat sheets.

Call is an aggressive, in-your-face defender. That aggression got her into foul trouble against Mt. Morris in the Section V Class D consolidation game, but she learned her lesson.

"I kept saying today – no steals, just pressure," Call said. "I just kind of kept that in my head the whole day."

Notre Dame's playbooks are written around defense -- keep the other team close, because eventually, you will start scoring.

"You can't turn them (shots) down," Pero said. "Maddie Mancuso, who’s coming off the bench, she shot five threes in the first half. They’re all great looks. They went in and out. I told her at half-time, you keep getting them, you keep shooting them. One drops, that’s three points. That’s our motto, we’ve got to keep shooting the basketball."

Shea Norton also contributed to the defensive effort with nine rebounds. She also added six points.

Oriskany's leading scorer, Christina Graziadei, was held  to four points. Only one Redskin managed double-digit scoring, and that was sophomore guard Madison Zizzi, who had 11.

Ever since the Section V playoff win against Elba, the Lady Irish have been playing with more and more confidence each game.

Going into that big match with their chief rival, the Lady Lancers were defending state champions and had beaten Notre Dame five straight games, including the first two regular season games this year.

"Beating Elba just showed us we can do anything," Norton said. "We knew in our hearts we could beat them, but they came back and beat us the two times during the season. After we beat them, it was just 'thank the Lord,' and we were ready to go. We were ready to come here."

There's no doubt the Elba game helped propel the Irish forward, Pero said, but the whole season has been full of games that helped prepare his team for state-level competition.

"Our schedule really played a part of this post season," Pero said. "Not only playing Elba three times, and Romulus, but Plattsburgh was a great team in our first opening round game. They’re going to be a team to beat down the road. Then playing Batavia at the college in the Rotary Tournament, all of those things are a plus for us. We use those every game to talk about who we have to play and what we have to do. We look back at those and compare them to what we have here, it really forces the girls to focus on what they have to do to win."

When it came to crunch time Sunday afternoon, Taylor said she was so focused she didn't even realize her team had built a commanding 10-point lead. 

Before that run, she said, she gave her teammates a pep talk.

"I didn’t want another Mt. Morris," Taylor said. "I didn’t want us to go down and lose confidence. I told everyone pull it together. It’s zero zero. That shot you missed never happened. We have short memories as athletes. We need to get over it so we can keep shooting and eventually they’ll go in."

The girls all said it felt like a dream once they realized victory was in their grasp. Norton said she wasn't counting on a win until the final 16 seconds, with a 12-point lead, but even then, she still couldn't believe it.

"I was sitting on the bench and I looked at everybody and I’m like ‘we just won?’   This feeling, I can’t describe it. I’m overjoyed. It’s just an amazing feeling."

Top photo: Taylor, Riley Norton, Shea Norton and Laurie Call celebrate as time expires.

Taylor in for a lay-up in the first quarter.

Driving up the lane, Taylor passes during third-quarter action.

Riley Norton and Mel Taylor wait for Shea Norton to take her second free throw during the closing minute of the game.

Pandemonium reigned for several minutes after time expired on the championship game.

When the team returned to Batavia, the caravan of players, fans and parents were given a police and fire escort down Main Street.

Following the return home, a victory party at T.F. Brown's.

Two slide shows below. One from inside the arena, the other, post-game celebrations. NYSPHSAA rules prohibit any media outlet that received credentials from posting photos for sale, so I can't sell the photos in the first slide show. You can purchase prints from the second slide show. To do that, click here.

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