Now in their 12th year, the Batavia Bulldawgs’ “family ties” are as strong as ever.

The youth football and cheerleading program has grown substantially since its start in 2011 thanks to a one-for-all and all-for-one philosophy that values each and every member of the organization, said Commissioner John Reigle on Saturday afternoon as he watched his players take on Tri-Town and Akron at the new Genesee Community College field.

“What makes the Bulldawgs truly special is the athletes, volunteer board members, coaches and families that take part in it,” said Reigle, who is one of the founding fathers of the program (along with Matt Della Penna, Paul Grazioplene, Tyrone Woods and Ken Proefrock). “I play a small part in this wonderful organization, and it’s been an honor.”

• Camper's name
• Grade camper is entering
• Emergency contact name and phone number
• T-shirt size (register by June 30th to guarantee correct size) 

Beginners:

Scoring for the beginners were:

Alexander - Tyler Marino (Extra point by Tyler Marino)

Medina - Kaedon Hangartner (Extra point by Kaedon Hangartner)

Alexander - Clayton Bezon (Extra point by Clayton Bezon)

Alexander - Tyler Marino (No extra point)

Medina - Sawyer Kingsbury (Two-point conversion caught by Kaedon Hangartner)

Mini:

Going into the game Medina was 6-0 and the Tri-town trojans were 4-2. Alexander threw everything they had at Medina and prevailed, breaking the Medina unbeaten streak.

Scoring for the mini division:

Medina - Aiden Pitts (Extra point by Aiden Pitts)

Medina - Joshua Wilson (No extra point)

Alexander - Nick Kramer (No extra point)

Alexander - Connor Scott (Extra point by Matthew Jasen)

Alexander - Connor Scott (No extra point)

JV

It was all Medina on offense and defense today.

Scoring for JV:

Medina - Brian Fry (Extra point Brian Fry)

Medina - Brian Fry (Two-point conversion throw from Zachary Blount to Carson Dusett)

Medina - Interception by Brian Fry returned for a touchdown (Two-point conversion from Zachary Blount to Aron Seefeldt Jr.)

Medina - Brian Fry (No extra point)

Medina - Fumble recovered by Emmanual Taylor, who ran for a touchdown (Extra point by Brian Fry)

Varsity:

Medina Varsity squad held Alexander scoreless for the entirety.

Scoring for the varsity squad:

Medina - Damon Bloom (Two-point conversion throw from Izaiah Rhim to Johnethan Salone)

Medina - Damon Bloom (Extra point by Damon Bloom)

Medina - Ronnie Koonce III (Two-point conversion throw from Izaiah Rhim to Trenton Jones)

Medina - Trenton Jones reception from Izaiah Rhim (No extra point)

Medina - Trenton Jones fumble recovery, ran in for a touchdown (No extra point)

Medina - Trenton Jones reception from Izaiah Rhim (Extra point by Vincent Montague)

More pictures from this weekend's games can be found here: NOFA Alexander - Medina

Press release from USA Football:

Youth football's largest season kickoff to take place on more than 2,000 fields with USA Football

More than 600,000 youth football players in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., will participate in the largest national youth football kickoff celebration to date on Saturday, Sept. 10.

USA Football’s National Youth Football Kickoff is part of the NFL’s Back to Football campaign.Coinciding with the NFL’s Kickoff Weekend, youth teams on more than 2,000 fields will begin their Sept. 10 games with a special red, white and blue commemorative football provided by USA Football without cost, celebrating the season’s return.

Leagues will upload photos and messages from their Saturday games on Facebook and Twitter to be shared with the entire youth football community. All social network messages and a list of participating leagues are found at www.usafootball.com/kickoff.

USA Football is the official youth football development partner of the NFL and each of its 32 teams.

Approximately 3 million children age 6-14 play youth football, placing it among the country’s most popular youth sports.

“For millions of Americans, regardless of our age, the return of football at all levels unites us in an exciting way,” said USA Football Executive Director SCOTT HALLENBECK. “That’s what Saturday is about – celebrating the kids, families and volunteers whose dedication powers this sport and uniting us through fun social networking.”

Based in Indianapolis, USA Football is the sport’s national governing body in the United States. Sixty-two (62) countries spanning six continents possess national federations of sport dedicated solely to football.

About USA Football

USA Football, the sport’s national governing body in the United States, inspires participation, and ensures a positive experience for all youth, high school, and other amateur players.The independent nonprofit hosts more than 80 football training events annually for coaches, players and youth football league commissioners. USA Football is the official youth football development partner of the NFL and its 32 teams and manages U.S. national teams for international competition. Endowed by the NFL and NFL Players Association in 2002 through the NFL Youth Football Fund, USA Football distributes $1 million annually in equipment grants and offers youth league volunteer background check subsidies. Former NFL team executive Carl Peterson is USA Football’s chairman.

More pictures from the ceremony and the game can be found here

Photos from the JV Youth Football game 8/27/11. Pembroke was the home team.

Minis: Pembroke 8, Oakfield-Elba 0

JV: Pembroke 36, Oakfield-Elba 6

All pictures from the event are available here for readers of The Batavian.

"We believe the auto industry is the most important single manufacturing industry in the country, and for the government not to take seriously the livelihood of millions who derive income from that industry is shameful."

Shameful! That's emphatic. What do you think? Is Pazamickas in the right? He says that "for every job the auto industry creates, eight other jobs are affected." Is the auto industry so entwined with the fabric of the national economy that a bailout is "inevitable"?

In other news, the family whose apartment burned earlier this month—in the same fire that destroyed the post office in Pavilion—have found a new home. For now at least, they will be renting out a home on St. Mary's Street.

Youth sports are in the news again. This time, the Batavia Town Board got the pitch: a proposal to rent "15 acres of land at Batavia Turf Farms to give area youths and adult sports leagues a place to play." Folks who are interested are already entertaining visios of sports tournaments and a boost to tourism "by attracting teams and spectators from outside the local area."

The Batavia Town Board approved the $5.9 million budget for next year. That means the property tax rate in the town will remain at zero.

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

Fischer reports that Council members Bill Cox and Kathy Briggs were willing to support the study because "it was keeping with council's to share services among municipalities." Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian was opposed to the plan, saying that we already pay enough in school taxes.

Council will take up discussion again at its conference meeting later this month and vote on the request at its business meeting in November.

School Superintendent Margaret Puzio sent a letter to City Manager Jason Molino in the beginning of September asking him to bring the matter before Council. That matter will go before Council at its meeting tonight. A similar letter was sent to the town, which agreed to pitch in the funds for the study almost immediately.

"We heard from the town right away," said Puzio. "They are on board. They're interested. Just waiting on the city."

Where did this all come from? It turns out that the genesis of the idea came in August when Molino sat down with Puzio and a pair of representatives of Batavia's youth football program to discuss short-term and long-term options to find a home for the program that had then been asked to leave Dwyer Stadium.

Says Puzio:

"The opening conversations happened around the whole youth football issue and trying to find a home for them. The district coincidentally owns some property which we were considering whether to develop as playing fields and a recreation area. But we didn't want to do that without knowing everything that was already available. We wanted to get together with city and town and fund a needs assessment and have somebody take inventory of all the recreation areas in the city and town and see if what we currently have is adequate. Do we need more, or do we already have enough?"

Puzio also mentioned in the letter that she was hoping the city could act quickly in its decision—again, this was over a month ago—as a grant opportunity that could help fund such a recreation expansion will expire in December. She could not tell me just how much money was available, but she could say that the Local Government Efficiency Grant was "money that the state has set aside to support municipalities that work together not to duplicate services." In other words, these are funds used to support municipalities that work together to establish shared services.

There would be no more related costs for the "needs assessment," said Puzio, but if the study found that there was a need to, say, construct a new atheltic field at the school district's North Street property, more funds could be forthcoming from all parties involved.

Thanks to Margaret Puzio for getting back to us so quickly and answering all of our questions.