The landscape of area high school football has certainly changed especially when it comes to 8 Man football.

Four or five years ago 8 Man football seemed to be the answer and the future for schools struggling with low numbers of players.

However, that situation has changed rapidly as now all the 8 Man schools are either going back to play 11 Man football or are merging with another school leaving no 8 Man teams in either Section V or Section VI for this coming season.

One of those schools is Holley which after playing seven years of 8 Man is now returning to 11 Man football for this fall playing an independent schedule.

“I’m excited and the boys are excited. I think we’ll be competitive,” said new Hawks Coach Wyatt Wink. “It is going to be interesting for sure.”

Wink is looking for the Hawks to have a squad numbering 22 to 25 players. Again this year the Hawks varsity squad will also have players from Lyndonville.

“Going back to 11 Man means a bigger field, a lot more space, a couple of more linemen and another skill position player so more depth is needed,” added Wink.

The Hawks independent schedule includes games against some familiar foes including Notre Dame, Attica, CG Finney and Canisteo-Greenwood along with a couple of new foes in Cardinal O’Hara from Tonawanda and St. Mary’s of Lancaster.

The tentative schedule has Holley opening the season at O’Hara on September 6. The Hawks are also scheduled to host O’Hara on September 27.

Practice will begin on August 18 with a scrimmage against Red Jacket slated for August 30.

It has been 50 years since Lyndonville High fielded a football team.

In fact, Lyndonville’s last football team was the 1975 varsity squad.

However, that will change this fall as the Board of Education recently approved the addition of Modified ‘A’ Football (for players in grades 7-9) to the Tigers lineup of interscholastic sports teams.

Modified Football will join soccer as the school’s two fall sports for the Tigers boys student-athletes.

“Our goal is to build up our participation numbers and to make sure that both sports succeed,” said Athletic Director Jim Zeliff who notes that a football squad of 22 to 24 players is projected.

“Although this year’s graduating class numbered only 30 our seventh grade class numbers 56 so we are trending in the right direction,” added Zeliff. “The community’s youth football program numbers have been good and our varsity soccer team had a very solid season last fall so we think it is a good time to bring on another sport. We feel both sports can exist simultaneously. Our goal is to make sure that both succeed.”

No schedule has been set for the Modified team but practice for the fall season is scheduled to begin on August 18.

The Albion Midget League 12U Division playoffs will get underway on Monday with four quarterfinal round games at 6 p.m.

Sandstone, which posted the best regular season record of 11-1, is the No. 1 seed. Elba ‘A’ (10-4), Barre (9-3) and Elba ‘B’ (9-6) round out the top four seeds.

The quarterfinal matchups will have No. 8 Holley ‘B’ (4-7-1) at No. 1 Sandstone, No. 7 Holley ‘A’ (5-8-1) at No. 2 Elba ‘A’, No. 6 Elks/Rotary (6-8) at No. 3 Barre and No. 5 Carlton (8-5) at No. 4 Elba ‘B’.

The semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday at the higher seeds and the championship game for Saturday.

It was a year in which everyone earned a piece of the pie.

During the recently completed 2024-25 school year the Niagara-Orleans League crowned champions in no less than 17 varsity sports and each of the league’s seven schools earned at least one of those titles.

Newfane led the way with five championships. The Panthers won Wrestling, Boys Swimming and Girls Cross-Country and shared the title in Girls Basketball and Girls Swimming.

The wrestling title is the 11th in a row and the Girls Cross-Country title the 10th straight for the Panthers.

Roy-Hart claimed four championships. The Rams won Volleyball and Girls Soccer and also shared the crown in Softball and Girls Swimming.

Akron captured three championships including Boys Basketball, Field Hockey and Golf.

The Field Hockey title is the fifth straight for the Lady Tigers.

Wilson also earned three titles including Girls Track and Boys Soccer and a co-championship in Girls Basketball.

The Girls Basketball title is the 7th straight and the 15th in the last 16 years for the Lakewomen.

Albion claimed a pair of titles in Boys Track and Tennis.

The track championship is the sixth in a row for the Purple Eagles.

Barker also captured two titles winning Boys Cross-Country and sharing the Softball championship.

Medina captured the Baseball championship. The title is the fifth in the last six seasons for the Mustangs.

Elks/Rotary closed out the the Albion Midget League 12U Division regular season with a 14-1 win over Holley on Wednesday.

Matt Schomske and Ryan Coots both had 3 hits and 3 RBIs and Kayden Donnelly 2 hits and 2 RBIs to lead the offense for Elks/Rotary which broke the game open with a big 9 run fifth inning. Schomske’s hits included a triple.

Coots also pitched the first 4 innings allowing 1 hit and striking out 9. Remi Ebbs hurled the final two frames striking out 5.

Elba ‘A’ 6, Sandstone 5
Elba ‘A’ handed Sandstone its first loss 6-5 on a three run home run with two out in the sixth inning by Zaric Amaro.

Sandstone had taken a 5-3 lead by scoring 4 times in the third inning as Nikko Russo had a two-run single.

Roy-Hart dropped a 4-2 decision to the visiting NWAA Wolves in a Buffalo Youth Soccer League girls U16 Division game Wednesday evening.

Julia Verratti and Guillianna Russo each scored a goal for Roy-Hart which is now 3-2.

Roy-Hart next visits the Arcade Storm next Wednesday evening.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart goalie Courtney Aquilina goes high to knock away a shot during Tuesday’s home game against the Lockport Lightning.

Pulling away in the second half, the Lockport Lightning downed the host Roy-Hart Lady Rams 6-2 in a Buffalo District Youth Soccer League girls U19 Division game Tuesday evening.

Roy-Hart trailed by a narrow 3-2 margin at the half as Maria Trombley scored a pair of goals for the Lady Rams.

However, the Lightning scored three unanswered goals in the second half to claim the win. All of those goals ironically were scored by June Roy-Hart graduates, two by Kaitlin Mettler and one by Allie Trombley.

The Lightning improve to 4-1-0 while Roy-Hart is 1-2-1.

Kendall/Orleans FC wins
The Kendall Crossfires/Orleans FC U19 girls team evened its Rochester District Youth Soccer League record at 2-2-1 with a 7-1 win over Livonia on Monday.

Roy-Hart’s Julia Verratti works to keep the ball away from Lockport’s Anna Chunco.

Maria Trombley, who scored both Roy-Hart goals, advances the ball up field.

White Birch swept to a doubleheader victory Monday evening downing Jr. Wilson 15-9 and Dubby’s 6-5 to improve to 6-1 in Medina Women’s Softball League ‘A’ Division action.

In the other game, Banes regained the .500 mark at 3-3 with a 15-11 win over Parkitect.

White Birch 15, Jr. Wilson 9
Aubrey Lewis, Ella Lewis and Anna Lewis each had a double and two singles and Kenzi Muck and Bekah Hoffee a double and single to highlight the White Birch offense. Maddy Boyle added 3 singles as Stacy Buckland, Dana Cotriss, Mallory Albone, Lily Kompe and Brynn Howell each had 1.

Stormi Beach had 4 singles and Sara Flansburg 3 singles for Jr. Wilson.

White Birch 6. Dubby’s 5
Ella Lewis and Buckland both had a double and a single, Cotriss 3 singles, Boyle, Albone and Howell 2 singles and Aubrey Lewis, Anna Lewis, and Hoffee 1 single for White Birch in the narrow win.

Jayden Townsend and Kelsee Soule both had 2 doubles for Dubby’s.

Banes 15, Parkitect 11
Morgan Allis and Connie Heschke both had 4 hits including a double and triple to lead the Banes attack. Krissy Scharlau, Rileigh McCabe and Teri Scharlau each added 3 hits. Krissy Scharlau’s included a double.

Breaking away from a 6-6 tie, Banes regained the lead for good by scoring 4 runs in the fourth inning on a double by Heschke, a home run by Lindsay Chatt and singles by Allis and Teri Scharlau.

Banes upped the advantage to 14-7 by scoring 4 runs in the sixth on singles by Krissy Scharlau, McCabe, Teri Scharlau, Patti Page, Sophia Goyette and Heschke.