Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville captured both Genesee Region division softball and volleyball titles during 2021. At left is Brynn Howell and at right is Karlee Rounds.

Lyndonville High teams hit the trifecta in earning Genesee Region League titles during 2021.

The Lady Tigers softball team captured the G-R Division 1 title going 14-1 and 17-2 overall. Seeded No. 1 the Lady Tigers finished second in the Section V Class CC tournament.

The Tigers claimed the G-R wrestling title and Rodney Davis, shown here, won a Section V Class B3 title.

The Lady Tigers volleyball team also captured a G-R division title with a 7-1 record.

Completing the trifecta, the Tigers wrestling squad claimed the G-R championship with a 3-0 record. Senior Rodney Davis went on to earn a Section V Class D3 title.

The year also saw Lyndonville senior Nate Dillenbeck earn second team All-State soccer honors as he finished his career with a school record 56 goals. He also finished as the Tiger basketball team’s career scoring leader with 1,156 points.

In addition, the year also saw the new Lyndonville Hall of Fame induct its first class of honorees. The first class included the 2011 baseball team which reached the state semifinals, former coaches Arnie Hartsen, Fred Large and John Hayes, along with brothers Sam and Tony Recco, Jill Eppolito, Maria Quintern, Ron Mapes, Tim Riemer and Chris Hayes.

Thursday will spotlight Roy-Hart’s highlights for 2021.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Jamel Johnson Jr. puts up a shot against LeRoy defenders John Panepento (23) and Merritt Holly Jr. (30) as Bryan Baes (22) moves in for the Rams. The action took place during the semifinals of the Batavia Lions Club Tournament at Genesee Community College this afternoon.

Playing shorthanded, Roy-Hart dropped a 71-43 decision to LeRoy in the Large Schools Division semifinals of the Batavia Lions Club Tournament held at Genesee Community College this afternoon.

Roy-Hart, which was playing without three starters because of vacations, fell behind by 14 in the first quarter and was unable to rebound.

Merritt Holly Jr. scored 13 and Mitchel Hockey 9 in the opening quarter to spark LeRoy out to a 24-10 lead.

The Knights upped the advantage to 40-20 at the half as Holly netted 7 and Hockey 5 in the second period.

The LeRoy advantage ballooned to 37, 64-27, at the three-quarter mark as Hockey scored 10 and Holly 8 in the third period.

The Knights strong 1-2 scoring punch finished with total of 52 points as Holly tallied a game high 28 and Hockey 24.

Roy-Hart was led by Jamel Johnson Jr. who scored 24 including 16 of the Rams 20 first half points.

Nate Beyer and Brandin Masters each added 6 for the Rams as Andrew Waters had 5 and Bryan Baes 2.

LeRoy improves to 6-1 and Roy-Hart slips to 2-3.

The consolation and championship games are scheduled for Thursday.

Due to Covid 19 Pandemic restrictions it has been a most unusual sports year to say the least, especially over the first six months.

On the high school scene because the so-called “High Risk” sports of football and volleyball weren’t able to be played during the fall of 2020 they were shifted into this past spring.

That situation caused three seasons of sports to be jammed into a hectic five month stretch from February to June.

Locally, the Niagara-Orleans League swim season did get in during January and early February but the meets were all “virtual” with each team swimming in its own pool and the results were compared via computer program to determine the individual events and overall meet winners. Even the N-O All-League meet was held virtually.

Section V did get wrestling in on schedule but Section VI delayed its mat season until the spring.

Basketball was delayed until February and had an abbreviated sectionals in March.

That was quickly followed by a brief first ever spring football season and volleyball during April and early May and then by the traditional spring season (baseball, softball, tennis, track and lacrosse) during May and June.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – John Grillo

All in all it was a very busy stretch for student/athletes and coaches alike but for many a very successful one.

Thankfully by fall the high school schedule returned to normal though there were some Covid related “pauses” by some area teams.

Over the next few days the OrleansHub Sports will take a look back at some of the highlights and special moments of the 2021 sports year by community beginning today with Holley and Kendall. Wednesday will spotlight Lyndonville.

Holley
Former long time Holley wrestling coach John Grillo was inducted into the Section V Wrestling Hall of Fame. He coached for 44 years, most of them at Holley. His Holley teams garnered some 22 G-R League and 12 Section V titles compiling some 780 total wins.

It was a tough spring season for the Holley varsity football team. Hampered by low numbers right from the start of practice, the underclassmen dominated Hawks squad was forced to cancel the remainder of its schedule after just two games due to an insufficient number of players. However, the Hawks did continue the season with a JV schedule.

Kendall
The Kendall boys Cross-Country team captured the Genesee-Livingston League Division 3 championship. The Eagles compiled a 17-2 season record.

The Kendall boys soccer team scored three wins in the Section V Class C2 playoffs including a thrilling 1-0 overtime win in the semifinals over Bradford/Dundee. That advanced Kendall to the finals where the Eagles dropped a 4-0 decision to top seeded Keshequa. The Eagles went 7-2-1 in Genesee Region League competition and finished with a 10-8-2 overall record.

The Kendall based Orleans Outlaws youth baseball program enjoyed a very successful season capped off by winning the Fairport Tournament.

Contributed Photos – Claire Squicciarini, left, and Hailee Mitchell

Two local student/athletes, Albion graduate Claire Squicciarini and Kendall grad Hailee Mitchell, have earned collegiate honors for the fall soccer season.

Squicciarini, a freshman at Alfred University, has been named Alfred’s representative on the Empire 8 Conference’s Sportswomen of the Year Team.

A Communications Studies major, she had 3 goals and 2 assists on the season earning a start in 10 of 21 games.

Mitchell, a sophomore forward at the University of Rochester, has been named to the University Athletic Association’s All Academic Women’s Soccer Team for the Fall semester.

A student-athlete must have a grade point average of at least 3.30 to be named to the All Academic Team

Nearly 20 Orleans County fall varsity teams have earned New York State Public High School Athletic Association Scholar/Athlete Team Awards by compiling a composite average of at least 90.

Seven Medina teams have been honored including Boys and Girls Cross-Country, Golf, Field Hockey, Football, Boys Soccer and Volleyball.

Holley has placed five teams including Boys and Girls Soccer, Girls Cross-Country, Competitive Cheerleading and Volleyball.

Four Albion teams have been honored including Boys and Girls Soccer, Golf and Girls Cross-Country.

Lyndonville’s Girls Soccer team rounds out the Orleans contingent.

Nearby Roy-Hart and Barker have each placed four teams. Roy-Hart is represented by the Boys and Girls Soccer teams, Field Hockey and Volleyball while Barker has placed Boys and Girls Cross-Country, Golf and Field Hockey.

Two Niagara-Orleans-League schools, Newfane and Wilson, have each placed a total of nine teams including Boys and Girls Cross-Country, Boys and Girls Soccer, Cheerleading, Golf, Football, Field Hockey and Volleyball.

Rounding out the N-O lineup, Akron has placed eight teams including Boys and Girls Cross-Country, Boys and Girls Soccer, Golf, Football, Field Hockey and Volleyball.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Noah Poler puts up a shot against Notre Dame defender Ryan Fitzpatrick during the host Tigers loss to the Irish this evening.

A fast start and a strong finish earned Notre Dame an 83-56 win over host Lyndonville in a Genesee Region League game this evening.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 25-7 first quarter lead and upped the advantage to 22 at 33-11 midway through the second period. Ryan Fitzpatrick scored 13 and Cody Henry 6 during that stretch.

However, Lyndonville came battling back with a 14-0 run to close the second period and slice the deficit to 8 at 33-25. Noah Poler scored 6, Jack Whipple 4 and Trenton Muck hit a three at the buzzer to highlight that rally.

Keeping the momentum, Lyndonville put together a 13-0 run to pull even at 40-40 midway through the third quarter. Threes by Muck, Mason Nicholson and Poler keyed that uprising.

Notre Dame though answered right back with a 16-7 run to close the period and regain the lead for good at 56-47 at the three-quarter mark. Jimmy Fanara and Fitzpatrick both had a two and a three during that surge.

The Tigers could get no closer than nine down the stretch as the Irish closed with a big 27-9 fourth quarter uprising. Fanara had two threes and Hayden Groff and Bryce Berry one each and Fitzpatrick 6 points to lead that uprising.

Fitzpatrick finished with a game high 26 points while Fanara had 20 and Henry and Groff 12 each.

Noah Poler had 23, Muck 12, Whipple 10, Nicholson 6 and Jimmy Poler 4 for Lyndonville.

The Irish improve to 5-1 and the Tigers slip to 1-5.

Lyndonville’s Jack Whipple puts up a shot as Jimmy Fanara defends for Notre Dame.

Lyndonville romped to a 61-12 victory over visiting Pavilion/York in a non league wrestling match this evening.

Pins by Sebastian Temich, Austin Schmitt, Maddox Stirk and Sam Doolan led the way for Lyndonville.

The Tigers also got a major decision victory by Noah Neff and a decision win by Ty Holmes.