Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Peter Martillotta

A pair of first half goals keyed No. 3 seed Roy-Hart to a 2-1 win over No. 7 Cassadaga Valley/Falconer in a Section VI Class B2 semifinal round boys soccer playoff game this evening at Amherst.

Peter Martillotta scored both of the goals for the Rams at the 4 and 22 minute marks of the first half.

Assists on the goals were first by Jayden Swygert and then by Zach Livergood.

Zach Walker made 7 saves in goal for the Rams.

Niagara-Orleans League champion Roy-Hart will now face the winner of the No. 1 Allegany-Limestone vs. No. 5 Lackawanna semi in the Class B2 championship game on Saturday.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Iverson Poole, left, and Albion’s Javon Jones, right, and their Mustang and Purple Eagle teammates will begin Section VI playoff action with home games on Friday night.

Albion and Medina will both open Section VI football playoff action by hosting quarterfinal games on Friday at 7 p.m.

Albion (5-2) will host Olean (4-4) in a Class B game while Medina (8-0) will open defense of its Class C title by entertaining N0. 8 Eden (4-4).

Class B Quarterfinals
B South No. 4 Pioneer at B North No. 1 Maritime
B. South No. 3 Olean at B North No. 2 Albion
B North No. 4 at B South No. 1 Iroquois
B North No. 3 at B South No. 2 West Seneca East

Class C Quarterfinals
No. 8 Eden at No. 1 Medina
No. 7 Southwesternx at No. 2 Depew
No. 6 Akron at No. 3 Fredonia
No. 5 Lackawanna at No. 4 Salamanca

Field Hockey Sectionals
Section VI Class C playoff competition gets underway on Monday with a pair of quarterfinal round games.

No. 4 Roy-Hart will host No. 5 Newfane at 3:30 p.m. and No. 3 Medina will entertain No. 6 Eden at 6:30 p.m. The Newfane/R-H winner will face No. 1 Akron and the Eden/Medina winner will take on No. 2 Barker both at 6 p.m. Thursday at Williamsville North.

Section V Soccer Playoffs
Kendall’s boys and girls team have both advanced to the Class C2 semifinals.

The No. 9 seeded Kendall girls will face No. 4 HAC at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Brockport.
The No. 6 seed Kendall boys will face  No. 2 Bradford/Dundee game on at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Canandaigua.

Section VI Soccer Playoffs
Roy-Hart’s boys and girls teams have likewise both advanced to the Class B2 semifinals.

The No. 3 Roy-Hart boys will face No. 7 Falconer/Cassadaga Valley, on Monday at 5 p.m. at Amherst
The No. 3 Roy-Hart girls will face No. 7 Southwestern on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Williamsville North. No.12 Akron will also face No. 1 Fredonia  at 7:30 p.m. at Williamsville North

Section VI Volleyball Playoffs
Class B2
Friday
No. 8 Albion at No. 1 Springville, 6 p.m.
Class C1
Wednesday
No. 11 Medina at No. 6 Cleveland Hill, 6 p.m. (winner at No. 3 Akron Friday); No. 9 Olmsted at No. 8 Newfane (winner at No. 1 Roy-Hart on Friday)
Class C2
Friday
No. 6 Wilson at No. 3 Lafayette

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Newfane’s Kylie Bowman heads toward her second straight Niagara-Orleans All-League meet victory. She is shown here ahead of Akron’s Lauren Wagner who finished second.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Akron’s Will Chubb in route to his All-League meet win. At right is Newfane’s Connor Cuzzacrea who finished seventh.

The Newfane boys and girls cross-country teams extended their Niagara-Orleans League championship reigns with victories at the All-League meet held this morning at Lakeside Beach State Park.

The N-O championship is the seventh in a row for the Newfane girls team and the fifth straight for the boys squad.

Both Newfane teams finish the N-O season with perfect 12-0 records.

The Newfane girls, which had 7 of the first 9 runners to cross the finish line, garned 20 points on the day to easily outdistance runner-up Akron which had 66. Barker was third with 90 followed by Wilson 95, Albion 116 and Medina 147.

Kylie Bowman successfully defended her N-O title with a winning time of 20:19 to lead the Lady Panthers contingent across the finish line.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s top finishers in the two varsity races were Gina Sidari (11th) and Reuben Rivers (4th).

The Lady Panthers top 10 finishing group also included Leah Siegmann (3rd), Catalena Ersing (4th), Maggie Quattrini (5th), Shelby Neiber (7th), Isabella Pasquale (8th) and Sara Siegmann (9th).

Akron’s Lauren Wagner finished second, Barker’s Mikala Woock (6th) and Akron’s Kaila Szczygielski (10th) to round out the top 10.

The top seven finishers comprise the All-League first team while the 8th-14th place finishers are the second All-League team and 15th-21st place finishers the third team.

Completing the All-League second team are Albion’s Gina Sidari (11th), Newfane’s Lucy Ingro (12th), Wilson’s Ella Ingwersen (13th) and Newfane’s Hayden Kopp (14th).

The third All-League team includes Akron’s Emma-Marie Forrestel (15th), Albion’s S’Koi Sanders (16th), Barker’s Emma Evans (17th), Wilson’s Madelynne Jowdy (18th), Newfane’s Niamh Thompson (19th), Newfane’s Avery Stevenson (20th) and Wilson’s Jaqueline Thompson (21st).

The Newfane boys team posted a 19 point victory as the Panthers garnered 40 points with Barker second at 59 followed by Medina 96, Akron 101, Wilson 122, Roy-Hart 133 and Albion 174.

The Panthers were led by the 2-5-7 finish of Andrew Cuzzacrea, Austin Burkard and Connor Cuzzacrea.

Akron’s Will Chubb won the race in a time of 18:11.

Barker’s Mason Allee-Castro finished third, Albion’s Reuben Rivers fourth and Wilson’s Jaydan Ruble sixth to round out the All-League first team.

The All-League second team includes: 8th – Dawson Donovan (Barker), 9th – Jay Heideman (Roy-Hart), 10th – Arian Cayea (Medina), 11th – Nicholas Arcovio (Newfane), 12th – Gabe Mark (Medina), 13th – Nathanael Hess (Barker) and 14th – Aidan Voss (Barker).

The All-League third team includes: 15th – Gannon Gibson (Newfane), 16th – Alden Gibson (Newfane), 17th – Daenon Kopp (Newfane), 18th – Joey-Dane Jones (Wilson), 19th – Dawson Stone (Akron), 20th – Jack Cecchini (Medina) and 21st – Noah Sandolfini (Barker).

Click here to view the first and second place finishers for both girls and boys cross the finish line.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – The boys varsity race, which had over 70 entrants, gets underway.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Nearly 60 runners competed in the girls varsity race which is shown here leaving the starting line.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The boys All-League first team is shown here including Will Chubb (Akron), Andrew Cuzzacrea (Newfane), Mason Allee-Castro (Barker), Reuben Rivers (Albion), Austin Burkard (Newfane), Jaydan Ruble (Wilson) and Connor Cuzzacrea (Newfane).

Photo by Tom Rivers – Members of the girls All-League first team includes Kylie Bowman (Newfane), Lauren Wagner (Akron), Leah Siegmann (Newfane), Catalena Ersing (Newfane), Maggie Quattrini (Newfane), Mikala Woock (Barker) and Shelby Nerber (Newfane).

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina quarterback Xander Payne breaks loose for a good gain during the Mustangs Homecoming win over rival Albion this evening at Vets Park. Pursuing for the Purple Eagles are Jacob Hughson (4) and Jr. Morales (2).

In a wild sea-saw battle which saw five lead changes, Medina outlasted rival Albion 30-28 this evening before an overflow Homecoming crowd at Vets Park.

Coming from behind three times, Medina finally regained the lead for good at 30-28 on 6 yard touchdown run by Iverson Poole with 9:58 to go in the fourth quarter. A big 38 yard run by quarterback Xander Payne set up the opportunity.

“We haven’t been challenged like that all season but our kids kept battling back and that is the kind of moxie we will need in the sectionals,” said Medina Coach Eric Valley.

Medina’s Iverson Poole hauls in a touchdown pass in the second quarter.

Albion though came battling back with a drive deep into Medina territory.

Quarterback Amari Jones completed passes of 9 yards to Jacob Hughson and 10 yards to Javon Jones moving the ball to the Medina 32. He then got loose for a big 17 yard run down to the Mustangs 15 but was injured on the play and was unable to return.

The drive then stalled out on downs at the 13 with 4:03 remaining and the Mustang offense was able to run out the remaining time to preserve the narrow two point win. Noah Skinner, Greg Thompson and Cayden Lilleby shared in carrying the ball during that key drive.

“It’s tough to replace a player like Amari but it has to be next man up,” said Albion Coach David Skrip of the key loss of his quarterback at a crucial spot in the game.

Albion got off to a quick start in the game grabbing leads of 6-0 and 12-8 in the first quarter on touchdown runs of 3 yards by Hughson and 63 yards by Javon Jones.

Albion’s Javon Jones breaks away from a tackle attempt by Cayden Lilleby.

In between Medina got on the scoreboard on an 8 yard touchdown run and two-point conversion carry by Poole. A key fourth down 13 yard pass completion from Payne to Greg Thompson kept the drive alive which was also highlighted by a 26 yard run by Poole.

Medina regained a 16-12 lead early in the second quarter on a 25 yard touchdown run by Poole a two-point conversion carry by Skinner. A long 43 yard Payne to Thompson pass completion keyed the rive.

The Mustangs then upped their lead to 24-12 at the half on a 15 yard touchdown pass from Payne to Poole with just 23 seconds left in the half. Skinner again added the two-point conversion carry.

Albion though came storming back in the third quarter to regain the lead at 28-24 on touchdown runs of 3 yards by Hughson and 1 yard by Amari Jones.

Amari Jones had a big 38 yard run and a 13 yard pass completion to Jahmeek Riley to highlight the first drive while a fumble recovery by Jabari Johnson at the Medina 29 set up the second score.

That set the stage for one more lead change early in the dramatic fourth quarter which saw Medina regain the lead for good at 30-28 on a short touchdown run by Poole early in the stanza. Albion then made the finish exciting by marching deep into Mustang territory late in the stanza only to have the drive stalled out when Amari Jones left with an injury.

The victory was Medina’s 50th in the nearly 125 year old rivalry. Albion holds a 68-50-5 lead in the series which dates back to 1898.

Medina closes out the regular season at 8-0 and Albion at 5-2 as both teams will begin sectional playoff action next weekend.

The evening was also highlighted by the induction of Medina’s 1980 sectional championship team to the John “Pinky” Loughlin Football Wall of Fame. (Click here to view a video of highlights from the game. Also check our Facebook page for additional pictures from the game)

Medina Coach Eric Valley and Mustang team captains Xander Payne, Joe Cecchini, Colvin Stalker, Hayden Woodroe, Iverson Poole and Jarin Rhim accept the Doc’s Rock Trophy from Judy Decker and Brett Decker. The trophy is given to the winning team each year in memory of Larry “Doc” Decker who coached at both schools.