Photo by Cheryl Wertman – John Grillo

For his four decades of contributions to the sport retired Holley wrestling Coach John Grillo recently received both Section V and state honors.

Grillo, who guided the Holley wrestling program for the majority of his 44 years of coaching, has been inducted into the Section V Wrestling Hall of Fame.

He becomes the third Orleans County coach to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as he joins Jim Sauberan from Kendall and the late Fred Large from Lyndonville.

In addition, Grillo has also received the New York State Coaches Achievement Award.

During his tenure at Holley, Grillo  guided the Hawks to no less than 22 Genesee Region League and 12 Section V titles. During one memorable stretch his Hawk teams captured both league and sectional titles for a decade long stretch from 1998 to 2008. In all his teams earned over 780 wins.

Previously, Grillo has also received the G-R League Lifetime Achievement Award, the Charles Wagner Award  from the Rochester Press Club for his contributions to local sports and he was inducted into the Holley High Wall of Fame. The latter honor was most special as he was inducted along with his sone Andrew who earned a state wrestling championship his senior year at Holley.

He was also named G-R League Coach of the Year 15 times and Section V Coach of the Year six times.

Contributed Photos – Jake’s Dyna Service captured the Medina village semi pro baseball championship in 1952 by downing rival Sacred Heart 4-1. The Jake’s lineup included, in front, George Hotchkiss, Lou Foreman, Manager Ken Moriarty, Neil Kemp and Gary Thompson. In the middle row are Warren “Burr” Breed, Roger Houseman, Chuck Montgomery, Francis “Fats” Piedmont and Ted Coates. In the back row are Scorekeeper John Coleman, Herb Eick, Merle Fredericks, Bruno Pacini, Bill Hickey and Howie Bathrick.

For many decades semi pro baseball rivalries between town teams was very popular among local sports fans and the 1952 rivalry between the Jake’s Dyna Service and Sacred Heart teams is a prime example.

The Jake’s team, which previously had been sponsored by the Vets Club since 1946, bested Sacred Heart 4-1 to capture the Medina village championship that summer.

Some 400 fans filled the bleachers at Vets Park for the contest which saw Jake’s score solo runs in four innings all gained by Sacred Heart errors.

Chuck Montgomery banged out a pair of doubles for Jake’s which also got two hits from both Roger Houseman and Herb Eick.

John Hydock had two hits for Sacred Heart.

Bill Fox went the distance on the mound for Jake’s scattering 6 hits and striking out 10.

The Hearts did gain a bit of revenge by nipping Jake’s 10-9 in a “consolation game” rematch a week later.

Sacred Heart did have a big regular season capturing the Genesee Town League championship with a 10-2 record.

The Hearts locked up the league title with a regular season ending 13-8 victory over Alabama.

Rich Turoski hit a home run and Don Bensley banged out three hits for the Hearts which also got two hits each from Dayton Garling, Howie Bathrick, Hydock and Walt Waniecki.

Bathrick picked up the win on the mound registering 11 strikeouts.

However, Alabama avenged that loss by downing Sacred Heart twice by scores of 6-4 and 5-2 to claim the league playoff championship.

Sacred Heart also had a big year capturing the Genesee Town League regular season championship. The Hearts lineup included, in front, Rich Turoski, Bernard Dujenski, Don Bensley, Joe Maryjanowski and Business Manager Ray Matusak. In the middle row are William Board Jr., Ed Jablonski, Dayton Garling, Manager Tom Maryjanowski and John Wright. In the back row are John Hydock, Ray Janalkowski, Walt Waniecki, Dan Hall and Howie Bathrick.

Contributed Photos – Jason Kuchey is shown here with his parents Michael and Deanna Kuchey during the Roy-Hart/Barker/MedinaClub hockey team’s Senior Night ceremonies. At right is RBM goalie Andrew Warner.

Jason Kuchey, who was a senior member of the Roy-Hart/Barker/Medina Club Hockey team this past season, received the Player of the Year Award for the WNY Club Hockey League from the Hasek’s Heroes on Tuesday.

Kuchey scored 24 goals and had a total of 42 points for the RBM icers in WNY Club Hockey League competition this past season. He also shared in earning the Defensive Player of the Year award.

RBM goalie Andrew Warner was among the recipients of the Goalie of the Year award.

Kuchey and Warner were both WNY League All-Stars.

The award program was truly a family affair for the Kucheys as Jason’s father, RBM Coach Michael Kuchey, was among the recipients of the Coach of the Year Award.

Capping off the 2019-2020 school year both Medina High and Roy-Hart High have been named Schools of Excellence by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.

To earn a School of Excellence award a school must have 75 percent of its varsity teams earn Scholar/Athlete Team Awards which requires team members to have a composite average of at least 90.

One Niagara-Orleans League school, Wilson, earned a School of  Distinction Award. To earn the award a school must have 100 percent of its varsity teams earn a Scholar/Athlete Team award.

In all across the state 56 schools earned School of Distinction awards and 140 School of Excellence awards. That represents and increase of 21 schools for the Distintion Award and of 13 for the Excellence Award.

“We are excited once again to see the numbers of schools honored increase and it is a true testament to the kind of student-athletes we were have here in New York State,” said Dr. Robert Zayas NYSPHSAA Executive Director. “We continue to be proud of this program which highlights and celebrates schools that value the importance of academics, as well as athletics.”

Contributed Photo – Brody Fry delivers a pitch during the Medina Mustangs u12 team’s win at Pembroke Monday.

Like all other youth teams the fledgling Medina Mustangs U12 Travel baseball team has had a challenging start to its first season due to the Covid 19 Pandemic. However the team opened this week on a positive note by defeating the United Travel team in Pembroke 8-5 on Monday.

Brody Fry registered 4 strikeouts over the first 3 innings. Luke Grimes then had a strong showing pitching the next three innings and Tyler Kroening came on in the final inning throwing 2 strikeouts to secure the win.

At the plate, Jimmy Dieter started the scoring for the Mustangs with a two-run single and he also scored a run. Preston Woodworth had a double and scored a run, Carter Woodworth a single, RBI and scored a run, Aidan Papaj a single, double, RBI and scored a run and Kroening a double. Colton Smith and Luke Duffina each had a single and Fry, Nate Gibson and Grimes each scored a run.

Coach John Dieter notes that the Mustangs travel team was formed in the fall of 2019 and had planned to play in the 2020 Spring Premier League out of Amherst and in five Tournaments in the WNY area through the Summer of 2020.

“The team started practicing two days a week starting in November with close connection and guidance with the Medina Mustang High School Varsity Coaching Staff, with the goal to provide a training ground for future JV and varsity baseball players,” said Dieter. “The team worked very hard over those winter months to train on the basics and improve and keep their baseball skills sharp.”

“Unfortunately, Covid-19 hit and suspended all practices and put the season on hold and in question,” added Dieter. “Once the outlook improved in mid-June with the announcement that baseball could return after July 6th, the coaching staff new we had our work cut out to find teams to play games and tournaments.”

“We currently have played three games under the Premier League Rules and competed in the Buffalo New Era Cap Classic for another four games” Dieter added.  “We currently are scheduling more Premier League Games with teams but there are many challenges, for one many baseball team’s home fields are not being allowed to be used due to Covid restrictions which makes it hard to find places to play a game.  We are currently scheduled to play in two tournaments in August which will give good experience for the team, we are hoping they will go on without incident.  The boys and coaches are just happy to be able to play baseball in the current environment.”

Despite having the start of practices pushed back by a month, Section VI officials indicated at a meeting Monday that they are still looking to hold sectional playoffs for fall sports.

“Once we’re assured leagues are comfortable with the amount of regular season games they’re limited to we’ll commit to sectional play,” Sectional officials are quoted as saying.

Last week the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) announced that the start of fall sports practices would be pushed back from August 24 to September 21.

That would mean that football teams, which must have 10 practices in before playing a game, would not be able to play a game until October 1. The planned eight game regular season would not conclude until the third weekend of November with the sectionals to follow.

“My biggest concern would be the weather,” said Medina Athletic Director and Varsity Football Coach Eric Valley of the possibility of playing a good portion of the regular season in November with the sectionals possibly going into early December.

Sports such as soccer, field hockey and volleyball, which require only six preseason practices, would be able to play games by September 28. Sectional play for those sports though could likely also be pushed back into November depending on how many regular season games are scheduled.

“I think it’s a good idea to leave the sectional playoffs in,” said Albion Athletic Director and Varsity Football Coach Adam Krenning. “Trying to get some sort of a fall season is a challenge for all of us but the goal is to get some season in for the kids. That’s the big thing as sports means so much to the kids.”

The delayed start of the fall season could very well overlap into the winter season whose practices usually begin the second Monday of November unless sectional officials also push back that start date into late November or early December.

NYSPHSAA officials also announced last week  that if a spike in Covid-19 cases causes the fall season to be interrupted then a plan is in place to instead play three condensed sports seasons beginning January  starting with the Winter season to be followed by the Fall and then the Spring seasons.