Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Kevin Hillman puts up a shot over Depew defender Max Snuszka during the Purple Eagles sectional loss to the host Wildcats this afternoon.

A late turnover aided scoring burst earned No. 3 seed Depew a narrow 52-48 win over visiting No. 6 Albion this afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Section VI Class B1 boys basketball playoffs.

Trailing 46-44 with less than a minute and a half to go, Depew used a decisive 8-0 run to claim the win and a berth in the B1 semifinals

A jumper by Davion March pulled Depew even at 46-46 with 1:20 remaining and Max Snuszka followed up with a huge three to put the Wildcats back on top to stay at 49-46 with 47 seconds to go.

A rash of three costly turnovers over the final 45 seconds then proved fatal to Albion’s comeback bid.

Depew took advantage of those turnovers to up the lead to 52-46 with just 10 seconds remaining after two free throws by March and one by Christian Pagano.

Albion’s Deyonci Farley goes high to block a Depew shot as Bailey Blanchard moves in to support.

March finished with 18 and Pagano 13 to lead the Wildcats.

Kevin Hillman shared game high honors with 18 and Deyonci Farley had 16 to pace the Purple Eagles as Liam Ward added 5, Chris Shabazz 4, Anthony Freeman 3 and Bailey Blanchard 2.

Sparked by an effective, aggressive defense, Albion jumped out to a 12-2 lead at the outset  on threes by Ward and Freeman, layups by Hillman and Farley and a jumper by Ward.

However, Depew answered right back with an 11-0 run to close the period highlighted by consecutive threes by Nathan Kulesz, Pagano and Snuszka to rally into a 13-12 lead.

Albion moved back out to a seven point, 22-15, lead midway through the second period as back-to-back threes by Farley highlighted a 10-0 run.

Late layups by Hillman, off a turnover, and Farley helped keep the Purple Eagles up by six, 26-20, at the half.

Depew pulled even twice in the third period, at 26-26 and 35-35, but Albion regained a 38-35 lead at the three-quarter mark on a late three by Hillman, his second of the period.

A jumper by Hillman and a layup by Shabazz upped the Purple Eagles lead by to seven, 42-35, at the outset of the final period but again Depew came rallying back.

The Wildcats put together a 9-2 run highlighted by a three and a layup off a steal by March, to pull even at 44-44 with 3:05 remaining.

Farley answered with a rebound basket to give Albion what proved to be its last lead at 46-44 with 2:20 to go but the Purple Eagles could not score again until Hillman tallied on a layup with just 1.2 seconds remaining.

In between Depew used the big turnover aided 8-0 run, including four by March and three by Pagano, to rally for the win.

Albion finishes the season at 16-6.

Click here for highlights from the game.

The regular season champion Tri County Yellow team will face No. 4 Perinton Jasie Saturday in the semifinals of the Empire Amateur Hockey League Midget Division playoffs.

The other semi will match No. 2 Perinton Stantz against No. 3 Batavia.

In Thursday’s quarterfinals, Batavia defeated Tri County Green 5-3 and Perinton Jasie Downed Monroe County 4-2.

Chris Swiercznski, Carson Bader and Henry Schultz each scored a goal for Tri County Green.

Cody Wilson, left, and Mario Fidanza

Albion’s Cody Wilson (285) and Lyndonville’s Mario Fidanza (220) both went 2-1 today to open competition in the state Division 2 (small schools) wrestling championships at the Times Union Center in Albany.

Wilson scored a 5-0 decision win in his opening match against Devin McGovern from Chester (Section IX).

However, he was then defeated 4-0 by his Niagara-Orleans League rival Jaden Heers from Newfane in the quarterfinals.

Rebounding, Wilson pinned Ethan Burdo from Cold Spring Harbor (Section VIII) in 1:43 in the consolation round to stay alive in the tournament.

Fidanza’s day followed an identical pattern.

He pinned Alex Thompson from Sherburne-Earlville (Section III) in 1:48 n the opening round but the was pinned in 2:47 by Colby Suglia from Mattituck (Section XI) in the quarterfinals.

Bouncing back, Fidanza scored a quick pin of 32 seconds over Angelo Sereno from Petrides (PSAL) to stay alive in the tourney.

Roy-Hart’s Gavin Ciarfella (99) won his opening match 2-0 in overtime but was then eliminated after dropping back-to-back decision losses by scores of 6-1 and 2-0.

The tournament will conclude on Saturday as Wilson and Fidanza both seek to score two more wins to place..

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Nathan Hydock puts up a shot against Dundee defenders Steven Webster (33) and Logan Salvatore (11) during the Tigers sectional win over the visiting Scotsmen this evening.

Jumping out to a 9-0 lead at the outset, No. 4 seed Lyndonville rolled to a 61-35 victory over visiting No. 5 Dundee this evening in the quarterfinal round of the Section V Class C3 boys basketball playoffs.

Nate Dillenbeck scored a game high 27 points (click here to see a layup by Dillenbeck) and Nathan Hydock had 14 (click here to see a jumper by Hydock) to lead the attack for Lyndonville which took charge in the third quarter. Noah Poler added 9, Russ Stephens 6 (click here to see a rebound by Stephens), Anthony Moule 3 and Hayden Woodward 2 for the Tigers.

Lyndonville’s Russ Stephens puts up a shot over Dundee’s Steven Webster.

Steven Webster led Dundee with 13.

A three and a jumper by Dillenbeck along with layups by Poler and Stephens propelled Lyndonville out to a 9-0 lead in the first three and a half minutes.

Up 11-6 at the end of the first period, the Tigers increased their advantage a bit to 8, 24-16, at the half on late second quarter threes by  Dillenbeck and Moule.

The Tigers then broke the contest wide open in the third period by outscoring the Scotsmen 18-6.

Lyndonville opened the decisive period with a 10-0 run on three free throws by Poler, a layup by Hydock and a three and a layup by Dillenbeck to quickly boost the lead to 18 at 34-16.

Back-to-back fast-break layups by Poler and Stevens followed by a rebound bucket by Stephens and a layup by Dillenbeck gave the Tigers a commanding 20 point, 42-22, advantage at the three-quarter mark.

Dillenbeck then scored 8 and Hydock 7 in the final stanza as the Tigers closed out the win with a 19-13 run.

The victory propels the 13-8 Tigers into Monday’s Class C3 semifinal at 6:30 p.m. at Genesee Community College against the winner of the No. 1 Caledonia-Mumford (17-3) vs. No. 9 Wheatland-Chili (6-15) quarterfinal.

Some 70 teams will be competing in the second annual Ben Kirby Memorial Indoor Soccer Tournament this weekend at Albion.

Games will be held at both the high school and primary school and the tourney field will include teams from around the area including Albion, Holley, Batavia, Attica, Clarence and Avoca.

Th girls tournament will be on Saturday and the boys on Sunday with teams competing five-on-five in several divisions including Elementary, Jt. High, JV, Varsity and Co-ed Open.

Part of the proceeds from the tournament will be donated to the Benjamin Dennis Kirby Scholarship.  Albion High School graduates receive $500 scholarships based on character traits that were important to Ben. Sportsmanship being one of the criteria and the focus of the tournament.

The tournament’s name was changed in order to honor the time, sacrifice, and dedication that the Kirby family has put into the Albion Soccer program for well over a decade.  The family is still actively involved and you can always count on seeing the famous “Kirby Cookies” making an appearance at any large soccer event.

Due to the weather forecast and the possibility that some schools will be closed again on Friday Section VI officials have moved the Class B1 and B2 girls basketball quarterfinal round playoff games from Friday night to Saturday afternoon.

The Class B1 Albion at City Honors and Medina at Dunkirk games are now scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday as is the Class B2 Akron at Wilson contest.

Contributed Photos – Cody Wilson, left, and Mario Fidanza

Two Orleans County wrestlers, Albion’s Cody Wilson (285) and Lyndonville’s Mario Fidanza (220), both seniors, will be competing in the state Division 2 (small schools) wrestling championships this weekend at the Times Union Center in Albany.

Both wrestlers earned Wildcard berths to the state championships after second place finishes at the sectional qualifiers, Wilson in Section VI and Fidanza in Section V.

This will be the second trip to the states for Fidanza  who is 29-4 on the season, and the first for Wilson who is also 29-4.

Seeded No. 5, Wilson will face No. 12 Devin Mogovern from Chester (Section IX), who is 23-4, in the opening round on Friday.

If he wins Wilson could then likely face a very familiar foe in the next round in Newfane’s Jaden Heers, the No. 4 seed.  Heers, who is 42-2 will face No. 13 Tyler Marlborough from Mattituck (Section XI), who is 33-7, in his first round match. Heers bested Wilson in both the Niagara-Orleans League and Section VI championship bouts.

“It is a huge accomplishment for Cody to make the NYS tournament,” said Albion Coach Pat Uveino. “One of the keys to Cody’s success is his work ethic. He has worked extremely hard year after year.  He lives in the weight room and has become much stronger . The opportunity to compete in the NYS tournament is the result of his hard work. Another Key to his success is his family. Cody is a remarkable young man with endless values. He continuously strives to improve and learn. Those values and his extraordinary character are the direct result of his family and their commitment to his success.”

Fidanza, who is seeded 11th, will face No. 6 Alex Thompson from Sherburne-Earlville (Section III), who is 29-1, in his first match on Friday.

If he wins, Fidanza would then face the winner of the No. 3 Colby Suglin from Mattituck vs. No. 14 Billy Fon from Ardsley match.

“Mario is in just his second year of wrestling so to make the states both years is outstanding,” said Lyndonville  Co-Coach Jim Zeliff. “He is really strong and athletic for a kid at that weight class. He moves real well and I think his athleticism will do it for him. He’s got the experience having been there last year and he knows the environment. I think he is a place finisher if he wrestles up to his ability.”

The tournament will conclude on Saturday.

Contributed Photo – For the third straight year the Roy-Hart/Barker/Medina club hockey team will be competing in the state tournament this weekend in Jamestown.

Hoping the third time is the charm the Roy-Hart/Barker/Medina club hockey team is taking aim at earning top honors at the state tournament this weekend in Jamestown.

In their first two seasons of competition RBM lost both times in the state championship game, 4-2 to Jamestown in 2018 and 3-1 to Long Beach from Nassau County last year.

This year’s tournament round robin bracket for RBM will include defending champion Long Beach which is 16-0-1, Cold Spring from Long Island which is 13-2-1 and Wilson-Newfane which is 14-3-1.

The other bracket looks to include City Honors/Cardinal O’Hara and East Aurora-Holland from the Western New York League along with two downstate teams.

RBM, which went 14-4 in the league and 16-5 overall heading into the states, downed Wilson-Newfane twice during the regular season.

RBM will open the state competition against Wilson-Newfane at noon Friday. Then on Saturday they will then face Long Beach at 8 a.m. and Cold Spring at 6 p.m.

The top two finishers in each of the two brackets will advance to Sunday’s semifinals which will be held at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. with the championship game at 4:30 p.m.

Offensively for RBM, Jason Kuchey was the No. 2 scorer in the league with 24 goals and 18 assists for 42 points. Nick Wood was No. 4 with 18 goals and 13 assists for 31 points.

Among the other three teams in the bracket, Andrew Martin leads Wilson-Newfane with 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points. Long Beach has Jack Gannon with 21 goals and 24 assists for 45 points and Shane Murphy with 24 goals and 20 assists for 44 points. Cold Springs is led by Max Van San with 20 goals and 12 assists for 32 points.

Fourth place Vets Club upended front-running Legion 36-34 Monday in Medina Euchre League competition.

Third place JR Wilson downed runner-up Sacred Heart 40-30 in the other match.

Legion is now 802-868 on the season followed by Sacred Heart 765-705, JR Wilson 747-723 and Vets Club 626-844.

League competition continues on March 2 with JR Wilson at Legion and Vets Club at Sacred Heart.