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Youth football champions crowned
Contributed Photos – JV DIVISION CHAMPIONS – The Medina Broncos edged the Newfane Lightning 6-0 in overtime at Vets Park Saturday to capture the Niagara Orleans Football Association (NOFA) JV Division playoff title. The Broncos roster includes MacKoy Hall, Lathan McEwen-Miller, Theodore Champney, Bryant Watson, Frankie Stephens, Trevon Shine, Christian Moss, Hadrian Batista, Brodie Chambers, Jayzon Wills, Preston Woodworth, Avion Johnson, Kolton Fletcher, Benjamin Doolan, Greyson Romano, Jerrell Nealy, Deondray Warren, Michael Alexander, Brody Hazel, Nathan Woodworth, Jobi Wheeler, Lyric Raduns, Stetson Hall, Alexander Wilson, Brodie Demmer, Malik Lamar, Elijah Doxey and William Tagg. The Broncos are coached by Brett Hall assisted by Jeremy Gonzalez, Jason Woodworth and Brian Alexander. The Broncos cheerleaders include Emiliana Batista, Kassie Crane, Emlly Dill, Allie Frentz, Natalie Herbert, Graycie Holmes, Colleen McNeil, Mahri Owen, Lilly Raduns, Jamie Reynolds, Aubrey Rizzo, Jillian Robertson, Madison Sanders, Celena Sparks and Baylie Watson. The cheerleaders are coached by Jessica Reid assisted by Kaitlyn Moyer and Carrie Norton.
VARSITY DIVISION CHAMPIONS – The Medina Stallions downed the Attica Blue Devils 20-6 to claim the NOFA Varsity Division playoff crown. The Stallions roster includes Aydan Brege, Jeorge Brown, Justin Pitts, Kainen Collins, Jacob Rissew, Kaedon Cleveland, Jacob Pitcher, Trenton Morley, Julian Woodworth, Amari Soule, Xavier Bloom, Brody Fry, Dawson Carpenter, Gauge Moore, Cole Callard, Carter Woodworth, Breydin McEwen-Miller, Matthew Stonebraker, Cole Moyle, Brandon Christiaansen, Liam Castricone, Bradley Jisa, Mavrik Hall, Jackson Clute-Gilbreath, Kole Campbell, Ayden Johnson, Xavier King, Sawyer Kingsbury, Roosevelt Mitchell III, Brady Christiaansen and Will Prest. The Stallions are coached by Brian Fry assisted by Chad Callard, Oscar Pitts and Bryan Christiaansen. The Stallions cheerleaders include Adrianna Brege, Jaiden Champney, Keara Fearby, Taylor Frentz, Cheyeanne Jenks, Kaylin Mickey, Mallory Robertson, Brooke Shingleton, Hannah Sparks, Ayesha Way and Tisha Zeitz. The cheerleaders are coached by Matt Fearby assisted by Christy Robertson and Tanya Castor.
N-O All-League runners named after meet at Lakeside
Photos by Tom Rivers
CARLTON – The Niagara-Orleans League held its annual league meet on Saturday at Lakeside Beach State Park. The Newfane girls and boys team both defended their titles as league champs.
The league also recognized the top 21 runners for the boys and girls. The first team included the top 7 runners, with the second team runners 8-14, and honorable mention the runners who placed 15th through 21st. There were 111 runners in the boys race and 60 in the girls race.
Boys First Team (top photo) includes from left Nathan Moran of Newfane (1st), Nick Baes of Newfane (2nd), Ozzy Moore of Roy-Hart (3rd), Peter DiLorenzo of Barker (4th), Alan Lingle of Newfane (5th), Conner Cuzzacrea of Newfane (6th) and Andrew Cuzzacrea of Newfane (7th).
Girls First Team includes Lauren Wagner of Akron (1st), Kylie Bowman of Newfane (2nd), Catalena Ersing of Newfane (3rd), Anna Rickard of Roy-Hart (4th), Alanna Holman of Albion (5th), Vanessa Burkhard of Newfane (6th) and Lydia Chunco of Newfane (7th).
Boys Second Team includes Austin Burkard of Newfane (8th), Jonathan Moote of Wilson (9th), Jayden Reynolds of Newfane (10th), Zachary Sanford of Akron (11th), Gannon Gibson of Newfane (12th), Jay Heideman of Roy-Hart (13th) and Nicholas Guevara of Barker (14th).
Girls Second Team includes Shelby Nerber of Newfane (8th), Leah Siegmann of Newfane (9th), Kaila Szczygielski of Akron (10th), Lucy Ingro of Newfane (11th), Lydia Samson of Barker (12th), Haleigh Mason of Barker (13th) and Kayla Murray of Akron (14th).
Boys Honorable Mention includes Will Rickard of Roy-Hart (15th), Reuben Rivers of Albion (16th), Allan Schultz of Wilson (17th), Mason Allee-Castro of Barker (18th), Will Chubb of Akron (19th), Dawson Donovan of Barker (20th) and Arian Cayea of Medina (21st).
Girls Honorable Mention includes Marina Ersing of Newfane (15th), Sara Siegmann of Newfane (16th), Sabrina Quiros of Medina (17th), Cassidy Wagner of Wilson (18th), Elinore Voss of Barker (19th), Addie Naylor of Newfane (20th) and Kylee Healy of Wilson (21st).
R-H to open volleyball sectionals at home
Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Jamie Seib and her Lady Rams teammates have earned the No. 4 seed for the upcoming Section VI Class C1 playoffs and will host No. 5 Fredonia Friday.
No. 4 seeded Roy-Hart will open Section VI Class C1 volleyball competition by hosting No. 5 Fredonia in the quarterfinals on Friday.
In other C1 quarterfinals on Friday, No. 1 Akron will host No. 8 Olmsted and No. 7 Newfane will visit No. 2 Eden.
In Class B2 quarterfinals on Friday, No. 6 Medina will visit No. 3 Depew and No. 7 Albion will travel to No. 3 Springville.
In Class C2, No. 2 Wilson will host a quarterfinal match on Friday against the winner of the No. 7 Falconer vs. No. 10 Cattaraugus/Little Valley opening round match.
The quarterfinal round matches are scheduled for 6 p.m.
Akron and Wilson shared the Niagara-Orleans League title this season at 9-1 followed by Roy-Hart at 6-4 with Albion, Medina and Newfane all at 2-8.
Broncos and Stallions win playoff titles
Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Medina Broncos quarterback MacKoy Hall picks up yardage during Saturday’s JV Division playoff championship win over Newfane at Vets Park. The Medina Stallions also won the Varsity Division title with a win over Attica.
The Medina Broncos and Stallions both captured Niagara Orleans Football Association playoff championships with wins at Vets Park Saturday.
In the JV Division title game, the Medina Broncos edged the Newfane Lightning 6-0 in overtime in a classic defensive battle
The teams spend three quarters battling between the 30 yard lines and trading punt after punt. A 40 yard run from Spencer of Newfane and a 19 yard ramble from Christian Moss of Medina were the biggest plays during that time.
Medina got close to the end zone twice in the fourth quarter but an interception by Newfane late sent the game to overtime.
Newfane had the ball first but went backwards on three plays and came up well short on fourth down to turn the ball over.
Medina took over and Moss powered for 6 yards followed by 4 yards up the middle by Elijah Doxey. On third down from the 10 Jerrell Nealy took the ball around the left end and with possibly the best blocking of the game walked into the end zone untouched for the game winning score and an 11-0 undefeated championship season for the Broncos.
In the Varsity Division title contest, the Medina Stallions then downed the Attica Blue 20-6.
This one was also a defensive battle in the first half with Medina scoring the only points on a halfback option pass from Amari Soule to Justin Pitts for a 6-0 lead.
Both teams had a bit more offense in this one but stiffened each time and the game was still up for grabs as the third quarter began.
The Medina offense got rolling a bit more and worked deep into Attica territory where Kaedon Cleveland found Pitts in the end zone but pass interference broke it up setting up the Stallions inside the 10. At this point Medina went to their BEEF offense and got a TD run from Breydin McEwen Miller who followed it with the extra point run and a 13-0 lead.
The Medina defense continued to dominate and getting the ball back the offense again drove down close to the goal line. This time McEwen Miller tried the middle but had to bounce outside and ran it in from the five for a 20-0 lead.
Attica scored on a 19 yard run to break up the shutout and then tried an onside kick but it was recovered by McEwen Miller and Medina ran out the clock to finish off their 11-0 championship season.
Newfane runners sweep N-O league titles again
Photos by Tom Rivers: Nathan Moran of Newfane is out in front near the beginning of the boys Niagara-Orleans All-League race today at Lakeside Beach State Park in Carlton. Moran won the race in a time of 17:34. He is followed in the photo by Nick Baes of Newfane, Alan Lingle of Newfane, Peter DiLorenzo of Barker, Jon Moote of Wilson and Ozzy Moore of Roy-Hart.
Lauren Wagner of Akron won the girls race in a time of 19:36.
CARLTON – The Newfane boys and girls continued their reign as cross country powerhouses in the Niagara-Orleans League, with both dominating today’s league races at Lakeside Beach State Park.
Both teams posted some of the lowest scores in recent memory at the league race, with the girls at 20 points and the boys at 21.
The Newfane boys won their third straight league title. They had the top two finishers with Nathan Moran in first at 17:34, followed by teammate Nick Baes in 2nd at 17:46. Newfane’s other top five includes Alan Lingle in 5th, and twin brothers Conner Cuzzacrea in 6th and Andrew Cuzzacrea in 7th.
“We try to keep it fun and exciting,” said Mike Heitzenrater, Newfane’s coach. “Cross country runners don’t get a lot of publicity. We try to foster a family atmosphere.”
He praised Moran for his work ethic and for his goal to peak later in the season. Newfane has many fast runners and they push each other, Heitzenrater said.
“We had a great pack in the boys race,” he said.
Barker was second in the team standings with 75 points. They were led by Peter DiLorenzo’s 4th place finish in 17:50.9. Barker had other all-league performers with Nicholas Guevara on the second team with a 14th place finish (18:50). Mason Allee-Castro was 18th (19:05) and Dawson Donovan was 20th (19:15) to earn honorable mention for the league.
Ozzy Moore of Roy-Hart just edges Peter DiLorenzo of Barker in the boys race. Moore was 3rd, and DiLorenzo was 4th. Both made first team, all-league.
Akron was third in the team standings with 99 points. They were led by Zachary Sanford in 11th place (18:37) and Will Chubb in 19th (19:10). Sanford was second team all-league and Chubb was an honorable mention.
Roy-Hart was 2 points behind Akron and finished fourth in the league with 101 points. Ozzy Moore led the team with a 3rd place finish at 17:50. Teammate Jay Heideman was a second team, all-league in 13th place (18:48), and Will Rickard earned an honorable mention at 15th (18:56).
Wilson came in fifth as a team with 111 points. Jon Moote led Wilson with a 9th place finish (18:26), followed by Allan Schultz at 17th (19:04). Moote was second team, all-league and Schultz earned an honorable mention.
Will Rickard of Roy-Hart is ahead of Reuben Rivers, Albion’s top finisher, in the last stretch of the race. They were both honorable mention, all-league, with Rickard at 15th and Rivers at 16th.
Albion earned its first win of the season with a sixth-place finish at 153 points. Reuben Rivers led the team at 16th(18:59), which is good for an honorable mention.
Medina was seventh at 163 points and was led by Arian Cayea, whose 21st finish at 19:15 earned him an honorable mention for the league.
Newfane girls win 5th straight league title
The Newfane girls have now won the N-O League every year since 2015. The team took 5 of the top 8 spots today.
However, Akron sophomore won the race in a time of 19:36. Wagner was sixth in the league a year ago. She missed qualifying for the state meet by one spot. That disappointment at Sectionals motivated her to train harder, said her coach, Nancy Bennett.
“She wants it so much,” Bennett said about Wagner’s drive to win.
The Akron runner in the past year has added weight training and spinning classes, while staying busy on her family’s beef farm.
Alanna Holman of Albion and Lydia Chunco of Newfane round a corner on the course. They both finished in the top seven and were all-league, first team.
Newfane’s top 5 runners today included eighth-grader Kylie Bowman in second at 20:01, Catalina Ersing in third at 20:23, Vanessa Burkhard in sixth at 20:40, Lydia Chunco in seventh at 21:09, and Shelby Nerber in eighth at 21:43.
Akron was second as a team with 57 points. Besides the first place finish by Wagner, the team had a 10th place finish by Kaila Szczygielski (21:55), 14th by Kayla Murray (22:41) – good for second team, all-league.
Barker was third with 74 points. Barker had two runners on the all-league second team – Lydia Samson in 12th (22:26) and Haleigh Mason in 13th (22:34).
Anna Rickard of Roy-Hart runs along the Lake Ontario shoreline. Rickard was 4th overall and a first team, all-league runner.
Medina was fourth as a team with 111 points. The Mustangs were led by Sabrina Quiros in 17th place (23:10), which earned her an honorable mention for the league.
Wilson was fifth with 115 points. The team had two runners earn honorable mentions: Cassidy Wagner in 18th (23:27) and Kylee Healy in 21st (23:31).
Albion and Roy-Hart both didn’t have full teams with at least five runners.
Anna Rickard led Roy-Hart with a 4th place finish (20:28) and Alanna Holman led Albion with a 5th place (20:37). Rickard and Holman were both first team, all-league.
The boys and girls Newfane teams gather for a group photo after they both won the Niagara-Orleans League titles.
Kendall girls roll in soccer sectional opener
Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Kendall’s Lizzy Woodams sends a centering pass by CG Finney defender Liesl Staton during the host Lady Eagles sectional win this evening.
Pulling away in the second half, No. 2 seed Kendall opened defense of its Section V Class D1 girls soccer title with a 5-0 victory over visiting No. 7 CG Finney this evening.
Improving to 14-3, Kendall will next face the winner of the No. 6 Hammondsport/Bradford vs. No. 3 Alfred-Almond game in the semifinals on Wednesday.
Kendall took a slender 1-0 lead in the first half as Grace Robinson scored on a shot from straight away off a nice centering pass from Hailee Mitchell just 9:04 into the game.
The Lady Eagles then broke the contest open with a quick two goal scoring burst early in the second half.
Mitchell scored on a line drive shot from the 18 at 26:43 and Lizzy Woodams followed up with a goal at 24:33 off a nice centering pass from Madison Jacob to make it 3-0.
Kailie Regan then scored at 19:32 off an assist from Woodams and Mitchell tallied off a corner by Brianna Wakefield with 6:40 to go to round out the Lady Eagles scoring.
(Click here to see Kendall’s Hailee Mitchell score the team’s final goal off a corner kick from Brianna Wakefield.)
Boys Soccer
Addison 3, Holley 2
No. 3 Addison edged past visiting No. 6 Holley 3-2 in a Section V Class C1 boys playoff game that was decided in a penalty kick shootout.
Kohl Morgan scored both goals for Holley in the contest which was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation time. Caleb Wright and Kayden Servais earned the assists.
Holley finishes the season at 9-8-1.
Kendall’s Grace Robinson looks to go around Finney’s Jada Blackmon.
Purple Eagles will host Huskies in semis
No. 3 seed Albion will play host to No. 7 Olean in the semifinals of the Section VI Class B football playoffs at 7 p.m. next Friday night.
Olean earned a spot in the semis by upending host No. 2 Newfane 26-24 in the quarterfinals this afternoon with a touchdown on the final play as Railey Silvis and Gavin Kulp hooked up for a 79 yard scoring strike.
The Huskies also had a 90 yard kickoff return by Nick Pantoso and a 80 yard TD pass from Silvis to Pantuso which cut the deficit to 24-20.
Garrett Srock passed for one touchdown, ran for another and kicked a field goal for Newfane.
Albion downed Olean 49-26 in a B3 Division game during the regular season.
The Purple Eagles bring a 7-1 record into the semis while Olean is 5-3.
Newfane, which captured the B3 title this season winds up at 5-3.
Oakfield-Alabama/Elba 41, Holley 6
Jumping out to a 27-0 half-time advantage sparked by two early touchdowns by Colton Dillon, Oakfield-Alabama/Elba went on to defeat Holley 41-6 this afternoon in an 8 Man Division game this afternoon at Elba.
OAE stays perfect at 6-0 while Holley slips to 2-3 heading into next Saturday’s regular season home finale against Maple Grove.
Jamel Hildreth scored Holley’s touchdown on a 25 yard run.
The Hawks also had Jacob Affronti with 101 yards rushing, Nick Kinmond with 5 receptions for 46 yards and Cody Tanis 2 pass interceptions.
Legion holds onto Euchre League lead
Legion defeated JR Wilson 37-33 this past Monday to maintain a six point lead atop the Medina Euchre League standings over runner-up Sacred Heart which downed Vets Club 39-31.
League competition will continue on Monday with Legion at JR Wilson and Sacred Heart at Vets Club.
Standings: Legion 121-89, Sacred Heart 115-95, JR Wilson 97-113, Vets Club 87-123.
Kendall advances to D1 soccer semifinals
No. 4 seeded Kendall downed visiting No. 5 Alfred-Almond 2-1 this evening in the quarterfinal round of the Section V Class D1 boys soccer playoffs.
Kendall built up a 2-0 half-time advantage on a penalty kick goal by Hayden VanDusen followed by a goal by Zach Barret off an assist from Michael McCue.
Alfred-Almond’s goal came late in the second half.
Mason Kuhn made 16 saves in goal for Kendall including several big stops down the stretch.
Improving to 8-6-2, Kendall will next face top seeded Fillmore in the semifinals on Tuesday. Fillmore downed No. 9 Arkport/Canaseraga 4-2 this evening.
Girls Soccer
Roy-Hart 3, Southwestern 1
Kara Choate scored 2 goals and Reanna Perkins 1 for No. 4 seed Roy-Hart in the 2-1 Section VI Class B2 quarterfinal win over visiting No. 5 Southwestern.
Nadia White had 2 assists and Brooke Livergood 1 for the Lady Rams 2 which will next face top seeded Allegany-Limestone in the semifinals Tuesday. A-L downed No. 9 Eden 7-0.
Akron 2, Falconer 1
Goals by Olivia Kreher and Kara Sequin earned No. 2 Akron a 2-1 win over visiting No. 7 Falconer in a Class B2 quarterfinal.
Akron will now face Niagara-Orleans League foe Wilson in the semis on Tuesday.
Wilson 6, Olmsted 1
Lilly O’Lay and Leia Cloy both had 2 goals and Skylar Munnikhuysen a goal and 3 assists to lead No. 6 Wilson to a 6-1 B2 quarterfinal win over No. 3 Olmsted.
City Honors 5, Albion 1
Top seeded City Honors downed visiting No. 9 Albion 5-1 as Natalie Milne scored 3 goals and Sabrina Lonas 2.
Mariah Plain scored the lone goal for Albion which trailed by a slender 1-0 margin at the half.
The Purple Eagles finish the season at 9-8-1.
Canisteo-Greenwood 4, Holley 3
In a Section V Class C1 quarterfinal that was decided in a shootout, No. 5 Canisteo-Greenwood nipped host No. 4 Holley 4-3.
The marathon contest was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation time and 3-3 after the overtime periods. Canisteo-Greenwood then scored on four penalty kick shots in the shootout to claim the narrow win.
Albion trims Tonawanda in sectional opener
Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Kevin Hillman goes up to intercept a pass intended for Tonawanda’s Zach Wood. The action took place during the host Purple Eagles sectional win over the Warriors this evening.
Surviving a bit of a late scare, No. 3 seed Albion downed visiting No. 6 Tonawanda 17-14 in the quarterfinal round of the Section VI Class B playoffs this evening at Spierdowis Field.
Albion, which will now face the winner of Saturday’s No. 7 Olean at No. 2 Newfane quarterfinal in the semis next weekend, built up a 17-0 lead only to see Tonawanda rally for two touchdowns in the final five minutes to make the finish interesting.
The Purple Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 half-time advantage by scoring twice in the second quarter,
Albion’s Cody Wilson brings down Tonawanda running back Jason Frazer.
Deyonci Farley opened the scoring with a 1 yard touchdown run with 9:53 to go in the quarter as big pass completions of 23 and 42 yards from quarterback Thomas Furmanski to Kevin Hillman keyed the drive. Furmanski tacked on the extra point kick.
(Click here to see Deyonci Farley score Albion’s first TD.)
Tyray White then broke loose around right end for a 53 yard touchdown run as another PAT kick by Furmanski made it 14-0.
That drive followed a big series by the Albion defense which stopped the Warriors near their own goal line forcing a punt as Farley had two key tackles for losses.
The Purple Eagles offense did put together another big scoring threat just before halftime which reached the Tonawanda 10 only to have an interception in the end zone wipe out the threat.
Again in the third quarter, Albion had another scoring threat deep into Tonawanda territory wiped out by a turnover, this time by a fumble recovery into the Warriors end zone.
The Albion defense then came up with a turnover of its own with a big interception by Hillman at the Purple Eagles 40, a pick which ended up setting up a 20 yard field goal by Furmanski with 9:04 to go in the fourth quarter.
It was a field goal which at the time looked to merely pad the Albion lead to 17-0 but ended up being the margin of victory. A run of 12 yards by White and a 14 yard Furmanski to Hillman pass completion highlighted the drive.
(Click here to see Thomas Furmanski throw to Kevin Hillman for 14 yards to the Tonawanda 6.)
Tonawanda made the finish interesting by scoring twice late on touchdown passes from quarterback Justin Mangold to wide receiver Dylan Carey of 15 yards with 5:05 to go and of 20 yards with 29 seconds to go.
The Warriors got the ball back after the first touchdown on a fumble recovery by Mike Butsch. On the first snap Mangold hooked up with Carey for a big 52 yard pass completion down to the Albion 20 setting up the second TD.
Tonawanda then tried an onside kick but Albion made the recovery to lock up what proved to be a narrow win.
The Purple Eagles advance to the semifinals with a 7-1 record while the Warriors finish the season at 4-4.
(Click here to see Deyonci Farley make a tackle for a loss.)
Albion’s Brillance Johnson picks up yardage as Tonawanda’s Zach Wood comes in to make the tackle.
