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Fall High School sports practice begins
Photos by Mike Wertman – For area high school athletes summer vacation came to an end this morning as practices got underway for the upcoming fall sports season. Here Albion football players do some conditioning work with a tire flip drill at left and a blocking drill at right. The Purple Eagles will open the season at home on September 6 against Newfane.
Medina/Lyndonville/Barker players work on a conditioning drill, at the top, and an agility drill at this afternoon’s session. The Mustangs open the season at Lew-Port on September 6.
The Albion girls varsity soccer team works on a ball control drill. The Purple Eagles will compete in the Kendall Tournament on September 5 and 7 facing the host Lady Eagles in the opener.
Several Medina/Lyndonville soccer players work on a ball control drill. The Mustangs will open the season by hosting Wilson on September 5 in a Niagara-Orleans League game.
Medina field hockey players work on a ball control drill. The Mustangs will open the season at home on September 3 against defending N-O and Section VI Class C champion Barker.
Losses drops Muckdogs into second place
A doubleheader loss at Mahoning Valley by score of 1-0 and 8-0 Sunday dropped the Batavia Muckdogs into second place in the Pinckney Division of the New York Penn League behind West Virginia which downed Williamsport 7-3.
In the opener, the Muckdogs had a 5-3 edge in hits over Mahoning Valley which scored once in the fourth inning to earn the win.
In the second game, the Muckdogs managed only one hit and fell behind by a 6-0 margin after only two innings.
Batavia, which is at Mahoning Valley again this evening, slips to 34-29 on the season while West Virginia improves to 34-27.
Muckdogs lose but get help to hold lead
Despite a road loss, the Batavia Muckdogs got a little help Saturday to maintain a narrow lead in the Pinckney Division of the New York Penn League.
The Muckdogs dropped a 11-2 decision at Mahoning Valley but got help when runner-up West Virginia was blanked 4-0 by Williamsport.
Batavia at 34-27 still holds a slender half game lead over West Virginia at 33-27.
Mahoning Valley jumped out to a huge 9-0 lead after just two innings and Batavia managed a total of only 4 hits on the evening.
Mini Eagles win opener on wild weather day
On a day which went from nice to a monsoon rain to steamy hot, the Albion Mini Eagles squad edged Tri Town 6-0 at Alexander Saturday in a season opening Niagara Orleans Football Association (NOFA) game.
The lone score of the game came in the first quarter when Garret Jones scored on a 72 yard run. Rocco Sidari added 49 yards rushing and LJ Simmons 21 yards.
On defense, Drake Schomske had 4 tackles, sack and forced a fumble. Simmons had 3 tackles and Jones a fumble recovery.
Albion also won the Beginner Division game by forfeit.
Tri Town won the JV Division game 41-6 and the Varsity Division Contest 28-0.
In the JV game for Albion, Jayovanni Ostrander had 29 yards rushing, including a 18 yard touchdown. Noah Harrison had 22 yards rushing and Wesley Olles 8.
Olles led the defense with 10 tackles, Harrison 9, Mason Snook 5 and Nate Gibson 4 tackles.
In the Varsity game for Albion, Makyell Walker had 43 yards rushing and Raekwan Riley added 42 yards on the ground.
For the Eagles defense, Riley, Walker, Jared Ostrander and Johnathan Eibl each had 4 tackles.
Broncos down JV Hawks in season opener
Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina Broncos back Christian Moss breaks away from the Holley Hawks defense for a good gain during this afternoon’s JV Division game at Holley won by the Broncos.
A touchdown just before halftime keyed the Medina Bronocs to a 14-0 win over the host Holley Hawks in a Niagara Orleans Football Association (NOFA) JV Division game his afternoon.
Quarterback Mackoy Hall hooked up with Jerrely Nealy for an 80 yard touchdown pass with just 45 seconds to go in the first half for the Broncos to snap a scoreless deadlock. Hall then passed to Colton Fletcher for the two-point conversion.
The Broncos added an insurance touchdown in the third quarter on a 27 yard pass from Hall to Travon Shine.
Holley drove inside the Medina 30 in the fourth quarter after a long pass completion from quarterback Alexis VanAmeron to Kyler Weitz but the Broncos defense turned back the challenge.
Holley Hawks back Michael Wells runs through a crowd to gain yardage.
Fast start sparks Stallions past Varsity Hawks
Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina Stallions back Jacob Rissew runs down the sideline for good gain during this afternoon’s Varsity Division win over the host Holley Hawks.
Scoring twice in each of the first two quarters the Medina Stallions went on to defeat the host Holley Hawks 39-0 in a Niagara Orleans Football Association (NOFA) Varsity Division game this afternoon.
Kaedon Cleveland and Jacob Rissew hooked up for a 26 yard touchdown pass to get the Stallions on the scoreboard. Justin Pitts then scored on a 34 yard run and Cole Callard added the extra point to give Medina a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter,
The Stallions doubled their advantage to 26-0 at the half as Callard and Julian Woodworth combined for a 7 yard touchdown pass, Brandon Christiaansen added the extra point and then Cleveland scored on a 50 yard run.
Rissew scored for the Stallions in the third quarter on a 5 yard intercept return. Brody Fry then rounded out the scoring with a 35 yard fourth quarter TD run as Callard added the extra point kick.
For Holley, Destin Kuyal had an interception in the third quarter.
Holley Hawks quarterback Destin Kuyal breaks away from a tackler for good yardage.
Schools earn state academic/athletic honors
Five area high school athletic programs have earned New York State Public High School Athletic Association School of Excellence Awards for the 2018-19 academic year.
The honored schools include Medina, Roy-Hart and Wilson from the Niagara-Orleans League and Holley and Byron-Bergen from the Genesee Region League.
To earn the School of Excellence Award, a school must have at least 75 percent of its varsity teams qualify for and receive a Scholar-Athlete Team Award. A team must have its players have a composite academic average of at least 90 to earn the Scholar-Athlete Team Award.
Black Bears cut Muckdogs lead to a half game
Contributed Photo – Julio Frias records one of his three strikeouts Friday night against West Virginia.
BATAVIA – The Batavia Muckdogs lead in the New York-Penn Pickney Division is down to a half game after a 9-3 loss to West Virginia on Friday night.
Batavia is on the road for three games starting today at Mahoning Valley. Then the all-star break before returning to Dwyer Stadium on August 22 to host State College.
Batavia’s Sean Reynolds blasted his 12th home run of the season on Friday and the 34th of his short minor league career in the fifth-inning in the loss.
J.D. Orr had two doubles and scored a run increasing his league-leading average to .379.
Harrison Dinicola hit his sixth double of the season while Dalvy Rosario had a RBI, and Andrew Turner singled in a run. Milton Smith II had the other Muckdog hit.
Julio Frias took the loss and is 4-3 on the season. He struck out three in four innings. Edison Suriel had six strikeouts in three innings of work giving up one run while Joey Steele struck out two in one inning and Evan Rebrand had two strikeouts without giving up a run in the ninth.
Batavia is 34-26 and West Virginia is 33-26.
Seven to represent Muckdogs at All-Star game
BATAVIA – The 2019 season for the first-place Batavia Muckdogs has been a special one at Dwyer Stadium. Now, add the all-star game to the memories.
The New York-Penn League has announced seven players will represent Batavia in the all-star game on Wednesday, Aug. 21 in Staten Island.
Nick Ready (third base), J.D. Orr (left field) and Troy Johnston (right field) were named starters. Milton Smith II (center field) and pitchers Julio Frias, Brock Love and Josh Simpson were also named to the team.
The all-star game is at 7 p.m. hosted by the Staten Island Yankees with gates opening at 3 p.m. There will be a home run competition between the New York City Fire Department and NYPD.
During the pre-game, the 2019 NYPL Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place with Batavia’s Gene Baker going in the hall with Bernie Williams, Jane Rogers and Josiah Viera.
Baker, who died in 1999, became the first African-American manager in organized baseball, when the Pittsburgh Pirates named him skipper of the Batavia club in 1961.
In 1963, he became the second black coach in the major leagues following Buck O’Neill by a half -season. He can also be credited with being the first black manager in Major League Baseball when he took over for ejected Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh on September 21, 1963. He was also the first African-American player to ever make the Chicago Cubs roster in 1953.
Section VI Hall of Fame to induct Colella
Contributed Photo – Tom Colella
During the mid 1930’s Albion High had a string of outstanding football teams led by a very versatile player, Tom Colella, who earned the nickname “The Albion Antelope”.
Colella’s feats on the gridiron have earned him induction into the Section VI Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2019. The induction ceremony will be held in early December.
Previously Colella, who passed away in 1992, was inducted into both the Canisius College and the Greater Buffalo Sports Halls of Fame.
Colella’s efforts as a running back, defensive back, punter and kicker helped Albion compile records of 6-0-2 in 1934, 6-1 in 1935 and 8-0-1 in 1936, a season in which he had 22 touchdowns, 5 extra points and a total of 137 points.
In all over his varsity career, Colella had a total of 33 touchdowns and 203 points.
Colella went on to star at Canisius College where as a two-way player he was a three time Little All America team honoree.
He then went on to star for eight years at the professional level playing with the NFL Detroit Lions from 1942-43, the NFL Cleveland Rams from 1944-45, the Cleveland Browns of the All America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946-48 and the Buffalo Bills of the AAFC in 1949. He had 21 interceptions during his three years with the Browns including a team leading 10 in 1946.
The Niagara-Orleans League will be well represented in the Section VI Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 which includes long time Barker coach and Athletic Director Bill Stedman, longtime Starpoint coach and Athletic Director Hal Rupert and the late Jan Williams from Akron who was a pioneer in getting the sport of field hockey going in Section VI. She founded the Akron program and guided the Lady Tigers to a number of N-O League and Section VI titles.
The Class of 2019 also includes a trio of Section VI athletes who went on to star in the NFL including Ron Jaworski from Lackawanna High, Joe Ehrmann from Riverside and Bill Bergey from Pine Valley.
