Photo by Mike Wertman – Members of the annual All-Orleans County wrestling team include, in front, RaShawn Bloom and Travis Wiseman (Medina), Jayden Pieniaszek and Tristyn Moyer (Holley-Kendall), Chase Stinson (Lyndonville), Colby Petrie (Medina) and Cullen Heveron (Lyndonville). In the middle row are Da’Ron Bellan (Medina), Preston Flugel (Albion), Jeremy Browe, Dylan Spellan and Erik Balys (Holley-Kendall) and Jessy Cruz (Albion). In the back row are Ben Restivo (Albion), Elijah Sones (Medina), Donamic Farley and Cody Wilson (Albion) and Hunter McLean (Holley-Kendall). Missing from the photo is Cade Aina (Holley-Kendall).

The accent is on youth for the lineup of the annual All-Orleans County Wrestling team as selected by the coaches as 13 of the 19 honorees are underclassmen.

Holley-Kendall leads the way with seven honorees including seniors Dylan Spellan (170) and Jeremy Browe (152), juniors Cade Aina (145), Erik Balys (160) and Hunter McLean (285) along with sophomores Jayden Pieniaszek (113) and Tristyn Moyer (120).

Albion and Medina both have five honorees. The Purple Eagles are represented by senior Preston Flugel (138), juniors Jessy Cruz (170), Ben Restivo (182) and Donamic Farley (195) and sophomore Cody Wilson (220). The Mustangs have placed seniors Da’Ron Bellan (132) and Elijah Sones (195), sophomores Travis Wiseman (106) and Colby Petrie (126) and freshman RaShawn Bloom (99).

Rounding out the team is the Lyndonville duo of senior Cullen Heveron (126) and junior Chase Stinson (120).

Five other wrestlers have earned Honorable Mention including Holley-Kendall senior Brandon Gardner, Medina seniors Jeremiah Wiseman and Joe Gates along with Lyndonville freshmen Dillon Burt-Hodgins and Rodney Davis.

Spellan, who went 39-6 on the season, took top honors at the Section V Class BB Tournament and placed sixth at the Section V championships. He finishes with a career record of 94-44.

Moyer, who placed second at the Class BB Tournament, went 34-10 on the season.

Browe, who placed third at the Class BB Tournament, went 39-6 and finishes with a career record of 114-47.

Aina, who went 34-13, placed fifth at the Class BB Tournament.

Balys went 27-9 to up his career record to 106-51 while Pieniaszek was 26-6 and McLean 26-13.

Flugel captured a Niagara-Orleans League title for the third time in the last four years and went on to place second at the Section VI Class C Tournament and third at the Section VI championships. He went 34-7 on the season.

Restivo, who went 35-8, placed second at the N-O championships, third at the Class C Tournament and fourth at the Section VI championships.

Cruz, who placed third at the N-O championships and fourth at the Class C Tournament, went 24-16.

Farley, who went 31-12, placed third at the N-O championships and fourth at the Class C Tournament.

Wilson, who placed fourth at both the N-O championships and the Class C Tournament, went 28-10.

Sones, who went 32-7, won an N-O title and went on to place second at the Class C Tournament and fifth at the Section VI championships.

Bellan, who placed third at both the N-O Championships and the Class C Tournament, went 25-10.

Bloom, who placed second at the N-O championships and fourth at the Class C Tournament was 15-13.

Petrie went 22-5 and Travis Wiseman 10-10.

Stinson, who went 20-6, placed third at the Section V Class B Tournament and fifth at the Section V championships.

Heveron, who placed second at the Class B Tournament, went 20-9.

Front-running Sacred Heart continued to expand its Medina Euchre League lead Monday combining a 39-31 win over Vets Club with runner-up Legion’s 40-30 loss to JR Wilson.

Now holding a 50 point lead, Sacred Heart is 805-665 on the season followed by Legion 755-715, JR Wilson 707-763 and Vets Club 673-797.

League competition continues on March 12 with Sacred Heart at Vets Club and Legion at JR Wilson.

Contributed Photos – Rebekah Hoffee and Jacob Hoffee

Lyndonville High graduates Rebekah and Jacob Hoffee are both off to good starts on the collegiate diamond this season.

Rebekah is now a junior at Division II Walsh University and has finally broken into the lineup after a couple years of hard work and little opportunity.

A Nursing major, she has started all 10 games of the young season in Left or Center Field and is currently batting .429.

Jacob is a freshman at SUNY Cobleskill and is the starting 3rd baseman. He batted cleanup for the Fighting Tigers in their first games of the season and is currently leading the team with a .571 batting average.

Both Rebekah and Jacob earned Genesee Region League All-Star honors during their scholastic days at Lyndonville.

Contributed Photos- Varsity honorees at Lyndonville’a recent Winter Sports Award Bight include, in front, Nathan Dillenbeck, Cullen Heveron, Zachary Johnson, and Chase Stinson. In the second row are Andrew Brabon, Nathan Poler, Brody Brown, Anna Lewis, Miranda Lembcke, Joyce Stamp, Cianna Button, Alyssa Winder, and Savannah Poler. Missing from the picture is Chris Clark.

Lyndonville High held its Winter Athletics Awards Night this past Thursday honoring varsity and JV athletes.

The varsity wrestling awards went to Chase Stinson (Most Valuable Player), Chris Clark (Most Improved Player), Cullen Heveron (Fastest pin 15 seconds) and Andrew Brabon (Tea Cup Award).

The varsity boys basketball award recipients included Nathan Poler and Zach Johnson (Co-Most Valuable Players), Nathan Dillenbeck (Most Improved) and Brody Brown (Coaches Award).

The varsity girls basketball awards went to Anna Lewis (Most Valuable Player), Savannah Poler (Most Improved) and Miranda Lembcke (Coaches Award).

Varsity cheerleading award recipients included Joyce Stamp (Most Valuable Player), Cianna Button (Most Improved) and Alyssa Winder (Coaches Award).

The JV wrestling awards went to Dillon Burt-Hodgins (Most Valuable Player), Rodney Davis (Most Improved) and Brennan Munn (Coaches Award).

The JV boys basketball award recipients included Nathan Hydock (Most Valuable Player), Casey Winiecki (Most Improved) and Russell Stephens (Coaches Award).

The JV girls basketball awards went to Kaylee Nesbitt (Most Valuable Player), Gracie Johnson (Most Improved and Lorelei Dillenbeck (Coaches Award).

The JV award recipients included Rodney Davis, Nathan Hydock, Dillon Burt-Hodgins, Brennan Munn, Russell Stephens, Casey Winiecki, Kaylee Nesbitt, Gracie Johnson, JennaLee Reimer, and Lorelei Dillenbeck.

After taking their first three games in the State Mixed Schools Division Club Hockey Tournament, the Roy-Hart/Barker/ Medina Club Hockey team began today’s action in the semi- finals against Iroquois/Alden at Jamestown and came away a 7-2 winner.

That set up a rematch of last week’s WNY Championship game against Jamestown/Southwestern/Maple Grove, a 3-2 triple OT winner against Manhasset in the other semi. The title contest saw Jamestown/SW/MG  score a pair of unanswered third period goals to edge RBM 4-2 to claim the state championship.

In the semifinals, RBM tallied the first three goals of the game.  Jason Kuchey scored first off an assist from Drew Marsh. Then Marsh scored from Jason Kuchey and Michael Kuchey added the third goal assisted by Matt Saj.  Iroquois, however, answered with two goals before the end of the period.

RBM owned the remainder of the game as Marsh scored again off an assist from Dylan Krzykowski, Jason Kuchey added two more goals for the hat-trick and Krzykowski scored the other goal.

In the Championship game, Jamestown scored two goals in the first three minutes of the game.

Jason Kuchey scored  before the end of the period cutting the RBM deficit to 2-1.

There was no scoring in the second period. RBM though pulled even at 2-2 early in the third period as Jason Kuchey again scored on a pass from his brother, Michael.

However with eight minutes left in the game, Jamestown scored the game winner on a power play. The final Jamestown goal was also a power play with RBM two players short.

Contributed Photo – Reece Senske

Young Medina wrestler Reece Senske has placed second recently in two major regional wrestling tournaments.

First, he placed second in the 60 lb. division at the “King of the Mat” Tournament in Maine which is one of the biggest tournaments in New England with over 400 kids participating.

In the preliminary round he beat P. Katz from Canadian National Team 2-0. In the quarterfinals he beat J. Vosburg from Tyngsbourgh, MA by a first period fall. In the semifinals he beat this years Maine Youth  State Runner-up, B. Raikey,  by a first period fall. In the finals he lost a tough battle to the Vermont Youth State Champion and eventual ” King of the Mat “MVP, C. LaFond of Colchester VT by the score 4-3.

Today, he competed in the N.Y. USA Northern Super-Regional, a N.Y. youth state qualifier. He placed second, qualifying him for next weekend state tournament in Johnson City, NY.

Senske, a student at Wise Middle School, has also placed in tournaments this year in Pittsburgh, PA,  State College, PA, Cleveland, OH, Lansing, MI and has amassed record of 38 wins and 16 losses this year.

Putting together a big fourth quarter rally, No. 3 seed Southwestern edged past No. 4 Wilson 45-42 this afternoon in the Section VI Class B2 girls basketball tournament championship game at Buffalo State College.

Trailing 32-26 at the three-quarter mark, Southwestern outpointed Wilson 19-10 down the stretch to claim the title.

The Lady Trojans knotted the contest at 36-36 and then closed with a 9-6 scoring edge to earn the victory taking the lead for good with just 22 seconds remaining.

Wilson led 11-9 after one period and 25-16 at the half.

In the B1 final, No. 5 Fredonia crushed rival No. 11 Dunkirk 72-37.

Boys Sectionals
On Saturday, No. 2 Olean defeated No. 4 Newfane 48-35 in the boys Class B1 championship game at Buffalo State.

The Huskies led 12-7 after one period, 24-14 at the half and 38-24 after three quarters.

Kyle DeVoogel scored 11 and Max Weber 7 to lead Newfane.

Contributed Photo – Jake Haight

Barker High graduate Jake Haight recently completed his junior season as a member of the St. John Fisher College basketball team.

In helping the Cardinals compile a 15-10 record, Haight was fourth on the team in both scoring, with 188 points, and blocks, with 10. He tied his career high with 17 points against Hartwick.

He played in all 25 games starting 12 and was second on the team in rebounds with 117 and led the Cardinals in field goal percentage with 61.8 percent.

A three time first team Niagara-Orleans All-League selection and a school record holding scorer with 1,200 plus career points during his scholastic days at Barker, Haight now has career totals of 450 points, 328 rebounds, 57 assists, 44 steals and 21 blocks for the Cardinals.