In a sea-saw battle, Albion dropped a five set decision to visiting Alexander 13-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-16, 25-18 Thursday evening in a non league volleyball match.

Bri Johnson had 6 aces, 4 kills and 14 assists; Haley Smith 10 kills and 6 digs; Natalie Lathrop 5 kills, 3 aces and 11 digs ad Caitlynn Snook 4 kills, 4 aces and 18 digs for Albion.

In another non league match, Medina downed host Lyndonville 25-19, 25-18, 26-24.

Maddie Williams had 6 spiking kills and 2 service aces, Je’ne Brown 5 kills and 2 blocks, Camri King 4 kills and 3 aces, Elle Gross 5 kills and 2 aces and Grace Masse 2 aces and 15 assists to lead the way for Medina. Faith Henning and Alyssa Beyer also both added 5 digs for the Mustangs.

For Lyndonville, Natalie Ostrowski had 7 aces and 3 assists and Hannah Despard 5 digs.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina/Lyndonville’s Jonathan Pietrafesa tries to kick the ball in off a corner during the Mustangs 6-4 non league loss to Oracle this afternoon at Lyndonville.

Breaking away from a 2-2 half-time deadlock, Oracle used a quick three goal scoring burst early in the second half to key a 6-4 win over Medina/Lyndonville in a non league boys soccer game this afternoon at Lyndonville.

Medina/Lyndonville did rally back to within one at 5-4 after goals by Ethan Leonard and Matt Hess but could not pull even.

Oracle also jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but the Mustangs battled back into a tie at the half as Alex Allis scored off an assist from Brandon Heschke and Hess tallied from Allis.

Now at 1-1, Medina/Lyndonville next visits Tonawanda on Tuesday for another non league game.

Evan Silversmith (14) battles for control of the ball for the Mustangs.

Albion evened its Niagara-Orleans League girls soccer record at 1-1 with a 9-0 victory over visiting Barker (0-2) this afternoon.

Claire Squicciarini scored 3 goals and Brylie Hapeman 2 to lead the Albion offense which also got goals from Mariah Plain, Elisabeth Baker, Natalie DiCureia and Paige Derisley.

Sydney Mulka earned the shutout in goal for the Purple Eagles.

In the other N-O contests, Akron (2-0) shutout Medina (0-1) 7-0 and Newfane (1-0) blanked Roy-Hart (1-1) 6-0.

Kara Sequin scored 3 goals while Jenna Robnett and Maggie Leeds each had a goal and 2 assists to lead Akron to the victory.

Kayleigh Daniels scored 3 goals, Emily Foltz 2 and Renee Hulbert 1 to lead the way for Newfane as Madalyn Traverse earned the shutout in goal.

Trailing 30-24 at the half, Medina/Lyndonville rallied to outscore Burgard 28-0 in the second half to claim a wild 52-30 victory in a season opening interdivisional game this evening at the Riverside Field in Buffalo.

Izaiah Rhim threw 5 touchdown passes, including two each to Brendan Luthart and Mason Lewis and one to Jalin Cooper to spearhead the Mustangs offense which also included a pair of touchdown runs by William  Braswell.

Rhim completed 14 of 28 passes for 244 yards as Luthart had 102 yards receiving and Lewis 93.

Rhim had touchdown passes of 45 yards to Luthart, 30 yards to Cooper and 24 to Lewis in the first half but Burgard held a 30-24 advantage as quarterback Tony Maple ran for a pair of touchdowns and passed for two more. Rhim also completed two-point conversion passes to Cooper and Lewis and also ran for another himself during that stretch.

Medina/Lyndonville pulled even at 30-30 on a 12 yard Rhim to Lewis touchdown pass to open the third period.

The Mustangs then took the lead for good at 38-30 later in the period on a 7 yard touchdown run by Braswell and a two-point conversion pass from Rhim to Luthart.

Rhim’s fifth TD pass of the evening, a 33 yard strike to Luthart, and another touchdown run by Braswell in the final period locked up the Mustangs victory.

On defense for the Mustangs, Ian Jospeh had 13 tackles and 2 sacks, Elijah Sones 2 sacks as Cooper and Lewis both had interceptions.

The Mustangs next visit Tonawanda in the B3 Division opener next Friday.

Akron 23, Roy-Hart 8
Brandon Orr completed two touchdown passes to Robbie PeQueen and Jake Sarow added a TD run to spark Akron out to a 23-0 lead and the Tigers went on to defeat host Roy-Hart/Barker 23-8 this evening in an interdivisional season opener.

Roy-Hart/Barker’s lone touchdown came in the fourth quarter on a 18 yard pass from Charlie Bruning to Walker Samanka as Malik Smith added the two-point conversion carry.

Roy-Hart/Barker’s starting quarterback Charlie Brigham left the game with an injury in the first half.

Akron led 13-0 at the half.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – JaQuess Harrison returns a punt for the game winning touchdown for Albion with just a minute to go this evening against visiting Springville.

Albion rallied for two touchdowns in the final two and a half minutes to outlast visiting Springville 40-34 this evening in a sea-saw B2 Division season opener which saw no less than seven lead changes.

Trailing 34-26, Albion pulled even on a 13 yard touchdown run by Ugene Harrison and a two-point conversion carry by Nate Moore with 2:32 remaining. That opportunity was set up after Springville gambled and lost on a fourth down and 11 pass attempt at midfield.

The Purple Eagles then scored the game winning touchdown on a 50 yard punt return by JaQuess Harrison with just a minute to play to make it 40-34.

Brilliance Johnson locks up the Purple Eagles victory with this interception in the final seconds.

“That’s what high school football is all about back and forth like that,” said new Albion Coach Adam Krenning of his debut victory. “We bent but didn’t break. I’m just really proud of them they did a phenomenal job.”

Trailing 8-6 after the first period, Albion rallied into a 20-16 half-time advantage on a 1 yard touchdown run and two-point converse carry by Ugene Harrison and a 5 yard scoring pass from quarterback Bryce Pritchard to Moore. A big 45 yard run by Ugene Harrison set up that tally.

That same combination of Pritchard to Moore also clicked for the Purple Eagles initial score of the season on a 19 yard completion in the first quarter.

Springville regained 28-26 lead at the three-quarter mark after TD runs of 18 and 73 yards by Jeremy Baker.

Albion’s lone score of the period came on a 10 yard run by Brilliance Johnson which gave the Purple Eagles a brief 26-22 lead with 3:05 to go in the quarter.

Springville extended its advantage to 34-26 when Barker tallied again on a 7 yard run with 9:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.

However, the last rally and the victory belonged to Albion as late touchdowns by Ugene and JaQuess Harrison put the Purple Eagles back on top to stay and an interception by Johnson sealed the win.  Jessy Cruz also helped to stymie Springvlle’s final possession when he registered a big sack on the first play of the series.

The Albion defense also got an interception by Moore and a fumble recovery by Kirk Ellison in the first half.

Albion next visits Depew next Friday.

Nate Moore stiff arms Springville defender Payton Szudzik after making a pass reception for the Purple Eagles.

Ugene Harrison breaks loose for a touchdown for the Purple Eagles.

Brockport bested the Lyndonville/Medina boys volleyball team 25-14, 25-12, 25-16 Thursday evening in the season opening match at Lyndonville.

Mason Pecoraro, Luke Isaacson and Chris Goyette each had 3 spiking kills for Lyndonville/Medina.

Pecoraro also had 3 service aces, Isaacson 3 assists and Steven Kage 2 blocks.

Lyndonville/Medina next visits St. Francis on September 7.

A goal in each half earned Medina a 2-1 victory over host Newfane this afternoon in a season opening Niagara-Orleans League girls field hockey game.

Libby Cook scored in the first half for Medina off an assist from Madison Kenward. Guin Schalck then tallied the game winner in the second half.

Alissa Blount had a strong game in goal for Medina as did Lydia Battaglia on defense.

In the other N-O openers, Roy-Hart blanked Kenmore 4-0 and defending champion Akron shutout Wilson 3-0.

Ashley Hill scored the three goal hat-trick to lead the way for Roy-Hart which also got a goal from Samantha Choate.

Jamie Bower earned the shutout in goal for the Lady Rams as RayLynn Chraston and Jenna Heiser anchored the defense.

Olivia Diebel, Alexis Bell and Abby Stone each scored a goal for Akron as Adriana Militello earned the shutout in goal.

Medina/Lyndonville opened the Niagara-Orleans League boys soccer season on a high note this afternoon by nipping host Akron 1-0 in overtime.

Evan Horn scored the game’s lone goal eight minutes into the overtime period off an assist from Ethan Leonard.

Ray Paull earned the shutout in goal for the Mustangs which also got strong defensive efforts from the quartet of Noah Heinsler, Jon Pietrafesa, Jay Silversmith and Matt Hess.

The Mustangs next host Oracle in a non league game at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Lyndonville.