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Redskins finish unbeaten in Batavia Youth Football B division

By JIM NIGRO

The Redskins capped off a perfect season by topping the Steelers on Saturday. Despite the cold temps, a good crowd was on hand to witness the season finale of Batavia Youth Football's B division.

The Steelers backfield reacts as their QB takes the snap.

Redskin's running back slips past the Steelers' defender...

and breaks into the open for a long gain,

much to the delight of Coach A. J. Martino.

Obviously, it takes more than one tackler to bring down this guy!

Steelers offense getting set prior to the snap. The Steelers played tough, but in the end...

they spent a great deal of time chasing down #32.

Mullen's three first-half TDs not quite enough for lead in championship game

By Howard B. Owens

Three TD carries by sophomore Andrew Mullen hasn't been enough for Notre Dame to keep pace with three counter strikes, with two-point conversions, by the Geneseo Blue Devils in the first half of their Class D championship game at Shlen's Stadium in Rochester.

At the half, the score is 24-21.

Mullen has scored on runs of 15, seven and 60 yards (approximately), but after each of Mullen's first two scores, Geneseo has answered with long running plays in the first series from scrimmage.

The game so far has been almost all run and no pass by either offense. Notre Dame has 277 total yards on the ground, and none in the air, compared to 244 rushing yards for Geneseo (and a bit more than 40 through the air).

UPDATE 11:33 p.m.: Final, 52-42 Geneseo. The two teams combined for 803 yards on the ground and more than 1,000 yards total offense. Andrew Mullen scored four TDs.

Youth football game scheduled as benefit for Back Pack Program

By Howard B. Owens

Press Release:

This Friday October 28th, 2011 Le Roy will Host Batavia at Hartwood Park for a Youth Football Game.  All proceeds will be split in half and will go to each commmunities Back Pack program.  The Back Pack Program provides food for families in need in our communities.  Everday, children in our communities do not have enough to eat.  Kids in this program are given canned goods at school to take home in their backpacks to help feed their families.  Please come to the game and show your support.  We will be accepting canned goods and cash donations.

 

The game schedule is as follows:
Flag football "moving up game" Le Roy players only 5:00pm
Juniors Le Roy v Batavia 6:00pm
Seniors Le Roy v Batavia 8:00pm

Please come out and show your support to our local athletes and our local families in need.

GCC Women's Volleyball Wins Division II Regional Title

By Andrew Crofts

The only two teams in Division II Region III volleyball squared off for the title on Tuesday night at Genesee Community College, with GCC and Mercyhurst North East meeting for the fourth time this season. The Lady Cougars were 3-0 on the season against the Lady Saints and come away victorious once again Tuesday in three sets (25-15, 25-12, 25-17).

Genesee came from behind early in the first set thanks in part to strong serving from Deliane Lessard who served to six straight points. The Lady Cougars did not trail in the second and third sets.

Carrie Blunt lead GCC with 13 kills and Lessard chipped in with 9. Kristie Barger tallied 27 digs and Karin Davis recorded a team high 12 assists.

With the win, Genesee head coach Jim Mercer earns the Division II Region III Coach of the Year. Named to the All-Region team for GCC was Deliane Lessard, Karin Davis and Carrie Blunt. Paige Tilert was named the Region’s Most Valuable Player.

Genesee will now move on to the NJCAA District Tournament beginning on Saturday, November 5th.

GCC Moves Past Erie

By Andrew Crofts

The top seed Genesee Community College men’s soccer team hosted Erie Community College in the quarterfinals of the Region III playoffs on Tuesday afternoon, and cruised past the #8 seeded Kats 8-1.

In a rematch of last year’s opening round regional playoff game, a game in which Erie upset Genesee 3-2, the Cougars controlled the match from start to finish. Jonny Bonner (Donegal, Ireland) gave GCC a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the game. Ten minutes later, Dom Francis (Huddersfield, England) upped the lead to 2-0. The scored remained 2-0 at the half.

(Members of the Genesee CC men's Soccer team celebrate Jonny Bonner's first half goal in an 8-1 win over Erie CC on Tuesday afternoon)

In the second half, Brady Smith (Brisbane, Australia) gave Genesee a 3-0 lead when he scored in the 12th minute. Erie scored their lone goal in the 16th minute before Smith scored again off of a nice cross from Brandon Reiner (Attica, NY) to give GCC a 4-1 lead. The Cougars added another goal from Bonner, two goals from Sean Brettel (Welwyn Garden City, England) and a late goal from Theo Stamatopolous (Norwich, England) to win in convincing fashion.

Genesee improves to 13-1-2 on the season. They will move on in the Region III playoffs to face Tompkins Cortland Community College, who defeated Onondaga Community College 2-0 on Tuesday, at TCCC in the semi finals on Saturday afternoon.

Batavia Downs changes first race post time for 11/5

By Billie Owens

Batavia Downs Casino is moving its first race post time on Saturday, Nov. 5 from 6:40 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. to accommodate the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which has a 7 o'clock post time. Post time will remain at 6:40 p.m. for all other race nights.

“We didn’t want to go head-to-head with the Breeders' Cup classic, so we decided to start our live program a half and hour later,” said Todd Haight, general manager of live racing. “We want our customers both at the track and at our 35 OTB’s to enjoy the classic before we get under way.”

Racing fans are reminded that the final Tuesday night of the summer-fall meet takes place on Oct. 25.

Racing will be conducted at America’s oldest lighted harness track on a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday night basis through Dec. 3.

When racing resumes on Friday night the Pick-6 will start out with a carryover pool of 3,023. The Pick-6 wager begins on the 7th race.

“We could have over $5,000 in there (the pool),” Haight added. “We had a strong advance sale of programs and I think many are going to be focusing on the Pick-6.

Elba advances in sectionals with 27-7 win

By Howard B. Owens

A third-quarter interception by Matt Ramsey helped spark the Elba/Byron-Bergen Lancers both offensively and defensively, turning a 0-7 deficit into a 21-7 victory in Saturday's Class B quarter-final playoff game against Pal-Mac.

Zack DuBois came up big again on offense carrying the ball 25 times for 262 yards and two TDs, including an 88-yard, fourth-quarter sprint that sealed the deal for the Lancers.

Ramsey had two interceptions on the day, to go along with seven tackles, and DuBois added another pick.

Cody Naylor, who carried the ball for 14 yards, also scored a TD.

Naylor had 13 tackles, including three for a loss.

Brandon Naylor had 14 tackles, including four for a loss, and two sacks.

Tom Fowler had 12 tackles, including three for a loss, and Emiliano Acosta had 13 tackles, including four for a loss.

Pal-Mac's offense: Stephen Morrell, 14 for 35, 147 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions; Derek Wager, three receptions for 44 yards and one TD; Sean Nolan, 20 carries for 80 yards.

In other weekend football action:

In Class C quarter finals, Wellsville beat Le Roy 42-14 and Attica beat Pembroke 21-6.

In the Connors Ferris Bowl games, Alexander beat Warsaw 21-6. Batavia plays ER/Granada at 3 p.m. today. 

Also this weekend, Oakfield-Alabama lost to Perry 34-28.

In JV Action, the Batavia Blue Devils finished out its season undefeated, 8-0, with a 22-16 win over Greece Olympia. Down 16-14 with 3:11 left in the game, Tyler Pratt returned a kick 92 yard for a go-ahead TD.  Also scoring were QBs Brandon Stevenson and Dakota Swimline.

PHoto of Elba's Zack DuBois by Destin Danser.

Failed two-point conversion preserves playoff win for Notre Dame

By Howard B. Owens

With 1:09 left in the game, Clyde-Savannah needed just one point to tie the game, but in high school football, PATs are not automatic.

Eagles Head Coach Nick Dercola decided to roll the dice on a running play. A two-point conversion would all but guarantee a win for the Eagles in the Class D semi-final playoff game.

Derrick Wright took the hand-off and sprinted to the far side corner of the end zone, but Andrew Mullen and Nick Taylor beat Wright to the goal line.

Final score, Notre Dame 27, Clyde-Savannah 26.

Through nearly three quarters of football, the Fighting Irish appeared dominant, using a ball-control running game and a well-executed defense to keep the Eagles on the ropes.

But defensive lapses in the fourth quarter by Notre Dame and a key fumble with less than three minutes to go turned a 27-13 lead into a nail-biter for the Irish.

"They’re a good team," said Coach Rick Mancuso. "When you make mistakes in a big game, good teams are going to capitalize and that’s what they did."

Mistakes by the Eagles -- particularly interceptions -- helped Notre Dame's cause.

Nate Woods helped set up ND's first TD when he picked off a pass early in the first quarter.

Tim McCulley added two more interceptions, including one with less than a minute in the first half and Clyde-Savannah threatening to tie the game at 14. McCulley pulled down a Tom Molisani pass on the three-yard line.

On offense, Nick Taylor led the way with 120 yards on 30 carries. He crossed the goal line three times.

Andrew Mullen added another TD on a 15-yard reception. Mullen also carried the ball 12 times for 68 yards and had six tackles and half a sack on defense.

McCulley was 5-7 for 33 yards and no interceptions.

Notre Dame turned by ball over twice on fumbles, including the key fourth-quarter fumble on the 43 yard line that allowed Clyde-Savannah to pull into a point.

Taylor also had six tackles and half a sack. Also with half-sack credits were Doane McCulley and Aaron McDonald.

Nate Woods returned three punts for 107 yards.

Eagle's QB Molisani was 15-30 for 249 yards.

"They throw ball over yard," said Mancuso. "But that works to our advantage to get a team like that because one of the teams that’s playing now (in the other Class D semi-final game) is also going to be a team that’s going to throw the ball, so this was good experience for our young kids."

Those other teams were Geneseo and Dundee. Geneseo won 64-16.

Notre Dame will face Geneseo on Friday in Rochester.

If you're unable to view the slide show, click here.

GCC Women's Volleyball Finishes 2nd

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College Women’s Volleyball team finished in 2nd place at the 2011 Western New York Athletic Conference Tournament, losing only to Niagara County Community College in the finals on Saturday afternoon.

After a double bye to start the tournament, the Lady Cougars knocked off Erie Community College in four sets, 25-20, 15-25, 25-23, 25-22, in the semi finals and moved on to the championship.

The final match was a rematch from October 18th against Niagara County Community College. NCCC handed Genesee their first conference loss of the season in four sets earlier in the week. The Lady Thunderwolves came out on top once again, downing GCC in three sets (10-25, 16-25, 17-25) to claim the WNYAC Tournament title.

“We were flat. We just never got on track in the finals,” said head coach Jim Mercer.

Tournament totals:

Paige Tilert: 81 digs, 11 kills

Deliane Lessard: 35 digs and 20 kills

Sabrina Wilhoite: 25 assists and 5 aces

Maria Antsupova: 74 digs and 5 aces

Carrie Blunt: 23 kills

Kristie Barger: 94 digs

Paige Tilert (Derby, NY) was named to the WNYAC Tournament first team and Carrie Blunt was named to the third team. The Lady Cougars will now shift focus to the Regional Tournament. They will host an opening round game on Tuesday, October 25th at Genesee Community College at 6pm.

Genesee Women's Soccer Falls in First Round

By Andrew Crofts

The 10th seeded Genesee Community College Women's Soccer team lost to #7 Onondaga Community College 1-0 in the first round of the Region III Playoffs on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Cougars gave up the game's only goal halfway through the first 45 minutes of play.

"From then on we kept pressing but we weren't able to connect with a goal to tie," said head coach Charlie Woods. "It just wasn't meant to be. We played great as a team and left it all out on the field."

Genesee finished the regular season on a four game winning streak but finishes 9-10 with the loss.

GCC Women's Soccer Wins Regular Season Finale

By Andrew Crofts

It was Sophomore Night at Genesee Community College and the Women’s Soccer team continued their hot streak to end the regular season by beating Bryant and Stratton College 5-1.

Cady Hume (Batavia, NY) scored her second goal in three games in the 15th minute to give GCC the early 1-0 lead. Bryant and Stratton answered just seven minutes later to tie the game at one, but the Lady Cougars regained the lead in the 27th minute when Katie Smith (Akron, NY) put away a nice cross from Carly Shaw (Kendall, NY).


(Marissa Pecora #9 and Katie Smith #10 both score a goal in GCC's 5-1 win)

Genesee held the 2-1 advantage at the break and added to their lead early in the second half. Summer Bliss (Bethany, NY) scored her first goal of the season in the 4th minute, and assisted on a Marissa Pecora (Rochester, NY) goal in 42nd minute. Bliss added another goal with about 45 seconds to play, and Genesee earned their fourth straight win.

The Lady Cougars improve to 9-9 on the season and will move on to the Region III playoffs. Genesee is seeded 10th and will travel to #7 Onondaga on Saturday afternoon.

GCC Loses First Match of the Season

By Andrew Crofts

For the first time in the regular season, the Genesee Community College Men’s Soccer team came out on the losing end. Their unbeaten streak was snapped on Thursday night after they were beaten by Bryant and Stratton College (Syracuse) 4-2.



Coming off of their win over the number one team in the country at Herkimer County Community College on Tuesday night, the Cougars scored the first goal of the game. Jonny Bonner (Donegal, Ireland) scored his fourth goal of the season in the 22nd minute to put GCC out in front 1-0. The Genesee defense kept the Bryant and Stratton offense in check for the majority of the first half, until the Bobcats were able to get the equalizer with seven minutes remaining.

Bryant and Stratton gained the momentum in the second half by scoring goals in the 13th and 18th minutes, holding a 3-1 lead with 27 minutes to play. A slick pitch due to rain made it difficult for the Genesee offense to form any type of rhythm. The Cougars were able to draw within one when Josh Gray (Norwich, England) scored on a penalty kick in the 32nd minute. The PK was set up by a hand ball in the box.

Playing with a sense of urgency, the Cougars were unable to create another scoring opportunity. The Bobcats added a goal with 8 minutes to play, preserving the win and ending the Genesee unbeaten streak.

The Cougars fall to 12-1-2 on the season and will now move on to the Region III playoffs. GCC has already earned the #1 seed in the playoffs and will have a first round bye. They will host a second round game at GCC on Tuesday afternoon, the opponent and time to be determined.

Genesee Beats #1 Herkimer

By Andrew Crofts

The #5 Genesee Community College Men’s Soccer team defeated the number one team in NJCAA Division III soccer, Herkimer County Community College, 1-0 on the road on Tuesday afternoon.

The Cougars knocked off the number one team in the country primarily due to their defensive play. Ryan Fredal (Bloomfield Hills, MI ) played a solid game anchoring the defensive unit that kept Herkimer off the board for Genesee’s 10th shutout of the season. “It was his best performance of the year,” said head coach Ken Gavin.

An evenly matched, fast paced contest saw the only goal happen in the 34th minute of the first half. Josh Gray (Norwich, England) sent a nice cross into the middle for Declan Brennan (Dublin, Ireland), who directed a header by the Generals goalkeeper.



Both teams played a scoreless second half and Genesee was able to hold on for the 1-0 win. Jack West (Notts, England) made 3 saves in net for the Cougars.

The win comes over an impressive Herkimer program that has won the national championship seven times since 1994, their most recent coming in 2008.

Genesee hands Herkimer their first loss of the season (12-1) and will wait to see where they move to in the next NJCAA Division III National poll. The Cougars improve to 12-0-2 overall and will finish their regular season on Thursday, October 20th at 7pm when they host Bryant and Stratton College.

Genesee Loses First Conference Match

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College Women’s Volleyball team lost their first conference match of the season, falling in 4 sets to Niagara County Community College.

The Lady Cougars came out firing and took the first set 25-19. After falling behind early, Sabrina Wilhoite (Letchworth, NY) served to four straight points and Genesee did not trail again.

The second set was the turning point in the match. Close throughout, GCC had a chance at set point up 24-23 but could not convert. The Lady Cougars would face and survive three Niagara set points before the Lady Thunderwolves prevailed and won the set 29-27.

With the momentum from the second set, Niagara took the next two sets to put away the match, 25-16 and 25-21.



Maria Antsupova (Ozersk, Russia) lead the team with 55 digs while Kristie Barger (Lima, NY) added 40 and Paige Tilert (Derby, NY) chipped in with 35. Deliane Lessard (Rochester, NY) had 6 kills and 5 assists and Carrie Blunt added 9 kills.

The loss for Genesee is their first loss in the Western New York Athletic Conference (7-1). The Lady Cougars fall to 17-18 overall and will now move on to the WNYAC tournament beginning at 9am on Saturday, October 22nd.

Genesee Earns Impressive Road Win

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College Women’s Soccer team earned an impressive 3-1 road win at Herkimer County Community College on Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Cougars played what Head Coach Charlie Woods considered, “the best game of the season.”

The Genesee defense played very well, not allowing a Herkimer shot in the first half. Ali Cashmore (Akron, NY) put GCC out in front in the 18th minute when she scored at the penalty spot off of a nice pass from Jessica Laudico (Holley, NY). Marrissa Pecora (Penfield, NY) made it 2-0 in the 35th minute, cashing in on a nice cross from Katie Smith (Akron, NY).

A much more even second half of play resulted in a lot of back and forth action. The Lady Cougars were able to strike again late, when Laudico followed up her own shot to beat the Generals goalkeeper in the 78th minute. Herkimer broke the shutout with a late second half goal, but Genesee was able to hold on for the 3-1 win.

GCC improves to 8-9 on the season and have now won 3 straight. Their next match will be their final home game at 5pm on Thursday, October 20th against Bryant and Stratton College.

Photos: Batavia Blue Devils JV team riding 13-game winning streak

By Howard B. Owens

With these photos, you are looking at the future of Batavia Blue Devils football, and from all appearances, it's a bright one.

The Batavia JV squad is undefeated on the season and going back to last year, when the team went 6-2, the junior Blue Devils have 13 straight wins.

All of this winning has come under Head Coach Brennan Briggs.

Briggs credits the players.

"We don't really have any superstars on the team," Briggs said. "They really work well together. They've bought in to what we've been teaching -- work hard, no excuses football."

The JV team beat Bishop Kearney on Monday night 47-14.

Assistant Coach Brandon Ricci said there are 10 to 15 players on the JV squad who are likely to make varsity next season, including some freshmen, and each of them could make a contribution.

"They might not take a starting job from a senior, but you won't be losing much when you put them on the field," Ricci said.

Next week, BHS JV plays Olympia and according to parents at the game, it will likely be the team's toughest challenge of the year. To reach 8-0, the JV squad will need to beat a team also looking to finish with an 8-0 record. The game is Saturday afternoon at Van Detta Stadium.

Here's how the team faired in its previous six games:

Game 1 @ Bath W 27-0
Game 2 @ Bishop Timon W 27-20
Game 3 vs. Livonia W 29-20
Game 4 vs. Le Roy W 30-12
Game 5 @ Elba-Byron Bergen W 48-17
Game 6 vs. Attica W 36-6

Attica's goal line stand preserves victory over Elba/Byron-Bergen

By Howard B. Owens

The Lancers had four chances to punch the ball in from the four-yard line for a game winning score, but the Attica Blue Devil's defense held firm and preserved the team's fifth victory of the season.

Attica won 14-8.

Attica, Elba/Byron-Bergen and Notre Dame all finish the regular season with 5-2 records and a three-way tie for second in the Genesee Region League.  Barker/Roy Hart (7-0), with its win Friday over Notre Dame, secured the league championship.

In Saturday's only local football game, the Lancers fell behind 7-0 in the second quarter when Zach Kozma picked off a pass from Elba's Zac Gillard and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.

Elba pulled ahead in the third quarter on a block punt that Alex Jasinski carried 22 yards into the end zone. Zach Dubois ran the ball in on a two-yard conversion.

Attica's winning score came on a six-yard run in the fourth quarter by Brad Ruzewski.

Given an opportunity to tie the score (and pull ahead on a conversion), Elba had the ball on the four-yard line with 1:30 remaining in the game, but four run attempts failed. Attica's David Clark, who had 16 tackles on the day, came up big in the stand, making two key tackles.

On the day, DuBois had 86 yards on 23 carries. With those 83 yards, Dubois went over the 1,000-yard mark for his HS career.

Gillard completed four passes for 50 yards and Dan Ramsey had three catches for 47 yards.

On defense, Emeliano Acosta had two blocked punts. Tom Fowler had nine tackles.

For Attica, Earl Howard had 76 yards on 23 carries.

Genesee Routs SUNY Delhi

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College Women’s Soccer team rolled past SUNY Delhi 8-1 in a rainy and windy contest on Saturday morning at GCC.

Jessica Laudico (Holley, NY) scored early and often en-route to a hat trick in the rout over the Lady Broncos. Laudico’s first goal came in the 8th minute to give the Lady Cougars the early 1-0 lead. Her second goal came about six minutes later to increase the lead to two.

(Jessica Laudico scores her first of three goals in win over SUNY Delhi)

Genesee controlled the tempo throughout the match and scored the first 8 goals of the game. Katie Smith (Akron, NY) gave GCC a 3-0 lead scoring off of a nice assist from Ali Cashmore (Akron, NY) in the 24th minute. Laudico completed the hat trick with three minutes left in the first half and Emily Troup (Holley, NY) ended the first half scoring by beating the Lady Bronco goalkeeper with 48 seconds remaining, to give Genesee a 5-0 lead at the break.

Cashmore scored twice, in the 4th and 11th minutes, in the second half and Cady Hume (Batavia, NY) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Cougars in the 23rd minute.

Genesee improves to 7-9 on the season and will play at Herkimer County Community College on Tuesday, October 18th at 2pm

Friday Night Football: Barker takes league championship with win over Notre Dame

By Howard B. Owens

Barker/Roy Hart finished out a season in which it mostly dominated the Genesee Region League with another big win over Notre Dame on Friday.

The win cemented an undefeated season for Barker (7-0) and locked up the league championship.

The Fighting Irish, with the 44-14 loss, finish the season 5-2.

Notre Dame scored first on a 15-yard run by Nick Taylor, but Barker struck right back and took an 8-7 lead after a six-yard run by Austin Blackley.

Blackley led Barker's offense with 204 yards on the ground on 17 carries. He scored four TDs.

Notre Dame's only other score came in the fourth quarter on a one-yard run by Tim McCulley.

McCulley completed nine passes for 52 yards and had two interceptions.

On the ground, Notre Dame was led by Taylor (19 carries, 108 yards) and Andrew Mullen (nine carries, 73 yards).

On defense, Kyle Morse had 10 solo tackles.

Barker had 411 total yards offense, while Notre Dame had 269. Time of possession for ND was 32:18 minutes. Barker had the ball for 15:42.

Depending on the outcome of today's game between Attica (4-2) and Elba/Byron Bergen (5-1), the Genesee Region League could wind up with a three-way tie for second place, or with a win over Attica, Elba could claim second for itself. Game time is 1:30 p.m. in Elba.

In other Friday night action:

A dominating ground game helped Batavia (3-4) beat Bishop-Kearney (2-5) at BK.

The Blue Devils had a total of 326 yards on the ground, with C.C. Martinez leading the charge. Martinez carried the ball 34 times for 254 yards and four TDs.

James Soggs scored the Blue Devil's other TD on a 20-yard run in the 4th quarter.

On defense, Dameon Reeves and Soggs had a sack, Nick Canzoneri had a fumble recovery and Cody Gangarrossa added an interception.

Le Roy dropped to 3-4 with a 35-13 loss to Cal-Mum in Caledonia.

Tommy McQuillen rushed for 237 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries.

Alexander picked up its second win of the season, 22-6 over Oakfield-Alabama (0-7).

Alexander scored on a 47-yard run by Lucas Phillips in the first quarter and on seven-and one-yard runs by Mark Farnsworth in the second and third quarters.

O-A scored in the third quarter on a five-yard run by Curtis Dunlap.

For O-A, Tommy Manzella completed 26 for 214 yards. Dunlap had four receptions for 83 yards.

We don't currently have any information on the Pembroke vs. Holley game. Besides Attica at Elba, there are no other games scheduled today.

Sectionals begin next weekend.

Pembroke Dragons Modified Football Action at Alexander

By Rick D. Franclemont

Tuesday the Pembroke 7th and 8th grade modified football team traveled to Alexander.  Unfortunately the the trip was not a lot of fun for the Dragons, as they lost to the host team 56-13.

More pictures of the game can be seen here.

The Dragons will host Attica at 9:30 AM on Saturday at Pembroke. 

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