Young teams make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes hurt really bad.

The Alexander football team had almost as many penalty yards in one game as they had all season long and were not able to advance out of the first round of the Section 5 Class DD playoffs, coming out on the wrong end of a 28-14 decision against Canisteo-Greenwood.

Alexander was the No. 3 seed and the Redskins were the sixth-seed, but the two squads were evenly matched and the penalties wound up being the difference. A team with just five seniors on the roster will go into the offseason looking to learn from these mistakes with hopes of competing for a league and sectional title next year.

But Saturday's game was a true learning experience for the Trojans, who came into the game on a three-game win streak.

Canisteo-Greenwood marched right down the field on the opening possession and tailback Brett Mariatt punched it in from 3-yards out.

Alexander responded and drove right down the field with a heavy dose of Jay Schafer running the ball. The Trojans got all the way down to the C-G 9, but were stuck with a fourth-and-5. The usually solid special teams unit missed the field goal attempt.

The Redskins had an opportunity to score early on the in the second quarter, but Alexander's defense made a stop on a fourth-and-goal. The Trojans then caught a pair of breaks with fumble recoveries as the period went on, but penalties and the Canisteo-Greenwood defense kept the score 7-0 at the half.

The coaching staff made all the right adjustments and a 37-yard kickoff to start the second half by Steve Schaffer put Alexander into the end zone early.

Schafer had a 15-yard run and then eventually scored from 10 yards out. After a bad snap on the extra point attempt, the Trojans trailed 7-6.

Canisteo-Greenwood took hold on the next drive because of the penalties.

There was a personal foul called when Mariatt was hit out of bounds, then a roughing the quarterback and pass interference called on the same play, all moving the Redskins down to the Alexander 9. Matt Mills finished off the penalty-filled drive with a 1-yard touchdown dive.

After starting a drive, a false start penalty put Alexander into a third-and-long, where an incomplete pass led to a punt.

C-G scored early in the third quarter when Mariatt scored on an 8-yard run. The Redskins recovered the onside kick and that was the emotional end to the game.

Trent Ahern had a touchdown run with 1 1/2 minutes left in the game to put C-G up 28-6, but Alexander never quit.

Quarterback Zach Burke marched his squad down the field with some impressive passing. He finally ended up throwing a 46-yard touchdown pass to Schaffer with under a minute remaining for the final tally.

C-G (3-4) moves on to face No. 2 Clyde-Savannah in the semifinals next week. Alexander falls to 3-4, but the young squad will be taking the experiences of this season into an offseason that will be big.

The team has potential with all but five players returning for 2009.

No. 6 DeSales didn't give Notre Dame much of a game in the Section 5 Class D opener.

The third seeded Fighting Irish dominated from the start and rolled to a 55-6 victory and will be moving on to the semifinals next weekend against the winner of tonight's game between C.G. Finney and Perry.

Notre Dame started off the scoring with a big play when Kevin Francis returned a punt 50 yards for a score. He followed that up with a 13-yard touchdown reception from Nick Bochicchio.

Bochicchio then found Mike Pratt on a 10-yard touchdown pass and Pratt added a 5-yard touchdown run to give ND a quick 28-0 lead.

DeSales finally got on the scoreboard as Brendan Costello tossed an 8-yard TD pass to Don Derenzo, but it was all Notre Dame after that.

Kevin Schildwaster had a 17-yard touchdown run, Beau Richter scored from nine yards out with Greg Barr and Jon Corona adding late touchdown runs.

The Fighting Irish had a 313-103 yard rushing advantage in the game as Schildwaster finished the day with 12 carries for 131 yards. Pratt had 66 yards and picked off a pass and Barr finished with 61 yards on just four attempts.

Rick Lair and Craig Houseknecht both had fumble recoveries, with Houseknecht getting a sack as well.

Costello only completed 7-of-22 attempts for 80 yards as DeSales ends the year 3-4.

Notre Dame is now 5-2 and awaits the winner of tonight's game between Finney and Perry.

This letter (below) from Jon Powers to his supporters came my way this morning. Powers has finally come out on the side of fellow Democrat Alice Kryzan for the 26th Congressional District. Kryzan will face Republican Chris Lee.

Powers had all but disappeared after losing the Democratic nod to Kryzan during the primary. His camp went silent, and all calls and messages left with his campaign spokesperson went unreturned. Not too long ago, we even heard that he moved out of the state.

I pass on his letter in its entirety. Do you think Powers makes a strong case for Kryzan? Against Lee? Does his endorsement even mean anything to a district that he seems to have abandoned?

Friends,

Over the last 18 months, together, we have worked to call attention to the many challenges Western New Yorkers face. I listened to families struggling because of our weakened economy, soldiers fighting in a war without the necessary equipment and returning without health care they have earned -- there is no question that our country is hurting because of Washington’s failed leadership. With just 18 days until Election Day, I write to urge you to vote for change. We have a chance to elect a new Member of Congress to represent the working men and women of Western New York and I hope you will join me in supporting Alice Kryzan for Congress.

Families in Western New York have a clear choice. As our youth are moving out of state to find jobs, do we want a representative who will continue to send our jobs overseas? Or do we want someone who will fight to grow good paying Green-collar and Green-tech jobs that will move Western New York into the 21st Century.

Do we want someone who will continue to fail our veterans and military families or someone who will work to restore honor to our fighting forces?

Do we want someone in Washington to continue the failed economic policies of the Bush Administration or do we want someone who will work toward relieving the tax burden on the Middle Class?

The choice between the two candidates campaigning for the 26th Congressional District is clear for Western New Yorkers, and that is why I am endorsing Alice Kryzan.

Alice will fight for the middle class and work to bring a new generation of jobs back to Western New York. She has signed on to the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq and will take care of our returning veterans.

Chris Lee talks about a new direction, but clearly supports the status quo. His website fails to even mention veterans or our brave men and women currently fighting in two wars. That, I believe, is proof of his lack of compassion he has for those who are defending our nation.

The choice between Alice Kryzan and Chris Lee could not be clearer for the working families of Western New York. Western New York deserves a representative in Congress who will fight for us.

You can learn more about Alice’s vision for our country at her website http://www.kryzanforcongress.com/

Please volunteer, spread the word, and help us bring real change to Washington by voting for Alice on November 4th.

Sincerely,
Jon

 The Batavia football team will try to mimic what Geneva does all week in practice, in preparation for the Section 5 Class B Tournament next week.

But they got better looks than they will get all week Friday night in a 40-12 loss. The blowout spoiled the Batavia homecoming, but will hopefully give the team some ideas how to pull the upset next week as the Blue Devils will be the No. 8 seed, going up against No. 1 Geneva for the second straight week.

The Panthers are the No. 4 ranked team in the state and looked like it right off the bat, taking control of the game in the first quarter.

Quarterback Bobby Martin hooked up with DeAnze Williams and Junior Collins on passes before finding Derrious Thomas in the end zone on a 25-yard pass.

Batavia went three-and-out and Martin went right back to work.

There was a 21-yard strike to Collins before Martin scored on a 15-yard keeper, making the score 13-0 after a period of play.

The Blue Devils came out in the second quarter and Rob Williams entered the game at tailback. Williams injured his hip last week and was not expected to play, but was looked at by doctors just hours before the game and allowed to play, with limited duties.

He moved the ball five yards on that carry, but Batavia was pushed back on the next play and wound up in a fourth-and-6 situation.

QB Joe Canzoneri found a receiver, but he was two yards short of getting the first down.

The Blue Devils finally made a stop on defense, but a pass interference call helped prolong the Geneva drive. Martin found Collins after that and moved his squad down to the 15-yard line.

A short run and two incomplete passes set up a fourth-and-9. The Panthers knew where to go with the ball as Martin lofted a ball up into the end zone and Thomas skied above the defender and pulled down his second score of the game, giving Geneva a 21-0 advantage.

Thomas then made a play on defense, intercepting a Canzoneri pass and returning it deep into Batavia territory. But a personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Geneva pushed the ball all the way back to midfield.

Williams had a 38-yard touchdown run shortly after that.

Batavia had a shot to score late in the first half when Vinny Pedro ripped off a 25-yard run and Canzoneri found a receiver on an 11-yard pass with one second left. But the final pass of the half fell incomplete.

The Batavia coaching staff found something at the half and made some good adjustments, allowing the home squad to finally start moving the football.

Anthony D'Aurizio broke off a 31-yard run and eventually scored on a 3-yarder. Geneva did answer right back with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Williams.

D'Aurizio and the Batavia offense again marched the football down the field, but a fumble gave the Panthers the ball back and killed all momentum.

Williams scored the final Geneva points in the fourth quarter on a 14-yard run. D'Aurizio scored another touchdown in the closing seconds on a 4-yard run.

Geneva improves to 6-1 while Batavia falls to 3-4. The two squads will play again next Friday night in the opening round of the playoffs, in Geneva.

The Daily News reports that the city of Batavia will post five bright-orange signs to help curb speeding in the city. City Manager Jason Molino told the Daily: "It's an attempt to get people to slow down. We're trying a few out. ... We'll see how it works and we may move them around. It's a trial period."

Reporter Joanne Beck describes the signs as like "the old Burma Shave-style signs ... except these signs will be posted one at a time instead of Burma Shave's tactic to have one after another."

What do you think? Will an orange sign that proclaims: "Got time for a speeding ticket?" slow down speeders? Would you slow down because of it?

Does anyone know how much the signs cost?

It turns out that despite a "flurry of new registrations"—1,451 new voters joined the rolls this election season—total voter enrollment in Genesee County is down from four years ago: from 40,635 to 34,862. Democrats can boast, if a boast it is, that they had one more new registrant than the GOP: the two clocked in at 450 and 449, respectively. Roger Muehlig put together an informative article on this topic that's worth checking out.

Sacred Heart Church on Sumner Street in downtown Batavia was burglarized Sunday night, according to city police. Nothing is yet know to link this burglary with the several others during August and September. Det. Richard Schauf told the Daily that they are still waiting on the lab results from the other investigations.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Party supporters packed into the Democratic headquarters last night in the Genesee Country Mall. They came for signs. They came for cider. They came to meet their candidates.

I was there to meet some of the candidates, too, though I was mostly hoping to run into Alice Kryzan. Unfortunately, the congressional candidate wasn't expected to arrive until sometime around 6:30pm due to a plane delay—the event started at 5:00pm—and I had to head out before then.

No matter. I had a chance to chat with a couple other candidates.

Larry Stabell is running to keep his seat as judge for the town of Darien. Stabell told me that his work with the department of corrections made him interested in the position and capable of doing it well.

We soon got to talking about what's going on out in Darien. Stabell told me that the town is currently facing a problem with its school districts: it's got four of them, none of which are in Darien. All the school kids are going in different directions, he said. This in a town where the population is maybe 3,200.

Darien used to be a farming community, he said. But it has since become "somewhat of a bedroom community for Rochester and Buffalo." The town has about 10 to 15 new homes going up every year, and is down to maybe eight or nine full-time farmers.

Of course, they've got Darien Lake Theme Park, which means that at any given time, you could have ten times the population of the town packed in there, and those folks "come out to have a good time," he said. That's the prime reason why the judge in Darien never wants for work, in the summer months especially.

I also had a few minutes to chat with Le Roy Councilman Tom Stella, who is also running to keep his seat. Stella told me that things have been pretty quiet in Le Roy over the past few months. Most of the major projects have gone through, including the Walgreen's and the Wal-Mart. What they'll be looking at next is something called the Farmland Protection Program, which would allow landowners—farmers in particular, but not exclusively—to get their land placed on a protection list that would say it could only be used for farming, never for development.

Should be interesting to see how that plays out.

WBTA's Dan Fischer reports this morning that National Fuel is predicting "an overall increase" of about 16 percent for the winter gas bill this coming season. That's about 5 percent less than what was estimated last month. That's also based on a season of "normal" winter temperatures.

In other news, a Batavia man may have been responsible for the collision on the Thruway yesterday morning that kept the westbound lanes near Pembroke blocked off for more than an hour. Alan Shadders, 48, of McKinley Avenue, Batavia, was executing a pass around a tractor trailer when he lost control of his car, causing the truck to jacknife. Shadders had been taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. He was also ticketed with speeding.

 The previews for Week 7 are now up in Sports and I've done special playoff previews for both Alexander and Notre Dame.

As always, readers are encouraged to comment on the games and make predictions.

Here is the list:

Attica at Pembroke

Holley at Oakfield-Alabama

Geneva at Batavia

Elba/Byron-Bergen at Bishop Walsh

Hornell at Le Roy

Canisteo-Greenwood at Alexander

DeSales at Notre Dame

The Batavian will be welcoming Republican-Independent Mike Ranzenhofer and Democrat Joe Mesi to Batavia next week to answer a few questions in anticipation of the upcoming election. We've got a few we know we would like to ask... but we want to know what you think.

What do you want your candidate to answer?

What are you expecting of the other guy?

If you've got a question you've been itching to ask these candidates, post it here for consideration. We will add the best to our list. Ranzenhofer will be by Monday. Mesi will be in town on Wednesday. Look for the interviews those afternoons.

Couldn't keep myself from passing this along... Every Buffalo Bills fan's favorite cereal, Flutie Flakes, will once again hit grocery store shelves this November in a limited edition 10th anniversary run.

From the press release:

The limited edition, collector’s box commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, which was established by the former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie and his wife Laurie in honor of their son, Dougie Jr. ...

Flutie will  donate his profits from the sale of the cereal to the foundation, which has raised more than $10 million since 1998 to provide support and resources for families with children with autism.

Three million boxes of the original Flutie Flakes cereal were sold a decade ago, according to Melissa Heher, vice president, PLB Sports. “Many fans purchased the box as a collectible and did not even eat the cereal inside,” she said. “It is very difficult today to find the original red box that started the frenzy in Buffalo, N.Y.” ...

The Flutie Flakes boxes grabbed much national attention when they originally debuted. The coveted cereal appeared in episodes of “Friends,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Dawson’s Creek.”

Visit the PLB Sports Web site to find out more or to pick up a pack of Big Ben's Beef Jerky—they're "soft and tender"—named for Pittsburgh Steeler's QB Ben Roethlisberger. Or grab some Lauryn Williams Fast Flakes, if you can't wait for the Flutie variety.

State police are on the lookout for a robbery suspect in Warsaw. A report just came in that on Tuesday night, just shy of 11:00pm, a man entered the Yellow Goose Gas Sation on Telephone Road in Pavilion. This man walked up to the counter with a beverage, then pulled a gun on the cashier and demanded the money in the cash register. Once the cashier gave him the money, he left the store and fled into the woods.

From the police:

The man is described as a black male, 20-24 years old, 5’6”, and 160-165 lbs.  He was clean shaven, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.

The proceeds taken from the scene was less than $200.00.  The State Police are currently reviewing the stores video tapes and following up on numerous leads.  Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact (the state police in) Warsaw at (585) 786-5152.

Three men were sent to jail following an apprehension by the Genesee County sheriff's deputies yesterday afternoon on charges of petit larceny. Vernon L. Arrington, 47; Willie J. Boler, 42; and Timothy M. Armstead, 45, all of Buffalo, were stopped in their vehicle by deputies on Veterans Memorial Drive following reports of a theft from Rite Aid on West Main Street in Batavia. Deputies found "a very large amount of allegedly stolen items" from Rite Aid and it seemed other stores, as well. Further investigation is pending. The three men were sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $1,500 bail or $3,000 bond, each.

Jerry L. Saddler Sr., 48, of 112 State St., Batavia, was charged with third-degree menacing, disorderly conduct and unnecessary noise yesterday evening, city police said. Saddler is accused of threatening someone with a knife. He was apprehended by police at his home, where he was found playing music at an excessive volume. Saddler was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $1,500 bail.

Today's Daily News features reporter Tom Rivers' third installment in the apple orchard series that started Tuesday. That's about all for this issue.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

A car collided with a jacknifed tractor trailer on the westbound portion of the Thruway this morning around 6:00am just west of Pembroke, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. The serious crash left the tractor portion of the truck on a guardrail and the trailer in the middle of the highway, blocking both lanes going west.

Other news stations are reporting that Thruway is blocked off between exits 48A and Exit 49. We could not yet find any updates on how long before the lanes reopen. We'll get you an update when that info becomes available.

In other news, Dan Fischer tells us that the Genesee County Health Department will be holding another "Fly Shot Clinic" from 9:00 to 11:00am this morning at the Senior Center on Bank Street. Did you mean "Flu" there, Dan? I think so. Funny typo, though.

UPDATE (9:50pm): WHAM News in Rochester reports that the left westbound lane of the Thruway was, in fact, re-opened shortly after 7:00am this morning, and the right lane was freed up about an hour after that.

 The Philadelphia Phillies are moving on to the World Series after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight, and several of the players on that roster started their professional baseball career in Batavia.

The Phillies were the parent club of the Batavia Muckdogs before the St. Louis Cardinals took control two seasons ago and they developed some quality players that are now going to have a shot to win a Major League Baseball title. 

Philadelphia beat the Dodgers 5-1 in the NLCS and are moving on to the "Fall Classic" for the first time since 1993.

First baseman Ryan Howard hit six home runs in 48 games for the Muckdogs in 2001, including a shot to right field that is often talked about as the longest in Dwyer Stadium history.

Second baseman Chase Utley had a .307 batting average while playing 40 games with Batavia in 2000.

Starting pitcher J.A. Happ started 11 games and went 1-2 for the Muckdogs in 2004 and reliever Ryan Madson went 5-5 in 15 starts for Batavia back in 1999.

 These former Batavia Muckdogs along with the rest of the Philadelphia Phillies will open up the World Series next Wednesday against either the Tampa Bay Rays or the Boston Red Sox.

Tampa Bay currently leads that series 3-1.

Emory Upton was a prominent Batavian, a Civil War general and a traveler to distant realms. Upton commanded men and feasted with royalty. He could charm a dame and pack a rifle with equal assurance. Throughout his voyages away from his native land, Upton sent home many letters home, to his sisters mostly, chronicling his adventures.

Two years ago, a gift was made to the Holland Land Office Museum of 75 letters that Upton wrote during the Civil War and after. Since then, Museum Director Pat Weissend and County Clerk Don Read have diligently and miraculously deciphered Upton's script, transcribing the letters that will, once the project is finished about a year from now, be published in a book. Every couple of weeks, Pat and Don get together early in the morning at Main Street Coffee to pick through another couple of pages. They've nearly finished their first run through of them all.

Pat was kind enough to invite me to their transcription session this morning where, bleary-eyed yet grateful, I produced this video:

RITES OF AUTUMN

          Come autumn, fishing on Tonawanda Creek tends to heat up, particularly the month of October. As the water begins to cool and clear up, both smallmouth bass and northern pike become active. In recent weeks we’ve managed to take a few bass and one big northern. Some years the pike fishing is extremely good right into early November.

            In addition to great angling, the high school grid season has been nothing short of spectacular. Ditto the autumn countryside. Can’t remember the last time I’ve seen such vivid red and orange hillsides. The hickory trees in our back yard are tinted bright yellow and the foliage along the creek bank has made for enjoyable evening canoe rides.

            If the current autumn trend continues, the bow season could be exceptional.

            Saturday marks the beginning of the archery big game season and, with the exception of our canoes, it will be time to stow the fishing gear.              

            In past years the bow season opened on the 15^th. Recently the powers that be saw fit to give us an extra three days to fling practice arrows. That’s okay – some of us need it. I’ve been shooting my Bill Moon longbow for the past month. The bow is ten years old and still a smooth-shooting piece of equipment. The same can be said for the arrows – wooden shafts with turkey quill fletching also crafted by Bill.

            It’s going to be a fun season. Thanks Bill!  

As many area schools face issues with declining enrollment, there is a prime example of what we could see in the future happening at Lyons High School right now.

Lyons had to forfeit last weekend's game against Dundee and today announced it will not be fielding a team for the Class DD playoffs, which start this weekend. The reason is that the team does not have the  minimum of 16 kids that must suit up to play a game.

The eighth-seeded Lions were scheduled to play No. 1 Caledonia-Mumford Friday night.

The only team in the bracket to be pushed into Pool Play is Warsaw, which one would assume would be given that final playoff position. But, it is Wednesday and Cal-Mum and Warsaw have already been working on preparations for the original teams on the schedule. So Warsaw will not be jumping into the playoffs.

This happened two years ago when Holley had to forfeit its final regular season game and opening round playoff game, both against Pembroke.

The Dragons went two weeks without a game and lost in the sectional semifinals because they were obviously rusty and had to play a very good Le Roy squad.

Now Cal-Mum might very well go into the playoffs with a week off and the possibility of facing a solid Avon team in the semifinals.

 Elba felt the need to merge with Byron-Bergen because of the declining numbers, with hopes of avoiding this situation. Unfortunately, this is something that now appears to be a topic we are going to be discussing come playoff time every year or two now.

Here's what we've got from the Daily News for today... Batavia's city fire crews will be flushing fire hydrants most of the day Thursday on and around the following streets: Mill Street, Apollo Drive, Brooklyn Avenue, Franklin Street, Industrial Boulevard, Orleans Avenue, Treadeasy Avenue and Walnut Street. Folks may notice a bit of discoloration in their water in these areas during the flush. In case of rain Thursday, the flush will take place on Friday.

Two of the three stories on the front page were already reported on The Batavian. Ellicott Street's sidewalk project was featured on the site over a month ago. And a story about the school district's request for $2,750 from the city to look at possibly sharing recreation services has been featured in a pair of posts on the site Monday and Tuesday, and again this morning in a post picked up from WBTA.

In other news, Tom Rivers has another enormous article about picking apples featured on the front page... and he'll have another one in tomorrow! Well, New Yorkers do love their apples. Fortunately, Rivers peppers in some human interest throughout his apple saga to keep things interesting. There are only so many paragraphs we can read about apple picking. I especially enjoyed the story at the end of today's piece about a 54-year-old Jamaican laborer who has worked to put his kids through school.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

In case you wondering, those youths walking around downtown Batavia by the side of the road and up and down the sidewalk collecting trash—they're not part of any chain gang, and they're not in any trouble.

Much to the contrary.

They are students from Batavia High School putting in their community service time required for graduation. Don Burkel, who heads up the downtown Business Improvement District, told me that some of the students had volunteered to clean up Main Street. We found a couple of them literally picking up butts in front of Main Street Coffee. It was poignant and sad that as this young man told me about his efforts to help clean up the mess downtown, a pair of fellows smoking cigarettes behind the camera threw their still lit butts right onto the sidewalk.

UPDATE (11:14am): As if everyone wants to do his part to negate the efforts of the students trying to clean up downtown... About a minute ago, I spotted from my window looking out on Main Street a truck that sped through the intersection at Bank Street, likely trying to beat the yellow-turning-red light. Whoever was driving the truck either didn't realize or didn't care that the back door was wide open. Because of the hasty run through the intersection, some trash and such in the back of the truck was tossed out into the street where something large and ceramic crashed in the crosswalk. Some other crud also littered the street, including a bag of wires (maybe). Kudos to the fellow working on the restoration of the Cultural Center on the corner there. He picked up a shovel and a broom and cleared the hazard from the roadway, which could have possibly caused an accident. Geez!