Sports

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish played their homecoming game under the lights Saturday night, defeating the Pembroke Dragons 34-7.

The Irish are now 4-0 on the season and alone atop the Genesee Region standings, with Attica losing this weekend to University Prep. 

Notre Dame and Attica square off Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. in Attica.

Against the Dragons, Notre Dame amassed 383 total offensive yards, with 360 coming on the ground. 

Jack Sutherland had 26 carries for 252 yards and three touchdowns. Peter Daversa added another 74 yards and a TD on 10 carries. Etan Ozborne had a rushing touchdown and 33 yards on five rushes.

Connor Logsdon was 3-6 passing for 23 yards, no TDs and no interceptions.

For Pembroke, Reid Miano was 6-12 passing for 105 yards and a TD. Jake Jasinski had 18 rushes for 21 yards. Zack Swank had four receptions for 93 yards. Zach von Kramer had Pembroke's lone TD reception.

On defense, C.J. Suozzi had six and a half tackles, Jake Weatherwax and Etan Ozborne had four apiece. Ozborne also had a sack. For Pembroke, Brian Seweryniak had seven, Dylan Miserantino six and a half, Brandon Kowalski, six, von Kramer, five and a half, and Jack Thomas, five.

At halftime, Notre Dame honored Bill Sutherland, a former head coach who won 111 games, eight GR titles and four Section V titles in 23 seasons. He's been with the school for 41 years. He's a member of the Notre Dame High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Section V Football Hall of Fame. Standing alongside Sutherland is his nephew, running back Jack Sutherland. Presenting the award is current Head Coach Rick Mancuso along with Athletic Director Mike Rapone.

To purchase prints, click here.

Alexander beat Holley 51-22. QB Jared Browne was 10-16 for 194 yards passing and had a career-high four touchdown passes. WR Derrick Busch had six catches for 106 yards and four TDs. WR Josh Szymanski had four catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. RB Jake Wozniak had 12 carries for 147 yards and two TDs. Wozniak was 3-4 on PATs. Wozniak also had 72 return yards.

On a cool Friday night under a full moon in Vandetta Stadium the Batavia Blue Devils played against the Edison Tech Inventors.

The final score is a little misleading because even with a 42-point win it failed to show just how dominant undefeated Batavia was in the first half of the game. 

The offensive scoring in the first half was impressive. The Batavia defense also shined with stop after stop and, thanks to an interception, had more offensive yards in the first quarter than Edison Tech.

The second half of the game was a stalemate with Batavia resting many players and giving time and experience to the bench. Pictured left, a game official in a pose those in attendance saw him in for most of the first half. 

 

More pictures http://jimburns.org/p846436851#h598db131

Greg -- 7-13 for 102 yards and three TDs

Ray Leach -- 10 carries 149 yards, three TDs

Malachi -- three receptions for 60 yards and one TD and one INT

Ryan Hogan -- one TD

Andrew Mruczek -- one TD

Terren Lovria -- seven tackles, three for loss

Dom Mogavero -- six tackles

Adonis Davis -- INT

Le Roy and Bath entered Friday night's game at Hartwood Park with identical 3-0 records and tied for the lead in Livingston County Division I, but the game soon proved the simularities stopped there.

Amassing 361 total yards on offense, the bigger, faster, stronger Bath team took control of the game early and never let go, winning with a final of 32-6.

The Oatkan Knights are a good football team. Bath looks unstoppable.

Nick Egeling carried the ball for 119 yards on 18 rushes. Josh Laurie was four for 11 passing for 20 yards.  Dom Filio scored Le Roy's only TD and carried the ball 26 yards on five attempts. Reed Kacur had two receptions for 12 yards. On defense, Egeling had six tackles, Luke Hogle, six and Filio, four.

In other Friday Night Football:

• Batavia defeated Edison Tech, 42-0
• University Prep over Attica, 40-26
• Elba/Byron-Bergen over Oakfield-Alabama, 42-18
• Cal-Mum over York/Pavilion, 12-0

In today's action, Alexander travels to Holley. Game time is 1:30 p.m. It is homecoming for Notre Dame, so the school has rented lights for a rare night game on its home field. The Fighting Irish host the Pembroke Dragons. With Attica's loss, Notre Dame, at 3-0, sits alone atop the GR league.

The Batavia Coaches Association hosts the 14th annual Batavia Blue Devil Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner tomorrow Terry Hills Restaurant and Banquet Facility.

Cost is $30 per person. Social hour begins at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 6.

Tickets are available at the Athletic Director's Office at Batavia High School. For more information, call 343-2480, ext. 2003.

Below, reproductions of the plaques to be presented and hung at the school.

I took Rocky out for a nightime walk and came across Alex Asselin and Brian Wowk having a catch on Jackson Street.

"Can you even see the ball?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah," Brian said.

Alex asked if I had ever seen them out before. Only during the day, I replied.

"We're out here nearly every night," he said.

The two young men are freshmen at GCC and part of the baseball program. Asselin is a third baseman and catcher from Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, and Wowk is a shortstop and second baseman from Toronto.

The night catches have "definitely helped my eye-hand coordination," Asselin said.

Alex Asselin

Brian Wowk

Photos by David Boyce.

Genesee Region Division Notre Dame traveled to Elba Saturday afternoon to battle division rivals the Elba/Byron Bergen Lancers. The rain held off for a warm and windy conference game in which both teams ran 43 plays. The difference in the final score of 29 to 8 was in the rushing. Notre Dame rushed for all of their TDs for a total of 273 yards vs. a game total of 33 rushing yards for the Lancers. After a closely contended, scoreless first quarter Notre Dame was in position to score at the very beginning of the second quarter.

Above, #32 Jack Sutherland’s final effort of a six-yard run is ruled a touchdown by the officials.

The Lancers battled back with an impressive drive ending in a #12 Hochmuth pass to #5 Flores for a 36-yard gain and TD. Followed up by a two-point conversion run by #42 Stevens.

The Lancers led the game for only a few minutes because Notre Dames answered with another TD run by Sutherland and two-point conversion pass from #10 Connor to Sutherland. And so the game progressed with Notre Dame in control through a scoreless third quarter. Notre Dame added 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Sutherland would see the end zone one more time as would #42 Peter Daversa with an 11-yard run.

A couple of late turnovers kept the game interesting and the Lancers always seemed poised to come back but failed to capitalize on a few key plays.

More picture of the players and game are here: http://jimburns.org/p254710282#h587e117d

Le Roy improved its season to 3-0 with a 40-6 win over Wayland-Cohocton.

Josh Laurie led the offense with nine carries for 100 yards and three TDs, plus he was seven for 11 passing for 120 yards and two TDs.

Nick Egeling had 58 yards on 13 carries and he scored a touchdown. Reed Kacur and Jason Doemling each had TD receptions.

On defense, Kacur, seven tackles, Laurie, seven, Egeling, five, Nate Montoya, five, and Gaven Cassidy, five.

Also on Friday night, Attica beat Alexander 20-13 and there's no score available for York/Pavilion against Bolivar-Richburg.

Photos by David Boyce.

The game wasn't pretty, the play wasn't perfect, but Batavia High School showed a good Class A team what it's made of, what Batavia football has always been about, Head Coach Brennan Briggs told his players after the game. 

Grit. Determination. Never surrender. 

The Blue Devils played their hearts out, never giving in even after the Wilson Wildcats overcame a two-TD deficit in the first half to tie the game and threaten to take it over.

The final score was 34-28, and the game was just that close.

"It's a big win for them," Briggs said after the game. "I preached all week we were going to play a good Class A team. It was going to be a close football game and we're going to see what we're made of, and I think we showed, we're a pretty good football team, but we still have a lot to work on."

Coming into the season, with Blue Devils, returning Section V champs for Class B, were ranked #1 in a Section V coaches poll, but Briggs downplays the chatter about his team as a lot of hype.  He doesn't buy into it and he doesn't want his players getting caught up in it either.

"I absolutely hate the hype," Briggs said. "I just like us worrying about Batavia football, getting better every single week. If we put together a great football game, and we play our A game, I think we can definitely make a run, but with that said, any given moment, there's injuries and bad breaks and bad bounces and if we don't play a perfect game anybody can knock us out on any night."

A lot of the credit for Friday's win goes to the defense.  Face with a lot of short field challenges, the defense usually held together.  Briggs said the team has instituted a special red zone unit and that's been a key to Batavia getting tougher when their backs are against the goal line

"A lot of teams think, ah, they're within the five-yard line, the other team is going to score," Briggs said. "Our guys take pride in that unit. It's a special unit. They take pride in not letting the opponent get in the endzone."

Wilson benefitted from some turnovers and some questionable penalties, but the Blue Devils never gave in even as the favorable breaks helped Wilson keep the score tight.

"I was confident all night, the way our defense was playing that we could get the stops as long as we were ahead of them," Briggs said.

Senior QB Greg Mruczek was 14 of 27 for 228 yards and five TDs.  Ryan Hogan had four receiptions for 102 yards and two TDs. Trevor Sherwood caught six passes for 64 yards and a TD.  Anthony Gallo, four receptions, 70 yards and two TDs. Dom Mogavero, 12 tackles. Danny Williams, 11 tackles and a forced fumble, Ray Leach, seven tackles. Adonis Davis six tackles and an interception. Clayton Gorski, six tackles, including a sack.

Batavia is now 3-0 to start the season. Wilson falls to 2-1.  Next up for Batavia, Edison Tech at home. Game time, 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Oakfield-Alabama came out quickly scoring 14 points in the first quarter of their big 42-27 win over Pembroke. There was a lot of back and forth scoring in the second half, but Pembroke couldn't catch the strong OA team.

The Pembroke Girls Varsity Soccer Team had an impressive 4-0 shutout in last night's game against Notre Dame. The girls scored three goals in the first half and added another in the second.

http://francletography.photoshelter.com/gallery/2015-09-17-Notre-Dame-at-Pembroke-Varsity-Girls/G0000zxKjlQPb8qo/C0000o8qnIUWIJ3w

(Photo of Dime A Dance with driver Matt Kakaley, courtesy of Paul White.)

By Tim Bojarski, Batavia Downs Media Relations

A lightning-fast track and 80 degree temperatures greeted the New York Sire Stakes 2-year-old pacing fillies at Batavia Downs where two divisions offering a total of $109,000 in purses, along with important points needed to make the NYSS final, were up for grabs on Wednesday night (Sept. 16).

Prohibitive 2-5 favorite Dime A Dance didn't dissapoint her backers as she put on a show in her $54,500 division, winning in definitive style and resetting the world's record for a 2-year-old pacing filly over a half-mile track.

Dime A Dance (Roll With Joe-Hat Dance Hanover) took off the pace fourth and watched as No Clouds Bluechip (Kevin Cummings) and American Ivy (Mark Macdonald) duked it out for the lead in a fast :26.4 quarter. From there, the field remained stagnant until the half when Mother Of Art (John Cummings Jr.) pulled first over from third and Dime A Dance (Matt Kakaley) took cover second-over behind her.

The group picked up the pace with a :28.4 third panel but that wasn’t fast enough for the eventual winner. Dime A Dance swung three-deep at that station and circled the field to clear and pull away by three-lengths in an impressive and uncontested victory in 1:52.4.

The time was a new world's record for 2-year-old pacing fillies, besting that of Isabella Blue Chip's 1:53.1 at Delaware, Ohio in 2006. It was also a new track record for Batavia Downs, smashing the old standard of 1:54.2 set by Sassa Hanover just last year.

“She’s definitely one of the better fillies this year. She was just awesome tonight; she could have paced faster,” said driver Matt Kakaley.

It was the third win in eight starts for Dime A Dance ($2.90) and it pushed her earnings to $101,513 for owners Our Horse Cents Stable, Blue Chip Bloodstock and J&T Silva Stables. The filly is trained by Ron Burke.

In the first $54,500 division, Encore Deo hung on strong down the lane for a close victory over Art Critic.

Wishy Washy Girl (Ray Schnittker) took a quick, early lead before yielding to Encore Deo (Matt Kakaley) before the quarter that went in :28. The field remained single-file to the half before the heavily favored Upside Surprise (Mike Micallef) pulled from fifth to start her outside trek.

Upside Surprise got to third and hung and couldn’t gain anymore as the leader took the field to three quarters in 1:25.4. Positions stayed the same to the top of the stretch and Encore Deo was riding a short lead when Art Critic (Jim Morrill Jr.) swung inside the fading Wishy Washy Girl and came up the pylons. The two battled in deep stretch with Encore Deo just hanging on by a nose in 1:55.1.  

“I wanted to try her on the lead tonight. At three-quarters I thought I was going to win but it got a little close there at the end,” Kakaley said.

It was the second win in eight starts for Encore Deo ($13.40) and the winning time was a new lifetime mark for the filly. The winner’s share of the purse pushed her earnings to $56,578 for owners Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Jason Melillo and Lawrence Carr. Ron Burke mentors the filly.

There were also two divisions of the $15,000 NYSS excelsior series on Wednesday.

The first split was won by Major Millie (Art Major-Gravity) in 1:57. The filly is trained by Erv Miller and was driven to the victory by Kakaley. Major Millie ($9.10) is owned by KDM Stables Corp.

The second stanza was won by Milky Way Rae (American Ideal-Aurora Borealus) in a swift 1:55.3. She is trained by Tracy Brainard and was driven by Jim Morrill Jr. Milky Way Rae ($3.90) is owned by Fortunate One, LLC.

Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday night (Sept. 18) at 6:35.