Sports

 John Moriello has official sources that says the upcoming football season will be shortened, as part of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's upcoming cuts.

In previous years there was seven regular season games, three sectional games, and three state games. That would give a state champion 13 games in a season. Moriello writes that a state champion would only get 12. But I don't get what the new format is going to be. Hopefully that will come out in the next few days.

Here's what Moriello wrote in his blog yesterday.

 Two upstate sources involved in the scheduling process have told me that it's considered a certainty that the maximum length of the varsity football season will be scaled back to 12 games (nine within the section and three in the state tournament) as part of the NYSPHSAA's cost-cutting initiative in light of the state's budget problems.

   Speculation is all over the board on the effect on JV and modified/freshmen schedules, but it appears that reports that teams at those levels will be told to trim two games may not be accurate. They'll almost certanly be told to drop one game, but the proposed two-game reductions apparently were intended for sports with 18- to 24-game seasons like soccer, basketball and lacrosse.

   By the way, the NYSPHSAA football tournament is locked into Thanksgiving weekend dates at the Carrier Dome, so a reduction in the varsity schedule would translate into a Sept. 11-12 start to the season. It was just two years ago that some squads opened on Aug. 31.

The NYSPHSAA will be meeting tomorrow and I am hoping to find out more details on cuts in other sports.

I posted the Genesee Region League Players of the Week a few days ago, and said there were no girls from the GR nominated, but had winners from other leagues.

At the time there wasn't anybody from the GR.  

But the day after my post on the boys, a pair of GR girls were announced.

Pembroke's Kelsey Lewis scored 22 points with nine rebounds and four steals in a pair of games with Byron-Bergen and Elba to earn the honor for Division I.

Lauren Drago of Wheatland-Chili won the D2 honor for her effort in one game. She scored a career-high 35 points with 12 rebounds, eight steals and five blocks on a win over Holley.

I will be posting Players of the Week for last week as soon as they are posted. Let's hope they get the boys and girls all up on the same day this week.

A big reason why Batavia basketball is so successful every year is that there is a solid youth program in place, the Genesee RAP.

The AAU teams are looking for volunteer coaches for the teams. The RAP plays in regional tournaments on the weekends in March and April.

 Anybody interested should contact Batavia varsity coach Buddy Brasky at 585-356-4050 or e-mail him at mbrasky@bataviacsd.org.

There aren't any locals, but Section 5 has announced 12 new members for the class of 2009.

Three of those players went on to play in the National Football League.

East High's Roland Williams was a tight end on the 1999 Super Bowl winning St. Louis Rams and spent eight seasons in the NFL. The Syracuse grad caught 114 passes for 1004 yards and 13 touchdowns in his career.

Webster grad Brian Kozlowski and Victor grad Seth Payne also played in the NFL. 

McQuaid's Chuck Schott, Wellsville's Glenn Law and Greece Olympia's Adam Rodger are the other players inducted into the HOF.

Anthony Bianchi won two state titles at Webster and Bolivar's Bob Dunsmore are being inducted as coaches..

Tom Dowd, Mike Stackus and Charlie Remilen are football officials being elected. Also Ontario Honda president Daniel Richards is being inducted as a contributor. 

The Hall of Fame dinner and election ceremony is at the RIT Inn & Conference Center on April 2 and ticekts are $35 per person or $300 for a table.

 The game might have been tight all the way through, but it looked like the Oakfield-Alabama girls were going to beat Notre Dame for the second time this season, on ND's home court.

The Hornets owned the paint and seemed to be in the right place at the right time for every loose ball. But the Fighting Irish battled in the closing minutes and came through with a huge 48-46 win.

Oakfield-Alabama took a 3-point lead with about five minutes left in the game when Hillary Bates scored a basket, making the score 40-37 in O-A's favor.

Notre Dame's Brittany Morelli answered with a bucket, but the lead was back to 3-points when Dani Sage scored at the other end. The Hornets had a chance to extend the lead when sophomore McKenzie Harris had a steal and was fouled going to the basket.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, she missed both free throw attempts.

Nichole Hart then made it a 1-point game with a basket seconds later.

After a turnover, Morelli scored with an and-1, giving the Fighting Irish a 44-42 lead with just under three minutes left in the game.

Christina Palillo tied the game with a basket on O-A's next possession, then was fouled on the team's next trip down the court. She hit both foul shots to give the Hornets a 46-44 advantage with just over two minutes left.

Again, it looked like O-A was going to win, just like they did in the consolation game of the Rotary Tournament.

But Notre Dame went inside the paint on the following possession, giving the ball to 6-foot sophomore Liz Geandreau, who was fouled while trying to get a shot off. She tied the score with two free throws.

Nobody scored for almost a minute and a half, but Morelli got to the foul line with 39 seconds left. She hit both attempts to give the Fighting Irish the two-point advantage.

The Hornets had one last shot with just seconds left on the clock, but missed a 3-pointer and couldn't get the rebound.

Morelli scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half and Jill Marshall pitched in 14 points for the Fighting Irish, who improve to 7-3. Nichole Hart had 12 points.

Brynn Perfitt continues to be a strong scoring option for Oakfield-Alabama (6-6), scoring 11 points. Hillary Bates scored a team-high 12 points and Palillo pitched in eight points.

Batavia Daily News Sports Editor Bill Bruton wrote a nice little piece on former Kendall star Roosevelt Bouie, which was a feature I was going to do when I had my wrist surgeries at the start of the summer.

Bouie won four consecutive Class C titles while at Kendall and conducts clinics (Bruton talked to him in Pembroke) and does radio broadcasts for the Rochester Razorsharks.

Bouie was a star in Section 5 in the mid 1970s and learned a lot from his old-school coach, Dick Reynolds.

That made an impact on the 6-foot-11 Bouie, as did something else his high school coach taught him. Reynolds expected his team to be ready to play from the opening tip-off.

"So don't go out there taking your time thinking you can get warmed up. You'd better be ready to go when the ball drops," Bouie told Bruton. "(Reynolds) said you'd better be dripping sweat or you're not warmed up."

Bouie was a recruit for Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who has been with the Orange forever. Boeheim has a career record of 771-228 in 32 seasons as coach.

Bouie had quite a career at Syracuse, with this being his bio on the team's Web site.

A second-team Basketball Weekly freshman All-American in 1977…first-team USBWA, Citizen’s Savings Foundation and Medalist All-American in 1980…first team All-BIG EAST selection in 1980…holds the records for highest field goal percentage in a season and highest blocked shots average for a career (2.8 bpg)…12th all-time in career scoring (1,560 points), sixth in career rebounds (987) and second in career blocked shots (327)…holds the freshman blocked shots and blocked shots average records…has the most blocked shots in a game by a freshman with seven (vs. Harvard and Buffalo)…second round pick of the Dallas Mavericks in the 1980 NBA Draft.

Bouie never played in the NBA. He did not feel as if the Mavericks offered enough money, so he went to Europe to play. He played for 13 seasons in Italy (two for Scavolini Resaro, seven for Riunite Reggio Emilia and two for Clear Contu). He was a legend in Italy where he was a five time all-star and holds the league record for career field goal percentage. He also won a European Championship in the 1991-1992 season. 

Bouie wrapped up his career with one season playing in Oreste, Spain. 

 The Batavia girls basketball team is 11-1, defeated every Monroe County League team its faced other than Pittsford Mendon, took down every non-league opponent and still is getting no love from the Democrat & Chronicle. 

The new polls are out and still no Blue Devils in the large or small school category for girls basketball. People question Batavia's non-league schedule, yet they have defeated Dansville, which is ranked sixth. They also beat local powerhouse Elba, which received a No. 9 ranking.

Alexander got an honorable mention.

The Batavia boys basketball team is 9-1, and also not ranked. The only loss for the boys was at Pittsford Sutherland, which they will get a chance to avenge next week at home.

We do have a couple of ranked small schools.

Oakfield-Alabama is at No. 7 and Notre Dame is at No. 9. The two battled last night, with the Hornets winning 9-1.

We have tons of schools ranked in the small school category for wrestling.

Attica is having a great season and is currently at No. 3, Holley is No. 6 and Batavia is No. 7.

Wheatland-Chili is ranked eighth for small school swimming.

Oakfield-Alabama is officially the top team in the Genesee Region League.

Tim Smithhad 19 points, eight boards and three swipes as the Hornets downed Notre Dame 70-60 Thursday.

Noah Seward had 17 points and 12 boards and A.J. Kehlenbeck pitched in 10 points and10 boards. Brad Riner had eight dimes as O-A improves to `9-1.

Kevin Francis had 22 points, six boards, six assists and four steals for the Fighting Iri (8-2).

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Max Torrey came through again, converting a 3-point play with 26 seconds left to give Elba a 41-39 win over Byron-Bergen.

Torrey finished with nine points while Sonny Giuliano had eight points and Phil Ostroski had six points and 13 boards.

Tyler Sass had nine points, four rebounds and four assists for B-B.

There is no easy way to put this. The Batavia wrestling team had a 34-23 lead with two matches to go, meaning they could lose the final two by anything less than a pin they win the match.

The Blue Devils received an honorable mention and a victory over Letchworth would have given the team a state ranking.

But the Indians won the final two matches with pins and came away with a 35-34 win, crushing a Batavia team that had came back from a large deficit early on to take the big lead.

Batavia's Garrett Egglebrecht matched up with Letchworth's Anthony Harding at 119 pounds and Egglebrecht fell behind 2-0 early. He trailed 5-0 after two periods, but had not been pinned, even though he was saved by the bell in the second period. But Harding got him on his back in the third period and made the score 34-29.

The Blue Devils had a solid grappler in Will Ely going at 125 pounds, and Letchworth put Austin Hedges out there with him in the final match.

Hedges led 5-0 at one point before Ely battled back to make it 5-4, but was avoiding the pin. Ely was just trying to hang on and take the decision loss, giving his team a victory.

Then, Hedges flipped him and put him on his back, scoring the pin with just 30 seconds left in the match.

Letchworth's big lead had a lot to do with the victory as it was 23-3 before you even knew it.

Batavia started well at 130 pounds with Trey Henderson winning a 10-8 decision over Anthony Harding. But Letchworth's Bucky Hendrickson captured an easy 16-0 win over Joe Muoio.

Mike Nevinger pinned Matt Leaton in 1:08, Frank Day downed Scot Shea in 1:12 and Chris Nevinger dispostd of John Pestillo in 1:33 to give the Indians the huge early lead.

But one of the best wrestling teams in the history of Batavia wasn't going to get crushed. They battled back.

Ryan Darch kicked things off with a 12-3 win over Dave Woolley to start the comeback.

Anthony D'Aurizio followed with an epic battle against a strong Evan Sylor. D'Aurizio nearly had a pin in the second period, but didn't get it and had a 7-2 advantage after two frames. Sylor scored some late points, but D'Aurizio walked away with a 9-6 victory.

Darch and D'Aurizio are two of Batavia's top grapplers and if either would have had a pin, the dramatics at the end would not have been an issue. So while both picked up victories, a few more points from either one of those two could have been huge, something coach Rick Stewart hopes his team learns come sectional time - every point matters.

Troy Ireland scored a pin and then Dylan Goodsell pinned Cody Waite with just 14 seconds left in the match. After Josh Mase took care of his opponent in 32 seconds and Nick Lazaroni had a pin in 54 seconds, Batavia was up 34-23.

That was before the Indians had the final two pins for the shocking victory.

Enjoy a short stack for a tall cause! You're invited to an Applesbee's Flapjack Fundraiser breakfast to support BHS ICE DEVILS

Tickets: $5.00 and available from BHS ICE DEVILS Players.  Or call 343-0157 for tickets.

When: Feb 1, 2009, 8a.m. - 10a.m.

Were: Applebee's Neighborhood Bar & Grill 8322 Lewiston Road Batavia NY

 Come enjoy a good breakfast and help us out...Thanks!

 The New York State Sports Writers Association announced its newest poll today and Batavia, Notre Dame and Oakfield-Alabama all moved up in the state.

Batavia jumped from No. 20 to No. 17 in Class A, with games through Jan. 11. The Blue Devils beat Greece Odyssey last night to improve to 9-1.

Oakfield-Alabama jumped from No. 17 to No. 15 in Class C and improved to 8-1 with a win over Wheatland-Chili on Tuesday.

Notre Dame was bumped up from No. 6 to No. 5 in Class D and are now 8-1 after beating Holley 68-42 on Tuesday.

 Former Batavia point guard Kevin Saunders is starting to score. I mean, he's really starting to score.

The junior captain just scored a career-high 22 points in a 66-59 win over Potsdam, helping Fredonia State improve to 9-2.

Saunders connected on 7-of-15 attempts from the floor and hit all six free throw attempts, while grabbing two rebounds and handing out two assists.

Saunders now leads the 9-2 Blue Devils at 11.5 points per game and is second on the squad with 30 assists.

Brynn Perfitt dropped in 19 points and Hillary Bates added 16 as Oakfield-Alabama dropped host Wheatland-Chili 51-42 in a GR girls game.

Lindsay Chatt added seven points for the Hornets, who are now 6-5.

Lauren Drago had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats (3-5). Lindsey Hall added 20 points. 

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Nicole Sharick dropped in 13 points and Jackie Dubois pitched in 11 as Pembroke toppled Kendall 38-33.

Kelsey Lewis also had six points for the Dragons, who are now 6-5.

Meghan Fahy had 17 points and 12 boards for Kendall, which falls to 3-6.

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Nichole Hart had 16 points to lead the way as Notre Dame destroyed Holley 59-28.

Liz Geandreau, Jill Marshall and Trisha Pike each had eight points, with Geandreau adding seven boards.

Jessica Bower and Jenny Lesch had nine points each for Holley.

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Samantha Skryp had a huge game, scoring a game-high 22 points to lead Lyndonville to a 40-33 win over Byron-Bergen.

Mary Cocking had eight points to lead the Bees.

Lyndonville is 6-6.