Ty Gioia sinks a 3-point bucket with 5.6 seconds left in regulation to give Batavia the victory 54-52 Friday evening at Batavia High School. Photo by Steve Ognibene
With 5.6 seconds left and the Blue Devils down by a point, 52-51, Ty Gioia sank a three-pointer to give the #4 seed Batavia a win in a Section V Class A quarterfinals game on Friday.
Batavia beat the #5 seed, Pittsford-Sutherland 54-52.
"I can take no credit for that last shot," said Coach Buddy Brasky. "I mean, Ty just stepped up, got the ball, and he's a kid who hasn't been getting a lot of playing time a sophomore, and Brady (Mazur) fouled out, and he stepped up and did it. So I can't take any credit for that. But you know what I was telling them, basically, is to follow our principles, follow our defensive principles, get stops, and we can win this game. We got some key stops down the stretch."
Don Santini, a Section V football coaching legend who coached the Le Roy Oatkan Knights early in his career, died Wednesday.
He was 85.
Santini was the head coach in Le Roy from 1966 through 1974 before returning to his alma mater, Fairport High School (1957).
He led the Knights to the program's first-ever undefeated season (8-0) in 1966. The team won four league championships with Santini at the helm.
He was the first coach in Section V history with 200 wins, finishing his career with 2004, which now ranks fourth on the all-time list.
He compiled a 57-15 -2 record at Le Roy.
Santini started his coaching career in 1963 in Morrisville.
After returning to Fairport, Santini became rooted in the community and led the Red Raiders to seven Section V titles. His Fairport teams also won two state titles.
Even though Santini spent only eight years in Le Roy more than five decades ago, he is fondly remembered by Le Roy's football faithful.
Ed Henry wrote on social media, "Don Santini stressed his athletes to stay focused on game day as they were playing for pride and tradition. He was the ultimate motivator who inspired excellence in his teams. He was enthusiastic, excitable, fiery, and had a work ethic with no equal."
Jim Bonaquisti, who started his playing career a year after Santini returned to Fairport, said the former Knight's coach was still a coach he and other Le Roy players wanted to impress.
"We scrimmaged Fairport my junior and senior season," Bonaquisti wrote on social media. "I know I played a little bit harder because even though he wasn't my coach, I didn't want to let him down. Coach always showered you with praise for the great effort."
Santini was inducted into the Section V Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
BND United bench excited from the third goal scored in the first period. Photo by Steve Ognibene
In the quest to go to the Section V hockey finals two years in row is not an easy task. #2 seed BND United did this last evening at The McCarthy by a score of 5-3 over #3 seed Webster Schroeder.
Batavia Notre Dame United beat Webster Schroeder 5-3 on Saturday in the Section V hockey semifinals.
United, the #2 seed in the tournament, scored three goals in the first five minutes.
Chase Cummings scored on the power play; then Chase added another goal after Sam Pies shot one near the faceoff dot deep in Webster Schroeder's zone.
Webster Schroeder scored two quick goals before the period ended.
Both teams battled back and forth in the second period, and United caught themselves on a penalty with two minutes left in the second.
Down by one man, Jameson Motyka found himself on a breakaway to score a short-handed goal past goalie Connelly Springer to lift United ahead 4-2 after 2.
In the last period, United’s Chase Cummings scored his third goal for a hat trick at 20 seconds in to extend the lead by three, 5-2. Schroeder answered to score four minutes later to make it 5-3.
The win gives United a shot at winning back-to-back Section V titles, which Coach Marc Staley said has been the goal since the first face-off of the season.
"It's hard to go back to back. It's hard to coach a team the year after you win everything," Staley said. "And you know, we went through some months. We went through some learning curves earlier this year. We had to realize you don't have the (Ivan) Milovidov off on the bench and the (Joe) DiRisio on the bench and (Noah) Whitcomb and all those great players, right? So it's like, we got other guys who can step up. It took us some time, but you can see right now, I think, seven, zero and one over our last eight games. We're moving in peak, and I think, at the right time. So it's exciting, I mean, to be back with a chance to bring home another championship."
Point totals for BND United:
Chase Cummings, 3 goals
Jameson Motyka, 1 goal, 2 assists
Sam Pies 1 goal, 1 assist
Brady Johnson, 2 assists
Jake Hutchins, 1 assist
Rhys Tanner stopped 40 of 43 shots on net
#2 seed BND United plays #1 Victor at RIT on Monday March 3rd at 730pm for the Section V Class B Championship
"A nice way to start sectionals," said Coach Jeff Schlagenhauf. "The girls got off to a great start and never looked back. All 13 players got involved and played well."
The Hornets, the #5 seed, take on #4 Arkport-Canaseraga at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Canaseraga for the quarterfinal game.
Coach Vinny Falleti and Sofia Folleti. Submitted photo.
Sofia Falleti set a new school record for Notre Dame on Wednesday night, scoring 46 points against Hinsdale as the Lady Irish picked up a first-round sectional win 88-12.
She also had 11 rebounds.
Ali Haitz set the previous record in 2001 with 42 points in a game.'
Shirley Thompson scored 14 points and had 11 steals. Gianna Falleti scored 8 points, and Harper Ferris, 8 points.
Batavia's Gavin White goes for two points. Photo by Steve Ognibene
The Blue Devils, ranked #4 in Class A in Boys Basketball, picked up a first round sectional win at home on Tuesday, beating #12 ranked School of the Arts 51-45.
Scoring for Batavia:
Gavin White, 25 points
Isaac Varland, 10 points
Brady Mazur, 5 points
Casey Mazur, 5 points
Batavia faces #5 ranked Pittsford-Sutherland at home at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
Photo of conference championships at the Ocean Breeze Complex in Staten Island courtesy of East Coast Conference.
By Connor Beagle
This past weekend saw Roberts Wesleyan University Senior Zachary Hall defend his East Coast Conference title in the 5000 meter run with a time of 15:54.00. Hall would go on to earn 1st-Team All-Conference honors in the 5000 meter run, and 2nd-Team All-Conference honors for his 4th place finish in the 3000 meter run.
Despite battling injuries earlier in the season Hall was prepared to take on any challenge he needed to for his team who ended up placing 2nd overall at the conference championships. Prior to the East Coast Conference Indoor Championships in Staten Island, New York Hall had only raced three times throughout the indoor season, following a successful final cross-country season, in which he won the East Coast Conference Championships. Hall opened his season at Grand Valley State University with a sub 15 min 5000 meter run (14:59.41) before heading into the holiday break.
It wouldn’t be until January 30 until Hall would return to action for the Redhawks. At the RIT Thursday Invitational Hall would win the mile with a time of 4:36.21. The following week Hall would race at the Brockport Multi Invitational and take 7th in the mile, running 4:29.87 in preparation for a busy weekend at the Ocean Breeze Complex where the indoor conference championships would be held.
Last season Hall won the 5000 meter run and placed 2nd in the 3000 meter run at the indoor conference championships. Hall also won the 5000 meter run and placed 2nd in the 1500 meter run during the outdoor season.
With the goal of winning a team conference title this indoor season, Hall’s speed would be needed on the track for the Redhawks. Hall would follow behind John Ray of Queens College (NY) for most of the 5000 meter run, before overtaking him in the final 100 meter of the race to defend his title and earn 10 points for the Redhawks.
Next up for Hall was the 3000 meter run, where again he would finish ahead of John Ray of Queens College (N.Y.) and behind fellow Redhawks Trevor Heitkamp (2nd place) and Owen White who would end up winning the event. Despite Hall’s 14 points, the Redhawks would finish 2nd overall behind Holy Family University.
Hall will look to take his successful Senior season into the outdoor season and hope to lead his team to a third straight outdoor conference title. Hall and his co-stars on the Redhawks distance squad have managed to be nationally ranked in the top 25 of the 5000 meter run event squad rankings that USTFCCCA puts out each week, coming in at the #25 spot this past week.
This season the Redhawks have been ranked as high as 14th in the 5000 meter event squad rankings. Hall has also been recognized this season by the East Coast Conference, being named to the ECC Honor Roll earlier in the season.
Hall and the Redhawks will look to finish out their season at Houghton University on February 22 and Boston University on March 2 before the NCAA DII Indoor Championships in mid March.
Due to warm temperatures causing a quick thaw of the track, the judges made the decision to cancel the live card of racing scheduled for Monday, Feb. 24 out of an abundance of caution for the safety of all the participants.
Monday was the final day of racing for the 2025 winter meet and the Jackpot Hi-5 carryover pool of $4,251 that was scheduled to be paid out will now be moved to opening day of the summer meet on Saturday, July 26, and will also be a mandatory payout.
Both the Boys Indoor Track Team and the Girls Indoor Track Team on Thursday put in dominating performances to win sectional titles.
It was the 19th sectional title for the girls' team and the 12th for the boys.
The girls scored 209 points. In second place, Wayne Central scored 72 points. The boys scored 184 points. Livonia-Avon-Geneseo came in second with 82 points.
"This was an incredible performance by the Blue Devils as we were able to win 18 out of 33 events contested," said Coach Nicholas Burk. "We had solid contributions across the board in our throwing, distance, sprinting, hurdles, and jumping events. Our Blue Devil athletes were very committed to continuing the tradition of Batavia Track and Field and representing our school and community with the tough reputation we've earned through many years of success."
The Jackpot Super Hi-5 at Batavia Downs has not been hit in several days and as a result, the carryover has now grown to $4,251.
With the meet coming to an end on Monday (Feb. 24), this must be paid out and track management has guaranteed that pool at $10,000 in conjunction with the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering Program.
As part of that program, Trackmaster is offering free full past performance program pages that are currently available on the USTA website under the Handicapping link at the top of the page.
The Jackpot Super Hi-5 at Batavia Downs is a 20-cent minimum wager in the 14th race on Monday with an estimated post time of 7:20 p.m. Post time for the first race is at 3 p.m.
And as always, free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at the Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab and all the racing action can be viewed as it happens for free at the Batavia Downs Live Facebook page.
Jameson Motyka scores a goal early in the first period for BND United. Photo by Steve Ognibene
A packed house on Thursday for the Section V Class B quarterfinal in hockey had plenty of reasons to cheer as Batavia Notre Dame United dominated Churchville-Chili for an 8-1 win.
United outshot CC 38-17.
Jameson Motyka scored 5 goals, a hat-trick, coming within in the first eight minutes.
"In the first couple minutes, we started off kind of slow, but once we put the first one in, they just started coming real quick," Motyka said. "In the second period, we kind of took a step back, and then we went back at it in the third. It was a good period to end on going into the next game."
Churchville-Chili’s lone goal was in the second period on a shot by Anthony Indiano.
Point totals for BND United:
Jameson Motyka – 5 goals, 2 assists
Brady Johnson – 1 goal, 3 assists
Jake Hutchins – 1 goal, 1 assists
Sam Pies – 3 assists
Cadan Shamp - 1 goal
Chase Cummings - 1 assist
Will Stevens - 1 assist
Maggie Buchholz - 1 assist
Luke Staley - 1 assist
Goalie- Rhys Tanner - 1 assist, stopped 16 shots in net
BND United, seeded second in the tournament, plays this Wednesday at home vs #3 seed Webster Schroder at 6 p.m.
As a result of the ongoing extreme winter weather that has impacted all of western New York over the past week, Batavia Downs management has canceled the live card of harness racing scheduled for Thursday (Feb. 20) in an abundance of caution for the safety and welfare of all the participants.
Live racing will resume on Monday (Feb. 24) at 3 p.m., which will be the last card of the winter meet.
