High School Football

The Pembroke Dragons hosted The Attica Blue Devils Friday night for their annual homecoming game. The Dragons capitalized on multiple turnovers by the Blue Devils, helping them to secure a convincing 35-20 victory. 

Zach von Kramer rushed 42 times for 322 yards and three touchdowns. Reid Miano was 3-9 for 58 yards and a TD. Jacob Miller had a 23-yard TD reception.

Photos by Destin Danser Photography. To view complete gallery or purchase prints, click here. 

The Batavia Blue Devils defeated the Hornell Red Raiders today in a 41 to 20 victory.

Batavia scored first five minutes into the game. Hornell quickly responded with a touchdown of their own. At the end of the first quarter, the score was Hornell 7 Batavia 6.

Batavia scored soon after the start of the second quarter with Hornell answering with a touchdown again, making the score 12 to 14. Batavia tried unsuccessfully twice for a two-point conversion after their touchdowns missing both times. Hornell went for a field goal after both of their touchdowns converting for one point both times. It looked as if the game had settled into a rhythm of both teams scoring equally with the outcome to be determined by extra points.

Midway through the second quarter, number 51 Jzon Richardson came up with a forced Hornell fumble and stopped their progress deep in Batavia territory. This play knocked the wind out of Hornell, even though late in the second Batavia fumbled with Hornell recovering the ball. Hornell never got their rhythm back and never threatened Batavia’s lead again. The second quarter ended with Batavia leading 28 to 14.

Hornell looked like they were going to come within one touchdown of Batavia in the third but Batavia’s defense stopped them. After that, it was Batavia in charge of the ground and the air, never looking back and cruising to victory. 

The standout players of the game where number 2 Jerry Reinhart, number 12 Chandler Baker, and the Sec V MVP number 34 Bubba Leach. 

More picture of the game are here, www.jimburns.org

U-Prep and Batavia kept everyone on their toes in a hard-fought game where mistakes were made on both sides last night at Salen's Stadium in Rocheter. Pictured above is Ray Leach for Batavia, catching a pass from quarterback Jerry Reinhart to win the game with 0:07 seconds left on the clock 30-26.

Highlights of the game: First quarter – Terrance Bethel Touchdown scored early 4:25, missed two point conversion, giving U-Prep a 6-0 lead. Batavia and U-Prep exchanged the ball until Batavia recovered a fumble.  

Second quarter -- Batavia scores midway to tie it 6-6. U-Prep carried the ball and converted on a fourth down to score at 7:52 and lead 12-6. Batavia's Eric Davis goes out on a leg injury. Near the end Jerry Reinhart passed a 38-yard touchdown pass to Chandler Baker, two-point conversion is good. Batavia leads 14-12.

John Garlock recovers an onside kick, which Ray Leach scored for Batavia and led at halftime 22-12.

Second half -- Jonathan Williams touchdown for U-Prep at 6:17 thrown by Amari Masse; two-point conversion is good. Batavia's lead is cut to only two points, 22-20. 

U-Prep runs 45 yards to Batavia 10-yard line at 7:36, batavia and U-Prep exchanged a fumble and interception. U-Prep scores late in the fourth to lead 26-22 with 2:52 left.

Batavia dominated on driving down the field with 7 sconds left on a pass caught by Ray Leach. Batavia wins 30-26​.

Batavia moves to a 3-0; U-Prep moves to a 2-1 record.

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Attica Blue Devils came out strong the first few minutes of the first quarter, leading 20-0 on a couple touchdowns by senior running back Hunter McCulloch, who added 117 yards on 11 carries.

Pembroke failed to convert turning the ball over on an interception and fumbles early in the first half. Attica led the half 20-0.

In the second half, Attica continued to move through Pembroke's defense led by senior quarterback Kyle Casey, who added points in the air and ground to seniors Cody D'Arconte and tight end Dawson Nelson, winning the game 40-0. 

Attica moves to 1-0 and their next game is home Friday night vs. Alexander at 7 p.m.

Pembroke drops to 0-1 and plays next Saturday 7 p.m. vs. Oakfield / Elba in Oakfield.

For more photos and to purchase go to: Steve Ognibene Photography

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With a come-from-behind touchdown with just over two minutes left in the game, Batavia struck for a touchdown and then a daring two-point conversion to beat Livonia 15-14 and win the program's first Section V title since 1991.

The late strike was nearly a mirror of how Livonia handed Batavia its only defeat of the season in 2014's first game when the Bulldogs scored a touchdown in the final seconds.

The gutsy call to go for two following a 69-yard TD reception by Ryan Hogan with just over two-minutes left in the game harkened back to the fifth game of the season against Geneva when Head Coach Brandon Briggs went for it all with two minutes left to pull out an 8-7 win.

Batavia scored first, but the touchdown didn't come until the start of the second quarter. The Blue Devils carried a lead into the half, but Livonia scored on its first possession.

The teams traded possessions until 2:28 left in the fourth quarter when Livonia scored again.

With 2:07 left and the ball on Livonia's 31, Batavia struck on a second-down play when Greg Mruczek hit Hogan streaking down the side line, hitting him in stride near the 20. Hogan dashed into the end zone.

Livonia is a team built around a grinding ground game and couldn't muster the quick-strike capabilities to get the ball within at least field goal range. Batavia took possession of the ball on downs with less than 30 seconds left and fans and players erupted in celebration.

Mruczek finished 15 for 25 for 334 yards and two TDs. He also had four carries for 29 yards, including the winning two-point conversion. Hogan had three receptions for 113 yards. Jarrett Laskett had five receptions for 88 yards. Trevor Sherwood had two receptions for 77 yards and a TD. Dom Mogavero carried the ball eight times for 33 yards. Trevor Rittersback had 16 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery. 

For Livonia, Josh Henderson had 24 carries for 168 yards and a TD. Liam Clements had eight carries for 67 yards.

Thanks to Bob Brown and Juan Velasquez for the play-by-play on WBTA.

Video by Alecia Kaus/Video News Service

Photos by Alecia Kaus

Coach Brian Moran will tell you, he feels fortunate to run a football program in a place like Le Roy, where the kids are tough, the community cares and parents understand he always has the best interest of their children at heart, even when he's trying to instill in them the discipline necessary to win at football and win at life.

He doesn't take credit for his career milestone of 200 wins. He shares it.

"It really is just a credit to our coaching staff," Moran said, after an emotional meeting with his team near the western end zone of the Perry football field following Le Roy's 45-6 win over the Yellowjackets. "I'm proud of everybody who's worked with us, our community, our school. You know, you don't get to 200 by yourself. We had great people along they way and I really appreciate what they've done for our program."

Moran is the fourth coach in Section V history to reach 200 wins, and only the second to get all 200 wins with the same school.

Gene MastIn, who retired after the 2012 season, is the Section V record holder at 236, and all his wins came at Hornell. Earlier this year, Fairport's Dave Whitcomb, who has coached five different teams, got his 200th win. Rounding out the 200 win club is Don SantIni, with 206 victories, including 50 notched in the years he coached Le Roy.

Moran's milestone victory was helped along Friday night by some of the same names who have carried the team all year. Mike McMullen, Ryan McQuillen, Tom Kelso, Nick Egeling and Jon Pierce, who all had big nights to help propel Le Roy to a rout of a young, but talented Perry team.

McMullen, who went over 3,000 yards passing for his career and set a new school record, said he was proud to be part of Moran's milestone victory.

"It feels great," McMullen said. "I've been with him four years. I can't put it in words right now. It's just awesome. I know it means a lot to him. It means a lot to everyone around here. Le Roy football. Coach Moran. You know, everyone knows who we are because of coach."

The Yellowjackets are a team with a couple of quick strike weapons in QB Andrew Hollister and RB Wisezear Pries, both juniors, so Moran came into the game knowing the Oatkan Knights couldn't afford to let Perry score early. (Hollister ended the season with more than 1,000 yards rushing.)

On Perry's first drive, a fumble on the Perry side of the field helped bat away that concern early. Two plays after Egeling recovered the fumble on defense, he was back to carry the ball 14 yards for a touchdown, giving Le Roy a quick 7-0 lead.

It was all Le Roy the rest of the half and the Knights built up a 42-0 lead by intermission. The scoring bonanza included a pair of TD passes from McMullen to the speedy McQuillen of 40 yards and 62 yards.

McMullen finished 5 for 5 passing for 138 yards and three TD.  

Through seven regular season games, McMullen did not throw a single interception and Le Roy has lost only one fumble all season, for a +16 turnover ratio.

Moran said he's proud of how McMullen has developed as a team leader.

"Obviously, from where he was three years ago to where he is today, I believe at the start of the season, he was 16-4, so add it up, put another 7 on that, so I think that's pretty good," Moran said. "That says a lot about him as a leader of our program."

Kelso had 11 carries for 74 yards. Kelso also had two catches for 23 yards. Pierce carried the ball twice for 72 yards and a TD. Egling, three carries for 32 yards and a TD, plus a 13-yard reception for a touchdown. 

Le Roy is the top-ranked Class C team in the state, but needed some help to go into sectional play as the #1 seed, which they got from the Batavia Blue Devils, who beat Bath in Bath 49-30.

While a lot of folks on the sideline were keeping up with the score in Batavia's seesaw battle with Bath, Moran downplayed the importance of seeding after the game. He said a team has to focus on the opponent ahead of it, whoever that might be.

"You get yourself focused and you really have to be ready to play next Friday night, because if you don't play well, you go home," Moran said. "I think that's something we'll really work on all week and get ourselves ready that way."

Pierce scores in the third quarter.

Hollister on his run that put him over 1,000 yards for the season.

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Le Roy scored on its first six possessions Friday night in Letchworth to build a 41-0 lead on its way to the team's third dominating victory of the season, winning 61-12.

Mike McMullen connected on seven of his eight passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns.

Ryan McQuillen caught two of those passes for 85 yards and two TDs.

Also on offense, Jon Pierce, five carries for 24 yards and two TDs; Nick Egeling, five rushes 70 yards, two TDs; Nate Flint, six carries for 38 yards and a TD; Tom Kelso hauled in three passes for 30 yards and a touchdown.

On defense, Kody Lamkin had seven tackles, a sack and a blocked punt. Brian Hodges had five tackles. Luke Hogle recorded a sack. McMullen had an interception.

Le Roy had 385 total yards and held Letchworth to 183.

Photos by David Boyce. For more photos, click here.

Today I visited the Pembroke Dragons football practice and they are really motivated for the upcoming 2013 season. 

Pembroke seniors on the football team. 

In a battle of unbeaten Genesee Region teams, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Elba-Byron Bergen Lancers squared off Saturday afternoon.

A good part of the opening quarter was a defensive struggle before Elba quarterback Zac Gillard opened the scoring with a one-yard run. The point after attempt failed and the Lancers held a 6-0 lead.

Andrew Mullen returns the ensuing kickoff and later he put Notre Dame on the board with a short run. The point after was good and Notre Dame led 7-6 at  halftime.

On Elba's first series of the second half, Zac Gillard hit Kyle Morse with a 55-yard scoring strike and a missed conversion left the Lancers with a 12-7 lead.

Zack DuBois is off and running.

Kyle Morse signals touchdown after DuBois' 10-yard scoring run. Another failed point after conversion gave the Lancers an 18-7 lead.

Fullback Jon Levchuk's one-yard run in the fourth quarter extended Elba's lead to 24-7 and with their defense playing soundly, the Lancers seemed to have the game well in hand.

But things were about to take a dramatic turn.

In the later stages of the fourth quarter, the Fighting Irish began to move the ball downfield, capping the drive when Andrew Mullen scored his second tochdown of the day on an 18-yard run. Tim McCulley passed to Jared Thornton for the 2-point conversion and cut Elba's lead to 24-15.

After the kickoff, Elba fumbled the ball away and Notre Dame was back in business. McCulley hooked up with Jared Thornton once again, this time for a touchdown and Notre Dame closed to within 24-21 after a failed conversion.

With about a minute to play, an onside kick was recovered by Notre Dame's Zack Blew at the Elba 45-yard line. But on the first play from scrimmage, Elba's Andy Underhill sacked QB Tim McCulley for a nine-yard loss. Two plays later Brandon Naylor chipped in with another sack and Elba took over on downs and ran out the clock for the win.

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Friday night, lights are on, stadium is packed and it's Homecoming Week. It couldn't have been a better scenario for the Batavia Blue Devils football team as they upset visiting Penfield 20-14 Friday night in high school football action for their first victory of the season.

Senior running back, Ryan Pyatt led the offense for Batavia by rushing for a career high of 124 yards on 17 carries in his first varsity start.

Quarterback Aaron Gugel rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries and he completed 4 of 10 passes for 44 yards and a touchdown.

Sophomore wide-out Justin Washington had two receptions for 34 yards including a 10-yard touchdown reception. Mitch Francis added two receptions for 10 yards and another reception on a 2-point conversion. Francis also had a big day on defense by intercepting a pass and returning it for a 70-yard touchdown. He also had a kick return for 45 yards.

Kyle King led the defense for Batavia with 9 tackles, 2 for a loss. Kris Jones added 7 tackles, 2 for a loss. John DiFante added 4 tackles for Batavia and recorded an interception as well.

Nick Costanza scored for Penfield on a 32-yard run and David Roque caught a 37-yard reception from from QB Kyle Covley to give Penfield their 14 points.

Batavia improves to 1-3 while Penfield falls to 0-4.

With high school football practice beginning this week, it seems fitting that a few of the late Daniel VanDetta’s charges were in town for their fortieth class reunion. Their story is worth telling, if only briefly.

Forty-one years ago, as the 1968 football season drew near, there must have been questions in the mind of Coach VanDetta. Not only would it be the last year at the Blue Devil helm for legendary high school grid coach, it would also mark the school’s first year of competition in a new league. The Central Western Conference, later known as the Monroe County League, consisted of Rochester suburban schools and was considered a grueling schedule in all sports.

As newcomers to the league, Batavia High was considered an underdog in several grid contests that fall. Football sectionals were still years away and New York schools allowed for an eight game schedule at the time. By the time the final game rolled around, Batavia had amassed a record of six wins and one loss. Despite the impressive showing, the Blue Devils were considered a huge underdog in the season finale against a formidable Rush-Henrietta team.  The undefeated Comets were the home team and loaded with size and speed.

On a gray November afternoon, the Blue Devils scored first – and last - to win by a final score of 20 – 14. Not only did the Blue Devils send Coach VanDetta out on winning note and a share of the league crown, they left an indelible mark in the annals of Batavia High football.

Time hasn’t diminished my memory of that November afternoon and the Batavia supporters in attendance that day, most of which spilled onto the field after the final whistle, filled with satisfaction,  brimming with an emotion that can only be described as Blue Devil pride.

In December of ’68 the Democrat & Chronicle released the results of the All-Greater Rochester Area football team, an area encompassing 10 counties.  That year the All-Greater Rochester Team didn’t consist of both offensive and defensive teams, voters simply selected the best eleven players.  Among the top eleven were Blue Devils Jim Dzierzanowski, Neil Kiersz and Jim Briggs, seen in top photo.

Second photo shows Bill Weld and Wayne Niebch, defensive line mates in ’68. Third photo shows myself and Gary Dawson flanking Thom Beers, the Blue Devil’s kick returner that autumn, now the creator and executive producer of hit reality television shows including Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers.   

Crew of cutups from class of ’69….the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Left to right Jim Dzierzanowski, Rick Haitz, Neil Kiersz, Jim Nigro, Jim Briggs, & Jim Catino