Notre Dame

In the late 1960s, when David Pero played boys basketball for Notre Dame, one of the schools annual opponents that always presented a challenge was St. Mary's School for the Deaf out of Buffalo.

The boys played hard and and ran their plays with no verbal communication.

It was quite an experience, as Pero remembered it. As the girls basketball coach at Notre Dame, Pero thought his team should share the same experience.

"This is a life lesson," Pero said. "Our girls get a chance to see that people with disabilities might play the game differently, but it's the same game and they're just as aggressive as we are."

Notre Dame hosted a pre-season scrimmage tonight with St. Mary's, the Rochester School for the Deaf and Geneseo High School participating.

"We thought it would be a great experience for our kids, our girls, to have a scrimmage with hearing teams and with another deaf team," said Tim Kelly, St. Mary's superintendent. "All four schools are getting a great experience playing against schools they wouldn't necessarily play against."

Notre Dame and St. Mary's haven't played competitively against each other in years, since both left the Smith League. The Fighting Irish are now part of Section V and the Genesee Region. St. Mary's and Rochester School for the Deaf are independent teams.

"They were always, always a good basketball team," Pero said. "They would give you all you wanted. We probably only ever beat them, all the years we played them, by three, four, five points, because they always had very good teams."

The scrimmage was a great chance for the teams to learn from each other and about each other, Kelly said.

"We're always looking at our school to have our kids reach their full potential both academically and athletically and this certainly helps our girls reach their full potential," Kelly said.

The scrimmage was sponsored by T.F. Brown's owner Rick Mancuso.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Attica took home a share of the Genesee Region League championship after defeating Notre Dame, 28-14.

Notre Dame came into the contest with a chance to finish undefeated in the regular season, and win the league outright for the first time since 2002. For Attica, a win would guarantee them at least a share of the league title. It would also guarantee them home field advantage in the first round of sectionals, and it would avenge a loss to the Fighting Irish almost exactly one year ago that cost them the league championship.

It would be Attica who would come out on top in this game, forcing a three-way tie with Notre Dame and Alexander.

The Blue Devils saw the return of star running back Matt Perry, who missed the last two games due to injury, and they felt his impact immediately. Perry ripped off a long run to put Attica deep into Notre Dame territory, before he finished off the drive with a 24-yard touchdown run less than five minutes into the game.

Notre Dame would respond a few minutes later after their star, quarterback Tim McCulley, took off on a 58-yard touchdown run to knot the game at 7.

Neither team could gain the upper-hand throughout the second quarter, with Attica getting the best opportunity of the frame after they stopped an Irish fake punt attempt inside their own 20 with five seconds left in the half. The Devils would miss a field goal as time expired and the score remained tied at halftime.

Perry would strike again, ripping off a long run to set up another seven-yard touchdown scamper early into the third quarter to take a 14-7 lead. Attica would strike again less than two minutes later after Jake Dollard scored on a 40-yard run to take a two-score lead.

The Irish refused to go away, however, as they cut the lead in half just before the end of the third quarter as McCulley found Jason Hart in the end zone on a six-yard pass just after McCulley found Josh Johnson on a 32-yard pass and catch on third down to move the chains.

Attica would once again respond, as they began their ensuing possession at midfield. Jake Strzelec, who scored two touchdowns a week ago, would scamper 23 yards to regain their 14-point lead just a minute into the fourth quarter.

The Blue Devil defense would hold strong in the fourth quarter, keeping Notre Dame out of the end zone, including a big stand on fourth down at the Attica 16-yard line with just four minutes to play in the game.

“We challenged our team,” said Attica Head Coach Rob Cusmano. “We had worked hard all season. It has been 366 days since [Notre Dame] beat us. They thought about that and worked very hard since then.”

Notre Dame struggled to find their rhythm on offense all night, as the Attica defense held the Irish to 163 yards of total offense, including 35 on the ground.

After throwing six touchdown passes a week ago, McCulley was held to just 12-of-34 passing for 128 yards and was sacked eight times.

“We didn’t execute,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Rick Mancuso. “We dropped a couple of balls, missed a couple of blocks and they played well defensively. We didn’t make good of the opportunities when we had them, they are a very good ball club.”

The return of Perry was a key factor for the Blue Devils as he picked up 162 yards on 29 carries, and also caught two passes for 44 yards.

However, Attica’s team attack was just as potent on the ground as they racked up 302 rushing yards, 69 from Strzelec.

“Matt [Perry] makes a huge difference,” Cusmano said. “They were keying him in the second half so we hit Stzelec and Dollard for long runs. Perry is a great runner, but we have two other great guys, too.”

While the Irish failed to win the league outright, they still claim a share of the crown along with Attica and Alexander, who defeated Pembroke 41-0. The Trojans defeated Attica three weeks ago, while Notre Dame beat Alexander earlier this season. All three teams finish the regular season with a record of 6-1.

Notre Dame should also still maintain the top seed in Class D as they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with Alexander.

“Our goal was to make sectionals,” Mancuso said. “That’s our goal: to make sectionals and then win it, and hopefully we go a little bit further than we did last year.”

Information and photo provided by John Borrelli.

The JV football squad for Notre Dame beat Alexander yesterday to finish out the season with a 7-0 record.

If the varsity beats Attica tonight, it will be the first time in school history that both JV and varsity went undefeated in the same year.

The team is comprised of the following players and coaches:  Peter Daversa, James Farmer, Larry Infantino, Connor Logsdon, Casey Midwick, Chris Morris, Michael Muehlig, Ethan Osborn, Charlie Stevens, Jack Sutherland, Robin Zhang, David Bohn, Freddie Cunningham, Carson Decarlo, Isaiah Flow, Jordan Lyons, Brad Misiak, Tyler Reese, Jake Weatherwax, Jordan Weatehrwax, Caleb Wolcott, Jimmy Zickl, Nico Zambito, Head Coach John Borrelli, Assitant Coaches Chuck Tomaszewski, Bill Sutherland, Bob Zickl, Otis Thomas and Mikey Rapone.

Norte Dame's senior quarterback Tim McCulley set a new school single-season touchdown pass record today as the Fighting Irish beat Finney 66-24.

McCulley tossed six TD passes, giving him 24 on the season, surpassing the record of 18 set by Doug Condidorio in 1979.

The 24 touchdown passes put McCulley at sixth on Section V's all-time list for a single season. The record is 31, set by Shawn Mizro of Newark in 2002.

McCulley completed 14 of 20 passes for 226 yards, giving him 1,217 on the season. He's completed 68 passes so far this season.

Norte Dame next faces Attica to end the regular season, 7 p.m. Friday in Attica.

With the victory, the Irish (6-0) secure the #1 seed in Class D sectionals.

McCulley also rushed for 50 yards, scoring once on the ground.

Cam Chamberlain carried the ball nine times for 108 yards and two TDs. Peter Daversa also had a rushing touchdown and had 55 yards on two carries.

Leading the receivers was Luca Zambito with 83 yards on four receptions and three TDs scored. Charlie Hebert had four receptions for 61 yards and a TD. Jason Hart grabbed three passes for 31 yards and a TD. Josh Johnson converted two of his receptions into a TD and had 37 yards gained on the day.

Hebert had eight tackles and Joe Zickl had 7.5 tackles. Jack Sutherland, six, Jason Hart, six, Rui Han, five, and Johnson, four and a half.

Time of possession in the game was lopsided in Finney's favor, 36.33 to 11.27. Mike Jones rushed for 224 yards and scored twice on 28 attempts.

In other football action Saturday, Attica beat Elba/Byron-Bergen, 28-6. Attica pulled off the victory even without star running back Matt Perry.

Attica and Alexander are tied for second in the Genesee Region League with records of 5-1, while ND is in first with a record of 6-0.

Batavia beat Greece Arcadia 43-19. Brandon Stevenson gained 72 yards and scored a TD and nabbed an interception. Greg Mruczek was 5-7 passing for 92 yards and two TDs, both pulled in by Jacob Radka.

Photos and information provided by Pete Welker.

In girls soccer, Notre Dame beat Lyndoville yesterday, 3-0. Seventh-grader Callie McCulley scored her first goal and Bailee Welker had two goals to lead ND to victory. McCulley and Taylor Perzia both had assists in the game.

Top photo: Taylor Perzia.

McCulley is congratulated by teammates on her first goal.

Bailee Welker

Hannah Bowen

Hannah Green

Notre Dame ended its three-game losing streak to Elba/Byron-Bergen with a dominating 40 to 7 victory.

For the second consecutive week, Tim McCulley scored five touchdowns for the Fighting Irish, this time all through the air as Notre Dame controlled the game from start to finish.

The Irish opened the scoring as McCulley hooked up with Josh Johnson for a 13-yard TD strike in the first quarter to go up 6-0.

McCulley would later find Jason Hart on a one-yard toss to give the Irish a 13-0 lead. In total, McCulley would throw four touchdown passes in the first half, two more to Johnson on plays of two and 51 yards respectively.

The senior quarterback went 18-for-27 passing for 335 yards and also picked up another 61 on the ground.

The Lancers would get on the board just before the end of the half on a three-yard pass from Garrett Chapell to Chad Kowalik.

Charlie Herbert was on the receiving end of the fifth and final touchdown pass from McCulley late in the third quarter. Herbert racked up 134 yards on six grabs, while Johnson had 161 on seven catches.

The Fighting Irish defense was stout all game, holding Chapell to just 13-of-33 passing for 127 yards and intercepting him four times, once by Johnson.

“Our skilled guys had a good game today, although we did have a couple of lapses,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Rick Mancuso. “I’m really proud of the overall effort, of the great effort that got us to this point, but we have a lot to work on and we are going to get back at it on Monday.”

Brandon Naylor had a strong game for Elba/Byron-Bergen (2-2), carrying the ball 16 times for 100 yards. The Lancers will next travel to Oakfield-Alabama next Friday night.

Notre Dame (4-0) is the only remaining unbeaten team in the Genesee Region League, and they will take on Pembroke next Saturday.

Also Saturday, Batavia lost to Canandaigua Academy 49-12.

Photos by Howard Owens.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Tim McCulley accounted for five touchdowns as Notre Dame routed Alexander 41 to 12.

Both teams entered the contest with 2-0 records, and went toe-to-toe for the first quarter, until the Fighting Irish opened things up.

McCulley started the scoring by capping a 17-play, 88-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Alexander would quickly respond though, scoring on a 75-yard drive, finished by a Dylan Scharlau one-yard run.

However two plays later, the Notre Dame senior quarterback ripped off a 63-yard touchdown run and the Irish never looked back. McCulley would hook up with Josh Johnson on a 30-yard touchdown pass to head into halftime with a 20-6 lead.

Notre Dame received the ball to start the third quarter and proceeded to march 67 yards on 11 plays, capped by a 24-yard touchdown toss from McCulley to Luca Zambito.

McCulley would later intercept a Nelson Burke pass, and capitalize with one more touchdown pass to Charlie Herbert to put the game on ice.

One bright spot for Alexander was the play of Scharlau, who ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns, while the Irish defense held Burke to just 2-of-10 passing for 12 yards and two interceptions.

Notre Dame got one final touchdown after Johnson returned a Trojan onside kick 54 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

McCulley finished the game 10-of-21 passing for 171 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, while also rushing for 108 yards and two scores.

Senior Andrew Mullen had a solid game for the Irish, rushing for 124 yards on 21 carries, while Zambito added four catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.

The Fighting Irish improve to 3-0 and will travel to Elba/Byron-Bergen next week. The Lancers have beaten Notre Dame the last two seasons, keeping them from an undefeated record.

Alexander (2-1) will host Attica next Friday night. 

More stats: Scharlau had seven tackles and one sack. Zach Laird had seven tackles. Jonathan George had eight tackles. Kelsey Patten also recorded a sack for Alexander. For Notre Dame, McCulley rushed for 107 yards on 19 carries. Luca Zambio had four catches for 54 yards and a TD. Charlie Hebert had two receptions for 60 yards and a TD. Josh Johnson gained 35 yards on two receptions and scored. Joe Zickl led the defense with 13 tackels. Dakota Weidman notched the team's only sack.

In other football action today, Elba/Byron Bergen moved to 2-1 with a 41-6 over Holley on in the first game on Holley's brand-new football field. Garrett Chapell, who was 3-6 for 67 yards, threw for two TD and ran for one. Brandon Naylor carried the ball in twice. Austin Yockel snatched his third interception on the season. The Lancers had 315 yards total offense to Holley's 50. Mike Shanley had 11 carries for 107 yards. Andy Underhill had 14 tackles and half a sack. Naylor, 10 tackles, Hunter Taylor 11 and 11 for Steel Truax.

]

Photos by Howard Owens.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Today was the first day of official practice for Section V football teams and we stopped in for the practice sessions at Notre Dame and Batavia, both varsity and JV.

The Kiwanis Club of Batavia honored the top 10 seniors of Batavia High School during its weekly luncheon today.

Honorees were Jenna Mancuso, Niha Idrees, Alexis Logsdon, Andrea Raphael, Rachel Paige Henrici, Rebecca Zinni, Maria Robusto, Lindsay Wrobel, Mark Zinni and Zachary Hale.

Winning awards were Logsdon for citizenship, Samantha Mitchell for band, Wrobel for orchestera and Kaitlin Logsdon for chrous.

Last week the club honored the top 10 seniors from Notre Dame: Timothy Bergman, Ashleigh Cheverie, Margaret Marchese, Madison Cluck, Riley Norton, Jeongui Park, John Tipton, Grace Bergren, Julian Blackburn-Baskin, and Lindsay Hilburger. Awards were given to Peter Kehl, vocal, Cheverie, instrumental, and Bergren, citizenship.

UPDATE: Joe Scanlan e-mailed us pictures from last week's lunch with Notre Dame.

Local athletes competed in the state finals in track and field. Photos by Bare Antolos.

For complete results, click here.

Above, Batavia's Alec Egeli, 110m Hurdles.

Notre Dame's Meghan Duell, Discus.

Notre Dame's Jeffrey Antolos, 3200m.

Without walking seven batters, maybe Notre Dame beats Lyndonville 3-0, Head Coach Mike Rapone said after the Fighting Irish lost to the Tigers 7-3 in a Section V Class D semifinal game at Dwyer Stadium.

Starter Tyler Stroud, normally in command of his pitches, struggled to get the ball over the plate and squandered an early lead. With only a couple of hits, the Irish saw their 3-0 lead slip to 3-2 and then disappear to a 4-3 deficit.

Two of those runs scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball after walks helped Lyndonville base runners advance to third.

"Walks, passed ball, ground out, and little by little we let them back into the game and we never got the momentum back," Rapone said.

Rapone praised the effort of Lyndonville but repeated, it was the walks that did in his team.

"Their pitcher threw a nice game," Rapone said. "He kept us off balance. We didn't hit the ball that well. I think if we didn't walk seven guys, the three runs might have been enough."

The Batavia Blue Devils beat Livonia today to advance to the Section V Class BB championship game in Geneva at 6 p.m., Friday against Pal-Mac. In the Class C final, Pavilion was eliminated by Bolivar-Richburg.

Top photo: Tommy Prospero scores in the first on a steal of home. The Tigers' catcher dropped the ball.

To purchase prints of photos from this game, click here.

]

Notre Dame's golf team won a Section V title in a tournament at the Livingston Country Club in Geneseo.

From left: John Lapple -- 81, Drew Morabito -- 85, Coach Bill Sutherland, Noah Hoy -- 83, Ben Warner -- 87, and Jared Thornton -- 92. This is the second year in a row that they have won the Section 5 Class C Championship with the same five players.

Photo and information submitted by David Warner.

Notre Dame's track team picked up eight titles in yesterday's Section V meet at Wheatland-Chili.

Front Row -- The girls 4x800 championship team: Abby Bleier, Shelby McGinnis, Anna Warner and Emily McCracken and discus champ Meghan Duell.

Back Row -- The boys 4x800 team Brad Misiak, Arron Carlson (also won the 400m hurdles), Jeffrey Antolos (also a 3x individual winner -- 3000m steeplechase, 1600m and 3200m) and shotput champ Rui Han.

For full meet results, click here.

Photo and info submitted by Bare Antolos.

Two home-field pitchers, two dominant performances, a pair of very similar results for Batavia and Notre Dame in Section V playoff games at Dwyer Stadium on Friday.

Behind the 15-K, two-hit performance of Zach Hale, the Blue Devils shutdown Newark 1-0.

In the night cap, Alec Covel was just as masterful for the Fighting Irish. In the process of striking out 10, Covel gave up only one hit, and that wasn't until the top of the 6th inning, leading Notre Dame to a 2-0 victory over Alfred-Almond.

Batavia Head Coach Rick Saunders said Hale pitched the game of the year.

"What a performance," Saunders said. "The whole game is Hale. He got the base hit, and then I pinch run for him, and he's the winning run."

Mike Rapone, head coach of Notre Dame, was just as impressed with the performance of Covel, who started only three games this season prior to Friday because of an injury. Both Rapone and Covel said he came into the game, fresh, strong and eager to pitch.

"He threw only 78 pitches," Rapone said. "He was pounding the strike zone. His curve ball was sharp. He's a great player. He really is."

Both Newark and Alfred are lower seed games, but in sectionals top-ranked teams are going find themselves going against the best pitcher of their opponents.

"Their kid pitch great, too," Rapone said. "That's the thing with sectionals. They've got a .500 record, but they probably won every game that he pitched and maybe they lost all the ones he didn't, so you never know what you're going to run into when you get into sectional tournament. I mean, for a nine seed, heck, that kid threw the ball well."

Saunders was equally impressed with Newark's starter.

"i don't know anything about their pitcher, but I'll tell you, he is quality," Saunders said. "He threw a real nice fastball and a sweet curve ball."

Batavia was limited to four hits, but still managed to get a couple of runners to third. It made Saunders a little nervous when his offense couldn't close the deal.

"We had our chances," Saunders said. "Those games bother me more than anything, when we see guys on third base many times, one out, and you don't score, you go 'oh-oh, something bad can happen.' Nothing bad happened because Hale was in control of the game."

Being out on the mound in a big 1-0 game is exactly where he wanted to be, Hale said.

"I usually throw better later, but especially after we got that run," Hale said. "It really gave me a boost. I'm like, hey, better close it out.

"The rush is crazy," he added. "When you're out there every batter means something. It's not like it's a 10-0 game."

Covel said he just likes to be in that commanding situation, taking control of the game.

"All of my pitches working and with the strong defense behind me, it just gives me all the confidence in the world," Covel said.

Slide show from Batavia game. To order prints, click here.

Slide show for Notre Dame game below. Click here to purchase prints.

The Notre Dame girls softball team closed out the season Friday with a come-from-behind victory over Lyndonville in game played at GCC.

As the defending state champions, the Fighting Irish finish out the season with a 10-8 record, which is good enough to make it to the first round of sectional play, but Head Coach Rick Mancuso said the team still needs to eliminate some mistakes to advance further.

"We're getting better," Mancuso said. "The girls are working really hard. We're not probably where we want to be, but we'll see what happens. We'll throw our hat out there and see how it goes."

Friday's game was a seesaw battle, with Notre Dame and Lyndonville exchange the lead just about every inning.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, down 10-9, the Irish needed to string some hits together and plate two runs to pull out a victory.

The team was loose and confident at the start of the inning and got the job done to notch an 11-10 victory.

"The girls did a great job of rallying back any time we got down," Mancuso said. "They showed a lot of character today."

In the slide show is the sequence of shots from Maddie Mancuso's slide into home in the 4th inning. She was called out. You make the call.

To purchase prints, click here.

Parents, ensure the moments from the recent basketball season are preserved for years to come -- buy prints of photos from the games of the Batavia Blue Devils and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

We captured the post-season action (and for the Notre Dame girls, the Rotary Tournament). (State championship photos are not for sale because of NYSPHSAA rules.)

Click the graphics in this post for links to the galleries of each of the games, which includes all sports covered so far in 2013 for both schools. Or for Batavia, click here, and for Notre Dame, click here.

And for today only, we'll offer one more time: become a member of The Batavian Club and receive a free 13x19 print of the basketball photo of your choice. Click here for details.