Notre Dame

 Perry (4-3) vs. Notre Dame (5-2)

3 p.m. Saturday, at East Rochester

Surprise, surprise. 

While everybody was looking forward to seeing post season rivals Notre Dame and C.G. Finney playing each other in the semifinals, Perry knocked off Finney and gets a crack at the Fighting Irish.

The Yellowjackets knocked off Finney 32-22 in the first round and are now playing the Cinderella role in this playoff.

James Devitt rushed the ball 19 times in that game for 124 yards and Zane Hendrickson pitched in 70 yards as Perry seems to be playing its best football of the season. The Yellowjackets started off 0-2 and have won 4-of-5 games since.

Notre Dame is playing some real solid football right now and is coming off a 55-6 conquering of DeSales. The Fighting Irish rushed for 313 yards in the game and were led by Kevin Schildwaster's 12 carries for 131 yards.

Schildwaster keeps getting better every week it seems and now has 617 yards and eight touchdowns. He's assisted in the backfield by Mike Pratt, who has 506 yards on the ground.

Notre Dame has been involved in a pair of blowouts over the last two weekends and have gotten a lot of experience for other runners, like Greg Barr, Beau Richter, Gianni Zambito and Jon Corona.

But ND might go away from the run a little bit in this game because the East Rochester field has turf.

Nick Bochicchio has proven to be one of the top quarterbacks in the league and has the ultimate weapon on his side in receiver Kevin Francis. He's probably the fastest player in the Genesee Region League and if Bochicchio can get him the ball in space; he's gone.

Francis returned a punt for a touchdown last week and caught 27 passes for 337 yards and five TDs during the regular season. He added a touchdown reception in the playoff opener.

Notre Dame received an honorable mention in the state rankings this week and would advance to the finals next weekend against the winner of the Dundee/Geneseo game with a victory.

I am getting a jump on my previews for tomorrow and just saw something that made me crack a little smile.

 The newest version of the New York State Sportswriters Association state rankings came out today and our area teams are doing very well.

Le Roy moved up from fourth to third in Class C after demolishing Hornell last week and Oakfield-Alabama made the jump from No. 10 to No. 8.

Pembroke had not been ranked all season long and was getting an honorable mention before losing to O-A in Week 6, but fell off the board after that. The Dragons are making their first appearance on the official top 20 list at No. 17 this week.

Notre Dame received its first honorable mention this week in Class D after thumping DeSales last week.

It is nice to see the state is giving props to teams from our area. Now hopefully our local teams can prove them right.

 Notre Dame junior Stephanie Lapple had a great showing this Monday at Ridgemont Country Club at the Section 5 Fall Golf Championships.

The guys play golf in the spring, but the girls play in the fall and she was the only Genesee Region League participant in the event. 

Lapple shot a 44 on the front 9 and a 46 on the back for a 90, which was good for a sixth place tie.

Penfield senior Sarah Tranelli fired an impressive 73 to win the event, which featured the top 28 female golfers in  Section 5.

Saturday's Class D semifinal game between Perry and Notre Dame was originally scheduled to be played in Waterloo.

Section 5 did the right thing and moved the game closer, and to a great facility.

The game between No. 7 Perry (4-3) and No. 3 Notre Dame (5-2) will be at East Rochester High School at 3 p.m. Saturday.

I will be there and encourage as many GR football fans to attend the game and give our local team support as they look to make the finals.

The Notre Dame Girls Cross Country Team placed fifth in the small school race at the Clarence Invitational held at Akron Falls Park.  Ashley Calarco, still bothered by a tender foot,  placed second in the race in 21:31.  Teammate Jill Marshall placed 20th with 23:34.  Meghan Zickl (24:25), Rachel Berggren (25:12), and Haley Alexander (29:53) rounded out the scoring for the Irish.  Other finishers included Teresa Jackson (30:52), Kate Spadaccia (32:55), Tia Arnold (34:47), and LeeAnn Tindell (34:47).

While the Irish Varisty Team took the race off, the JV's raced to place 13th among all schools.  Andrew Fischer led the charge placing 53rd in 20:37.  Vince Stadler (22:10) and Matt Sausner (22:15) placed 95th and 98th respectively.  Conlan Edwards (30:55) and James Barcomb (41:43) rounded out the scoring for the Irish.

All Genesee/Livingston County Cross Country Teams will be in action on Thursday at Genesee Community College for the GR/LC County Championships.  The Boys race begins at 4:30, with the Girls to follow at 5:05.

Notre Dame High School will hold an open house for prospective students on Thursday, October 23, 2008 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the high school’s campus located at 73 Union Street in the City of Batavia. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.

No. 6 DeSales (3-3) at No. 3 Notre Dame (4-2)

1:30 p.m. Saturday

Anybody that was at Aquinas High School for the 2006 sectional finals game between Notre Dame and C.G. Finney will always remember the Fighting Irish players running towards the stands to celebrate a championship with their fans.

The players were holding the trophy high as they were on top of the world, just knocking off state ranked Finney, which came into the game undefeated.

 Nick Bochicchio was a waterboy on that team and was as much there to support his older brother Christian, who was the quarterback on that squad.

Now, the younger Bochicchio is a junior and the starting QB that is looking to lead the Fighting Irish to a Class D championship. The playoffs kick off this weekend with a home game against DeSales.

Notre Dame has a lot to look forward to during this playoff run, including a possible matchup with Finney - which is always a good time - in the semifinals, but will not be overlooking DeSales in the opening round.

The Saints do not excel at any one thing, but do many things well. They will mix in the pass with a run offense that is led by running back Brandon Wright.

Senior Brendan Costello is a solid quarterback that will look to get the ball in the hands of sophomore playmaker Erin Edwards-Rhymes as much as possible.

DeSales plays in the tough Finger Lakes West and has scored 174 points while giving up 166.

Notre Dame has been playing some good football of late, with wins over Holley and Elba/Byron-Bergen in the last two weeks.

The running back duo of Kevin Schildwaster and Mike Pratt has proven to be a strong 1-2 punch. 

Schildwaster leads the squad with 487 yards and seven touchdowns with Pratt not far behind with 440 yards and five scores. The backfield has plenty of depth with Gianni Zambito and Greg Barr emerging as solid backups in recent weeks.

Bochicchio is well over 600 yards passing and has it made with receiver Kevin Francis on the field. Every time Francis gets the ball in his hands, he is a threat to take it to the house.

The winner of this game will play either No. 2 C.G. Finney (4-1) or No. 7 Perry (3-3) next weekend.

Just a reminder, high school football previews will be posted as I finish them tomorrow.

I will also be doing special playoff previews for Notre Dame and Alexander, which kick off their playoff runs on Saturday. 

Tim Sullivan was an unlikely Division I basketball player when he graduated from Notre Dame High School back in 1978.

He lacked the size and didn't put up numbers in high school that would make big schools look at an undersized player from Genesee County.

But he did just that, walking on to the Canisius basketball team and playing at that high level. He also played for the Syracuse Shooting Stars and spent a few weeks on the roster of the Buffalo Rapids of the ABA, just a few years back.

I have gotten to know Sullivan over the years as he has helped many area youngsters with the game of basketball and we had a chance to catch up Tuesday afternoon.

It turns out, things are going quite well for the shooting expert.

He recently won a 3-point shooting competition  - at the still Hooping 3-on-3 3-point shooting contest - against some pretty hefty competition, namely former NBA stars Glen Rice, Hersey Hawkins and Dale Ellis. He won the contest two years ago and was second last year.

Sullivan is continuing to work as an instructor at camps all across the country.

He puts on about 250 clinics per year and works for ADIDAS Phenom camp in San Diego, California.

Sullivan does one-on-one work with individual D-1 prospects and helps with instruction at many colleges, including Syracuse University, Indiana University and the University of Kentucky.

Sullivan said he has studied the science of shooting and has figured out how anybody can be a 3-point shooting star. Check out this video I found on YouTube, where he does not miss an attempt in almost 3 minutes.

You can also check out his Web site for more information.

The Notre Dame Boys Cross Country Team came away with the crown on Saturday at the Pembroke Invitational.  ND knocked off Pembroke, the number one ranked Section V small school, by eleven points for the victory.  ND has been ranked third in the polls behind the Dragons and Oakfield. 

Freshman Quin O'Connor (17:17) placed third in the race, just a couple of seconds behind second place finisher Colin Bartholomew of Pembroke.  The Irish placed their top 5 runners in the top 15 of the race to secure the victory over the Dragons.  Kevin Pawlak finished 6th for the Irish in 17:51, with Matt Jackson 9th in 18:12, Nate Flumerfeldt 12th (18:26) and Eric Shormann 14th in 18:38.

The Genesee/Livingston Cross Country League finishes up their regular season this Tuesday.  The Irish are in a position to win the Division III title with wins over Pavilion and Alexander at Pembroke.  HFL looks to have Division I all wrapped up and Oakfield in full control of the Divison II title.

 Elba/Byron-Bergen (1-4) at Notre Dame (3-2)

1:30 p.m. Saturday

The Fighting Irish are currently the No. 4 seed in Class D and will be looking to get things in order to start a sectional run next week. A loss would mean Notre Dame would lose a home game in the first round as they would probably move down to No. 5.

Notre Dame is doing it all on the offensive side of the ball.

Nick Bochicchio has over 500 yards passing and is getting better every week and he has a great target in Kevin Francis at wide receiver.

Bochicchio has the luxury of having a good running game to go with the passing attack.

Kevin Schildwaster had his best week of the season in last week's win over Holley and now has 358 rushing yards with five touchdowns. Mike Pratt has 348 yards and five TDs.

You never know what you are going to get from the Fighting Irish on offense.

The Lancers have had some serious struggles this season as the Byron-Bergen kids are still learning how to play the game.

But there have been some signs of potential.

Zach Green has become a star in the Elba/Byron-Bergen backfield and he gets plenty of help from Brandon Spurling.

The Lancers like to throw the ball around a little bit with quarterback Eric Kowalik and have the potential to do big things with Cody Torpey, who will line up at receiver, running back and quarterback.

Elba/Byron-Bergen is on the outside looking in when it comes to sectionals at this point. The Lancers are the No. 9 seed in Class C and a win on Saturday would be a big help if they want to get that eighth seed and the fun first round matchup against either Le Roy, Oakfield-Alabama or Pembroke. 

 The Holley football team was playing under rented lights Friday, and from what I've been told there were not enough to make the game watchable on that field.

There was no scoreboard rented for the game, so the Hawks hosted yet another game without anybody knowing how much time was gone in each quarter.

But those lights that were rented by Holley were turned off in a hurry as Notre Dame nearly doubled the offensive production the Hawks had and picked up an easy 34-14 victory.

The Fighting Irish led 14-0 after the first quarter, 21-6 at the half, 28-14 after three and then 34-14 at the end.

Notre Dame had 330 yards of offense while Holley could muster just 180.

Kevin SChildwaster led all rushers with 18 carries for 120 yards and three touchdowns with Mike Pratt pitching in 102 yards and two scores on 15 attempts.

Nick Bochicchio completed 7-of-8 pass attempts.

Kyle Steadman led Holley (0-5) with 40 rushing yards on seven carries with Sean Baylor leading all tacklers with 12.

Rick Lair had eight tackles to lead Notre Dame (3-2).

 The Alexander girls soccer team had some key players out with injury and had to fight through the rain and the cold wind that Genesee Community College's fields produce, but gained the experience of playing in those conditions to beat host Notre Dame 5-0.

The Trojans lead Division I of the Genesee Region League with an 8-4-2 record.

While the temperatures were cold at the start of the game, it didn't take long before the wind picked up and the rain started coming down. 

The conditions led to some sloppy play over the first 10 minutes or so, and both squads had opportunities to score off corner kicks but were not able to convert.

But Alexander settled in and took over after a few minutes.

Sophomore midfielder Tessa Bigelow took a pass from freshman forward Julia Pettys and scored 11:53 in.

Pettys then scored 14 minutes later to give the Trojans a firm 2-0 advantage.

Morgan Mattice scored 29:21 in off a pass by Savannah VanSon.

Exchange student Anni Lehtola pitched in a second half goal and Pettys assisted another Mattice goal in the closing moments.

Hannah Wilson only needed to stop one shot to earn the shutout for Alexander.

Notre Dame keeper Nicole Guilds stopped 10 shots in the contest as the Fighting Irish fall to 1-10.

Updated with video. Sorry for the poor sound quality. The wind was out of control.

 Notre Dame (2-2) at Holley (0-4)

7 p.m. Friday

The Fighting Irish lost against Pembroke in the opening week of the season and bounced back to beat Attica.

They lost to Oakfield-Alabama last week and will now be looking to get back to winning against a Holley squad that has yet to win a game.

ND played a solid defensive half and held the Hornets to just seven points, then had a chance to tie the game early in the third quarter when a halfback option call backfired and led to an interception near the end zone.

O-A rolled after that and Notre Dame had what was probably its weakest offensive game of the season.

A weak offense shouldn't be a problem this week against Holley, which is playing under rented lights. Hopefully the school rented a scoreboard as well because watching a game there is painful without a game clock.

Nick Bochicchio has put up more attempts than any other quarterback in the Genesee Region League this season and has compiled 463 yards through the air. He attempted 34 passes in the opening week of the season.

His favorite target is Kevin Francis, who has 242 receiving yards and has the ability to get into the end zone any time he touches the ball on on offense or special teams.

The Fighting Irish rushing attack features two solid runners.

Mike Pratt has 243 yards and five TDs and will bounce off would-be tacklers all day while Kevin Schildwaster is a speedster that has compiled 238 yards and two touchdowns.

Craig Houseknecht, Rick Lair and Greg Barr are the three leading ND tacklers.

The Hawks came close to getting that elusive first win last week against Alexander. Holley was leading 8-6 before the Trojans kicked a field goal with eight minutes left to get the victory.

Guy Hills is the biggest playmaker on the Holley roster, but Mike Pernicano has the ability to bust a run if his line can open a hole.