oakfield-alabama

Submitted photo and information from Genesee Valley Educational Partnership:

Decision Day was held Friday at the Western New York Tech Academy. It is similar to a college signing day.

A total of 10 WNY Tech Academy students were honored for officially declaring the pathways they will pursue as they complete their free applied associate degrees through Genesee Community College.

The students could choose to study Accounting, Food Processing Technology, or Supply Chain Management.

Staff, administrators, business partners and parents attended Decision Day.

The high school juniors who participated are named below, along with their high school and declared paths of study. They are in the top photo.

• Brett Bogardus, of Perry -- Accounting
• Dante Brent, of Attica -- Accounting
• Cameron Durfee, of Attica -- Supply Chain Management
• Nathan Geise, of Warsaw -- Accounting
• Holly Grisewood, of Perry -- Accounting
• Devon Heick, of Byron-Bergen -- Food Processing Technology
• Trevor Pahl, of Pavilion -- Food Processing Technology
• Veronica Shepherd, of Le Roy -- Accounting
• Carl Stachura, Batavia -- Accounting

(Everett Claud, of Perry, is not pictured. He will study Supply Chain Management.)

In addition, the Tech Academy also recognized 12 seniors in Friday's program:

• Collin Aquina, of Oakfield-Alabama -- Supply Chain Management);
• Gabriel Bucknam, of Perry -- Food Processing Technology;
• Stephanie Dibble, of Batavia -- Supply Chain Management;
• Zachary Evert, of Attica -- Supply Chain Management;
• Abigail Hackett, of Pavilion -- Supply Chain Management);
• Evan Harter, of Byron-Bergen -- Accounting;
• Peyton Heesch, of Caledonia-Mumford -- Supply Chain Management;
• Dylan Kipfer, of Attica -- Supply Chain Management;
• Cole Lowery, of Pavilion -- Food Processing Technology;
• Peyton Penders, of Pavilion -- Food Processing Technology;
• Alexis Jade Reed, of Batavia -- Food Processing Technology;
• Jace Hilton Vilinsky, of Avon -- Supply Chain Management.

For more information about the WNY Tech Academy visit wnytechacademy.org

About Western New York Tech Academy

It is a program of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership. The Partnership operates as a Board of Cooperative Educational Services offering shared programs and services to 22 component school districts located in Genesee, Wyoming, Livingston and Steuben counties in New York State.

With a three-point jumper late in the second quarter, Elba's Colton Dillion pegged his 1,000th career point during the Lancers' away game against the Oakfield-Alabama Hornets. 

The game was stopped briefly for Colton to be awarded with a commemorative 1,000-point ball.

The Lancers, now 9-2, won 59-52. O-A drops to 6-4 on the season.

Colton scored 20 points in the game. Greyson Huntington scored 11. Zach Marsceill scored nine, Collin O'Halloran, eight, Andrew Hale, seven.

For the Hornets, Kam Cusmano scored 10, and Travis Wiedeich, Joey Burdick, and Gage Armbruster had nine each.

UPDATE: A photo of Colton Dillon taking the three-point shot that put Dillion right on 1,000 career points. Submitted by Kristen Smith.  For more photos from the game, click here.

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Oakfield-Alabama, coming into the game with a 5-4, upset the #1 Class D team in the state Tuesday night, beating the Elba Lady Lancers (7-1), 48-45.

Both Brianna Smith and Kelsey Schlagenhauf notched double-doubles, with Smith scoring 22 points and nabbing 10 rebounds. Schlagenhauf scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. MaKena Reding scored six points and Brooke Reding scored six. Karly Smith had 10 rebounds.

Lauryn Engle scored 12 points, Lea Bezon 10, and Brynn Walczak, nine. Bezon and Walczak each had eight rebounds. Bezon had five assists. Engle hit four three-pointers.

Photos by Kristen Smith. For more photos from the game, click here.

Oakfield-Alabama beat Notre Dame on the Fighting Irish home court on Thursday night 68-56.

For the Hornets, Travis Wiedrich scored 25 points and Joey Burdick scored 18. They each hit three three-pointers.

Gabe Macdonald scored 18 for ND and Cody Henry scored 10.

Photos by Kristen Smith, click here. For JV photos, click here.

In the small school first-round game between Elba and Oakfield-Alabama in the Pete Arras Lions Tournament at Genesee Community College, Elba came out on top 50-46.

Colton Dillion scored 31 points to lead the Lancers to victory and Travis Wiedrich scored 16 for O-A.

Top photo: Colton Dillion.

Photos by Philip Casper.

Elba's Caleb Scouten on a drive to the basket against O-A's Spencer Murphy.

Elba's Collin O'Halloran

O-A's Travis Wiedrich

The Aggies won't get a chance to officially defend their 8-Man Football state championship because the other sections in the state dropped out of the competition, but with a convincing 60-34 win over Maple Grove in the Section V championship at St. John Fisher College, they left little doubt who is #1.

Ty Mott, who gained 202 yards, scored three touchdowns and intercepted two passes, was the game's most valuable player. 

Colton Dillon was the offensive player of the game. He rushed for 296 yards, giving him 1,473 yards on the season. He scored four times.

The defensive player of the game was Dylan Rykert who had eight tackles giving him 81 on the season. He also had two sacks. CJ Gottler had three sacks. Dillion had nine tackles.

The Batavian's coverage is the only Section V Athletics-authorized local coverage of the 8-Man championship.

Photos below by Kristin Smith. For more photos, click here, here, and here.

The Oakfield-Alabama/Elba Aggies racked up 514 yards on their way to a 55-0 victory at Van Detta Stadium in the eight-man football Section V semifinal game against Frewsburg.

OA/Elba plays Mercy Grove at Van Detta at 1:30 p.m. next Saturday (Nov. 16) for the sectional championship.

QB Colton Dillon ran for 193 yards and scored three touchdowns. Ty Mott ran for 155 yards and scored two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.

Ty Kornow scored on a 59-yard run and Gaige Armbrewster scored on a 30-yard run. Nick Munger had a TD reception.

Peyton Yasses was involved in 18 tackles, Jayden Hughes and Dylan Rykert, 14 each, Alex Hoy, 13. Rykert had four sacks, CJ Gottler, three, and Yasses, Hughes, Dillon had one apiece. Joey Burdick had two interceptions.

The Batavian's sideline coverage is authorized by Section V Athletics.

Photos below by Kristin Smith. More photos available here and here.

Oakfield-Alabama's open house on Thursday night was capped off by the music department's annual cabaret show, which featured some of the students' favorite show tunes.

For Tim Adams, owner of Adams Welding and Manufacturing in Stafford, donating steel for a class project at Oakfield-Alabama High School is a chance to help students discover a possible career.

For the students, it's a chance to explore a trade and learn new skills.

For the Genesee County Fair, they'll receive new gate racks.

You might call it a win-win-win.

"Any chance kids have for an opportunity to learn a skill or an opportunity to if something is something they want to do in a future career, whether it be welding, electrical, plumbing, or carpentry, any kind of skilled trade, I don't see that as a bad thing," Adams said. "Perhaps they will fall in love with it and like it."

While not necessarily calling it a career just yet, Cierra Tiede said she went from being fearful of welding to really enjoying it.

"It was pretty cool," Tiede said. "I've done another welding projects before, but this was a bigger scale and it was cool to see it all come together in the end."

Instructor Todd Hofheins said it was a great project for the students to learn how to work together as a team, to divide up their labor, coordinate, and ensure all of the five racks are uniform in size and quality.

"The racks need to hold close to 2,000 pounds so they've got to be done properly," Hofheins said.

Without the donation of steel from Adams, the project wouldn't have been possible, Hofheins said.

The girl's basketball team at Oakfield-Alabama held a color run Saturday as a fundraiser for the program.

After falling behind in the first half, Oakfield-Alabama made a run of it in the third quarter against Maple Grove in the Class C Far West Regional Championship game at Buffalo State College and looked like they might pull it out but a six-point fourth quarter doomed the effort.

The Hornets lost 44-38.

Brianna Smith scored 14 points for O-A. Tori Mandel added nine and Kelsey Schlagenhauf and Danica Porter added five apiece.​

Photos by Thomas Ognibene from Steve Ognibene Photography.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

The Oakfield-Alabama Hornets beat the Avon Braves at Genesee Community College Wednesday night 46-25 to advance to the Far West Regional championship in Class C.

The Hornets will play Maple Grove at 3 p.m., Saturday, at Buffalo State.

Deputy Howard Wilson started working as the school resource officer for Oakfield-Alabama Central School District at the end of January. The position was officially approved by the Genesee County County Legislature last week, and Friday we got a chance to talk with Wilson about his new job.

Here's a press release from the Sheriff's Office:

Genesee County Sheriff William A. Sheron Jr. is pleased to announce that as a result of the collaboration between the Genesee County Legislature, Oakfield-Alabama Central School Board and the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, the assignment of a School Resource Officer has been approved.

Deputy Howard O. Wilson V has been selected by the Oakfield-Alabama Central School District as its School Resource Officer. Deputy Wilson is a five-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office. He was hired as a Correction Officer in 2014 and then appointed to Deputy Sheriff in 2016. During his tenure, he has earned three Commendations.

"The Oakfield-Alabama School District and Board are proud to have Deputy Sheriff Howard Wilson serve as our School Resource Officer," said Superintendent John Fisgus. "We look forward in creating a positive working relationship with him as he will serve to help and assist our students and community in many different facets.

"Thank you to the Genesee County Sheriff's Office for this agreement.”

Sheriff Sheron indicated that his goal has always been to establish a School Resource Officer in all county schools to ensure the safety and protection of the students and faculty.

“With the assignment of Deputy Wilson in the Oakfield-Alabama Schools, we are that much closer to our goal," the sheriff said. "Although the cost associated with placing a School Resource Officer in the schools is significant, I believe the safety and security of our children should be of the utmost precedence.”

Superintendent John Fisgus, Undersheriff Brad Mazur, Sheriff William Sheron, Deputy Howard Wilson, and Legislator John Hilchey.

If a high school basketball team can play a perfect first half of a game, that's what the Oakfield-Alabama Hornets did Saturday morning on their way to an upset victory over #1 seed South Seneca in the Class C3 Section V championship match at Victor High School.

O-A won 43-39. 

"Offensively, we were knocking some shots down," said Coach Jeff Schlagenhauf. "Defensively, I thought we were incredibly good. One of the big things that hurt us in the quarter-final and the semifinal was rebounding. We got outrebounded in both games so for the last two days in practice we said, 'look it, we've got to rebound the ball' and I thought we did a really good job."

In the second half, South Seneca started knocking down shots and shaved the O-A lead significantly but the Hornets didn't break. They maintained their mental toughness, countered with their own points and stuck to their defensive game plan.

"You're right, any time they made a run, we had a big play," Schlagenhauf said. "Sometimes it's those little things. There was a couple of deflections that ended up going out of bounds that we got our hands on that changed the possession. Kelsey had a great tie-up on a rebound that gave us a possession. Those are little things that sometimes go unnoticed, but that's how we got back in the game the other night against Keshequa."

For O-A, Tori Mandel scored 14 points and tournament MVP Danica Porter scored 11 points. She also had seven rebounds and Kelsey Schlagenhauf scored six points and had eight rebounds. 

The leading scorer for the Hornets on the year, Brianna Smith, with a 15-points-per-game average and 364 points on the year, was held to six points. She also had seven rebounds.

Watch the video for more comments from Schlagenhauf, Mandel and Smith (with our apologies for not including Porter in the video but the cameraman messed up that interview).

Kris Kramer shared this picture from last night at Oakfield-Alabama High School of ice on the trees in the traffic circle after girls basketball last night.

Below, a picture from Chelsea DIbble of ice on a road sign in Indian Falls this morning.

The Elba Lancers stepped on the gas in the final two minutes of their championship game in the Lions Tournament, smaller schools' bracket, against Oakfield-Alabama for a 69-61 win.

The intense play of Colton Dillon (top photo), tournament MVP, and Jon Boyce overcame a 30-point performance by Joey Burdick for the Hornets.

Dillon scored 18 points and Boyce scored 17. 

This was Dillon's third game back after missing the start of the season with an injury. He may have been the difference maker Friday night.

"He's such a dynamic athlete," Coach Ciaci Zambito said. "I mean the things that he can do you really can't coach. I'm super lucky to have a kid like that. The other thing is, he is one of the hardest working kids I've ever even been around or let alone coached. You've got to kick him out of the gym every day and on Sunday mornings. He will text me tomorrow morning asking to get in the gym. I can guarantee that."

Boyce, who has the big man on the court in Dillon's absence, said having Dillon back is one more piece of team chemistry that keeps the unit rolling.

"This is a team sport," Boyce said. "You can't do it by yourself. Every night, sharing the ball, taking care of each other you always. It's not just one person that can do it all. We're all fighting. We all know our role. Coach talked a lot about roles before the game. The whole season he's been preaching it. We all know our role."

Zambito gave O-A Coach Ryan Stehlar and the Hornets a lot of credit. He knew they would be a tough matchup and he had to have his guys ready.

"We really needed to match their intensity tonight," Zambito said. They play real hard and that's a testament to their coach. When we play Oakfield, we always know that we're going to get their best shot. He always has them ready to go.

"The second thing, as far as a scheme goes, we needed to get back in transition. They push the ball really well even after makes, which is rare for a high school team. They really get down the floor well. So we needed to come back and be ready to play defense."

Besides Burdick's big night (he hit five three-point shots), Travis Wiedrich scored 14 points for O-A.

Elba outscored the Hornets 22-13 in the final quarter. 

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The Attica Blue Devils beat the Oakfield-Alabama Hornets in a game played at O-A on Monday night, 58-48.

Travis Wiedrich scored 17 points for the Hornets and Joey Bordick scored 13.

For Attica, Devon Henderson scored 18 points. Frankie Bisceglie scored 14.

CORRECTION: In our story on the upcoming Lions' Tournament, we incorrectly referred to Coach Ryan Stehlar as a first-year coach. He is in his sixth year coaching the Hornets. We apologize for the error.

To purchase prints, click here.

The Oakfield-Alabama Central School District’s Board of Education (BOE), has selected John Fisgus as the district’s next superintendent.

 "I am deeply honored and extremely excited to join the Oakfield-Alabama school community and family," Fisgus said. "I am eager to begin my work as your next superintendent and I am excited to work for such a great board and staff at Oakfield-Alabama. It is my mission to make O-A a 'District of Distinction' and through collaboration and teamwork, the place to be!"

Matt Lamb, president of the Oakfield-Alabama Central School District’s Board of Education, said: "The Board of Education truly values the input we received from the various stakeholder groups who met with the candidates to help us make a final decision.

"We are confident that John Fisgus will lead our district through the issues we face in our region. With his leadership, we will work together to deliver the best education possible for our students.”

Fisgus is currently the principal of Royalton-Hartland Middle School, in the Royalton-Hartland Central School District (RHCSD), where he has served since 2008. His responsibilities as principal include supervising and hiring all instructional and support staff, developing and managing a building budget as well as assisting with the district budget development process.

Fisgus created honor courses in all four academic core subjects within the middle school and is the facilitator of the district’s Professional Learning Community Team. Prior to that, he served as the assistant principal at Lake Shore Middle School.

Fisgus began his career in education in 1998 as an eighth-grade math teacher at Depew Middle School in the Depew Union Free School District.

He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Secondary Mathematics Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Fisgus earned a Master of Science in School Administration from Canisius College and holds a New York State School Administrator/Supervisor and School Administrator Certificate.

The anticipated start date for the new superintendent is January.

Kevin MacDonald, district superintendent of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, acted as the search consultant and noted that the search process was a true collaboration between the Board of Education, district staff and community.

Article by Mike Cintorino, OAE head coach.

The Oakfield-Alabama/Elba Football Team completed a perfect season on Saturday, finishing 8-0 and defeating the Weedsport Warriors 48-6 in the first-ever New York Upstate Championship in Eight-man Football. 

Once again it was the defense, as it has been the last three games for OAE, that truly set the tone for the day. 

After an opening offensive drive stalled for OAE, the defense got the ball right back after a 3 and out. 

Colton Dillon, Section V Offensive Player of the Year, scored the first three touchdowns for OAE. Dillon finished with 128 rushing yards on 13 carries with scores of 2, 6 and 61 yards. 

Gage Dieterle (Section V Defensive Player of the Year) added to his resume, earning MVP honors for the game. Dieterle only carried the ball six times but ran for 119 yards and for two big scores with runs of 50 and 35. 

Ty Mott continued his strong season with 21 carries for 158 yards and a 44-yard touchdown. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Peyton Yasses led the team with 13 tackles while Dieterle had five tackles with two sacks, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries. Mott and Ty Kornow both came away with interceptions. 

For the third-straight game, the OAE defense held the opposing offense out of the end zone. Weedsports lone score came on a 60-yard kickoff return by Hunter Morgan for a touchdown to open the second half. Jake Maloof led the Warriors with 87 yards on 13 carries.  

This has been an unbelievably successful season for the OAE team. The team overcame adversity with the switch to eight-man, learning to apply everything they have done in 11-man and apply it to this new opportunity. The team is 8-0 on the season, League Champions, Section V Champions, and NY Upstate Champions. 

Photos by Cindy Cassada .

Colton Dillion, #2

Gage Dieterle

Ty Mott

MVP Gage Dieterle