oakfield-alabama

Four-year-old Ethan Pritchett watches a marble roll through a track as part of a game at Oakfield-Alabama's annual winter carnival.

More than 1,500 people who attended the event were able to enjoy more than 40 carnival games, music, food and entertainment during the carnival Friday evening.

The carnival is hosted by Oakfield-Alabama Elementary Community School Organization and is a major fundraiser for the group.

David Schichler, 5.

Kadeen Cusmano, 10.

Ashley Ostrander, 8.

Amora Mabon, 5, watches as Deputy Snyder and Deputy McCarthy create a child identification card for her little brother.

A cold, cold night, the ground frozen, what better conditions could there be for a flag football game among middle-schoolers?

Last night Oakfield-Alabama held its Turkey Bowl. There was no trophy, just a chance for students to a unique football game -- a chance to play under the lights of the varsity football field.

The event was the brainchild of teacher Dan Gilbert and was put together with the help of James Patrick and Katie Hilchey.

"We thought something like this around Thanksgiving might promote the family feeling of a small school," Patrick said.

Saturday was National Make a Difference Day and 32 JV and varsity athletes at Oakfield-Alabama Central School along with six teachers participated in a community clean-up day in Oakfield. Participants raked leaves, picked up branches and cleaned up the village.

Alexander kept their hopes alive for a share of the Genesee Region League crown with a 36-8 victory over Oakfield-Alabama on Senior Night.

The Trojans used their muscle to dominate the tempo right from the start, marching 55 yards on 11 plays on the opening drive before recovering a Dylan Scharlau fumble in the end zone to take a 6-0 lead.

Oakfield-Alabama got off to solid start as quarterback Allen Chatt completed his first two passes for 34 yards. The drive, however, was derailed after Alexander recovered a Chris Nanni fumble on their 36-yard line.

From that point on, the Trojans rode their senior Scharlau for the rest of the night.

Scharlau capped off an eight-play drive that took over four minutes off the clock with a 10-yard touchdown run to go up 14-0.

Following a Hornet three-and-out series, Alexander marched 80 yards on 16 plays, taking nearly nine minutes off the clock before Scharlau plunged in from three yards out for his second touchdown of the night, sending the Trojans to halftime with a 22-0 lead.

The senior running back finished the night with 187 yards on 40 carries and three touchdowns in his final home game.

After holding the Hornets to a three-and-out to start the second half, Scharlau finished another 12-play, 65-yard drive that took over seven minutes off the clock, with his third touchdown of the night.

“We always joke about giving [Scharlau] the ball 40 times, but we hadn’t done it yet,” said Alexander Head Coach Tim Sawyer. “By giving him the ball, we were able to dominate time of possession and the first down total in the game.”

Alexander held the ball for over 34 out of 48 minutes of the game, including 18 out of 24 in the first half. The Trojans also out-gained Oakfield-Alabama 363 to 110 for the game.

In a battle of two of the top quarterbacks in the Genesee Region League, Alexander’s Nelson Burke went 5-of-7 passing for 94 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown pass to Sam Browne, while also rushing for another 40 yards on the ground.

Hornet sophomore Chatt, struggled to find his rhythm all night, finishing 5-for-17 for 90 yards, with a 16-yard touchdown to Jon Korzelius, and an interception.

Oakfield-Alabama drops to 3-3 on the season and will play at Holley next Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Alexander (5-1) keeps their hopes alive for a share of the Genesee Region League crown and possible top seed in Class D.

“This was a big win for us,” Sawyer said. “Had we lost, Oakfield-Alabama would have swapped places with us in the standings because of a tie-breaker, but the kids really worked hard this week and really wanted to win this game. It has been a pretty magical season so far.”

Alexander travels to Pembroke next Friday night.

Other Friday night games (update by Howard Owens):

Le Roy 13, Wellsville 0. Peter Privitera rushed for 113 yards and one TD on 30 carries and Nick Egeling carried the ball nine times for 92 yards. Kody Lamkin had 11 tackles. Le Roy is now 6-0 and plays Cal-Mum next.

Pembroke beat Holley 23-20.

To purchase prints, click here.

Coming off a 5-4 record, a young Oakfield-Alabama Hornets team is hoping to show some improvement in 2013, but already the injury bug is starting to pinch, said Head Coach Brian Palone.

Three players will miss this Saturday's scrimmage, but it will also be a time for some players at key positions to show whether they're ready to step into starting roles.

"I'm pretty confident in two or three kids at each position now, but I just want to evaluate further as we go along in the week here and as this scrimmage rolls," Palone said.

The Hornets will lean heavily on captains Chris Nanni, linebacker, Chase Manzella, running back, and Hogen Mejia, a lineman.

"We started bring guys a couple of years ago when they were young and now I feel like we have some guys with years of varsity experience, especially at our skills positions, so I'm happy with what I'm seeing right now and how they're developing," Palone said.

Manzella is in line for a QB slot, but Allen Chatt, who finished out last season as QB, has the inside track as the starter.

"He's been working hard this summer and so far working hard in camp," Palone said. "We'd like to keep him at quarterback and Chase at running back.

Rep. Chris Collins told graduating Oakfield-Alabama students Sunday: slow down.

Collins recounted all that might be taken for granted today that didn't exist when today's seniors were born: DVRs, GPS, iPhones, Google, Twitter, text messaging, satellite radio. The pace of life has quickened, but students can navigate the fast pace of 21st Century life if they have core values and take time to weigh their decisions against those values.

"With all of these advances in your lifetime, can you imagine what the next 18 years are going to bring?" Collins said. "Now that I've spent the past several minutes preparing you to think about the speed of life, I'm going to give you some advice that may seem counterintuitive: slow down."

The young men and women of the 2013 graduating class should take time to write a personal vision statement to guide them as they go forward in life, Collins said.

"As everything around us moves faster, or at least it appears to, I think it is all the more important that you take time for what really counts," Collins said.

Graduates should take time, he said, to ask themselves, "What do you stand for?"

"Life is all about choices," Collins said. "What you do, what you say, how you make people feel are all choices."

Collins closed with a quote from Elbert Hubbard, the WNY writer and thinker from the 19th Century.

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.

Today's graduates should take action, get involved and make a difference, Collins said.

O-A's top 10 graduates: Paige Chatt, Jessica Cherry, Chelsea Cleveland, Jennifer Crossen, Brittany Denton, Kerry Mills, Teresa Natalizia, Alyse Shamp, Katie Spence and Morgan Zakes.

Valedictorian Jennifer Crossen

Salutatorian Brittany Denton

Oakfield-Alabama's Salina Stymus connects for a home run during a tournament game in Nunda.

The Hornets advanced to the championship game, but dropped the match 7-0 to Keshequa.

Information and photos submited by Ron Welker.

Information and photos submitted by Chuck Flynn.

Students at Oakfield-Alabama Middle-High School turned out to the gymnasium Friday for a "Going Bald for Bucks" event that raised more than $9,000 for Roswell Park Cancer Institute. More than 30 people participated.

Press release:

An Oakfield-Alabama Middle-High School senior has been named to Business First's 2013 All-Western New York Academic Team.

Jennifer Crossen (First Team) has qualified for this year's list of the 100 most outstanding high school seniors in the eight-county region.

Winners were chosen for their records of academic excellence, school leadership and community involvement. The top 25 were named to the First Team, 25 runners-up to the Second Team, and another 50 to the Special Mention list.

"This is an extremely exclusive award," said Jack Connors, president and publisher of Business First. "There are roughly 20,000 seniors in Western New York's high schools, and we've selected only 100 for this year's Academic Team. That's the upper one-half of 1 percent. They're truly the best and brightest students anywhere in our region."

Schools throughout the eight-county area were asked to nominate their smartest and most accomplished students for consideration by an eight-member committee, which included six admissions directors at area colleges and two Business First editors. A total of 121 schools responded with 437 nominees. (Each school was limited to four candidates.)

The complete list of 100 honorees -- along with their photos and profiles -- will be published in Business First's 2013-2014 Guide to Western New York Schools, which will hit newsstands on June 14.

Coming off two disappointing seasons and starting the 2011 season 0-2, it would be easy to dismiss a game against Oakfield-Alabama as a bye week, but as any coach in the Genesee Region will tell you, there's no squad in the league that can be taken lightly.

There's no telling if the Fighting Irish took the Hornets a little less than serious coming into Friday night's league match-up, but O-A's young players certainly made a game of it.

The final score was 29-14, but the Hornets were never really out of it until the final minutes, and at the half looked like a team that could spoil Notre Dame's early season perfect record.

"They're very well coached," said Notre Dame's head Coach Rick Mancuso. "Brian (Palone) is doing a great job. That (Tommy) Manzella kid is a terrific quarterback. They're tough, there's no doubt about it. They spread you out all over, they throw the ball. I give them all the credit in the world. I thought they played very well tonight."

Palone said his team is young. They let the game get away from them when Nate Woods returned a punt 50 yards for a TD, making the score 15-14 following a two-point conversion.

"That changed the momentum," Palone said.

While Manzella showed he could still march his offense down the field -- he passed for 192 yards on the night on 27 completions -- the Hornets couldn't finish the deal in the red zone.

"Overall I fell like we were right in there," Palone said. "Our kids were fighting hard just like we ask them -- 'give 110 percent.' We’ve got a lot of sophomores out there. We’re just very young this year, so we’re going to make mistakes, but we’re just going to learn from our mistakes and improve."

The scoring started in the first quarter when Nick Taylor capped a Notre Dame drive with a 16-yard run.

But O-A's no-huddle offensive helped the Hornets get the momentum back and the defense was being pretty stingy, twice intercepting Tim McCulley.

Two O-A drives in the second quarter ended in TDs -- a three-yard run by Manzella and a two-yard pass by Manzella to Chris Nanni.

By the fourth quarter, Notre Dame's running game was nearly unstoppable. 

Taylor finished the game with 87 yards on the ground on 17 carries. Nick Conklin had 82 yards rushing on 11 carries.

ND's two fourth-quarter TDs were a five-yard run by Taylor and Woods hauling in a 25-yard pass from McCulley.

McCulley finished with 107 in the air on 16 completions.

Mancuso said his young team played two great quarters to start each of their previous games and then "sort of frittered it away" in second halfs, but Friday the team played better in the second half than the first.

"With a young group of kids like we've got, that's what you expect," Mancuso said. "I want to get us to the point where we're playing four full quarters of football."

As for O-A, which was shut out three times in 2010 on its way to a 0-7 season, following a 2-5 campaign in 2009, Coach Palone is disappointed in his team's 0-3 start, but he said he's seeing progress for the Hornets.

"I feel like this program is heading in the right direction," Palone said. "Every day and each and every game you can see that we’re improving. We’re hanging right in there with these teams now, where last year and the year before we weren’t right in there with the games. They were breaking the games wide open. This year, we're right there."

Betty Zaffram celebrated her 90th birthday this afternoon with the cafeteria staff of Oakfield-Alabama Central School.

After more than 50 years of service to the school district, Betty is retiring.

She returned to work today after recuperating from surgery, just in time to celebrate her birthday with her co-workers.

Photo submitted by Bernadette Easton.

A unique, free book program -- offered by the Dolly Parton Imagination Library -- is going to be offered to children living in the Elba School District and registration begins Monday, July 12.

It's for infants to age 5 and has been offered in the Oakfield-Alabama School District for about six years.

Imagination Library's goal is to provide every preschooler enrolled with his or her own book collection. The books are carefully selected and mailed once a month to the child until age 5.

Locally, the program was dubbed the "R.E.D. Express" by the Basom-based Richter Family Foundation, which has given away approximately 13,000 books to the program so far. The mascot of the R.E.D. Express is a choo-choo train. R.E.D. stands for "Read Every Day."

In fact, the Richters formed their nonprofit foundation (a 501c3) in 2004 specifically to offer this program in Genesee County. Now, they are eager to spread this learning opportunity to more children, this time in Elba.

"Our hopes are to get to the whole county eventually," Tim Richter said this afternoon.

Dolly's Imagination Library program operates in 46 states, Canada and the United Kingdom. This year, the 25-millionth book will be mailed to some fortunate tot.

The country superstar started this program in her birthplace, Sevier County, Tenn. She never forgot her dirt-poor beginnings. Growing up, she says she could only dream of owning her very own books.

Today, she wants children everywhere to feel the excitement of getting a new book delivered every month -- to keep! So she decided to replicate the program in any community willing to support it financially.

The Imagination Library partners with nonprofits to promote literacy.

It starts the program in a community where a bona fide nonprofit foundation is capable of receiving donations on its behalf. Businesses and other donors help financially support the program via the nonprofit, which supplies informational brochures, handles administrative duties and serves as the liaison with Dolly's foundation.

Parents and guardians, of course, must register their little ones and help them learn to read.

In Oakfield-Alabama, the Richter Family Foundation has funded the entire program without sponsors, but that will not be feasible as the program grows. Thus, Elba businesses and residents are encouraged to participate.

"Get in on the excitement and opportunity to help the children of your community," says Linda Richter in an announcement about the R.E.D. Express.

All children who are 5 and under are welcome to participate and parents are encouraged to pick up a registration brochure at the following locations: The Elba School District Office, M & T Bank, Elba Village offices, Elba Town offices and the Yellow Goose Market.

Simply mailing the registration form to the address on the brochure will enroll your child.  

To become the next reading depot and begin this program in your area, please call The Richter Family Foundation at 585-948-9675.

For a year-end project, I thought it would be cool to take some video and pictures of music- and arts-related activities -- respectively -- in the Genesee County schools.

The following video is 20 minutes long and divided into two parts (Youtube limits most users to about 10 minutes per video). It features concert footage from various schools in the county.

PART 1

PART 2

I have to make a quick apology for the poor video quality in a couple of instances. I had to be very careful to protect the identity of the kids (the ones photographed without parental approval), so I made sure none of the students' faces appeared too clearly on camera; plus, to be honest, the first camera I used turned out to be pretty awful when it came to taking video (even while taking decent pictures).

I also feel bad that I couldn't include every group I filmed in the video. My selections were based on a combination of different criteria, including:

•  making sure the best songs were included
•  making sure all of the schools I visited were included
•  arranging the selections in a way that flowed nicely

So there's the music part. Here are some pictures I was able to take of art work done by Elba and Leroy students:

ELBA ELEMENTARY ART

Kindergartener Cody Soules stands in front of his drawing of a tree branch (top right).

First-grader Taylor Augello stands with her rendition of Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" (right above her head).

ELBA HIGH SCHOOL ART

Both of the following pictures were submitted by Dan Carnevale. Sophomore Sydney Gallup (top photo) and two unidentified students stand with their drawings.

LEROY JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL (art and artists)

Also, see the May 27 announcement on the winners of the Architectural Drawing contest for fourth-graders.

Congratulations all of the students for a job well done!

A former Oakfield-Alabama band teacher admitted to an inappropriate relationship with a student on Thursday thereby avoiding trial on the more serious charge of sexual abuse, 3rd.

Kerry Hoffman entered guilty pleas in Oakfield Town Court to endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct.

He will be required to give up his teaching credentials under the terms of the plea agreement, according to Assistant District Attorney Kevin Finnell.

Hoffman made factual admissions, according to Finnell, of making several phone calls and sending several text messages to a teenage student, and to taking her to the mall without her parents permission. But he did not admit to inappropriate touching and kissing, which the girl claimed happened.

Under terms of the agreement, Hoffman will serve two months intermittent incarceration and three years probation.

Five years of training and practice are starting to pay off for Jonathan Fisher, a punter for Oakfield-Alabama Central School.

According to his father, Kurt Fisher, he's been invited to Senior Camps at Division I schools, such as Syracuse, Rutgers, Louisville, W. Virginia and Illinois.

Currently, Fisher is ranked the #1 punter in New York on MaxPreps.com.

"He's put in a lot of time and effort," said Kurt Fisher. "It's nice to see it paying off for him."

This summer Fisher will be attending Senior Camps to showcase his talents in front of college coaching staffs.

He finished the 2009 season with 19 punts for 888 yards and a 46.7-yard punting average.

So far his invites for Junior Days include one on Feb. 20 at the University of Pennsylvania and on Feb. 27 at Syracuse. He'll also be participating in an upcoming session with college coaching staffs in Buffalo.

Fisher is on the verge of striking the big time in college football a season after another O-A product, Matt Waldron, put together a big year as the #1 kicker at Virginia Tech. Waldron made all 58 of his point-after attempts and 20 of his 23 field-goal attempts, with only one of his misses coming within 40 yards. He scored 108 points for the year.

At about 3:40 minutes into this video, you can watch Fisher practice his kicking during half-time of O-A's playoff game at Cal-Mum.

Everybody likes a little friendly competition, right? And if it's for a good cause, all the better!

These guys definitely feel that way:

Half of them are pictured above...

...and here's the other half!

High schoolers from all over Genesee County are getting involved in "Change for Change" (C4C), a fundraising project for United Way of Genesee County. Student government reps from Batavia High School, the NYS State School for the Blind, Oakfield-Alabama High School and Pavillion Central School gathered in the BHS auditorium Yesterday to kick-start the project. 

From Mar. 8-26, the schools will compete to raise as much money as they can and deposit their funds in an account with the Tonawanda Valley Federal Credit Union (set up for United Way, with a sub-account for each school) every Friday.

BHS government members welcomed their fellow students and gave them the lay of the land (contest rules and stakes, etc.) at Thursday's meeting...

...starting with an icebreaker from treasurer Amanda Jones, who asked representatives of each school to come up with and share a few "fun facts" about their school.

Some interesting ones to consider:

1. O-A HS recently organized a lunch boycott

2. Pavilion is one of the few schools in the state with a pillow tournament

3. The Blind School has a heated pool with a moving floor

4. BHS has the best cookies in the state, inarguably, of course

Handling introductions was co-mayor C.J. Shultz, who introduced his fellow officers and their faculty advisors/helpers as follows:

"There's [mayor] Matt Hoye, who has nothing better to do than keep his beautiful red hair perfectly groomed.

"And next to him is Sahil Jain, our representative to the board of education -- which basically means he makes sure the students' voices are heard at board
meetings. But then he doesn’t get to vote for anything, so it doesn't really matter.

"Then we have the wonderful Amanda Jones, who is our treasurer. We have to trust her with our money. She ran unopposed, so we really didn't have a choice.

"Erica Bucci is our secretary, who takes great notes...when she's
there.

"In the audience is [BHS special education teacher] Mrs. Gammack, who is a great student advisor. Nobody else really wanted the job, so...

"And finally, there's Mrs. Johnson, who is the best statistics teacher at Batavia High…actually, she's the only statistics teacher at Batavia High."

Shultz and Hoye were the brains behind the whole operation, according to Gammack and the other student officers.

"They came to me with this idea in August," Gammack said. "And I thought it sounded great."

The project was inspired by 98 PXY's Penny Challenge, in which BHS students competed (and won!) two years ago. They raised $8,000 in pennies by doing "some crazy things" [crazy in a good way, of course], says UW Campaign Associate Christine Fix.

"We saw the school come together in a way that surpassed any kind of sporting event, school activity, etc.," Hoye said. "We felt that another fundraiser could produce a similar effect, continuing to blur the lines between grade levels and uniting the school as a single body."

"I remember how close our school became during the Penny Challenge," Jones said, "and I really wanted to start that kind of excitement within our school again, with a new group of kids."

During the Penny Challenge, the students saw how powerful a tool competition can be when raising money. This time, they decided to expand the range to include their peers throughout the county.

"I think this is a great way to encourage healthy competition and interaction between our schools," Jones said, "especially since Batavia doesn't participate with the smaller schools in sports very much, since we're in the Monroe County League."

There is another major difference from the 98 PXY fundraiser: this time, they are keeping it local.

"Even though we raised a lot of money [for the Penny Challenge], the proceeds went mostly to agencies in Rochester," Hoye said. "Although we are very proud of our efforts and the money we raised, we would like to see our money used within our own communities in Genesee County."

Representatives from area organizations that will benefit from this fundraiser came to the meeting to express their gratitude and to show the kids how much of a difference they will be making.

UW Regional Manager Lori Stupp pointed out that UW will "fall short of [its] goal this year" in terms of fundraising.

"What you guys are doing is going to help us recuperate some of that loss," she added.

Patricia Kurtz of the Salvation Army -- which receives $57,000 a year from UW -- took a moment to thank the high schoolers for "stepping up to represent [their] schools and to raise money for our community."

"Know how important what you're doing is to us," she added. "I hope this goes to show that when we are united, we are strong, and we can change the world together."

YMCA Regional Director Erik Fix called the C4C fundraising project "a phenomenal thing that speaks volumes about the students in our communities."

"It feels like we're a part of history at BHS," education board rep Jain said. "I feel like the fundraiser will only get bigger and better in the years to come, and to be among the people who started it is an incredible thing."

Students of each school were encouraged to be creative with their fundraisers, which could be anything ranging from competitions between the grades to placing cans at community businesses.

Shultz concluded the meeting on a mobilizing note. First, he quoted Gandhi's famous statement: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Second, he said: "Now get out there and raise as much money as you can. Booyah!"

Stay tuned to The Batavian for updates on C4C's progress, which will be submitted on a weekly basis once the project officially gets started.

Additional Note:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (pictured) and Legislator Jay Grasso came to talk to the students about the importance of civic responsibility and why Genesee County is a great place to live in, thereby encouraging them in their efforts.