Skip to main content

Attica

No major changes in state wrestling rankings for area teams

By Brian Hillabush

 There are not any major changes in this week's New York State Sports Writers Association wrestling rankings.

Batavia is our highest ranked team in the small school division and remains at No. 17, even with a win at the Ken-Ton Tournament this weekend.

Attica dropped from No. 23 to No. 24 and Holley went down from No. 32 to No. 33.

Sectionals are being held this Friday and Saturday at Bath Haverling, Warsaw, Byron-Bergen, Wayne and Fairport.

HS boys highlights for Thursday: GR blowout night

By Brian Hillabush

Oakfield-Alabama led a night in which the Genesee Region League didn't have a final score within single digits.

The Hornets destroyed visiting Holley 69-23 Thursday.

Noah Seward had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds with A.J. Kehlenbeck pitching in 14 points. and Tyler Tamblin finishing with nine. Sam McCracken and Tim Smith scored seven points each.

Holley didn't have anybody score more than Eddie Bauer's six points. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Kevin Francis must have had a good time proving that he is the top guard in the league. He scored 27 points and had nine steals as Notre Dame trounced host Kendall 80-46. 

Vinny Zambito had 12 points and both Greg Barr and Nick Wetherwax added 10 points apiece for the Fighting Irish (13-3).

Kendall star Josh Laureano only managed 15 points while getting help from Colt Tooley, who scored 13. 

------------------------------------------------------------------

The first quarter was ugly, with both teams scoring just five points.

But Attica had a 13-7 second quarter lead and went on to beat Byron-Bergen 47-34 at home.

Tate Westermeier had 15 points and eight rebounds with Craig Wolfley adding six points and eight boards. Shawn Dupuis had nine points.

Byron-Bergen (3-12) was led by Tess Schramm, who scored six points.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Phil Ostroski scored 18 points to lead Elba to a 55-44 win over visiting Wheatland-Chili.

Dan Ramsey and Sonny Giuliano both scored 15 points for the Lancers (9-7).

Andy Lund scored 12 points with eight boards for the Wildcats (3-12).

Attica wins second straight GR wrestling title

By Brian Hillabush

 Attica captured the Genesee Region League wrestling title for the second straight season last night, beating Holley 41-33.

Vinnie Napierski pinned Tim Butler in 48 seconds at 125 pounds and Spencer Ford took down Nathan Jenks at 152 pounds in 4:37.

Troy Colton won a major decision over Jessi Kimmerly at 112 with a score of 14-5.

Quinton Murphy and Sean Baylor had pins for the Hawks.

Both squads are state ranked.

State wrestling rankings for the week

By Brian Hillabush

 The Batavia wrestling team jumped up a spot in this week's NYSSWA polls.

An impressive showing at the Monroe County Championships, that included four wrestlers in the finals, must be the reason why. The Blue Devils (18-5) moved up from No. 18 to No. 17.

Attica dipped from No. 19 to No. 23 and has an 18-11 record. Holley (19-5) fell from No. 29 to No. 32.

Updates on local stars at Keuka

By Brian Hillabush

 Missy Thurston was known for her defense when she played at Batavia High. She's definitely brought that to the Keuka women's basketball team.

The Storm won its sixth game in a row, including two over the weekend.

Keuka beat Penn State-Berks 61-46 on Saturday and Penn State-Harrisburg 71-38 on Sunday.

Thurston had five steals and 10 points on Saturday while scoring 14 points with three steals on Sunday.

She also had a total of 12 rebounds and seven assists over the weekend.

Thurston has started all 15 games for the Storm, which has improved to 8-7 because of the win streak. It is the first time the team has been above .500 all season long.

She is averaging 8.1 points and 4.8 rebounds. She leads the team with with 57 steals - more than double the player that is second on the team - and is second on the squad with 30 assists.

The men's team is 7-8 but has two locals in Attica's Rob Crowley and Elba's Ian Woodworth.

Crowley, a junior, has played in 11 points and is averaging 4.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. He also has five assists and six steals on the season.

Woodworth, a freshman forward, has played in just four games and is averaging .5 points per game.

NYSPHSAA cuts approved; high school seasons are shortened

By Brian Hillabush

 

As many people feared, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association cuts that we wrote about earlier in the month were approved.

According to the NYSPHSAA Web site, there are going to be a lot of changes.

The biggest of which is the reduction in the number of regular season games that teams are allowed to play each season. Sports that currently play 24 games, will now only play 20. Sports that play 20 games will be cut to 18 and sports that play 18 games are now only going to play 16. 

The will be cuts in wrestling and football will be reduced from 10 to nine games. That means a team that makes sectionals and loses in the first round will not get a chance to go into Pool Play. 

The only way a football team can play 13 games is to play in the state finals.

The amount of scrimmages teams for all sports are allowed to play have also been reduced.

Centralized sites will be considered for state tournament games if it will save the state money. 

Here is the announcement on the NYSPHSAA Web site:

 

 

1. Support the use of telephone conference calls and video conferencing for NYSPHSAA meetings to reduce the travel reimbursements costs for the NYSPHSAA and Sections. APPROVED

2. Support the use of officials from the host Section at all NYSPHSAA regional contests, except when the Sections involved mutually agree to use neutral officials. Effective with the 2009-2010 season and continuing to 2010–2011 school year. APPROVED

3. Support a moratorium on the expansion of existing NYSPHSAA tournaments as it pertains to participation. APPROVED

4. Centralized sites should be considered as part of the bid process for state tournament site selection when it can be proven that cost savings outweighs other criteria. APPROVED

5. Support the reduction of the maximum number of contests permitted during the regular season. Sports with 24 contests will be reduced to 20, sports with 20 contests will be reduced to 18 and sports with 18 contests will be reduced to 16. Wrestling will be reduced to 20 points. Football will be reduced from 10 to 9. The 9th game is permitted, with section approval, for teams who do not qualify for sectional play. For the teams involved in the sectional tournament the maximum number of contests shall be 10. For the sections involved in the state championship three additional games are permitted for a total of 13 games for the season: 1 game for regionals, 1 game for semifinals, and 1 game for championships. Effective for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. APPROVED

6. Support the reduction of the number of classes and divisions in team and individual NYSPHSAA Championship competition. REFERRED TO CHAMPIONSHIP ADVISORY COMMITTEE

7. Support the reduction of participants in NYSPHSAA Championships in individual and combination (team/individual) sports. REFERRED TO CHAMPIONSHIP ADVISORY COMMITTEE

8. Support the reduction of tournaments (multi-school competition) for team and individual sports.NO ACTION

9. Support the establishment of a maximum number of scrimmages permitted by a team to: Varsity, JV and freshmen – 2 scrimmages and Modified – 1 scrimmage. NO ACTION

10. The Executive Committee will meet three times per year with one meeting at the site of the Central Committee meeting. APPROVED

11. Support the establishment of a team travel restriction for all member schools limiting out of state team travel to competition with bordering states only. NO ACTION

12. Support the establishment of a moratorium eliminating mandated attendance beginning with the 2009-2010 school year at the following NYSPHSAA workshops: Safety, Life of an Athlete, Sportsmanship and Chemical Health workshops. APPROVED

13. Support eliminating participation in the NFHS Student Leadership Conference. DENIED

 

Iona is heating up and Attica grad Derek Wolfley getting a decent share of playing time

By Brian Hillabush

The Iona basketball team and Attica's all-time leading scorer Derek Wolfley has won six of its last seven games and has upped its record to 10-11.

Wolfley is the first Genesee Region League player since Roosevelt Bouie in the mid 1970s to earn a Division I basketball scholarship.

As expected, a freshman coming from a small school league like the GR isn't going to be starting on any Division I team. But Wolfley is the 12th man out of 14 in terms of playing time and has played in more games than six other players on the team.

He has played in 18-of-21 games and is averaging 1 point and .8 rebounds per game, getting 7.7 minutes of playing time per game.

He has blocked five shots and dished out five assists.

Letchworth tops Attica in non-league rivalry game

By Brian Hillabush

 

With the state possibly cutting games next season, this may be the last time Letchworth and Attica play. The tradition has gone on for years.

It was the Indians that came away with the victory because of a pair of runs that ended with a 44-39 victory.

The first half had zero entertainment value as the score was tied at 18 when the second quarter buzzer went off. Some people called it ugly basketball, but I'm going with a good defensive battle.

Travis Tones hit two big 3-pointers early in the third quarter, with a Cam McLaughlin bucket thrown in the mix. 

Letchworth had a seven point lead before Tate Westermeier had a basket, Bryan Thompson scored and Westermeier drained a 3-pointer to have his team trailing just 31-29 after three periods of play.

The was back-and-forth in the final frame, but Jim Przybylak hit a 3-pointer and Tones hit one of two foul shots.

Attica had to start fouling after that and Tones hit 7 of his 8 attempts in the fourth quarter.

Tones finished the day with 20 points and McLaughlin had six points with eight rebounds. Przybylak finished with nine for the Indians (12-2).

Westermeier scored 17 points to lead the Blue Devils (6-7), who have been in a slump since the Christmas break.

Craig Wolfley might have had his most solid performance thus far in the season, scoring six points and grabbing 11 rebounds. 

 

Batavia loss to Letchworth doesn't matter, now ranked in the state (updated)

By Brian Hillabush

 Batavia suffered one of harshest losses area wrestling has seen in a while, with the two final Letchworth grapplers pinning Batavia wrestlers to get a 1-point win.

Well, that performance against the 14th ranked Indians, combined with Batavia's 66-12 win over Hornell was enough to put the Blue Devils into the state rankings in the small-school division.

And it was more than just a small jump from receiving an honorable mention as Batavia jumped all the way up to No. 18, one ahead of Attica, which has an 11-9 record.

Attica dropped from No. 14 to No. 19. Batavia is 15-5.

This is the first time that a Batavia wrestling team has ever been ranked in the state.

"The kids are ecstatic because this was one of our goals," Batavia coach Rick Stewart said. "We put together a schedule of some of the toughest teams in the state so that we could reach this goal."

Holley is also ranked, surprisingly low, at No. 29.

Batavia has two tournaments (including the Monroe County Championships, where they have not had a champ since 1980) and three dual meets left to go before sectional time.

Locals doing well at Keuka

By Brian Hillabush

 

Batavia grad Missy Thurston is having a huge year for Keuka College.

She was the only player from the Storm in double figures with 11 points in a 71-47 loss to the University of Rochester in the opening round on Tuesday.

 The 5-foot-5 junior guard has started all eight game for the women's team. She is second on the team in scoring at 8.8 points per game and is actually grabbing 5 rebounds per game.

Thurston also has 18 assists for Keuka (2-6).

Attica grad Rob Crowley is a junior and had a key basket that kept Keuka close, but the Storm ended up losing to No. 1 seed Rochester 65-54 in the opening round on Wednesday.

Crowley is averaging 5 points per game in four games of action, while hitting 5-of-9 3-point attempts.

Ian Woodworth from Elba - who has a famous YouTube video from last year's sectionals - is just a freshman and has only played in three games, but is averaging .7 points per games.

The Storm is currently 3-5.

 

 

Attica wrestling wins Bradshaw

By Brian Hillabush

 The Attica wrestling program is definitely one of the tops in the area, and they flexed their muscles yesterday at the 34th annual Robert Bradshaw Memorial Invitational Saturday.

The tournament didn't wrap up until 10 p.m. last night, but Attica wound up on top of the team standings, finishing ahead of many of the biggest and best schools from in and out of Section 5.

Bradshaw Top 20

Attica, 187
Rush-Henrietta, 174
Northport, 165.5 
Queensbury, 145
Batavia, 140.5
Guilderland, 130
Canandaigua, 129
Churchville-Chili, 119
Brockport, 117.5
Greene, 108
Newark, 95
Gates Chili, 78
Geneva, 71
Irondequoit, 68
Byron-Bergen, 67
Webster Schroeder, 67
Bishop Kearney, 66.5
Palmyra-Macedon, 66
Waterloo, 62
Livonia, 56

 

“We were hoping to pick up a top five,” head coach Eric Romesser told the Daily Messanger, “but I didn’t expect to win. I’m happy to squeak it out.”

Lance Compton surprised everybody and won the 125-pound weight class and sectional contender Luke Pariso surprised nobody with a 171-pound title, beating Byron-Bergen's Zack Green 9-0 in the finals. Vinnie Napierski and Doug Beitz had second place finishes.

Batavia also had a champion in Ryan Darch, who beat his teammate Troy Ireland 6-1 in the finals.

You can see the complete results here. 

Attica football is moving down to Class C

By Brian Hillabush

 With the amount of students dropping at local schools, I have a thought that within the next few years we might start seeing more schools combine their programs.

The current BEDS numbers are an indication that our area schools are getting smaller and smaller. Most of our schools are Class C or D as it is right now, and there has been a rumor flying around that Attica is dropping from a B to a C next year. 

I just confirmed that the Blue Devils will be playing in Class C next season, but just for football. It will probably be for all sports the year after next.

"I think it's good and it gives us an opportunity to see some different teams," Attica coach Jeff Cusmano said. "I don't think Class C is any easier (for sectionals). You still have your teams like Le Roy, Pembroke and Letchworth, but from a physical standpoint it may help us out."

This year's graduating class at Attica is 147 and Cusmano's son is in third grade, where there are only 100 kids in the class. So enrollment is going to keep dropping in Attica.

Playing in Class C is no cake-walk as Cusmano said, but will give the Blue Devils a better chance to compete. Attica has only won two sectional games in its history, playing in Class B. They knocked off East Rochester/Gananda for the second this year, but then were destroyed by Bath.

"When we go into a Class B playoff game, you have to be able to match up and we couldn't do that with Bath," Cusmano said. "You have teams like Geneva and Hornell that are (larger schools) and pretty tough. We will be able to better match up in sectionals."

With the amount of Class D schools we are going to have in the Genesee Region League and Livingston Conference, is it possible that teams are going to have to merge sports so that there are enough Class C schools to compete.

This past year we saw Elba and Byron-Bergen combine their football program, and it is likely that more athletic teams will be hooking up from those two schools.

Oakfield-Alabama and Pembroke were Class C this year, but both are expected to be Class D very soon.

Section 5 has the most amount of Class D schools in the state, and I'm just wondering if we are going to see more merging. As it is right now, Class D plays one less regular season game because they have to be divided into two classes, and have a playoff after sectionals to see which team moves on to states.

There is currently talk of making the Class D sectionals just a four team competition and allowing schools to play a full seven week regular season. While other classes have eight schools in the playoffs, Class D would only get four teams.

Will Oakfield-Alabama and Pembroke combine programs so that they can compete in Class C or even be a small B school? Caledonia-Mumford has been moved down to Class D and enrollment keeps dropping, so are they going to join up with another school so they can play in an eight team playoff?

This may or may not happen, but with Class D becoming so overloaded, I think we are going to see some major changes in Section 5 football in the near future.

Attica native remembers local basketball tourney from 1975

By Philip Anselmo

Many thanks to Sean Feeney for sending along this remembrance:

I remember playing in what I think was the original Batavia Lions Club tournament in December 1975 while playing for Attica. We played Batavia in the opener losing by a point or two to Batavia led by now coach Buddy Brasky and Jimmy Orosco. Kevin Kellogg and Doug Miller were our leading scorers. We played Notre Dame in the consolation game. ... I do not remember who Batavia played in the final. I believe Buddy Brasky was the tournament MVP.  Myself and I think Jimmy Orosco were on the all tourney team with someone from ND and the other team in the tourney. Batavia warmed up to the Ohio players "Love Rollercoaster".

The Batavian is great. I love catching up on high school sports back in WNY!

Sean Feeney
Alpharetta, GA

I wanted to post this to the site to see if it sparked any other memories in our readers. Was this the original Lions Club tournament in 1975? Or did it start later on, in 1982, as we had believed? Do you remember? Did you play?

Wolfley and Iona 5-7

By Brian Hillabush

There were a lot of Derek Wofley haters when he graduated from Attica and signed a Division I scholarship with Iona.

He's doing a heck of a job of shutting up those doubters that thought nobody from the Genesee Region League could ball with a D1 school.

Wolfley has played in 10 out of 12 games, including one start.

The 6-foot-7 forward  is averaging 1.7 points per game and is averaging 1.2 rebounds per game, while averaging less than nine minutes of playing time per game.

Wolfley - Attica's all-time leading scorer - has played in more games than four other players on the Iona roster.

 

HS highlights for Wednesday

By Brian Hillabush

 Tate Westermeier continues to be one of the top guards in the Genesee Region League, and he delivered a huge win for his Attica boys basketball team over their biggest league rival, Alexander.

Westermeier scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter and added 6 rebounds in the game as the Blue Devils won 42-36.

The win helps Attica improve to 3-0 in the league - keeping them right with Oakfield-Alabama at the top of Division I - and 4-2 overall.

Craig Wolfley added eight points for Attica.

Troy Shulnut led the Trojans (2-4) with eight points, with Kyle Woodruff and Andy Bittner adding six each.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pat O'Keefe dropped in 15 of his game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter as Pittsford Sutherland outscored Batavia 25-17 to take home a 69-57 win.

Wayne Dillworth had 12 boards and eight assists to go with his four points and Dylan Sherwood added 20 points for Sutherland (4-0).

Andrew Hoy had 24 points and Josh Budlong added 11 for the Blue Devils, who fall to 4-1.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lancers gave Notre Dame its stiffest test of the season so far, but the Fighting Irish still came away with an impressive 65-41 win on the road.

Kevin Francis had 20 points and Matt Thompson added 12, including three 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Fighting Irish had a 22-11 advantage.

Gregg Barr added 10 points for Notre Dame (3-0).

Phil Ostroski had 12 points and Sonny Giuliano added nine points with eight boards for the Lancers (2-3).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian Mitchell guided his Holley basketball team to its first victory of the season with 24 points and four blocked shots, giving the Hawks a 50-36 victory over Byron-Bergen.

John Wharram and Chad Barhytt did the work on the boards, grabbing 10 rebounds apiece.

Kurtis Fannon had 11 points for the Bees (1-4).

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In what Batavia coach Rick Stewart called the battle for the league title, his Blue Devils fell short.

Brighton beat host Batavia 35-28 in Batavia to knock the Blue Devils out of the ranks of the unbeatens.

Josh Mase, Nick Lazarony, Joe Muoio, Troy Ireland, Anthony D'Aurizio and Ryan Darch had the Batavia wins, but it wasn't enough.

Plenty of local wrestling action this weekend

By Brian Hillabush

 Daily News sportswriter Alanna Stage previews all of the local wrestling tournaments this weekend on the Daily's Web site today.

Batavia will be hosting its 35th Christmas Tournament and is looking to repeat after winning it for the first time in 16 years last season.

Attica hosts the 2nd annual Sgt. Richard Romesser Attica Blue Devils Dual Meet Challenge. Nine teams will compete in a dual-meet, round-robin style tournament.

Holley swept the Holley Team Tournament last year and has won the tournament 13 out of 15 times.

Attica School Students Show Compassion for Patients

By Philip Anselmo

From the Batavia City School District:

Students at Attica Central School donated 150 holiday ornaments to the patients of United Memorial Medical Center.  Children in Mrs. Goliszek and Mrs. Nowak’s fourth grade classes created candy cane reindeer ornaments for hospital patients as part of a project to demonstrate compassion, the theme for the month of December. The goal of the project is to provide compassion to friends and neighbors who are unable to be home for the holidays.

The ornaments will be placed on patient meal trays at United Memorial where they will certainly brighten the spirits of those who are hospitalized during the holiday season.

Over 600 ornaments were completed by the students and donated to United Memorial, Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and Wyoming County Community Health in Warsaw. Attica Middle School students annually donate pillowcases to United Memorial’s Pediatric Department which they make using fun juvenile fabrics.

Attica's Dabolt wrestling D1 at Buffalo

By Brian Hillabush

Attica's Dylan Dabolt made it to the quarterfinals at the University at Buffalo Open to start the season.

The UB sophomore lost to Joe Langel of Rutgers in the quarters, but has not had any results posted on the UB Web site since.

He had a 3-4 dual meet record and an 8-10 overall record as a freshman according to Dabolt's UB profile. 

He won the B bracket at the NYS Collegiate Championships at 125 pounds with a win over Army's Lance Penhale.

Dabolt - a pharmacy major - was a three-year captain for the Blue Devils and had a 40-6 record as a senior. He had 172 victories while wrestling for Attica. The three-time sectional champion earned All-American honors in high school twice.

Wolfley's layup is "nifty"

By Brian Hillabush

Former Attica star Derek Wolfley's only two points in a loss to Fairfield 78-76 on Sunday was nice enough to be called "nifty" on the Iona basketball Web site.

Here is what was written in the story:

Iona jumped out to an 12-8 lead a little more than five minutes into the game on a nifty layup by freshman Derek Wolfley off a feed from teammate Devon Clarke at the 14:58 mark. 

Wolfley is averaging 7.8 minutes per game with one point and one rebound per game for the 2-5 Gaels, who wraps up a three-game road trip against Long Island tonight. The game can be heard by clicking the link on this page. 

Attica wins thriller over Pembroke

By Brian Hillabush

 A lot of people that follow Genesee Region League basketball had Pembroke, Oakfield-Alabama and Notre Dame is a category all their own - top three teams in the league.

Well, you can throw Attica into the mix after the Blue Devils won a thriller at Pembroke, 52-48, proving that the team can move on from the Derek Wolfley era and be one of the better teams in the league.

Pembroke's Andrew Wright and Attica's Shawn Dupuis had six points apiece in the opening frame with the visiting squad holding a 14-9 lead after the first eight minutes of play.

But by halftime, Attica opened up a 10-point advantage because of some sloppy play by the Dragons. The score was 14-10 before Bryan Thompson scored two consecutive buckets to open things up a bit. This happened when Pembroke big men Andrew Wright and Ken Babcock were trying to avoid serious foul trouble.

The lead got as big as 12 points because Matt Sheffield and Tate Westermeier had back-to-back baskets.

Had Matt Phelps not gotten a steal and basket in the final seconds of the half, the Blue Devils would have been up 12 at the break.

With Sheffield in foul trouble in the third quarter, Pembroke got back in the game.

Wright had seven points in the third quarter and Babcock pitched in six, giving the Dragons a 38-37 lead by the end of the period.

Babcock scored in the first minute of the fourth to give Pembroke its biggest lead, 42-39.

Westermeier had consecutive baskets a few minutes later and the game wound up seeing Attica take a 45-43 lead. Babcock tied the game at 45 with a pair of free throws with 1 1/2 minutes left. 

There was a confusing call just after that when it appeared Sheffield was called for a blocking call, and then it was overturned and the Blue Devils got the ball back.

Attica converted after getting another shot with the ball.

Shawn Dupuis was waving his hands in the air right in front of the Attica bench and he got the ball, knocking in a 3-pointer with just 48 seconds to go.

Pembroke missed a shot, then Attica turned the ball over on an over-and-back call.  

When the Dragons tried to get the ball in the basket for a two--pointer, Dupuis came through again with a blocked shot. He was immediately fouled and hit a pair of free throws, giving Attica a 50-45 lead.

Pembroke's Matt Seward hit a running 3-pointer with just over two seconds on the clock, but Westermeier hit both foul shots at the other end to ice the victory.

Westermeier led all scorers with 20 points, with Thompson getting 16 and Dupuis adding 11 for the Blue Devils (2-2).

Babcock scored 17 points with Wright pitching in 14 for the Dragons.

 

Subscribe to Attica

Authentically Local