football

 After losing games to Oakfield-Alabama, Pembroke and Attica, the Alexander football team has found the right equation to win in the Genesee Region League.

The Trojans play a physical style of football that involves pounding away with the ball on offense, are attempting to force turnovers on defense and - most importantly - making all the right moves on special teams.

Alexander won for the second consecutive week and are now 2-3 after beating Elba/Byron-Bergen 28-13 Saturday night in the first game ever played under the lights in Elba.

The Trojans spoiled Elba/Byron-Bergen's homecoming, but it didn't take away from the cool atmosphere of seeing a game in Elba played under lights, which did an excellent job of lighting the middle part of the field.

It almost wasn't spoiled as the two teams played a pretty close first half.

The two squads exchanged punts on their first possessions and a special teams mistake by Elba/Byron-Bergen on the team's second possession proved costly.

The snap sailed over the punters head and the Lancers picked it up and ran to their own 30-yard line.

Alexander had a couple of decent running plays before Jay Schaefer ran one in from six yards out. The extra point was missed.

Elba/Byron-Bergen's Zach Green then returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown. Again, the kick failed and the score was tied at 6 after the first quarter.

Alexander coach Dave Radley wanted to make sure I mentioned kicker/punter Lucas Czechowski in my preview this week and for good reason - he came up big. 

His first big kick was a 22-yard field goal early in the second quarter that put the Trojans up 9-6.

Elba/Byron-Bergen missed a field goal later in the half and that was the score at intermission 

Alexander had a long drive to open the second half - aided by some costly Elba/B-B penalties - that led to another Schaefer touchdown, this time from two yards out. The kick made the score 16-6.

The Lancers scored on another big play as Green rumbled 61 yards for a TD. The extra point brought Elba/Byron-Bergen to within three points.

Alexander marched down the field, going 68 yards down to the Elba/B-B 1 with a long kickoff return and a key pass from Zach Burke to Czechowski. But the Trojans fumbled the ball away and the Lancers took over deep in their own territory near the end of the third quarter.

Green broke off a 15-yarder, but the drive stalled and the Lancers had to punt again.

For the second time in the game, the snap sailed over the punter's head. This time it went through the end zone for a safety.

Alexander got the ball back and was moved into field goal territory because of an Elba/B-B facemask call.

Czechowski hit the 22-yard kick to make the score 21-13.

Ryan Piechocki had a key sack and forced Elba/B-B into a passing situation where Jordan Leitten took advantage, intercepting a pass at the 20-yard line.

Mike Woodrow had a 4-yard run a few plays later to make it a two touchdown game.

Leitten capped off the victory with another interception in the closing seconds, allowing the Trojans to take a knee and run out the clock.

Elba/Byron-Bergen falls to 1-4 and the biggest crowd to attend a game in the town of Elba in years was treated to a cool homecoming experience. But the team will have to work on limiting penalties and making huge mistakes on special teams if it is going to beat Notre Dame or Bishop Walsh in the final two weeks of the season.

Alexander is now 2-3 and will wrap up its regular season with a home game against Barker next Saturday. The Trojans were the No. 4 seed in the Section 5 Class D playoffs before the win and should move up to No. 3 with Avon's loss to Le Roy last night combined with the victory.

 The Oakfield-Alabama football team didn't start a lot of the usual names because of a flu that kept several players out of practice this week.

They also didn't do a very good job of keeping the ball from hitting the ground.

But the Hornets did just enough to beat host Attica 35-20 Friday night.

It was senior night for the Blue Devils and a couple of seniors gave the squad a very quick lead. Andy Ruddock busted off a 21-yard run and Nate Berry hauled in an 18-yard touchdown pass from junior Brandon Rollins to get things going, just 1 1/2 minutes into the contest.

O-A blocked the extra point.

The Hornets didn't take very long to answer as Tim Smith returned the kickoff 34 yards and Josh Athoe made his mark.

Athoe hasn't played in any high school game since getting injured at the start of last baseball season, but got the start at fullback in this game.

The 6-foot-2, 185 pound junior busted off an 11-yard run that set up his 12-yard touchdown run, with the Jon Fisher giving Oakfield-Alabama a lead that would never go away.

Ruddock ripped off a 30-yarder on Attica's next drive, but Chris Williams sacked Rollins to kill a drive and force a punt.

The Blue Devil defense did its job by stopping the Hornets on a fourth-and-2, but the offense fumbled the ball away on the first play of the next drive.

Athoe kicked off the second quarter with a 9-yard TD run, giving O-A a 14-6 advantage.

The Hornets got the ball back after an Attica punt and moved the ball through the air, with A.J. Kehlenbeck hooking up with Noah Seward and Tyler Tamblin on passes before finding Brad Riner with a 4-yard touchdown pass with just 17 seconds left in the half.

Tim Smith - who finished with 162 rushing yards on 20 carries - started the second half scoring with a 20-yard TD run.

Attica then started making a comeback.

Rollins hooked up with Shawn Dupuis on a 44-yard pass that moved the ball all the way down to the O-A 1, where Rollins scored on a keeper. The conversion pass failed and Oakfield-Alabama led 28-12.

Just seconds ticked off the clock before Kyler Dabolt popped the ball out of an O-A runners hands and Berry picked it up, scampering 62 yards for a score. Rollins ran in the conversion and Attica had cut O-A's lead to 28-20 near the end of the third period.

And then Smith stepped up again. Last week he earned Class C Offensive Player of the Week in a win over Notre Dame, and he stepped up with the big play this week.

The senior busted through the line and busted off a 52-yard run. He scored a couple of plays later from eight yards out.

As Attica tried to drive, Kehlenbeck had a big interception to kill a much-needed opportunity. 

The Hornets fumbled the ball away again, and had a couple of penalties that put the Blue Devils into great position to score.

On a third-and-goal from the Oakfield-Alabama 11, Seward picked off a pass to wrap up the victory.

Athoe rushed for 83 yards on 16 attempts and Riner gained 110 yards on 24 carries. Kehlenbeck completed 5-of-6 pass attempts for 50 yards.

 Attica falls to 3-2 while O-A improves to 5-0 and will be hosting currently unbeaten Pembroke next Friday night.

Dan Geiger has been working to build Batavia's football team for three seasons.

The Blue Devils were a losing program when he stepped in and  finally, Batavia has a record above .500 because they traveled all the way to Penn Yan Friday night and picked up a convincing 32-13 victory.

"I feel like we are still in an uphill battle," Geiger said. "We are Batavia; nothing comes easy to us. We have to work for everything we get."

I've personally been saying Rob Williams has deserved to win Class B Offensive Player of the Week for a few weeks now, and there is no way he can't win it this week. There aren't many performances that get bigger than this one.

The senior rushed the ball 22 times for 267 yards and two touchdowns while catching two passes for 29 yards. He also returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, one for 90 yards and another that was 94 yards.

"If he doesn't win it this week, they just aren't going to give it to him" Geiger said.

For good measure, Williams intercepted a pass on a two-point conversion attempt.

It isn't just Williams running the ball well as Anthony D'Aurizio had himself another big game, picking up 103 yards and a score on 16 carries.

The Blue Devils rushed for 398 yards on 42 carries as a team.

Joe Canzoneri connected on 4-of-9 passing attempts for 51 yards.

Teams have scored just 20 points - one TD on special teams last week - in the last two Batavia victories as the defense is starting to match the production of the offense.

Adam Hausfelder had nine tackles and a sack with Troy Ireland making eight stops and D'Aurizio recording seven tackles.

David DiSalvo had an interception.

"We are a young team," Geiger said. "We have seniors out there that are young to varsity football. There are details that they have had to learn and understand each week. In practice they are working harder and harder and Coach Gravante is doing a great job of breaking down teams. The kids are stepping up."

Batavia (3-2) will be at East Rochester/Gananda next Friday night.

 All of the Week 5 High School football previews are located in the sports section now. I'd like to hear what The Batavian readers think about these games, so please pick games that you are interested in and post comments and predictions after the preview story.

Here is the list of games with links to the previews:

Batavia (2-2) at Penn Yan (1-3)

Notre Dame (2-2) at Holley (0-4)

Le Roy (4-0) at Avon (3-1)

Oakfield-Alabama (4-0) at Attica (3-1)

Alexander (1-3) at Elba/Byron-Bergen (1-3)

Pembroke (4-0) at Barker (1-3)

 This was a pretty easy call for the folks that pick the Players of the Week in Section 5.

Oakfield-Alabama's Tim Smith put up sick numbers against a solid opponent and because of that was named Class C Offensive Player of the Week.

He is the second local player in a row to earn the honor as Andy Ruddock won in Class B last week.

Smith's Hornets had a slim 7-0 lead at Notre Dame on Saturday and he blew up in the second half en route to a 28-6 win.

Smith gained 185 yards on the ground, picking up 25 carries. The number of carries alone is an amazing number in O-A's offensive system.

He had 79 punt return yards and intercepted two passes and returned them for 54 yards.

His 6-yard TD run in the second quarter put the Hornets on top before he added a 21-yard touchdown run and broke a 31-yarder on a fourth-and-1 that set up his 8-yard score.

Smith has 489 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

 The Oakfield-Alabama football team has had the luxury of giving the backups plenty of playing time in the first three weeks of the season.

Not so much on Saturday as the Hornets had their first test of the season in Notre Dame, not passing until the second half. O-A held off a late charge and won 28-6.

Tim Smith actually returned the opening kickoff just over 50 yards to the Notre Dame 29-yard line. Notre Dame's Craig Houseknecht sacked A.J. Kehlenbeck on a pass attempt, but a couple of mid-distance runs moved the ball down to the 2-yard line.

This was where the first half tone was set.

Oakfield-Alabama fumbled the ball away and Cam McDonald fell on it to give the Fighting Irish possession. 

After Kevin Schildwaster popped a 53-yard run, O-A had a sack and fumble that was recovered by Noah Seward.

Notre Dame's defense stiffened up and caused a three-and-out, then ND started moving the ball as Nick Bochicchio found Kevin Francis on a 24-yard pass.

At this point the Irish fans were thinking upset, while the O-A fans were starting to sweat with a 0-0 score after a period of play.

But the Hornets stopped ND's offense and forced a punt. Then Notre Dame returned the favor and made O-A punt.

With just a few minutes left in the first half, Smith took over.

He killed a Notre Dame drive with an interception, had a 24-yard run and then scored on a 6-yarder to make the score 7-0 at the half.

Notre Dame received the second half kickoff and was moving the ball. Bochicchio hooked up with Francis on a 16-yard pass, that was moved to the O-A 28-yard line because of a late hit penalty.

This time the Fighting Irish tried a halfback option that was intercepted by Smith at the 4 and returned to the 40.

Smith capped off this drive with a 21-yard TD run.

Oakfield-Alabama took firm control of the game after a Notre Dame punt when Smith broke a 31-yard run on a fourth-and-1. He scored just moments into the fourth quarter on an 8-yard run.

A Seward sack put Notre Dame into a fourth-and-very long deep in its own territory, so Matt Thompson had to come on and punt.

Smith had a 20-yard return and the Hornets started a drive at the ND 26.

Jason Stanley finished off the O-A scoring with a 21-yard run.

With just five minutes left, Bochicchio got hot.

He had completions to Francis, Schildwaster and Gianni Zambito before hitting Mike Pratt on a swing pass that he took 25 yards for a touchdown.

Derek Hicks blocked the extra point attempt.

The onside kick attempt was recovered by Cody Proefrock and ND was still alive with 3:41 left on the clock.

But a couple of plays into the drive, Hicks picked off a pass to put an end to the game.

Notre Dame falls to 2-2 and will play at Holley Friday nights as the Hawks are going to rent lights for their homecoming game.

Smith - who rushed for 185 yards on 25 carries - and the Hornets improve to 4-0 and move on to play in Attica next week for the Blue Devils' homecoming game. Then comes the annual game with Pembroke that always has Genesee Region League title implications.

 The Alexander football team should probably ask for lights.

The Trojans won their first game of the season as they played under lights on a Friday night at home for the first time in over 20 years.

Alexander Central School rented lights for the game. The Trojans usually play their home games on Saturday afternoons.

Lucas Czechowski booted a 30-yard field goal with eight minutes left to give Alexander a 9-8 victory over Holley in a Genesee Region League contest.

"These juniors have been waiting," said Dave Radley, who won his first game as a head coach. "They work hard and every day is a challenge. They had three tough opponents to start and tonight we battled an evenly matched team. The good thing is that we seemed to be in better condition in the second half. Our defense stepped up and stopped them."

The defense held the Hawks on a fourth-and-2 before the drive that set up Czechowski's field goal and Jordan Leitten sealed the victory with an interception with 20 seconds left.

Ryan Piechowki had 16 solo tackles to go with his 48 yards rushing and Jay Schaefer gained 127 yards rushing.

Alexander is now 1-3 while Holley dips to 0-4.

 When the Le Roy football team played Canisteo-Greenwood last season, they were up 56-0 at the half.

A much improved Redskins team gave Le Roy a game for a while before the Oatkan Knights started putting up points in winning 36-0, giving the homecoming crowd an offensive and defensive show.

It was the 40th consecutive win at Hartwood Park for Le Roy, which last lost at home to Hornell, 7-0, in 1998.

C-G failed to move the ball down the field on its first drive of the game with a shotgun/option offense that was later making Le Roy defenders miss.

But the first drive didn't lead to much of anything.

Quarterback Mark Ahearn tried finding a receiver on the left side of the field, but Mike Humphrey - who led the state in interceptions last year - picked off the pass with a high vertical jump.

Le Roy quickly capitalized on the drive that started at the C-G 11 when Travis Fenstermaker scored on a 1-yard keeper.

This time, Canisteo-Greendwood moved the ball to midfield before the Le Roy defense forced a punt.

After Fenstermaker hooked up with Humphrey on a short pass, Andrew Alexander busted off a 46-yard touchdown run, giving Le Roy a 14-0 first quarter advantage.

The Redskins marched again, but Humphrey put the drive to an end with another interception. He returned this one from the Le Roy 15 to the 49.

Fenstermaker had a 16-yard run and found Humphrey on a 26 yard pass, setting up a 6-yard TD run for Alexander.

Le Roy faked the extra point on this one and Humphrey - who is also the holder - found John Schueing for the two point conversion.

The Oatkan Knights added one more score in the first half when Fenstermaker found Humphrey on a 20-yard TD pass. It was the sixth time this season the two have connected on touchdown passes.

Le Roy's only second half touchdown was a 1-yard touchdown run by John Casper.

Fenstermaker went 7-of-12 for 127 yards and Humphrey hauled in six receptions for 97 yards.

Alexander rushed for 152 yards and the two scores on 18 carries as Le Roy improves to 4-0 and prepares for a tough stretch.

The Oatkan Knights will face Avon, Caledonia-Mumford and Hornell to finish off the regular season.

 The Batavia football team is having a long, but great bus ride home from Midlakes.

That's because the Blue Devils scored 28 fast points and beat the host squad 41-7 Friday night.

"It would be a very long ride home without the W," Batavia coach Dan Geiger said. 

Vinny Pedro returned the opening kickoff 84 yards to start the ball rolling.

Midlakes then marched down to the Batavia 1-yard line, but fumbled the ball.

Rob Williams picked it up and took it to the house.

After Batavia got the ball back, Williams had the carry on Batavia's first offensive play of the game. He took it 55 yards for the score.

Again, Batavia got the ball back and Williams got another carry. He took this one 85 yards for the TD.

"The great this is that Rob ran behind Todd Logsdon and Adam Hausfelder on both plays," Geiger said. 

Anthony D'Aurizio had a touchdown run and Chip Chapman returned a fumble 40 yards for a score.

Williams finished the game with five rushes for 150 yards and two touchdowns with D'Aurizio gaining 91 yards with the score on just eight carries.

Pedro gained 75 yards on 15 attempts as Batavia picked up 336 yards and three TDs on 35 attempts as a team.

Hausfelder had nine tackles, Logsdon had eight and Devonte Rolle made four stops and intercepted a pass.

Batavia (2-2) will play Penn Yan next week.