Notre Dame

Tim McCulley and Jared Thornton made quite a duo on Saturday, helping to lead the way for a Notre Dame victory over Attica in an overtime game, 32-26.

The quarterback and receiver connected 10 times for 240 yards and four touchdowns.

The two biggest plays came in the fourth quarter and OT.

Down 26-18 with less than three minutes on the clock, Thornton jumped off sides to turn a fourth-and-five into a fourth-and-10.

"I just wanted to make it up to my teammates," Thornton said. "I just tried to make it up best I could."

When the ball was snapped on that fourth-down play, McCulley dropped back and looked for Thornton cutting across the field. He put the ball up and Thornton snagged it.

I just wanted to make the first down," Thornton said. "I caught the ball and somebody hit me, but I just bounced right off him so I just kept going."

The score followed by a two-point conversion knotted the game at 26 apiece.

On its next possession, Attica stalled and with less than 30 seconds on the clock, just let time expire, deciding to roll the dice on OT.

The Blue Devils won first possession of OT and on the first play from scrimmage, QB Austin Skawienski ran a sweep to the far sideline. Attica dodged a bullet when he fumbled the ball was ruled down before the ball sprung loose.

Two plays later, Skawienski tried for a corner end zone pass but Notre Dame's Josh Johnson stepped in front of the ball and pulled it down.

The Irish took possession on the 20-yard line, but before the first snap, a player jumped off sides.

From the 25, McCulley dropped back to pass, Thornton streaked toward the back corner of the end zone, McCulley tossed it high, Thornton jumped, but so did Zach Kozma. Kozma actually got his hands on the ball first, but Thornton pulled it away.

As the players tumbled to the ground, Thornton's helmet popped off, but he held firm to the ball.

TD and a ND win, 32-26.

"He’s really good at jump balls, kind of like Calvin Johnson, I guess," McCulley said of Thorton. "I just throw it up there and he goes up to get it."

With the win, Notre Dame secured a first-round home game in sectional play.

"It was a fantastic game," said Head Coach Rick Mancuso. "I thought both teams played their hearts out. It’s a shame that anybody had to lose that game. I give all the credit in the world to Attica. They lose the quarterback in the first quarter and they gutted it out and they gave it everything they possible had. We just managed to pull it out in the end. I’m really proud of our guys."

The Irish defense had their hands full with junior running back Matt Perry who carried the ball 27 times for 181 yards and one TD.

"Perry is a workhorse," Mancuso said. "He can take the ball 50 times and be as tough on the last carry as the first carry. He’s a heck of running back and they have a great line."

QB Skawienski was 3-6 for 58 yards and one interception for Attica. He replaced Corey Ruddock in the first quarter after Ruddock was transported by Mercy EMS to an area hospital with possible back and leg injuries.

While Attica dominated on the ground -- 287 total yards to Notre Dame's 139, the Irish looked at times like Air Coryell. McCulley was as likely to drop back and look for an open man as he was to hand it off. On the day, the junior QB was 14-22 for 270 yards and the four TD tosses to Thornton.

On the ground, McCulley carried the ball 11 times for 79 yards. Nick Taylor had six carries for 35 yards and Andrew Mullen had six carries for 25 yards.

In those final minutes of the fourth quarter, the situation did look pretty bleak for the Fighting Irish.

After the Blue Devils marched the ball 70 yards down field, and knocking at the door of another TD, Perry coughed the ball up on the one-yard line.

That could have been a turning point for Notre Dame, a chance, down 19-18, to move the ball into scoring position.

After a second-down penalty negated the positive gain of a first-yard play, McCulley ran a bootleg. He never made it out of the end zone. While it appeared that he was trying to pass the ball while being dragged by Jake Dollard, the play was ruled a fumble. Attica recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

For a lot of teams, that would have been the game right there.

"I just told my guys, a win starts with belief," said senior lineman John Lapple. "If you believe you can win, great things can happen, never go down on yourself. You’re always positive and you know what’s going on."

On defense, Aaron McDonald and Josh Johnson had nine tackles apiece. Johnson also had the interception. Thornton and Taylor each had 6.5 tackles. Jason Hart and Charlie Hebert had five apiece.

In other football action Saturday:

• Elba/Byron Bergen (6-1) crushed University Prep 55-18. Zack DuBois had 271 yards and three TDs on 24 carries. It was his fifth game this year of at least 200 yards on the ground. He finishes the regular season with 1,572 rushing yards and 17 TD. Zac Gillard was 7 for 9 for 160 yards and two touchdowns. He added  26 rushing yards and one TD. Andy Underhill recorded 18 tackles and an interception. Nate Jonathan had 10 tackles.
• St. Mary's beat Batavia, 37-14.

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Notre Dame won against Wellsville on Saturday, securing a 34-7 home victory.

The Fighting Irish are 5-1 on the season and play Attica next week in a game that will determine whether Attica wins the Genesee Region title outright or if there will be a three-way tie of ND, Attica and Elba/Byron-Bergen.

Andrew Mullen carried the ball 22 times for 109 yards and one TD. Tim McCulley was 5-12 passing for 132 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once and scored on a 45-yard run.

Jared Thornton caught two of those McCulley TD passes and gained 90 yards. Josh Johnson also had a 21-yard TD reception.

Anthony Paladino and Charlie Hebert each had six tackles. Paladino had a sack as did Aaron Lyons.

In a battle of unbeaten Genesee Region teams, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Elba-Byron Bergen Lancers squared off Saturday afternoon.

A good part of the opening quarter was a defensive struggle before Elba quarterback Zac Gillard opened the scoring with a one-yard run. The point after attempt failed and the Lancers held a 6-0 lead.

Andrew Mullen returns the ensuing kickoff and later he put Notre Dame on the board with a short run. The point after was good and Notre Dame led 7-6 at  halftime.

On Elba's first series of the second half, Zac Gillard hit Kyle Morse with a 55-yard scoring strike and a missed conversion left the Lancers with a 12-7 lead.

Zack DuBois is off and running.

Kyle Morse signals touchdown after DuBois' 10-yard scoring run. Another failed point after conversion gave the Lancers an 18-7 lead.

Fullback Jon Levchuk's one-yard run in the fourth quarter extended Elba's lead to 24-7 and with their defense playing soundly, the Lancers seemed to have the game well in hand.

But things were about to take a dramatic turn.

In the later stages of the fourth quarter, the Fighting Irish began to move the ball downfield, capping the drive when Andrew Mullen scored his second tochdown of the day on an 18-yard run. Tim McCulley passed to Jared Thornton for the 2-point conversion and cut Elba's lead to 24-15.

After the kickoff, Elba fumbled the ball away and Notre Dame was back in business. McCulley hooked up with Jared Thornton once again, this time for a touchdown and Notre Dame closed to within 24-21 after a failed conversion.

With about a minute to play, an onside kick was recovered by Notre Dame's Zack Blew at the Elba 45-yard line. But on the first play from scrimmage, Elba's Andy Underhill sacked QB Tim McCulley for a nine-yard loss. Two plays later Brandon Naylor chipped in with another sack and Elba took over on downs and ran out the clock for the win.

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Press release:

In the third $7,500 "Dash for Cash," Lindsay Hilburger -- representing Notre Dame of Batavia High School with professional driver Dave McNeight III alongside -- led all the way to take the first-place scholarship check of $3,000.

The one-mile harness race for area high school seniors racing for college scholarship funds took place Saturday night (Sept 15.), at Batavia Downs Racetrack & Casino.

Sonia Nevinger (Alexander) took second place and a $2,000 scholarship check; Leanne King (Pembroke) was third and earned a $1,200 scholarship; Jessica Levins (Batavia High School) took the fourth-place spot and $800 in scholarship funds, while Jamie Marshall (Elba) was fifth and received a $500 check.

The final time of 2:08.2 was by far the fastest running time of any of the scholarship races.

“It was nice to see such a large turnout,” said Todd Haight, general manager of Live Racing.

The track apron was packed with fans of all ages as they came out to cheer on their classmates and favorite schools.

The scholarship race is a partnership of the New York Sire Stakes, the Harness Horse Breeders of New York, the Western New York Harness Horsemen’s Association, Buffalo Raceway and Batavia Downs.

Photo: Jamie Marshall, Jessica Levins, Leanne King, Sonia Nevinger, Lindsay Hilburger (courtesy of Paul White).

A Notre Dame offense propelled by Nick Taylor, Tim McCulley and Andrew Mullen dominated on the gridiron Saturday against Oakfield-Alabama.

With a 32-0 win, the Fighting Irish move to 2-0 while the Hornets top to 0-2.

Taylor carried the ball 15 times for 161 yards and one TD. McCulley tossed a 26-yard TD pass to Charlie Hebert, rushed for a touchdown and returned an interception for a score. He also rushed for 48 yards on seven carries. Mullen scored once on nine carries for 65 yards.

O-A's stats are not available, nor are defense stats.

Head Coach Rick Mancuso said his young team is still learning and needs to take each week of the season day-by-day.

"A lot of kids played in their first varsity game last week," Mancuso said. "Today, they played in their second, so I think we’re getting a little more experience as we go on so we can develop a little bit of an edge and we can get some momentum going through the season."

Oakfield-Alabama has talent -- such as Austin Schroeder, Chase Manzella, Chris Nanni, Ryan Emery and Allen Chatt -- and Mancuso said the Hornets should not be taken lightly.

"I think Brian (Palone) is doing a job with that group of kids," Mancuso said. "He’s got them motivated week-to-week. He’s got them playing very hard. It was not a walk over by any means."

In other local football action this weekend:

• Batavia beat Cardinal O'Hara High School 36-8 and is now 2-0 on the season. Justin Washington carried the ball twice and scored both times. Andrew Budlong had nine carries for 77 yards and one TD. Brandon Stevenson rushed for 74 yards and a TD. Nick Canzoneri carried the ball 10 times for 49 yards and scored once. Zac Bromley kicked four successful PATs.
• Le Roy dominated on offense and defense for the second week in a row, beating Warsaw Central School 42-0. Warsaw (0-2) was held to 99 yards of offense. Ryan McQuillen had four receptions for 115 yards and a TD. Dylan Johnson rushed for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Peter Privitera scored twice with 57 yards on the ground. Johnson had seven tackles and Zack Fitzsimmons had five.
• Elba/Byron-Bergen (2-0) beat Pembroke 43-0 (0-2), jumping to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. Zack DuBois had another solid game, rushing for 264 yards, scoring four times on runs of 58, 69, 59 and 35 yards. Zac Gillard tossed two TDs, one for 60 yards, completing four passes on seven attempts for 127 yards. Receiver Kyle Morse caught three passes for 97 yards, including that 60-yard TD pass from Gillard. For Pembroke, QB Tyler Bruning was 6-12 for 42 yards. Andy Underhill had 14 tackles for the Lancers, with 11 more for Nate Jonathan.
• Alexander (1-1) beat Finney 29-8.

Reminder: Each of the next two weekends, I'll be traveling so won't be able to cover any games.

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The Notre Dame girls softball team got a homecoming befitting state champions Saturday night with a police and fire escort from the Thruway, down Oak Street, east, then west on Main Street and finally down Woodward to the parking lot of their school.

The girls swept two games in Queensbury Saturday to become the state's Class D champions.

It's the third straight year the softball team had a chance at a title and it turned out truly to be a case of the third time's the charm.

"It took a lot of heart and dedication, waking up super early, getting to practice before games, hitting, throwing, the whole thing," Kaylin Young said. "It was definitely worth it."

In the semi-final game, the Fighting Irish beat Hamilton 9-2, but the championship game was much tighter with Notre Dame (19-7) taking a 1-0 victory over Deposit.

"We were the visiting team so I was the lead-off hitter and I got two early strikes," Laurie Call said. "I'm thinking, 'oh, my gosh,' and then I got a single. Then I just remember each time something bad happened, I just had to tell my adrenaline to go back down and make sure I'm focused on the game and not to worry about the state title. It's just another game."

It's the first state title in softball for Notre Dame.

"It means an awful lot to the Notre Dame community and the family that is Notre Dame," Coach Rick Mancuso said. "We're very proud of the girls and we would like to thank the community for coming out tonight, welcoming us as the newest state champions."

The newest state champions were greeted at the Thruway exit by Engine 12 and Ladder 15 of the Batavia Fire Department and three Batavia patrol cars. With lights and sirens, the caravan of players, parents and fans paraded through the city with dozens and dozens of people turning out along Main Street to cheer for the team.

Laurie said the city's greeting was really overwhelming.

"It’s really, finally like all that weightlifting you've been doing, all those pitches you’ve taken in the legs, like everything finally means something and you just kind of want to stop and cry," Laurie said.

The Notre Dame Girls Softball Team won the Far West Regional Championship today after defeating Forestville Central High School, 7-2.

Carly Pike fanned 10 and surrendered only five hits.

The team is now 19-7 on the season.

Notre Dame now moves on to the state semi-finals.

Photo submitted by Scott Grefrath.

Behind the four-hit performances of Laurie Call and Kendra Wall, the Notre Dame Girls Softball Team powered its way to an 11-1 win over DeSales in the quarter final game of the state Class D tournament.

The Fighting Irish, hungry for a state championship, will face Forestville at Monroe Community Colleg on Tuesday. Game time is 5 p.m.

The Notre Dame baseball team didn't fair as well, dropping a Class DD sectional title game to Arkport, 3-2, on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Batavia Blue Devils took a swing at a third-straight attempt to win a Class A Section V title, but dropped the Saturday game (a make-up for a rainout on Friday) to Honeoye Falls-Lima, 7-1.

The Notre Dame Girls Softball Team won the Class D1 Section V championship tonight in Keshequa by beating Arkport 17-14. 

Photo submitted by Linda Bartlett.

Pembroke eked out a narrow victory over Notre Dame in the semifinals of the Mock Trial Tournament Wednesday.

The four remaining teams faced off in Warsaw.

While Pembroke won on points against Notre Dame (101 to 99), splitting the match 1-1, Attica beat Warsaw handily, 124 to 88, taking both sides (prosecution and defense) of the match.

Pembroke and Attica will square off at 5:30 p.m., Monday, in the Genesee County Courthouse with Judge Robert C. Noonan on the bench.

Which ever team wins Monday, it will be the first time in the history of the local tournament that a team other than Batavia won. Batavia went 1-3 in early competition and was knocked out before the quarterfinals.

The photos in this post are of the Notre Dame and Pembroke teams.

Notre Dame team members: Meghan Zickl, Anneliese Aliasso, Andrew Fischer, Matthew Sausher, Kendra Wall, John Lapple, Ariana Aliasso, Rosalie Mortellaro, Jake Krajewski, Brittany Perzia, Caleb Nellis, James Spear, Anna Arner, Natalie Mouton, Katie Fischer, Andrew Cheverie and Rosemary Fulmerfeld.

Pembroke team members: Dean Cullinan, Patrick Burns, Joelle Fugle, Cale Fryer, Rachel Seweryniak, Andrew Renolds, Brett Jones, Brandon Kohorst, Bea Reiner, Christian Burns, Eva Reda-Kenrick, Karen Globm, Justin Sformo and Sabrina Sanner.

Previously: Batavia knocked out of Mock Trial Tournament early; four teams left to vie for title

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Sackets Harbor beat Notre Dame today in the semi-finals of the boys basketball tournament in Glens Falls.

The final score: 50 to 40.

It's only the second loss of the season for the Fighting Irish, who won their first Section V title since 2001 and the Western Regional title.