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Dick Gallagher shares his thoughts, opinions, takes, and picks on the happenings surrounding WNY High School Football in week 6 of the regular season:
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| Best Game program: Williamsville East |
| Booster Club President of the Week: Joe Decerbo, Olean |
| Best Refreshment Stand: Salamanca |
| Best Cheerleaders: Lewiston-Porter |
| Best Uniform: Cheektowaga |
| Top Unsung Player: Jaronetay Thompson, Alden |
| Msgr. Martin Association teams are 5-0 against Section VI teams this fall. |
| Next coaches to achieve 100 wins include Chuck Tilley, Eden (97-53-0); Kraig Kurzanski, Williamsville South (91-62-2); and Jay Sirianni, Southwestern (88-17-0) |
| Rookie Stat Man of the Year: Dan Kaplan, Cheektowaga |
| Class Act: Mike Masters, Cross Training Football |
| City of Buffalo Teams have a combined 16-32 record after 6 weeks of play. |
| Inspirational Speaker: George Privateer, Frontier |
| Most Disappointing Team: Lackawanna |
| Tough Luck Teams: Springville, Akron, Williamsville North, Lancaster |
| St. Francis needs to install a turf field. |
| Best Homecoming "King": Justin Capuano, Jamestown |
| Mark Layer, Mark Kensy, and Paul Burgio have done an excellent job in coaching the Red Devils to the playoffs after losing QB Mark Armstrong to injury in the third game of the season. |
| Best Team Not in the Playoffs: Akron |
| Winless Teams: Riverside, Niagara Wheatfield, Lake Shore, Gowanda, I prep, Forestville, St. Francis |
| Best Hot Dog: Williamsville South "The Stasiak Hot Dog Special" |
| Monsters of Defense: Maple Grove, Red Dragons |
| Fearsome Foursomes: Jack Bargnesi, Nigel Davis, Ilo Noble, and Rod Payne, St. Joe's |
| Dynamic Duo: Ryan Hunter, Pat Haley, Canisius |
| Offensive Line of the Week: Alden with Phil Zobrest, Scott Rosler, Josh Weisbeck, Eric Feltshans, and Jason Bunk |
| Unsung Hero: Mark Adair, Publisher, Upstate Football Weekly |
| Mike Fatta, Cheektowaga, has done an excellent job in his first year leading the Warriors to the league title and a 6-0 record. |
| Emaure Williams, Clarence junior running back, has accounted for 1173 all-purpose yards and 13 touchdowns in 6 games. |
| Preston Summers, Cheektowaga WR, caught 5 passes for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Warriors win over Dunkirk. |
| Dan Reischuck, East Aurora star WR, was injured in week 4. |
| Mike Wawrzyniak, Cheektowaga junior quarterback, completed 10 of 18 for 159 yards and 4 touchdowns (school record) and rushed for 135 yards and one touchdown in the flyers loss to Lew-port in week 5. |
| Add to top defenders in week 5: Zach Marshall, Dakota Farr, Devan Leo, West Seneca West |
| Add to 1000 yards rushing in week 5: Nick Vallone, St. Mary's |
| Ben Holmes, Orchard Park senior quarterback, accounted for 384 yards in total offense to lead the Quakers to victory over Lancaster in week 5. |
| Alec Dietsch, Clarence senior LB and recorded 66 tackles and 1 forced fumble in 6 games. |
| Upsets of the Week: Kenmore East over Starpoint and Eden over Pioneer |
| Best Comebacks of the Week: Iroquois over Hamburg, Kenmore East over Starpoint, and St. Joe's over Lockport |
| Best Rushing Team: Randolph |
| Best Fans: Jamestown, Eden |
| Cheektowaga is averaging the most points per game with 43 points over 6 games |
| Peter Trathen, Southwestern senior LB had one of the best defensive performances in the season against Allegany/Limestone in week 5 when he recorded 29 tackles with 10 solo and 19 assists. The Trojans lost to the Gators. |
| Most Versatile Player: Tyler Hughes, Tonawanda |
| Niagara Catholic has not played a game this season due to the low turnout of players. They intended to field a JV team only. |
| Congratulations to Jim Duprey, Pioneer head coach, for being elected to the Springville's athletic Hall of Fame. |
| Predictions for Section VI Championships: |
| Class AA: Jamestown vs. Orchard Park |
| Class A: Sweet Home vs. West Seneca East |
| Class B: Alden vs. Cheektowaga |
| Class C: Cleveland Hill vs. Salamanca |
| Class D: Maple Grove vs. Randolph |
| Class DD: Clymer vs. Ellicottville |
| WNY Alumni: Kevin Chills, McKinley is starting wide receiver for Albany and FR Afam Pasnik, St. Francis, is starting left tackle for the great Danes. Both players are having excellent seasons for Albany which is 5-1 for the season. |
| Surprise Teams: Frontier, Iroquois, Grand Island, Lew-port, Westfield/Brocton, JFK, Ellicottville/West Valley |
| St. Joe's plays Timon and St. Mary's in week 7 and 8 while Canisius plays Cardinal O'Hara and Timon in week 7 and 8. If the Maurders and Crusaders are unbeaten in week 9 and since the teams will play at St. Joe's. Look for the biggest, nosiest, and craziest atmosphere than in any other game this season. |
| About Time: The Olean School District sports booster club has adopted an initiative to build a new multi-sport complex complete with lights and turf. |
| Top Freshman: Jake Fuzak, Williamsville South |
| Top Sophomores: Jordan Evert, Sweet Home and Kevin Goltz, Orchard Park |
| Top Juniors: Jake Sisson, Jamestown and Nick Vallone, St. Mary's |
| Top Seniors: Sam Cohen, Williamsville South |
| Msgr. Martin missed big time on JD Recors transfer from Lancaster to Timon/St. Jude. Why did it take so long to respond? Aren't all transfers approved by the executive of the association? They fumbled the ball in this case. The burocracy of the association in this case is just as bad as the government. |
| Add to Top Passing Combinations: Austin Mietz to Austin Lauricella, Akron |
| Alex Dibernardo, Williamsville East senior quarterback, completed 16 of 28 passes for 273 yards, 2 touchdowns in the Flames loss to Bennett in week 5. |
| Hornell has won 45 consecutive football games which is the fifth longest streak in NYS. The Red Raiders have a record of 6-0 this season and are looking to win their fourth consecutive state title. Hornell is favored to win the Class C title in Section V and would face the Section VI team that wins Class C in WNY. Should the Red Raiders win their next 5 games, the win streak would reach 50 which would be the second best win streak behind Massena Central that won 55 consecutive games from 1951-57. |
| The Best: |
| Top High School Connecting Graduates to Collegiate Football: St. Francis |
| Most State Titles: Jamestown, 3 |
| Most Sectional Championships: Orchard Park, 12 |
| Most Msgr. Martin Playoff Titles: St. Francis, 6 |
| Most Harvard Cup Titles: Lafayette, 14 |
| Most First Team All-WNYers: St. Joe's 59, Jamestown 58 |
| Most Wins by Active Football Coach: Dick Diminuco, Albion/Alden 231 |
| Most Consecutive Wins vs. Section VI Opponents: 50, Sweet Home |
| Top Athletic Complexes: All-High, Depew, Amherst, St. Joe's |
| Most All-Academic Selections: St. Joseph's, 37 |
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Playoff Championships in the Msgr. Martin Association occurred in 1956, 1975, 1976, 1977, 2002 through 2011.
Ben Holmes, Orchard Park's Sr. QB, left the Jamestown game with a concussion and is expected to miss this week's game with Niagara Falls.
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| Top Athletes: |
| Msgr. Martin Association: Ilo Noble, St. Joe's; Denzel Benton, Canisius; Adam DiMillo, Timon/St. Jude; Alex Misterman, St. Francis; Nick Vallone, St. Mary's; Anthony DeFrancisco, Cardinal O'Hara. |
| Class AA South: Corey Helenbrook, Lancaster; Alex Dietsch, Clarence; Ben Holmes, Orchard Park; Zach Panebianco, Jamestown; Nick King, Frontier; Peter Walsh, West Seneca West |
| Class AA North: Julius Cathcart, Riverside; Ricky Bailey, Niagara Falls; James Chambers, Lockport; Lenny Dowell, Hutch Tech; Alex Price, Kenmore West |
| Class A South: Andy Smigiera, West Seneca East; Chaq Nettles, Williamsville South; Nate Wilkerson, Iroquois; JB Battle, Williamsville East; Kyle Violanti, Hamburg; Maurice Howie, South Park; Robert Humphrey, Bennett; Nick Evans, Lake Shore |
| Class A North: Tyler Green, Williamsville North; Forest Mullen, Niagara Wheatfield; Ian Gilhousen, North Tonawanda; Mike McKoy, Sweet Home; Reyzon Jordan, McKinley; Connor McMahon, Kenmore East; Chris Connors, Grand Island; Evan Majewski, Starpoint. |
| Class B East: Corey Barczykowski, Alden; Derrick Sekuterski, Depew; Javonte Glover, East; Lonnie Taylor, Medina/Lynsonville; Brett Cole, Barker/Roy-Hart; Brett Zacari, Albion; Connor Sears, Newfane |
| Class B West: Marquel Jackson, Cheektowaga; Sean Marshall, Burgard; Bill Schiviatti, Lew-Port; Mike Wawryzniak, Maryvale; Cameron Smith, Lackawanna; Takried Johnson, Amherst; Tyler Hughes, Tonawanda |
| Class B South: Kyle Hoffman, Pioneer; Alex Smythe, Eden; Wil Bathurst, Olean; Edwin Gomez, Dunkirk; Alec Hibit, East Aurora; Ethan Benz, Springville |
| Class C South: Peter Trathen, Southwestern; Mike Okerlund, Westfield/Brocton; Jacob Youngberg, Falconer; Tanner John, Salamanca; Josh Harrington, Allegany-Limestone; Jordan Boughton, Cassadaga Valley |
| Class C North: Zach Buckley, Fredonia; Nick Anderson, JFK; Connor Ladd, Akron; Jonathan Thomas, Cleveland Hill; Justin Slango, Wilson; Brennan Geiger, Gowanda |
| Class D: Cody Oldro, Randolph; Matt Booth, Cattaraugus/LV; Zed Williams, Silver Creek; Zach Wood, Portville; Williams Burgess, Iprep; Aaron Germain, Maple Grove; Chandler Baker, Chautauqua Lake |
| Class DD: Phalla Musall, Ellicottville; Jake Wittig, Clymer; Devin Moorhead, Sherman/Ripley; Peter Kopp, Franklinville; Rob Benson, Panama; Josh Kilburn, Pine Valley; Jake Nosbisch, Forestville |