Games to watch this week
Pastor-Cooper Memorial at Daemen College
Today: St. Joe’s vs. Kenmore West, 7 p.m.; Hutch-Tech vs. Cardinal O’Hara, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday: Williamsville East vs. MEC, 7 p.m.; Amherst vs. Depew, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday: East vs. St. Mary’s, 7 p.m.; McKinley vs. Bishop Timon-St. Jude, 8:30 p.m.
Town of Hamburg Lions Tipoff at Frontier
Today: Lackawanna vs. St. Francis, 6 p.m.; Hamburg at Frontier, 7:30 p.m. (final round Friday, 6 and 7:30 p.m.)
Lockport Tournament
Friday: St. Joe’s vs. Williamsville East, 6 p.m; I-Prep at Lockport, 7:45 p.m. (finals Sat., 6 and 7:30).
Olean Tipoff
Friday: Maple Grove vs. East, 6:30 p.m.; Bradford (Pa.) at Olean, 8 p.m. (final round Saturday, 1 and 2:30 p.m.)
Cataract Classic at Niagara Falls
Friday’s games: Sweet Home vs. Niagara-Wheatfield, 5 p.m.; V-Batavia vs. Williamsville North, 6:30 p.m.; Bishop Kearney at Niagara Falls, 8 p.m.
Saturday’s games: Grand Island vs. Wilson, noon; Newfane vs. St. Marys, 1:30 p.m.; V-Geneva vs. Bishop Timon-St. Jude, 3 p.m.; Depew vs. Niagara Catholic, 4:30 p.m.; Jamestown vs. Williamsville South, 6 p.m.; Brunswick (Ohio) at Niagara Falls, 7:30 p.m.
Games to watch this month
ECIC-MMA Challenge at St. Mary’s/Lanc.
Monday, Dec. 10
Niagara Catholic vs. Cheektowaga, 4 p.m.
Walsh vs. Iroquois, 5:30 p.m.
Nichols vs. Sweet Home, 7 p.m.
Bishop Timon-St. Jude vs. Kenmore West, 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 11
St. Francis vs. Depew, 4:30 p.m.
St. Joe’s vs. Jamestown, 6 p.m.
Canisius vs. Olean, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 12
Christian Central vs. Lackawanna, 4:30 p.m.
Cardinal O’Hara vs. Lancaster, 6 p.m.
St. Mary’s vs. Williamsville South, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 14: Yale Cup openers including Riverside at East; St. Joe’s at McKinley; Jamestown’s ECIC I opener at Orchard Park.
Games to watch next year
Jan. 3: St. Joe’s at St. Mary’s in Monsignor Martin opener for both.
Jan. 8: Kenmore West at Niagara Falls
Jan. 12: St. Joe’s vs. Canisius at Canisius College, 2 p.m.
2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Classic
Saturday, Jan. 19
at City Honors School
City Honors vs Lackawanna, 11 a.m.
East vs East Aurora, 12:45 p.m.
Middle Early College vs Sweet Home, 4 p.m.
McKinley vs Canisius, 5:45 p.m.
at Hutch-Tech
I-Prep vs. WNY Maritime, 11 a.m.
Riverside vs. St. Francis, 12:45 p.m.
Hutch Tech vs. Cheektowaga, 3:30 p.m.
Jan. 17: V-Bishop Kearney at St. Joe’s, 8 p.m.
Jan. 25: St. Mary’s at Nichols, 7:30
Feb. 3: Niagara Falls at V-Bishop Kearney
Feb. 5: Niagara Falls at Kenmore West
Feb. 16: St. Joe’s vs. Canisius at Canisius College, 2 p.m.
Section VI changes
The most notable classification changes have five longtime large schools becoming small schools — including last year’s Class A champion, East Aurora.
EA, Bennett, Maryvale and Lafayette, all of which have won sectional titles and vied for spots in the large school poll for much of the last decade, have moved from Class A-2 to Class B-1. Also moving down is Albion.
Overall, there are fewer Section VI large schools this year. Class AA dropped from 12 to 11 — with North Tonawanda sliding down to A-1. Class A dropped from 23 to 19 (A-1 reduced from 12 teams to nine; A-2 went from 11 to 10).
Conversely, Class B has bumped up from 26 teams to 30. B-1 and B-2 each went from 13 to 15 schools. Class C went from 21 to 24 schools while Class D lost one school and is now at 10.
The complete classification changes:
Class A-1: North Tonawanda down from AA.
Class A-2: West Seneca East, Starpoint, Iroquois and Lake Shore down from A-1 to A-2.
Class B-1: Bennett, Maryvale, Albion, East Aurora and Lafayette down from A-2.
Class B-2: Medina, Buffalo Arts and East down from B-1.
Class C-1: Allegany-Limestone down from B-2 while Randolph moves up from C-2.
Class C-2: Health Sciences Charter School, located in Buffalo, makes its varsity debut while the Yale Cup’s Olmsted moves up from Class D.
Yale Cup changes
A significant change in the Buffalo Public Schools alignment has longtime small-school power Middle Early College — which won a state Class C title in 2010 and was the state runner-up last year — joining most the league’s larger schools in Division I.
Yale Cup Division I: McKinley, Hutch-Tech, Riverside, South Park, Bennett, East, Middle Early College. Yale Cup Division II consists of nine schools. The scheduling is a little tricky. MST Seneca, City Honors, Burgard, International Prep at Grover Cleveland and Lafayette will play each other twice, and will also play at least one game against Emerson, Olmstead, da Vinci and Buffalo Arts (these four will play each other twice and will also play the other five at least once).
ECIC changes
Sweet Home down from ECIC I to ECIC II.
Lake Shore down from ECIC II to ECIC III.
Returning All-WNY players
First team
Adam Weir, Canisius senior
Sterling Taplin, Williamsville North junior
Second team
Jermaine Crumpton, Niagara Falls senior
Third team
Tommy Campion, Jamestown senior
Wil Bathurst, Olean junior
Sam Eckstrom, Olean junior
Fourth team
Justice Feggans, Riverside senior
Honorable mention
Jonathan Belton, Amherst senior
Aaron White, Canisius senior
Matt MacDonald, Canisius senior
Darnell Carson, CSAT senior
Brendan Cox, East Aurora junior
Quinton Campbell, Kenmore West senior
Marcus Morris, McKinley senior
Lovell Smith, McKinley senior
Reyzon Jordan, McKinley senior
Jaleo Wilkins, Niagara Falls senior
Nick Schmidt, Olean junior
Bri’an Brown, OTC Middle College junior
Zed Williams, Silver Creek senior
Jordan Glover, St. Joe’s senior
Clayton Hess, Tonawanda senior
Chaq Nettles, Williamsville South senior
2012 final state rankings
Class AA: 1. Boys & Girls (NYC); 15. Niagara Falls; 23. Jamestown.
Class A: 1. L.I. Lutheran; 11. Canisius; 12. East Aurora; 16. McKinley; 23. St. Joe’s.
Class B: 1. Collegiate (NYC). 8. Olean; 12. St. Mary’s; 19. Depew; 21. Tonawanda.
Class C: 1. I-Tuckahoe; 2. OTC Middle College; 4. Silver Creek; 10. Maple Grove; 12. MST Seneca.
Class D: 1. III-Sackets Harbor; 11. Panama.
Returning All-state players
Class AA: Third team — Sterling Taplin, Williamsville North junior; Seventh team — Tommy Campion, Jamestown senior; 10th team — Jaleo Wilkins, Niagara Falls senior; 12th team — Quinton Campbell, Kenmore West senior
Class A: Fourth team — Adam Weir, Canisius senior; 10th team — Justice Feggans, Riverside senior
Class B: Third team — Sam Eckstrom, Olean junior; Wil Bathurst, Olean junior; 11th team — Darnell Carson, CSAT senior
Class C: Fourth team — Zed Williams, Silver Creek senior
2012 Champions
Manhattan Cup: Canisius. Msgr. Martin Class B: St. Mary’s. Section VI Class AA: Niagara Falls. A: East Aurora (also A-2). A-1: McKinley. B: Olean (also B-1). B-2: CSAT. C: OTC Middle College (also C-1). C-2: Silver Creek. D: Panama. Msgr. Martin: Canisius. ECIC I: Jamestown. ECIC II: Williamsville East and Williamsville South. ECIC III: Amherst. ECIC IV: Tonawanda. Niagara Frontier League: Kenmore West and Niagara Falls. Niagara-Orleans: Newfane and Wilson. CCAA I: Olean. CCAA II: Silver Creek. CCAA III: Maple Grove. CCAA IV: Panama. IAC: Christian Central.
email: kmcshea@buffnews.com
