Cory Davis was among those recognized this weekend for hitting the books as hard as he hit

anyone on the football field.

The All-Western New York linebacker from Lancaster was named the New York State Scholar

Athlete of the Year for Class AA during a banquet at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in

Verona. He received the award on behalf of the New York State Football Coaches Association.

Davis was accompanied by his mother, Jenny, and Lancaster coach Len Jankiewicz.

Davis carries a 101 academic average and is ranked No. 2 in a senior class of approximately

500. He said the discipline he learned through football carried over into the classroom.

"In football you go from one thing to another in practice, and I come home [to study] and

you get through it, just like practice," said Davis, who led the Redskins to a 9-1 record last

fall. "I do all I'm told to do, do all my homework and classwork. The work comes easy, but

there's a lot of it."

Davis hasn't made a college choice, but he has visited Hobart, Hamilton and St. Lawrence.

Plenty of other Section VI football players and coaches joined Davis in earning awards.

B.J. Monacelli of Cassadaga Valley was the Scholar-Athlete co-recipient in Class C. Players

of the Year Joe Licata of Williamsville South (Class A) and Zack Sopak of Southwestern (Class

C) received their awards. Eric Jantzi of Class AA North Tonawanda and John Faller of Class A

Sweet Home were named co-Coaches of the Year in their classes. Jay Sirianni of Southwestern

(Class C) and Pat Slater of Randolph (Class D) were each named Coach of the Year.

Hockey

Scott Sims scored the go-ahead goal as Williamsville North got back on track with a 3-1 win

over Niagara-Wheatfield in the Federation. North entered the game ranked No. 2 in the state

among Division I schools while the Falcons are No. 7. "We haven't played well the [past]

couple games," said North coach Bob Rosen. "This is the first game out of the last three we

played the full three periods."

Jake Rosen opened the scoring in the first period, netting his 11th goal of the season on

the power play. The Falcons tied it thanks to a goal by Keith Hasek in the second period. Sims

followed with his goal and Darrin Trebes scored unassisted in the first minute of the third

period to complete the scoring.

Rob Finn and Kyle Kelschenbach scored short-handed goals as St. Joe's beat North Tonawanda,

7-3. Rich Pagliaroli added a goal and two assists. The Marauders (14-8-2) were coming off

Thursday's 2-2 tie against Williamsville North.

Matt Vanwagnen had four goals, giving him eight this season as Frontier beat Clarence, 4-1.

Josh Baker and Lewis Wagner had two assists each. Goaltender Nick Tuttle had 18 saves for the

Falcons (7-11, 5-9).

Peter Elliott scored two goals and Nick Bordonaro added one goal and two assists as

Williamsville East beat Lew-Port, 6-2.

Boys basketball

Blair Helton had 20 points and Gordon Lyons added 15 with 14 rebounds as Canisius rebounded

from Thursday's loss to Timon-St. Jude and beat St. Francis, 69-51. Kyle Clifford of St.

Francis led all scorers with 26.

Girls basketball

Sarah Pawlak had a monster game with 30 points and 19 rebounds as Sacred Heart (15-3, 11-1)

avenged its only league loss beating Nardin, 64-42, at Medaille. Erin O'Brien led the Gators

with 11 points. ... Jill Fitzner scored 19 points to surpass 1,000 in her career as Immaculata

beat Frontier, 60-51.