I scheduled a day off my 9 to 5 job to cover some OPHS fall practices on Thursday, August 18.

The day started with a quick trip to football practice at the OPHS turf. I took some shots of linemen doing drills on the pads and the team’s three quarterbacks – David Crowley, Ben Holmes and Jeremiah Cormack – tossing balls to receivers.

Then I headed over to the Milestrip Soccer Complex where I caught the varsity and junior varsity players on a break. I conducted a few interviews including goalie Jordan DiLapo, Joe Cipriani and Josh Dannecker, the varsity coach. Dannecker has been working with both the varsity and junior varsity players as there as yet to be a JV coach named.

By the way, Joe Cipriani has some nice flow.

I drove back to OPHS and headed to the gym for a quick visit with Da Var Squad. The cheerleaders had finished things up, but went outside and I got a photo of them working on some stunts.

It was back to the turf to catch a brief scrimmage among the girls soccer players. Then I interviewed Cassidy Kozub, Christine Breindel and Coach Mike Graffeo. I picked up a quick tip by watching Graffeo explain to the players how to receive a sideline pass and move the ball upfield. Good stuff.

Then it was off to the offices of the Orchard Park Press to chat with editor (and brother), Rob Goller. We went to lunch and discussed my preview articles for next week’s issue. *Quick note: I freelance for the Orchard Park Press. OrchardParkSports.com is not affiliated with the paper.

I then headed back to the football field and got a few shots of some of the team’s captains and a nice chat with Ben Johnson.

On Thursday, August 25, I’ll be visiting with the girls and boys volleyball teams.