Kelly Hornbarger

Kelly Hornbarger
OPHS, Class of 2012
Field hockey, Track

Dream job: Physical therapist
Favorite OP hangout: Man Bags (Manhattan Bagel)
Favorite song: Ants Marching by Dave Matthews Band
Looking forward to: Going to UB in the fall
Best advice received: Always try your hardest
Favorite OP athlete: Julia Hardick
Someone I look up to: My mom
I want to visit: Greece
This actress would play me in a movie:
Reese Witherspoon
Last book I read: The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
My perfect weekend:
Going to my cottage with friends
Fondest sports memory: Making it to the field hockey championship junior year

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there, especially the ones who drive their kids to practice, attend games, help with homework, organize fund-raisers, and provide hugs and congratulations after both wins and losses.

I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Jimmy Fitzgerald took the loss on the Monday versus Lancaster on Thursday evening. The Quakers host Will North tonight.

Three varsity squads hosted contests Thursday evening with two of the three teams earning victories.

I arrived late to softball (Darn, the 9 to 5 job) and found Taylor Jezuit milling around after what she said was a 2-1 win over Frontier for the Lady Quakers. Carly Loffredo earned the win on the mound while striking out six batters.

The OP girls lacrosse team defeated visiting Niagara Falls, 16-1, on senior night. Congratulations to the team’s seven seniors – Justine Brennan, Kiara Butler, Maggie Holly, Chelsea Lepore, Kellsie Neary, Maddie Nowakowski, and Caroline Perfetto.

The OP baseball fell to Lancaster for the second time this season by a 4-1 score. The loss dropped the Quakers to 10-3 in ECIC I.

The baseball and softball will host games today. A win for the baseball team today over Williamsville North will give the Quakers at least a tie for the ECIC I title. First pitch is set for 5.

Softball moved to 6-4 in ECIC I after the Frontier win and will host Lancaster today at 4:45 and travel to Williamsville North on Monday, May 14 to finish the regular season ECIC I schedule. The Lady Quakers will host Olean on Tuesday, May 15 at 5:15.

The race for the ECIC Division I baseball title has become a tight three-team race between Orchard Park, Lancaster and Clarence.

The Quakers can clinch at least a tie for the ECIC I title with a win over Lancaster tonight.

Orchard Park sits in first place with a 10-2 mark with two league games remaining versus Lancaster (9-3) and Williamsville North (4-6).

Clarence is 8-3 and split the season series versus the Quakers.

The Quakers play Lancaster this afternoon (Thursday) at 4:45 for a chance to guarantee at least a tie for the division title. Lancaster defeated the Quakers in the first meeting.

“It is really important to us to win the division, because we need to get the number one seed so that we get home field advantage,” said junior catcher Tommy LaCongo.

Senior third baseman Joe Mesi: “We would like to have the one or number two seed so then we have the first week off, and so we don’t have as hard of a schedule as we would if we were in third or even fourth going into the playoffs. Clarence and Lancaster are our rivals and it would also be great to have bragging rights and to say we won our division.”

Photo courtesy of Kelly Callahan. Pictured - Top from left: Kevin Collins, Mike Moran, Justin Maderer, Sean Callahan. Bottom from left: Mike Allaire and assistant coach Brian Lalley.

Six Orchard Park High School graduates helped Canisius College win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men’s lacrosse championship with a 10-9 win over Siena on May 6.

The Golden Griffins shut out Siena in the second half after trailing at halftime, 9-6. Midfielder Mike Moran picked up nine ground balls and won 11 of 21 faceoffs, while goalkeeper Sean Callahan made eight saves in net.

Canisius will play Loyola (Md.) in the opening round of the Division I championship tournament on Saturday, May 12.

Taylor Jezuit

Taylor Jezuit
OPHS, Class of 2012
Softball

Favorite TV show: Make It Or Break It
I want to visit: The Australia Zoo
Favorite school subject: Geometry
I am looking forward to:
Playing softball at Mercyhurst!
Pets: A cat named Gypsy Echo
Someone who inspires me: My Papa
Favorite meal: Sushi
Last book I read:
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Favorite store: Dick’s Sporting Goods
Hidden talent:
I can say the alphabet backwards really fast
Best advice received: “You’ll never make it to second if your foot doesn’t leave first.”

Tom Comfort

Tom Comfort, a 2009 graduate of Orchard Park High School and junior opposite hitter on the Penn State men’s volleyball team, helped the Nittany Lions capture the school’s 14th straight Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association championship and earn an automatic bid to the Final Four.

In the EIVA semifinal championship against Princeton, Comfort earned a team-high 12 kills with just one hitting error in a 3-0 sweep over the Tigers. In the championship versus George Mason, Comfort picked up seven kills.

Penn State will play top-seeded UC Irvine tonight at 9 p.m. for a chance to advance to the championship scheduled to be played at UCLA on Saturday, May 5.

For more information and to watch or listen to tonight’s match: Visit the Penn State men’s volleyball site.

Grant Osadchey

Grant Osadchey
OPHS, Class of 2013
Fooball, Lacrosse

Favorite TV show: The Office
I want to visit: Alaska
Most visited website: YouTube
Dream job: Managing a large corporation
This actor would play me in a movie: Will Ferrell
What I love most about OP:
Dominating in sports
Favorite OP Athlete: Bobby Akinyele
Dream car: Chrysler 300
Someone who inspires me: My dad
Favorite sport besides football and lacrosse: Definitely volleyball

Arielle Alessi is a senior at Orchard Park High School. She is a member of the girls varsity softball team and will blog throughout the season to provide an inside look at the team. This is her second installment.

Arielle Alessi

Hellllo there Orchard Park athletes and fans! Here I am; so happy to be here and report to you all that have been going on in Orchard Park softball!

Last week we started with one of our hardest teams to play – Clarence. Going into the game we knew we would have a lot of competition and great hitters against us.

Our second game was against Sweet Home on Wednesday, April 18. For some reason we play Sweet Home every other year, but their team is always pretty good!

Lastly, we played against West Seneca West on Friday which was our coach’s birthday as well as that of her twin sister, who is the coach of the West Seneca West team! After the game, we surprised Coach Bonetto and her sister with a card, cupcakes, and cake balls, and sang Happy Birthday from both teams to them. We ended up winning on Wednesday and Friday, but lost against Clarence on Tuesday.

Our first game, unfortunately, had to be our hardest competition. We hadn’t played yet, which was difficult and Clarence was on their third or fourth game. As a whole, I would say that we played a very good game. Until the sixth inning, we were right up against them fighting head-to-head until the very end. Clarence athletics are always impressive and intimidating, but we are determined to beat them the next time which is scheduled for tonight at home at 5 p.m.

I was impressed by our first week. The softball team is strong this year and we have a lot of potential as long as we play a strong defense and offense throughout all of our games. I have a lot of faith in our team this year and I plan on kicking some tush!!

This week, in addition to tonight’s game versus Clarence, we play Lancaster (Thursday) and Sweet Home (Friday) on the road.

Next week, we play three consecutive homes games starting Wednesday against West Seneca West (May 9), Frontier (May 10), and Lancaster (May 11). All of these games are going to be difficult, and we will come fully prepared.

Come out to see our games whenever you get the chance. We’d love your support!!

Until next time, beautifuls. ~~Xoxo

Orchard Park hosts Silver Creek in a battle of undefeated boys lacrosse teams tonight at 7p.m. Silver Creek, ranked third in Section VI (LaxPower), will bring its unblemished 6-0 mark to Orchard Park (ranked second only to Hamburg) to face the Quakers (6-0).

Last season, Orchard Park fell to the Black Knights, 12-11, which ended OP’s streak of 95 consecutive wins versus Section VI opponents.

OP's Mitch Wilson will play a key role in tonight's lacrosse battle versus Silver Creek.

OP was defeated by another sectional opponent later in the season when it lost to Clarence in the Class A title game, but the Quakers already avenged that loss by defeating the Red Devils, 14-5, on April 18.

A win over Silver Creek will not come easy for Orchard Park. The Black Knights are averaging over 22 goals per game, but have not played a team of any significance. The six opponents the Black Knights have faced this season have a combined 13-33 record and not one boasts a winning record. Canisius provided Silver Creek the toughest challenge losing 14-10. Orchard Park’s opponents haven’t fared much better this season with a combined 22-23 mark.

Silver Creek’s apparently dominate offense will face an OP defense that has not allowed more than seven goals a game this season. In its three most recent contests, the Quakers have allowed five goals in each game. Clearly, something must give in this contest.

Keys to the Game:

Mitch Wilson on faceoffs – Mitch Wilson has been a force in the faceoff circle for OP.

“I think Mitch is the single most important guy on the team,” said Orchard Park senior midfielder Dan Murphy. “I don’t know what his exact percentage is this year, but he’s like eighty percent-ninety percent. Lacrosse is unique in that the other team might never have the ball if you have a good faceoff guy. If we get the ball every time; it’s just more possessions for us, and Mitch is unbelievable.”

OP defense must clear the ball effectively – The Quakers have shown a tendency to turn the ball over in their own end when attempting to clear the zone, as well as not being to corral ground balls. If OP needs to improve somewhere; this is the area. Look for defensive midfielder Nick Bammel to play a big role in helping in that department.

Orchard Park goalkeeper Taylor Ferrino must shine – Silver Creek’s offense should turn out to be the junior’s biggest challenge to date. A few key saves by the first-year varsity starter could make the difference in this game.

Prediction: OP 13, Silver Creek 10

OP controls the flow of the game with more possessions as a result of Wilson edging his counterpart on faceoffs. Strong possession by OP’s attack and midfield will also play a big role in limiting Silver Creek’s possessions.

Notes:

After Friday’s night game against Silver Creek, the Quakers are scheduled to travel to play Pittsford on Saturday at 11 a.m. Pittsford is 7-1 this season and ranked fourth in Section V, according to LaxPower.com.

By James Goller, jameslgoller@gmail.com
Originally published in the March 23 issue of the Orchard Park Press.

Molly and Katie Schaffstall coach swimmers at YMCA

A pair of Orchard Park sisters are truly in sync.

Molly and Katie Schaffstall

Molly Schaffstall and her younger sister, Katie, started to learn synchronized swimming with the East Aurora Swordfish when they were in elementary school. After two years with that group, they belonged to the Buffalo Swimkins for three years. Their experience led them to tackle a new challaenge: coaching the sport they grew to love.

When traveling to the northtowns for practices became too much of a commitment, Molly and Katie heard of an opportunity to coach with Sandy Keeney, who started a new synchronized swimming program at the Southtowns Family Branch YMCA in Orchard Park.

Molly, a junior at Orchard Park, has been coaching at the YMCA for three years and Katie, a sophomore, for two.
The Schaffstalls first became interested in synchronized swimming when their mother saw an opportunity for her daughters to combine two activities that already enjoyed.

“We loved swimming and we danced, and our mom told us about it,” said Molly.
After spending time with the Swordfish and the Swimkins, the travel commitment became an issue for the sisters, who became involved with other activities.
“The Buffalo Swimkins practiced in Williamsville so it was too far to go three to four times a week,” said Molly. “Coaching is right at the YMCA (in Orchard Park) and it is much closer.”

In a sport where swimmers perform elements while spending a great deal of time inverted under water, teaching the requirements to successfully compete in synchronized swimming has its challenges. Swimmers need to learn how to stay strong and buoyant in the water while developing artistic skill.

The Schaffstalls teach the basics at first, but developing all the swimmers effectively can be challenging with swimmers ranging in age and skill level.

The Southtowns YMCA Synchronize Swimming team consists of 18 members ranging in ages from eight to 15.

“The most difficult thing is helping the newer swimmers learn the skills while advancing the girls who have been swimming a while,” Katie said.

Despite the challenges that come with coaching an obscure sport such as synchronized swimming, the daughters of Amy and Chuck Schaffstall have seen the opportunity as a positive experience.

“I enjoy the people and it is fun,” said Molly. “You don’t see synchronized swimming a lot so it is nice to teach the girls something that they wouldn’t learn from just anyone.”

Katie has also seen the opportunity to coach synchronized swimming as a chance to build leadership skills.

“It’s fun working with the girls and I feel like I’ve taken on more of a leadership role,” she added. “I loved swimming for a team, but I feel like I’m a more important factor while coaching.”

Kellsie Neary is a senior at Orchard Park High School. She is a member of the girls varsity lacrosse team and will blog throughout the season to provide an inside look at the team. This is her second installment.

Kellsie Neary

After our first couple of home and away games, the OP girls varsity lacrosse team has had a mediocre first half of the season. We’ve played a total of seven games; 5 at home, 2 away.

The team has defeated teams such as Niagara Wheatfield and Williamsville East. The past three games we have been beaten by West Seneca West, Lancaster, and Hamburg. The team is very determined to have a better second half of the season.

Overall, I feel as though we’ve been playing pretty well together. We are a bunch of hard-working girls, and we seem to mesh together very well. There are still some kinks we need to straighten out on our offense and defense, but it’s nothing we can’t fix. The past few games, we have tried a new offensive set up, which seems to be helping. More goals have been scored, and we have been able to keep the ball down in our opponents’ defensive end for quite some time.

Our defense has been doing extremely well stopping our opponents from shooting on our new goalie, junior Megan Smith. Meg is doing awesome as a first-time goalie, and will continue to do so in our upcoming games.

I think that the key players on our team are the entire midfield line consisting of Maddie Nowakowski, Caroline Perfetto, Maddy Sheehan, Casey Ellis, and Tori Lucci. Game after game, they continue to hustle up and down the field to defend and play offense. Having girls like this really help our team, and so far they have all have had an awesome season.

The next few games will be challenging to say the very least. We play Clarence on Thursday, April 26, and Williamsville South the following day. Then we play Frontier and Nichols the next week.

We will really have to put everything we have into these next couple practices because “How you practice is how you play”, according to Coach Connors.

Hopefully the weather cooperates the next couple of weeks so we can get enough practice time in order to prepare for these games. The team hopes to have a great second half of the season!

Kaely Kwitek, an OPHS cheerleader and cancer patient, is getting her wish to meet Kris Humphries. Kwitek will be Humphries’ special guest at the New Jersey Nets basketball game tonight. The game airs on the Yes Network at 7:30 p.m.

By James Goller, jameslgoller@gmail.com
Originally published in the March 30 issue of the Orchard Park Press.

Kaely Kwitek started feeling ill during the excitement of Homecoming weekend last fall.

Doctors originally diagnosed the Orchard Park varsity cheerleader with infectious mononucleosis, but additional visits to the emergency room for stomach pain over the next few weeks suggested something more serious. She missed six weeks of cheerleading, and the pain continued into January.

“My stomach was burning,” said Kwitek.

TEAM KAELY... Since being diagnosed with lymphoma on Feb. 10, Orchard Park junior Kaely Kwitek has received support from family and friends. Shown wearing "Team Kaely" shirts and bracelets are, front row, from left, Alyssa Thornton, Amber Kramer and Julia Lauria; and, back row, Kiara Dreyer, Kwitek, and Kwitek's mother Maggie Dreyer.

She underwent surgery to remove her gallbladder, but it didn’t solve the problem. “Nothing was wrong with it,” she said.

In February, Kwitek had an appendectomy, which revealed a mass in her abdomen. Three days later, on Feb. 10, she was diagnosed with Stage IV lymphoma, a cancer that originates in the body’s lymphatic system.

“I really didn’t know how to take the news,” said the high school junior. “I had an idea it could have been cancer.”

Kwitek continues to endure pain. Weekly visits to Roswell Park Cancer Institute for chemotherapy leave her exhausted for several days. She struggles to sleep and joint pain forces her to scoot down the stairs of her home.

“I’m sore in the morning and it’s tough to sleep,” she said.

Kwitek is meeting these challenges with the support of a team of friends and family who help keep her mind off the pain and focus on the positive.

“Everyone is so supportive,” she said. “I’m always with my friends, so I don’t have time to think about it.”

Support has been strong even from outside Kwitek’s usual social circle.

“Random people are reaching out,” she said. “People I don’t talk to are sending me messages. It helps me stay positive and keep my mind off things. It’s nice to see everyone coming together to help. The support has been great and very strong.”

The community has also stepped up to help Kwitek’s family pay for medical bills. A spaghetti dinner was held at the High School on March 15, and another benefit will be held at the Chicken Coop VFW, at 299 Leydecker Road in West Seneca, on Sunday, May 6, from 3 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $20. Contact Kathy Tabor at 289-4304, Linda Ulrich at 310-7144 or Lynn Phillips at 725-2743 for tickets.

Despite the classification of Kwitek’s cancer as Stage IV, her prognosis is positive. Secondary testing on her bone marrow and a spinal tap revealed the cancer hadn’t spread.

PET scan results on March 21 suggested Kwitek is responding well to the chemotherapy, and while many students might complain about going to school, she misses it.

“I want to go back,” said Kwitek, who has been receiving home instruction from teachers since leaving school in January. “If the chemo is reduced to twice a month, I can go back and only miss two days of school a month, but I’m not sure how realistic it is.”

Kwitek’s positive attitude continues to be the driving force behind her fight. She remains confident despite losing her hair and shrugged off an incident at a store recently when a little girl asked why a boy had a bow in his hair.

“I just walked away and laughed,” said Kwitek. “I didn’t know how to react.”

Kwitek boasts the same bright smile she had before her diagnosis, and is confident that there’s a purpose for her battle.

“I’ve always said things happen for a reason and I’ve always believed it, even if we don’t know the reason,” said Kwitek. “I feel like God has a plan for everyone and everything. I don’t know why this is happening, but I think I’ll find out.”

Kiara Butler

Kiara Butler
OPHS, Class of 2012
Lacrosse

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Favorite TV show: Grey’s Anatomy
I want to visit: Madrid, Spain
Most visited website: Twitter
What I love most about OP: The group of friends I have. They are definitely lifelong friends.
Favorite OP athlete: Maddie Nowakowski
Last thing I read:
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
Favorite store: H&M
Favorite hobbies:
I love to go running, and hang out with my friends
Best advice received:
If you walk away knowing you tried your hardest, that’s all that matters.
Someone who inspires me: My Dad – Before every game he always gives me a little pep talk or piece of advice.

Patrick Kugler, a former offensive lineman for the Orchard Park Quakers football team, has been listed among ESPN’s Top 150 college football recruits from the Class of 2013.

Patrick Kugler

Kugler, who is committed to play at the University of Michigan, is ranked as the 121st best prospect and projected to be an offensive guard.

Kugler transferred to North Allegheny High School after moving to Wexford, Pa. when his father Sean, former coach with the Buffalo Bills, was named the offensive line coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

According to the scouting report on ESPN:
“Kugler mixs up good ability with a tenacious style to get the job done. He still has room for improvement and needs to fill out, but he plays with a nasty attitude and has the tools to develop into a good college lineman.”

According to Rivals.com, Kugler ranks seventh among the Class of 2103′s top offensive tackles.

As a sophomore in the Fall of 2010, Kugler and his older brother Robert, now a tight end at Purdue University, helped North Allegheny win the Pennsylvania state AAAA football championship. Robert was a sophomore on the Orchard Park football team that captured the 2008 New York State Class AA football championship.

Orchard Park High School graduate Tom Comfort, a junior at Penn State University, was named the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Offensive Player of the Week, conference officials announced Monday, April 16.

Tom Comfort

Despite Penn State suffering two losses at fourth-ranked BYU over the weekend, Comfort was a strong presence on the court for the Nittany Lions.

On Friday, April 13, Comfort led the Nittany Lions with 16 kills and was second on the team with two blocks. The following day, Comfort again led Penn State tying for first on the team with nine kills. He a had a team-high two aces and was second on the squad with six digs.

For the weekend, Comfort led the Nittany Lions with a combined 25 kills on .315 hitting. He totaled two aces, 12 digs and two blocks.

Comfort is a 2009 Orchard Park graduate, who helped the Quakers win the 2008 state regional volleyball championship.

Three early goals by Clarence didn’t deter the Orchard Park boys lacrosse team from avenging its loss to the Red Devils in last year’s Section VI Class A championship. Despite allowing three scores in the first two and a half minutes of Wednesday evening’s lacrosse battle, the Quakers proved they were the better team by holding Clarence to just one goal over the game’s final three quarters to pick up a 14-5 victory and remain undefeated with a 5-0 record.

Click to view more photos and purchase prints from this game

Orchard Park struggled to clear the ball resulting in five first-quarter turnovers by the Quakers in their own end of the field which helped contribute to Clarence’s hot start.

Junior defenseman Connor Eddy on clearing the ball from the defensive zone:

“We always work on clearing the ball, but we need to gain more confidence in how we throw and catch. A few of us aren’t really comfortable with carrying the ball up (the field). It’s hard, because you’re a long-pole.”

According to Eddy, the Quakers possessed the ball more effectively in the second quarter and throughout the remainder of the contest by utilizing their midfielders more to clear the ball.

Once the Orchard Park defense recognized Clarence’s top shooters, defenders started to slide faster and limited shooting space.

Eddy played a big role in shutting out Clarence in the second half.

After the win, Orchard Park’s assistant coach Larry Catalano said this of Eddy’s play:

“He played the second, third and fourth quarters like a rock.”

Dan Murphy on the slow start:

“It was a slow start. We looked like crap in warm-ups. Usually when we look that bad in warm-ups you can tell we’re not going to come out that fast. It was disappointing to come out that slow, but I was happy with the way we settled in and didn’t lose our cool.”

Orchard Park scored five second-quarter goals to take the lead away from Clarence. The third quarter was scoreless until John Januszkiewicz scored with 15 seconds left in the period.

In the final period, it was all Orchard Park early and often with the Quakers scoring three goals in 33 seconds to take an 11-5 lead.

Murphy on the Quakers’ fourth quarter:

“The fourth quarter was OP lacrosse; getting the ball and attacking the net. At the end of the day that’s what we do best. We have a lot of speed.”

Orchard Park’s win keeps the team undefeated at 5-0 with Clarence falling to a 3-2 mark.

The Orchard Park boys lacrosse team hosts Clarence tonight at 5 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s Section VI Class A championship. Clarence won last year’s final meeting, 7-5, which ended Orchard Park’s run of sixteen consecutive sectional titles.

Senior Ben Johnson looks to lead the Quakers to a win over Clarence in boys lacrosse.

Orchard Park enters tonight’s game with an undefeated 4-0 record. The Quakers picked up dominating wins over Sweet Home and West Seneca East, but struggled to put away Amherst with a tight 7-6 win over the Tigers.

Clarence comes in with a 3-1 mark suffering its only loss to Pittsford of Section V. The Red Devils earned wins over Nichols and St. Joe’s, but earned a less than dominant victory over Frontier escaping with an 8-7 win over the winless Falcons.

Both squads have shown their vulnerabilities with one-goal wins over teams they probably should have dominated.

Tonight’s contest will be the first game for both teams in fourteen days.

I hate to use common opponents as a means for comparison, but since I have not seen Clarence play this season, that’s all I have to go on.

OP beat Amherst, 7-6
Clarence beat Nichols, 14-5
Amherst beat Nichols, 10-9

If you wanted to use these games for comparison, then one could make an argument that since Clarence crushed Nichols, a team that Amherst edged, and Amherst is a team that OP barely defeated; then go ahead, but I wouldn’t.

I see this game as a close, but not considerably tight contest. OP’s attack is too strong, and while their defense has been relatively uncontested, it’s my understanding that Clarence lost too much from last year’s title team to overcome what should be a very hungry Quaker squad.

Prediction: Quakers 12, Clarence 8

John Januszkiewicz

John Januszkiewicz
OPHS, Class of 2013
Lacrosse, Ice Hockey

Dream job:
Sabres play-by-play commentator
Hidden talent: Juggling
Favorite teacher: Mr. Perrelli
Favorite place to visit: Hilton Head, SC
Best advice received:
You can’t always get what you want
Favorite OP athlete: Taylor Ferrino
I wish I could play this sport: Curling
Last thing I read: The Hunger Games
This actor would play me in a movie: David Schwimmer
Favorite movie quote: “Remember kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart kid, and you’ll never go wrong.”
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