Gates Basketball v. Hilton and Arcadia

Basketball season officially started for me Tuesday night as the the Lady Spartans took on the Lady Cadets at Gates-Chili H.S. Hilton came out strong early with a 15 point lead and held onto to a double digit lead most of the game. Gates fought back to bring it within three points with a great full court press. The Spartans couldn't hit some important buckets late and Hilton held on for the win 55-48. Click here for the rest of the pics...

The Gates-Chili boys varsity team played Arcadia also a few days later Friday night. This was a very sloppy game played by the Spartans as they went down early in the first half by double digits. They fought back just like the girls did earlier in the week but they couldn't get enough stops to slow down the Titans. Arcadia finished off the Gates team with a 55-49 score. Click here for the rest of the pics...

Saturday Hockey

Fairport hockey took on McQuaid in a tournament Saturday, December 12th at Genesee Valley Park Rink. The Red Raiders started off slow but quickly turned on the offense in the second period. They ended up defeating the Knights 5-0. Click here for the rest of the gallery...

After the Fairport-McQuaid game, Gates faced off against Thomas. Both teams came into the game undefeated and looking to continue their hot streaks. The Spartans scored early but that was the only goal they would score. The Titans poured it on and came out on top with a 5-1 score. Click here for the rest of the pics...

December Indoor Track @ RIT

It took a week or so to go through photos from this gallery and put up as many athletes as possible. I finally finished editing down the pics and getting them uploaded to my site. Anyways, trying to get the blog moving again so here are a few shots from Friday, December 11th, 2009 at RIT. Click here for the rest of the gallery.

Swimming and Wrestling

On December 8th, I planned to cover two Gates-Chili Sporting events. First, the boys swimming team took on Penfield at the new facility. It was early enough so that I could go home eat and come back for wrestling. Here are a few from early in the afternoon. Click here for the rest...

The wrestling team was taking on Holley at 8 PM. I was back at the high school around 7:30 to find out the matches had already started. I asked and found out that it was changed to a 6:30 start. Instead of heading home, I shot the last few matches and was able to get a few decent shots. Click here for the rest of the pics...

Winter Session Begins

Winter session is off and running with hockey and wrestling last week. First, Gates-Chili took on Victor at Genesee Valley Park in their first hockey game of the year. The team is solid with some very quick goal scorers and a stifling defense. They beat Victor 4-1 to start the year and have continued to win early this year. Tonight they go up against Webster Thomas. Click here for shots from the game.

Wrestling for Gates-Chili had a tough start as they took on the powerful Spencerport Rangers. The Spartans lost the match but still have some great wrestlers back from last year and a few new ones. I see this team improving from last year and some individuals that could do some damage all the way into states. Click here to see the rest of the shots.

Last Football of the Year

My last two football games for the year did not involve a section V team. Both games were for a chance to move on to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY for the finals. The first game was between Randolph and Groton. I knew this game would be tough to shoot because Randolph does not pass and the photos would be pretty monotonous. The second game was between Sweet Home and Whitesboro. This game would be the opposite of the first as Sweet Home has very athletic receivers and a dangerous offense.

Since this was the end of football, I looked back at all the games I did this year. I was at 29 football games this year, saw 34 different teams, 2 camps, and 1 JV game. I think I have seen enough football for the year, time for winter session. Click here to see the state semifinal galleries...

Class A State Semifinal

Sweet Home Panthers 36, Whitesboro Warriors 13

Class D State Semifinal

Randolph Cardinals 61, Groton Indians 8

Section 6 v. Section 5 Football

After the section 5 championships the previous weekend comes the western regionals where sections 5 and 6 battle to move on. This year like last was not a good one for section 5 as the Buffalo area teams dominated those from the Rochester area. The only section 5 team to move on was Hornell. Good luck to them as they continue on, hopefully they will bring states home. I was able to shoot four games that weekend. Check out the galleries by clicking here.

Sweet Home Panthers 30, Aquinas Lil' Irish 7

Randolph Cardinals 14, Dundee Scotsmen 6

Hornell Red Raiders 48, Cheektowaga Warriors 12

North Tonawanda Lumberjacks 26, Webster Schroeder Warriors 24

Football Continues at Rhino's Stadium

Here are some shots of the last two weekends of Sectional finals and State playoffs. Hopefully that will catch me up to start blogging winter sports. Click here for the galleries.

Aquinas beats McQuaid 31-17 (Class A Final)

Letchworth beats Attica 28-6 (Class C Final)

Dundee beats Avon 20-10 (Class D State Qualifier)

Hornell beats Livonia 32-7 (Class B Final)

Webster Schroeder beats Gates-Chili 52-14 (Class AA Final)

Football Semifinals

No time to chat with all the Section 5 football editing and uploading to my site and MaxPreps. Sectionals are going great at Marina Auto Stadium but taking alot of time away from home. I also shot one sectional game of Gates boys soccer as they upset Churchville-Chili. Here are some shots from the sectional football semifinals and GC boys soccer sectionals.

Section V

Class D Finals

(1) Dundee Scotsmen 76 (2) Notre Dame-Batavia Fighting Irish 13

Class B Semifinals

(2) Hornell Red Raiders 47 v. (6) Newark Reds 7

Class B Semifinals

(8) Livonia Bulldogs 21 v. (5) Geneva Panthers 7

Class A Semifinal

(1) Aquinas Lil' Irish 34 (5) Greece Athena Trojans 13

Class A Semifinal

(2) McQuaid Jesuit Knights 42 v. (3) Victor Blue Devils 20

Class AA Semifinal

(4) Gates-Chili Spartans 21 v. (1) Hilton Cadets 14

Class AAA Quarterfinal

(7) Gates-Chili Spartans 1 v. (3) Churchville-Chili Saints 0

Sectional Galleries: Football

Sectional Football Gallery: Gates v. Hilton

Sectional Soccer Gallery: Gates v. CC

Sectional Football and the Importance of Camera Backup

Friday night at Gates-Chili was the start of sectional play for class AA football. GC was taking on Brockport in the quarterfinals. The Spartans were at home and just like when they faced the Blue Devils two weeks ago the weather was miserable. The weather progressively worsened to a sideways cold rain as the game went along. Gates took an early lead and by half were up 21-0.

I got in my car at halftime to dry off my flash, gloves, and hat and contemplated leaving right then. I decided to stick it out a little longer to make sure the score didn't change in Brockport's favor. It was a bad idea because the rain began to fall even harder to the point where the camera was losing focus on the players. I had enough and packed up early and later found out GC won 21-7. I did not get many photos from the game but the shot below is probably the best flash football shot I have taken to this date.

I walked into Marina Auto Stadium early before the 11:00 am game to get ready for a day of shooting sectional football. I planned to shoot the early game and then drive to Aquinas get that game in at 2pm and back to the stadium for the late game. Everything started well shooting warm ups and the first quarter. Well, half way through the second quarter my camera quit on me. I no longer have a backup so I was off to see if I could get it fixed. Long story short my camera is off to the shop for 2 weeks and I looking for a replacement for next weekend. I still took a bunch of photos but no celebration on the game winning kick as Cal-Mum defeated Clyde 17-14 in OT. Hopefully I will have a new camera this week.

Here Jon Cappotelli (22) is dragged down by Clyde Savannah defenders.

Friday Gallery: GC v. Brockport

Saturday Gallery: Cal-Mum v. Clyde

Junior Varsity Sports

Last week I wanted to fit in a few JV matches for Gates-Chili. I try to get at least one game in for some of the sports but it doesn't always happen. Anyways I shot the girls JV soccer team a week ago and decided to catch the boys too. I only shot the first half between Gates and Olympia because available light has become scarce in NY after 5:30 PM. The JV team was very good and had many scoring opportunities early with no results. Here two players get tangled battling for the loose ball.

The battle for the ball continues in the air as two players jump for a header.

Later that week I also shot the JV football team as they took on Penfield. These Spartans also were dominating early as I watched them score early and often. After three quarters I had enough shots to put up a decent gallery for the team. The offense had it's normal Gates-Chili format of running the ball numerous times with great results.

The defense stifled the Patriots offense to get the ball back to their run heavy offense.

JV Gallery: Olympia v. GC

JV Gallery: GC v. Penfield

Gates Senior Football Night

The fans were out last Friday night as GC took on the Fairport Red Raiders on the Spartans senior night. The setup for introducing the seniors was all messed up as the seniors and parents lined up along the field. Only half the field was used and the line was too long to fit everyone making it a photography nightmare to get everyone. Next time I will bring a shorter lens to get them as soon as they begin to walk. Gates won easily 34-14 to continue their win streak of 4 in a row entering sectionals.

Saturday morning I was in Pittsford to see the Panthers take on the Canandaigua Braves. It was a very close game as both offenses struggled to score. The rain starting coming down in the second quarter and was steady until the end. Canandaigua ended up winning in the fourth quarter on a quarterback run left for about 60 yards for the score. The game ended Braves 13, Panthers 10.

Sunday I finished off the weekend with my last regular season games of Chili Lions football. This day I was shooting the Purple Mitey Mites and the Junior Midgets. This ends another great season with the Lions and finally a decent weather day which did not occur many times on 2009 Sundays.

Gallery: GC v. Fairport

Gallery: Canandaigua v. Pittsford

Gallery: Chili Lions