by Dawn Kane | Oct 14, 2024
The 2005 Volleyball team followed the same blueprint as previous teams, however, this team started the year off with a chip on their shoulder; How could you compete for the Class A division or a NYS championship, when you graduate 4 All-WNY players, another starter, and very few of your players returning to familiar positions? This was Coach Carroll’s dilemma for 2005, was trying to reload without regressing. The reload started before the season, with Coach Carroll making several key decisions to not only compete but to dominate the competition again in 2005.
First, he replaced graduating 6”4” All-WNY setter, David Hatten, with 2004 Libero, Colin Murtha. Despite Murtha not having the same height as Hatten, Colin proved to be up to the task. Second, Coach Carroll had to replace his All-WNY left side, Jeff Hartman. His spot was filled by Nikolaj Prychodko, who was now a co-captain on the 2005 team, after being All-WNY, and key member of last year’s championship team. While these pieces fit nicely, there were now gaps that needed to be filled in the middle of the starting lineup, where Johnsen and Prychodko had played on the 2004 team. Coach Carroll was able to insert Michael Jackson and Brian Charles to fill these critical positions. Next, he used Rusty Gardner, who was a key element in the 2004’s success, brilliantly as the X factor, “Jack Knife”, and replaced Colin Murtha’s libero position, with capable Dan Jackson. The lone holdover from the 2004 team, who was the only starter to maintain their current position, was now Co-Captain, Patrick Abulone. Despite the completely revamped lineup, the goal of the 2005 season was clear; Go undefeated because our starting lineup had talent across the court. That, however, would not be the case, as the Purple and White suffered a deflating loss to Orchard Park at the opening Clarence tourney. “Tough situations reveal and build character”, as the Bulldogs did not lose a tourney the rest of the year. Hamburg again sailed through the Section VI playoffs, with a date to seek revenge against Orchard Park and decide who were the Section VI champions. The 2005 Quakers squad was stacked, with three players who went on to play volleyball collegiately at the Division I level. Despite the hostile environment of this formidably opponent, Hamburg prevailed 3 sets to 1, in front of one of the largest crowds to ever witness a high school volleyball match in WNY! It was again on the State Final pool play seedings, this time, Hamburg was seeded #1 and McQuaid Jesuit was seeded #2. After dropping the first set, and down a quick 5-0 in the second set, Hamburg came from behind to defeated McQuaid 3 sets to 1. Hamburg Volleyball had gone back-to-back as NYS Class A champions! They finished the year with a final record: 31-3, winning 70 match sets and only lost 12 total sets all season. After-season accolades went to Nikolaj Prychodko and Patrick Abulone, as All-WNY, and were joined by Rusty Gardner, on the All-State Tournament Team, with Prychodko winning Tournament MVP.
by Dawn Kane | Oct 14, 2024
The 2004 Team paved the way for every Hamburg team that followed, setting up Hamburg as one of the gold standards in WNY and NY State for many years that followed. This team was uniquely small in numbers until a member brought in a new friend to fill in a missing piece of the puzzle. As it seems in many championship teams, “the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.”
The 2004 team was led by Co-Captains, David Hatten and Jeff Hartman, who were both named to All-State Tournament- 1st team, and All-WNY- 1st team along with Ryan Johnsen. Nikolaj Prychodko was also named to the All-WNY-1st team. Rounding out the major contributors that had an incredible impact on this team’s success throughout the season, were Patrick Abulone, Colin Murtha, and Matt Lardo.
Going into 2004, Coach Carroll knew he had a talented team, but they started slowly losing to Canisius in their first contest, as well to them again in the semi-final of the Clarence Kick-off Tournament. However, after the Clarence Tourney, the team started to find their rhythm, winning the Eden, Sweet Home, and Orchard Park tournaments, and going undefeated in divisional play, with a perfect 12-0 record. The Purple and White then breezed through to the Section VI final, with a meeting with West Seneca West, and the most celebrated Men’s Volleyball player to ever come out of WNY, Matt Anderson, who has been on TEAM USA for the 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympic Teams as a player and captain. Hamburg beat West Seneca West 3-0, to advance as the Section VI champion in the NYS tournament. The State Tournament is a seeding of the Top four schools after pool play. Hamburg garnered the #2 seed, and defeated Burnt Hill of Albany, with the right to place for the overall Class A NYS championship, against perennial powerhouse, McQuaid Jesuit of Rochester, who were the #1 seed. The Bulldogs played a near perfect match, their passing percentage of Hartman, Abulone, and Murtha was an astounding 95%, when 80% is considered well above average! The middle hitter/blocker tandem of Ryan Johnson and Nikolaj Prychodko were only blocked 1 time in the final match, it was one of the highest played matches of any team in NYS history! After the match, the McQuaid AD wrote the team a congratulations letter and said, “You flat out deserved this. Our team was great. You were simply unbeatable and your young men were not going to be denied.”
The 2004 Boys’ Volleyball team finished the season with a 30-3 record, and the Class A New York State Championship. David Hatten was named MVP of the NYS tournament.
by Dawn Kane | Oct 5, 2023
Celebrating the 10-year anniversary, the 2023 Team of Distinction is the 2013 Hamburg Girls Softball Team. Winning the first ever Class A state championship in school history was not something that happened overnight, but two years in the making. Coming off their first ever trip to the state final four in 2012 that ended in a heartbreaking 2-1 semi-final loss to Jamesville-DeWitt the Bulldogs returned to the state final four with unfinished business. The sting of the disappointing loss sat with the returning players for 8 months.
When school resumed after Christmas break in January 2013, there was a renewed excitement, and an eagerness to avenge their only loss the previous season. No longer were they the hunters, they were the hunted and everyone was gunning to beat them. The team had to move up and play in Class AA for the regular season because of the school’s enrollment. They would have to play against perennial powerhouses such as Orchard Park, Lancaster, and defending Class AA state champion Clarence. The girls welcomed the challenge and believed that it was only going to make them better, more mentally tough, and ready for any obstacle that stood in their way of winning a state championship.
The season started out of the gate slowly and after the first six games the team was looking at a 3-3 record. For a team that did not lose a game the previous year, doubt was starting to creep in. After the back-to-back losses to Clarence, it was gut check time and the players and the coaches sat for a long time in the outfield and came to the conclusion that it was put up or shut up and that we were not going to squander the talent we had on this team. From that day on, the Bulldogs went on to win every game except one non-league contest against Section V – Mercy (Defeated by Hamburg later in the season in the Far West Regional game).
Hamburg had some tough competition to reach the state finals again. The team defeated West Seneca East 6 -1 in eight innings to win the Class A-1 Section crown and then moved on to play Starpoint for the overall Class A Sectional Championship. This was a hard-fought game with two very evenly matched teams. Hamburg struggled out of the gate as Starpoint gave Hamburg a dose of their own medicine by playing small-ball and bunting their way on base. After some player position adjustments, the team settled down and eventually went on to win 4-2.
The Far West Regional game was a rematch from an earlier non-league contest against Our Lady of Mercy (Section V). One inning. Five hits. Four runs. That’s what earned the Bulldogs the victory. Mercy took the lead in the first inning, but Hamburg scored four times in the third inning and blanked the Monarchs the rest of the way for a 4-1 victory in the Class A state softball tournament quarterfinals at SUNY Brockport. Pitcher Bridget Hogan limited Mercy to six hits and the girls strung together some key hits in a decisive third inning. Hogan started it with a single followed by Kailee Ramaeker’s reaching on an infield error. Rachel Watson and Sarah Mertowski each ripped run-scoring singles before Leah Jones drove home a pair of runs with a push bunt base hit that slid perfectly between the 1st and 2nd baseman.
From Lisa Palma-Lerche:
“As we made our way to Queensbury for championship weekend the coaches learned some valuable lessons from the previous year….try to eliminate ALL distractions….including cell phones. I remember walking the hotel hallways with 19 cell phones and chargers in my hand and plugging them into all the outlets in my hotel room. Players from other teams were in disbelief as I walked by and heard them say “I hope our coach doesn’t do that!” We woke up Saturday morning refreshed and ready to complete the mission we started on March 1st. Unfortunately, the start of the game was delayed by two hours because the fields were still wet from Friday’s heavy rains. When the fields dried and the girls took the field the Hamburg Bulldogs won the New York State softball Class A championship in a way no one could have imagined.
We beat Sayville, 5-3, in the finals, but it was the 1-0 win in eight innings over Tappan Zee in the semifinals that left many in the crowd at Adirondack Sports Complex in disbelief.
With two outs in the eighth, Maddy Tucker reached on a single to the outfield and Allison Salerno doubled to left. That set the stage for Hogan – With runners on second and third and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Tappan Zee was trying to intentionally walk Bridget Hogan to load the bases and set up a force out at any base. Instead, Tappan Zee’s pitcher let a pitch get a little too close to the strike zone and Hogan reached out and smoked the ball to right-center allowing Tucker to trot home.
You could tell the fielders weren’t exactly ready for a ball to get hit. It looked like she had never intentionally walked a batter. Bridget took it outside — it was great, it was clutch, and it was crazy.
Hamburg’s win over Sayville in the final also had its share of drama. Down 2-1 in the 5th inning, Eighth-grader Heather Haberman hit a two-run-homer over the fence to give Hamburg a 3-2 lead. The Bulldogs scored two more runs in the sixth inning to take the lead, 5-3. Sarah Mertowski reached on an error and after two outs, Tucker singled. Salerno then delivered with the game-winning RBI, and Hogan, who pitched a four-hitter with six strikeouts, then drove in the fifth run.
As I look back and reflect on this season, the first thing I think is not the wins and all the accolades that we received. It’s not the coming home to a police and fire truck escort or the parade the school and village threw. I think about all the girls on the team and the amazing relationships we all had with each other and still have today. It was such a special team, one that doesn’t come around too often. We were there for each other for the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and that is why the “Chainlink” was such an important part of our team huddle before every game. Each of us was a link. Each of us had a role on this team. Some bigger than others but we succeeded as a team because we each accepted our role and did it to the best of our ability. We Still Believe…… Hoo-Rah!”
by Dawn Kane | Nov 4, 2022
This is the second boys’ soccer team to be inducted in the Wall of Fame as a “team of distinction,” joining the 1968 team with this high honor. “JT’s Raiders” as they called themselves in the 1975 yearbook, were led by Coach John Thomas, compiled an overall season record of 18 wins – 1 loss. Co-captains Tom Ketterer and Jim Durr, led the team to the 1st Section VI overall championship ever, by beating Kenmore West 2-1, solidifying the Bulldogs claim the rank of #1 for WNY. Despite Section VI not being able to participate in the New York State championships in 1974, sports writers still listed Hamburg as the overall NYS ranking of #4 in all of State. The team had great balance both offensively and protecting the goal, as the Bulldogs outscored their opponents by a dominating 68 goals for while allowing only 18 goals against. Remarkably, remembered Co-captain Ketterer, in no less than 9 games during the season, the purple and white scored the game’s first goal within one minute from the start of the game!
The offense was led by Bob Minkel and Billy Young while the defense was defended by goalie Jim Durr, Carl Villarini, Todd Rice, Helmuth Wolf, and Tom Ketterer. Eight members of the championship team received post season honors. Named to the ECIC All-Start Team: 1st team: Jim Durr, Billy Young, Tom Ketterer, Carl Villarini, and Bob Minkel. 2nd team: Helmuth Wolf, Todd Rice, Alex Lopez. Tom Ketterer also received All-WNY, All New York State, and regional All-American honors. Bob Minkel also received All-WNY honors. Five players from this team went on to play soccer in college
Hamburg Boys soccer continued to dominate Section VI for many more years, but none achieved the success that the 1974 did in gaining the rank of #1 at the end of year in Western New York.
by Dawn Kane | Aug 31, 2019
Head Coach: Richard Van Valkenburgh
Co-Captains: Dave Klemenich and John Pritchard
Complied an 8-1 record during the ’76 season, ranked Top 10 in WNY and 25th in New York State. 10 Players were named Division II All-Star Team: 4-Offense, 5-Defense, 1 Special Teams. Mark Collins and Perry Dix selected as All-Western New York- Buffalo News. Perry Dix set Division II record by blocking 6 punts during the 1976 season. Outscored their opponents 156 points (17.3) to 89 points (9.8).
