A year ago the ACC was on its way to having three 1-seeds. The Big 10 had three schools headed for protected (top four) seeds. In the SEC, Kentucky (2), Tennessee (2) and LSU (3) were all Final Four threats. Buffalo was bulling their way to a six seed and was a trendy Sweet 16 pick. Syracuse ...

FREDONIA — Big players usually make their name for coming up big on the grandest of stages. For a Fredonia athlete, no regular season game can provide a bigger stage than a Dunkirk-Fredonia game. Friday night, deadlocked at 26-26 early in the second half, Fredonia’s Nick Whitfield had his ...

PANAMA — Dylan Scriven isn’t Westfield’s No. 1 scoring threat. He’s not really head coach Bob North’s second or third threat for that matter. But on Friday evening in Panama, Scriven saved the Wolverines. Scriven scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and picked up three steals ...

SILVER CREEK — The Silver Creek Black Knights look to be finding more consistent footing after a decisive 83-25 victory over the Falconer Golden Falcons on Friday night in Silver Creek. The Black Knights were out of the gate hot in the first quarter, aggressively attacking the glass. Every ...

OBSERVER Staff Reports BROCTON — The Sherman Wildcats found a decisive victory over the Brocton Bulldogs on Friday night, walking out with a 67-39 victory. The Bulldogs trailed 35-22 at half time, seemingly having the momentum after hitting a buzzer beater heading into the break, but the ...

Photo by Valory Isacsson Above, the Thunderbirds’ Jayden Malecki puts Maple Grove’s Mason Kraft in a hold at the Falconer Tournament on Friday.

OBSERVER Staff Report BUFFALO — Both the Dunkirk/Silver Creek and Fredonia indoor track teams traveled to the Buffalo State Meet on Friday evening. Each team had a fair bit of success, getting top five finishes in several events. To no surprise, Fredonia’s Emily Brown highlighted the ...

Special to the OBSERVER OSWEGO — The Fredonia State women's basketball team picked up its first SUNYAC win of the season with a convincing 71-52 win at Oswego on Friday. Lauren Mickley led the offense with 15 points and added eight rebounds. Rae White added 11 points and Anna Chiacchia and ...

FREDONIA — Tonight, at long last, the Dunkirk-Fredonia rivalry finally hits the hardwood for the first time this season. The Dunkirk Marauders head into hostile territory to take on the Fredonia Hillbillies at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Fredonia High School in a CCAA Division 1 West boys basketball ...

Fredonia’s Jake Skinner was known all year long as the star of the Hillbillies. His performance earned a D-1 FCS scholarship from Central Connecticut State University. Though colleges took notice of him as a tight end, it was Skinner’s defensive prowess that earned him a selection as a ...

The Lady Red Dragons (6-4, 3-1) hopped off the bus ready to play in Fredonia on Thursday night. Maple Grove’s full court press gave them an early lead against the Lady ‘Billies (6-3, 2-1) and their lock down defense kept Fredonia off the board and allowed them to establish an early lead ...

OBSERVER Staff Reports FALCONER — Grace Penhollow scored six points and five other Falconer players also scored during a 16-10 second quarter as the Golden Falcons took control in a 50-34 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 East girls basketball win over Silver Creek on ...

OBSERVER Staff Report The Fredonia Hillbillies boys swim and dive team defeated the Olean Huskies by a score of 92-83 on Thursday at Fredonia High School. Fredonia’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Ronan Murphy, Nick Wittmeyer, Finn Frerichs and Matt Brockelbank took first place with a ...

SILVER CREEK — Fredonia found itself at a home away from home on Wednesday. The Fredonia Hillbillies (4-0) wrestling team played its Section VI CCAA Division 1 wrestling duals against Franklinville (1-2) at Silver Creek High School for the Silver Creek and Forestville athletes. The last ...

Special to the OBSERVER The Core Athletix 716 Silver All-Star cheerleading team from Dunkirk received a bid to the Summit at their first competition of the season. They were the second highest score out of over 80 teams of all levels. The Summit is the “Super Bowl” for All-Star cheer and ...

SO CLOSE. The Buffalo Bills fell victim to themselves in the NFL Wild Card matchup Saturday in Houston, losing 22-19 in overtime after leading 16-0. Everything went Buffalo's way in a remarkable first half punctuated by Josh Allen's TD catch and rumbling 40-yard dash on the seldom seen ...

Dunkirk’s Earl Stewart (3) battles through three Southwestern defenders in the Marauders’ game against Southwestern, Tuesday night, at Dunkirk High School. The Dunkirk Marauders dropped a close league matchup against the Southwestern Trojans by a score of 56-53. Mitchell Pascarella led the ...

OBSERVER Staff Reports FREDONIA — The Dunkirk Marauders defeated the Chautauqua Lake Thunderbirds in a high school bowling match at Lucky Lanes on Wednesday by a score of 4-0. Dunkirk’s scores were 752-792-722-2,266, while Chautauqua Lake countered with 527-444-510-1,481. Dunkirk ...

OBSERVER Staff Report FORESTVILLE — After a 70-44 win over Pine Valley a day prior, the Forestville Hornets found themselves locked in a 30-30 tied game at halftime against one of the top teams in the state, the defending Section VI, Class D champion Panama Panthers. The Hornets just ...

OBSERVER Staff Report GOWANDA — Seventh-grader Payton Morrison scored a career-high 20 points to lead Randolph to a 52-41 CCAA Division 1 East win over Gowanda on Wednesday. The Cardinals (5-5, 1-1) led 12-11 after the first quarter before Morrison scored 9 points during a 12-5 second ...