It's week 5 of the high school football season in Western New York and the Buffalo Bills and Legends Global Merchandising are happy to partner to recognize the top coaches in the region through the 2024 High School Football Coach of the Week program.
Aimed at highlighting varsity head tackle football coaches' efforts on and off the field, coaches from both the Buffalo and Rochester regions will be honored over the next 10 weeks and will receive $1,000 for their teams. Each region's Coach of the Year will be named during the Week 17 game against the New York Jets and will receive an additional $1,000 for their programs.
Rochester Region Coach of the Week
Batavia High School's Alex Veltz has been named Coach of the Week for the Rochester region after he led the Blue Devils to a 32-16 win over Honeoye Falls-Lima.
Both teams entered the game undefeated and with the win, Batavia is now 5-0 and in first place in Class B.
Batavia fell behind 2-0 early in the game when a bad punt snap went through the end zone for a safety. After the free kick, Honeoye Falls-Lima drove deep into Batavia territory, but Koda Mruczek recovered a fumble in the red zone to stop the drive.
From there, Batavia used a ground-and-pound attack to take over the game. The Blue Devils built drives of 65 and 70 yards for touchdowns to take a 12-2 lead. A third scoring drive gave Batavia a 20-12 lead at the half.
In the second half Batavia controlled the ball and clock as the Blue Devils ran 60 plays in the victory.
Batavia QB Bronx Buchholz led the ground attack as he rushed for 187 yards and 2 touchdowns on 23 carries. He also passed for 147 yards and 3 touchdowns. Carter Mullen, Maggio Buchholz, and Da'Von Gallo-Williams each caught a touchdown pass. Gallo-Williams and Justin Smith each intercepted a pass on defense.
Veltz is currently in his second season as head coach for Batavia. In his first season as head coach, he led the Blue Devils to a 7-3 record and ended the season with a close loss in the Sectional semi-finals. He was previously the offensive coordinator for Batavia in 2021 and 2022.
Veltz uses football to teach student-athletes valuable life skills such as accountability, work ethic and teamwork. He hopes that their experience will have a lasting, positive impact on their future endeavors.
Off the field, the Batavia football team spent two days working with Habitat for Humanity this summer. A group of players volunteered with the Crossroads House in Batavia this summer. This past winter, Coach Veltz and his players helped raise money for the Special Olympics by participating in the Polar Plunge.
Veltz's favorite football memory is his experience playing high school football at Batavia High School because his experience helped shape his future. His former head coach Gary Parisi never stopped being his coach and helped him create a plan for post-secondary education and helped him prepare for interviews when it came time to enter the job market. Veltz hopes to keep that level of commitment to his players alive.
Buffalo Region Coach of the Week
Olean High School's Phil Vecchio has been named Coach of the Week for the Buffalo region after leading the Huskies to a 20-12 over Maryvale last week. Maryvale entered the game ranked #11 in some NYS polls.
"It was a huge win for us," Vecchio said. "It was a top 3 win since I have been the head coach."
The Huskies defense played well, holding Maryvale to just two touchdowns. While the defense played well, the Huskies trailed 12-6 entering the fourth quarter. With 9:50 left in the game, the Olean defense stopped Maryvale on 4th down near midfield.
"Our defensive effort was outstanding all night," Vecchio said.
On their first play of the ensuing drive, the Huskies pulled a hook-and-lateral out of the playbook. QB Joe Mest tossed a short pass to Austin Miles who pitched to Manoah Miketish, who ran 39 yards for a touchdown which tied the score 12-12 and they took the lead when Mest made the PAT.
"It was just a beautiful play," Vecchio said. "The timing those kids had was just perfect."
On the ensuing possession, Maryvale drove to midfield, but Caine DeGolier sacked the QB, causing a fumble that Mest recovered with 3 minutes left. Mest punted and pinned Maryvale deep on their own six-yard line.
"We needed two first downs to win the game," Vecchio said. "We got one but had to punt."
On the Flyers' first play, DeGolier intercepted a screen pass and walked into the end zone for a 20-12 Huskies lead.
With 2:30 left in the game, Maryvale drove down to the Olean 20. Then Blake Kinnaird intercepted his second pass of the game to end the threat, and the Huskies were able to kneel out the clock.
Olean is now 4-1 in league games and fighting for the league lead.
This is Vecchio's ninth year as head coach of the Huskies, after having 21 years of experience as an assistant prior to becoming a head coach. In 2016, his team won the Class B-2 division crown, ending the season undefeated.
Vecchio always knew that he wanted to be a coach after playing high school football at Olean High School for his coaches Mike Taylor and Mike Kane.
"I wanted to make a difference in young people's lives, and I think the game of football more than any other sport teaches life lessons. Some of those are working together to share a common goal and putting individual achievements to the side in order to achieve team goals. We hope that our students embrace this, and we believe in the philosophy that "they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
They use the mantra "SCRAP" and hand out a weekly "SCRAP" award to the player that best represents sacrifice, courage, responsibility, attitude and perseverance each week.
Away from the field of play, the team gets together for the Gus Macker held in Olean each year and put together the hoops for the courts.
While he has many favorite football memories, his favorite part is the relationships that are build.
"I love going out to dinner or seeing former players around town and seeing them do well and prosper," Vecchio said. "Having that shared experience of dedication and determination and the memories of working and playing together are very rewarding."
