Angelo Sciandra, Cardinal O'Hara head football coach, has been named the Buffalo Bills High School Football Coach of the Week #11 after the Hawks beat St. Mary's, 25-7, to win the Monsignor Martin Association League A championship at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
It was the sixth straight Monsignor Martin title for O'Hara.
"It never gets boring," Sciandra said. "It's exciting for the kids and it's exciting for me and the coaches."
Sciandra says he was unsure of his team when the season started.
"I wasn't sure how we would do," he said. "We were a very young team this year. But the offensive line began to play better and we went on a five-game winning streak."
O'Hara finished 7-4 this season despite playing one of the toughest schedules in Western New York. The Hawks played large-school St. Francis, St. Joe's and Canisius as well as Ohio powerhouse Steubenville.
"We had a tough stretch where we lost three in a row," Sciandra said. "We lost to St. Joe's, St. Francis and Steubenville but the kids rebounded."
O'Hara has played at Steubenville for three straight seasons.
"I think it's a great experience for the kids," he said. "It's a different game in Ohio. It's a great atmosphere and they get to spend a couple of nights in a hotel as a team."
Sciandra felt confident during the week leading up to the title game against St. Mary's.
"These kids had one of the best week of practices I have ever seen," Sciandra said. "I have never had a team so ready to play a game. A lot of our kids played their best game of the year, which was good to see."
Sciandra just finished his tenth season as the coach at Cardinal O'Hara. He played defensive back for Kenmore West and graduated in 1973.
He attended the University at Buffalo but did not play football. He earned his undergraduate and Master's Degrees at UB. After graduating from UB, Sciandra landed his first coaching job at Cheektowaga High School.
"Tom Goddard hired me in 1979 at Cheektowaga," Sciandra said. "He made me the head JV coach right out of college."
Sciandra took over the varsity head coaching job at St. Marys in 1986 and stayed there until 1999.
"I was there for 16 years, and we beat some pretty good Turner-Carroll teams," Sciandra said.
St. Mary's won Monsignor Martin titles in 1993 and 1995 under Sciandra. Sciandra now has a career record of 70 wins and only 31 losses.
