South Gives Severino One Last Win

As the Western New York High School Boys Lacrosse community showcased and said goodbye to its best players of the Class of 2019, it also bid farewell to one of its best coaches.

Hamburg head coach and former longtime Orchard Park assistant Jerry Severino coached his final game Wednesday as the South team beat the North, 20-7, in the 2019 Exceptional Seniors Men’s Lacrosse Game at Williamsville North High School.

A 22-year assistant coach at Orchard Park, Severino knew that then head coach Gene Tundo wasn’t leaving anytime soon and expected to retire from teaching and coaching without leading a varsity high school program of his own.

Then, Hamburg came along with an opportunity he just couldn’t pass up.

Since taking over the program in 2003, Severino has led the Bulldogs to 12 sectional titles.

“I jumped over to Hamburg and fell into a little piece of heaven,” Severino said. “I was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Hamburg is an amazing place.”

Severino is considered a pioneer for WNY High School Boys Lacrosse, coaching since 1982.

A lot has changed in that time. When Severino started coaching 38 years ago there were only about a half dozen schools with lacrosse teams.

Now, there are almost 40 schools.

“Those that have been here since the beginning just grew the game and did it justice,” said Severino, referring especially to Tundo and former Sweet Home coach John Faller.

“Now we have young coaches that we’ve coached that have gone to college and are coming back and taking really important positions. That’s been happening on Long Island for 125 years. Now it’s working it’s way up to WNY.”

Severino had four Bulldogs play in the game, including Spencer Nyhart, who netted a hat trick Wednesday night in the longest consecutive High School All-Star game in New York State.

In the game’s 39th installment, Canisius’ Henry Popko broke a 2-2 tie in the second quarter for the first of his four goals, sparking a 12-0 run for the South team that lasted until late in the third quarter.

Hamburg’s Brett Chiodo, Iroquois’ Lucas Achman and Lancaster’s Alex Reimer had two goals each for the South team.

Perhaps the only other person besides Severino on the field to make the case for legendary status was Kellen Pulera. The senior attackman helped the Marauders to four-straight Monsignor Martin championships. He graduates as the program’s career point leader and had his senior year topped off by getting on SportsCenter Top 10 for a behind-the-back goal in the MMAA final.

“The past four years have been something special,” said Pulera, who led the North team with two goals. “Coming to St. Joe’s was the best decision I’ve ever made. I just made sure I gave my best every year.”

The other team in Kenmore also had a milestone year. The combined Kenmore East/West lacrosse team played their first year as a varsity team in Section VI. The Devil Dogs played an independent schedule and didn’t participate in sectionals, but certainly took steps in the right direction going 9-5.

“Moving up from a club to an official varsity team was really good,” said Kenmore East senior Papouch Schmoyer, who’s going to be on the soccer and tracks teams at Roberts Wesleyan. “We knew we were going to face some tougher teams this year, but we were all in it for the long haul. I think we proved ourselves this year and we’re going to be just as good if not better going forward.”

Williamsville East’s Clayton Osborne wasn’t going to let his senior year go to waste. Osborne suffered a wrist injury during the football season of his junior year. His missed the entire lacrosse season, coming up one practice short of being able to play in last year’s sectional final, the Flames’ final game.

“It’s really great,” Osborne said. “It was great to be able to play with my friends this season. It was definitely disappointing that I couldn’t play (last year).”

The other goal scorers for the South team were Eden’s Colby Sroda, Hamburg’s Brock Schneider and West Seneca East’s Shaun Dolac. Scoring for North was Amherst’s Eli Dunkle and Andrew Johnson, Williamsville East’s Sam Meltser, Grand Island’s Trevor Samplinski and Buffalo’s Jake Wasneiwski.