This site is about the sports doings of the high schools in Venango County, Pa. Contact: pennyweichel@gmail.com
OIL CITY
Oil City was idle last week and will host Karns City Friday to end the regular season. The Oilers are looking to make a repeat trip to the District 10 4A playoffs where they are a projected third seed -- which means another date with Cathedral Prep in the first round. (Top-seeded General McLane would face Harbor Creek in the other semi.)​
Karns City is 8-1 and no slouch. The Gremlims have wreaked havoc over the years, not just in District 9, but in interdistricts. Just ask Mercer County...​
The last two years the Gremlins have gone 9-3 and 7-3. From 2012-16 their records are 10-4, 12-2, 11-2, 12-1 and 10-3. The Oilers played the 2012 and 2013 teams, splitting the two games. Oil City won 33-21 in 2012, but Karns City reportedly had some injury issues. The Gremlins answered in 2013 with a 48-28 decision...​
Karns City's only loss this season was to Central Clarion by a surprisingly lopsided 43-14. The Gremlins have beaten Butler, Keystone and DuBois and are coming off a 35-20 victory over Port Allegany...​
WR Owen Kaufman was the star against Port. He scored four TDs, one on a 75-yard run. One of the others was a Pick 6...For the season Kaufman has 24 catches for 719 yards...He's the favorite target of senior QB Cole Johnston, a 6-2, 215-pounder who has thrown for 1,048 yards and 12 touchdowns. Johnston also has rushed 85 times for 824 yards...No. 2 rusher Bryce Galan is 84/569...​​
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This has been an unusual season of sorts for the 4-4 Oilers who have no big-name rusher, partly because of injuries. Carter Thompson leads the way so far with 490 yards, but he is one of four players with 200 yards or more. The others are Tycen Sindlinger (258), Bryce Marchinke (245) and Clark Findlay (227).​
Only twice in coach Dan York's 11 years as coach has Oil City not had a player rush for at least 500 yards. The first time was 2016 when Jahmeer Jordan was No. 1 with 470. The next time was 2024 when Dawan Cruz led with 492.​​
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Noah Lucarelli and Blake Stevens have been mainstays of Oil City's defense the last two years. In fact, both were all-state last season.
Stevens is racking up the stops again this season. He has a team-leading 84 with a chance of making 100 again, depending on how many games the Oilers get to play.
He's No. 5 all-time with 253 behind Brayden Crocker (287), Kris Tawney (265), Kevin Pearsall (264) and Mario Fontanazza (263).
(Keep in mind tackle stats have been sporadic over Oil City's 130 years of playing football.)
Lucarelli boasts a smorgasbord of defensive stats, which include 144 tackles. His 28 tackles for loss rank No. 3 all-time behind Pearsall (38) and Fontanazza (30).
Plus, he has 11 sacks, 20 QB hurries, 6 forced fumbles and a recovery, three passes defended and 11 blocks and tips. So he has reason to do some smiling.
Sindlinger, a junior, made 100 tackles last season. He missed some time this year, but is now up to 159 career stops.
The Oilers are maybe as little suspect on pass defense but have yielded an average of 85 yards per game rushing this season. Six teams have been held to under 200; Prep had the most with 161.​
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FRANKLIN
The Knights got an early introduction to the state's leading receiver, Donovan Huzinec, who caught his 18th touchdown pass of the season 1:28 into the game. Or at least he became the state's leading receiver after making that catch. The junior went into the game with 72 receptions for 1,080 yards.
At any rate, it got the 3-7 Bobcats rolling in a 47-6 rout of the Knights.
Franklin couldn't stop their passing game, and did little on offense itself. Seneca's Dalton Boyd threw for 338 yards and five touchdowns. Huzinec had 160 yards receiving and three TDs for the game.
The Knights' touchdown came on a 5-yard run by Caden MIncer -- the 28th of his career -- to climax an 80-yard march to start the second half.
Mincer had some nice runs during the game, rushing for 106 yards on 18 carries. He also caught four passes for 91. That gave him 789 yards rushing on the season and 2,810 for his career, good for second on Franklin's all-time list.
The Knights had an 80-yard TD pass called back late in the first half. That threat ended with an interception. Doty passed for 247 yards
So the Knights closed at 1-9 under first-year coach Austin Ion, who will return Doty, a stable of good receivers , led by Damian Cassano (28/461), and Luke Marsteller who registered 100 tackles on the year.
Numbers from 2023-25 are from News-Herald accounts of games. Numbers this season are from what coaches share on MaxPreps; they didn't post prior to this year.
Final career numbers for Caden MIncer:
VOLLEYBALL
Franklin reaches D-10 semis
Franklin ousted sixth-seeded Eisenhower, 3-1, Wednesday to reach the District 10 3A semifinals.
Franklin's Lady Knights, the three seed, will play second-seeded Fairview Tuesday, TBA.
Fairview eliminated Greenville, and while top-seeded Cathedral Prep had a bye Wednesday, Conneaut took down Grove City in the other half of that bracket.
The Lady Knights are now 15-4. They won Wednesday's match at Oil City High school despite dropping the first set.
Sophie Boal (pictured) led Franklin with 15 kills and 10 assists. She also had four digs, three blocks and two aces.
The top two teams will advance to the state tournament.​
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(Photo by Christy Fackler)​
District 10 volleyball champions
McDowell 4A champ from 2018-22
LEGENDS
Oil City native Tiger LaVerde's teams at Kirtland, O., just keeping rolling along -- even though he lost his quarterback due to injury for the third straight year.
Yes, the Hornets lost a game this season, but they are 9-1 and made the playoffs again.
LaVerde's coaching career began in 2001 with a three-year stint at Franklin before he moved on to Kirtland.
He is approaching 300 victories with eight state titles, and sports the highest winning percentage in Ohio history.
He was also the third in Ohio history to claim eight state titles -- (Class VI). The Hornets have reached the state finals in 14 of the last 15 seasons.
LaVerde was national Coach of the Year in 2023.
Tiger LaVerde and family and friends when Kirtland played at Clarion a few years ago.
Giving 'em the old stiff arm
D-10 all-time top rushers
* active
Action photos from Mercyhurst web site
Knox: 173 total yards in first start for Mercyhurst
Ethen Knox had his biggest game yet on Oct. 24 for Mercyhurst's Division I football program.
The Oil City grad made his first start for the Lakers. He didn't score, but he carried the ball 18 times for 95 yards and caught nine passes for another 78 in the Lakers' 28-14 loss at Robert Morris.
Knox has played in six games for the 1-7 Lakers and has 144 yards rushing on 31 tries and 21 receptions for 163. He's No. 4 on the team in receptions.
Knox began seeing more action in late September, catching six passes for 38 yards against Western Kentucky.
His 12-game career numbers show 231 yards rushing on 41 carries and his only touchdown. All of his receiving stats are from this season. Defensively, he has seven tackles (three solo) and a block of something.
Mercyhurst visits Stonehill Oct. 31, and will host Wagner on Nov. 7. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
The Lakers will trravel to Pittsburgh again on Nov. 14 for a game with Duquesne, noon kickoff.
Knox is District 10's all-time leading rusher with 7,870 yards. He is a junior cybersecurity major at Mercyhurst.