This site is about the sports doings of the high schools in Venango County, Pa. Contact: pennyweichel@gmail.com
... pffft goes upset bid
Knights ready to set up for Go ahead TD at MASH 12
When Clockless game suddenly ends -- just like that
The Knights were primed and poised for the upset bid. Quarterback Harrison Doty (pictured from the Titusville game) had just completed a 31-yard pass to Damian Cassano to the Meadville 12 where they were lining up to erase a 20-15 Meadville lead.
But, alas.
The clock hadn't been working all game, and, here, they would come to find out, it was over. OVER. And the winless Knights were left with their sixth loss of the season.
Franklin withstood a crunching second half ground game to have a chance at the 'Dogs -- a team they had lost to seven straight times and by resounding scores.
Meadville had rallied from a 7-6 halftime deficit to take a 20-7 lead into the last quarter. With about five minutes left, the Knights were within 20-15 on Doty's 12-yard TD pass to Caden Mincer and another pass to Cassano for the PAT. Then they forced a punt on Meadville's next possession to have a chance for the victory.
They got the ball on their 21 and the 'Dogs were called for pass interference on the first play. After an incompletion, Doty hit Mincer again for 20 yards to the MASH 43. Then came the pass to Cassano to take the ball to the 12. Upset here we come, but, no.
​Turnovers led to Meadville's first two touchdowns -- an interception that set up the first of three TDs by Leo Collins, this one a 1-yard run in the opening quarter. A bad snap on the extra point left the score 6-0.
The ooopsies continued to plague Franklin after that -- three straight false starts on their next possession, for instance. They also left a MASH receiver uncovered who was wide open. for a potential 60-yard TD, but dropped the ball. Still, the Knights took the lead with about five minutes left in the half on Doty's 3-yard pass to Ryder Stevens and Jacob Fleming's extra point.
While this was going on, Meadville's ground game was grounded -- 61 yards on 16 tries before halftime. These numbers took off after intermission -- 173 yards on 23 carries with Collins scoring from the 1 on fourth-and-goal to make it 13-7 and then adding a 33-yard touchdown later on. A roughing the passer kept that 99-yard march alive.
Meanwhile, the Knights continued to sputter. Another fumble ruined a promising drove to start the second half. It came on the MASH 17 after Doty completed a 24-yard pass to Cassano. Meadville went ahead to stay after that.
Doty finished 16-for-26 for an unofficial 205 yards and the two TDs. Cassano, a newcomer to the team, caught six passes for 109 yards. Mincer was an unofficial 17/113 rushing. Collins, a sophomore, put up 100-plus yards for Meadville, 2-4. Total yards were an unofficial 302 for Franklin and 234 for Meadville.
Next up: Franklin at Warren, Friday
Given how the two teams looked last week (Knights within a whisker of beating Meadville; Dragons thumped at Oil City), Franklin would appear to be poised for that elusive first victory. Both teams are tied for last place in Region 5, but Warren does have a win this season: a non-leaguer vs. Seneca.
The Dragons have plenty of youth as they try to rebuild after three dismal seasons. The Knights are probably a little older than the Dragons, but the game will feature a match-up of two talented sophomore quarterbacks in Franklin’s Harrison Doty and Warren’s Parker Kiser.
Warren won the game last year, 14-6, to take a 59-35-3 lead in the all-time series, which began with its 26-0 shutout in 1904. Actually, Franklin had to wait until 1945 to beat the Dragons in this on-again, off-again Allegheny river town rivalry. There was a hiatus from 1923-33 before Warren reeled off 11 straight victories and was 13-0-1 all-time before finally losing to Franklin.
The Knights’ longest winning streak, was a modest five, believe it or not, from 1982-86.
It was Warren that handed the then Nursery their worst loss ever: 104-0 in 1915. Oddly, just two weeks before that Nov. 13 game, they tied the Dragons 6-6 when Leon Ross threw an 8-yard scoring pass to Harry Biery in the closing minutes.
But then all “heck” broke loose during that 2-4-2 campaign. No. 1, Billy Conners was listed as the coach to start the season, but he apparently didn't finish it...
And then The News-Herald had this to say after the Nursery lost to Warren, 104-0: "Not once this week did the Franklin team have a real practice. Two or three times five or six of the players went down to Athletic Park (then the home field of FHS), stayed a little while and went home, but at no time did the entire eleven turn out and have a signal practice or a scrimmage. (While they have no regular coach)..."
Not only that, but no one from the faculty accompanied the team to Warren...W.M. McCool of the YMCA made the trip with the team...There was word on the street that the team should disband, and it apparently did -- games with Sharon (Nov. 20) and Oil City (Nov. 27) were canceled, but the Nursery did play the Alumni on Thanksgiving Day.
Those were the days…
FHS All-Time Passing Yards
* Record Incomplete
Pictured here from the Titusville game, Harrison Doty threw for 205 yards Friday night at Meadville, and joining Franklin's all-time passing lists. Newcomer Damian Cassano caught six passes for 109. He's averaging 16.1 yards per catch on the season. (Photo by Christy Fackler.)
LEFT 'EM DRAGON
Oilers find their way on offense, smother Warren on defense to even record at 3-3
This season appears to be one of either feast or famine offensively for the Oilers. And it was a feast against Warren during a rare Thursday night game at the Oil Field-- a 57-0 Oil City victory.
After three straight less-than-medicore outputs against Sharon, McLane and Prep, the Oil City O"" exploded against Warren, and left the visitors, well, draggin' (Dragon).
The Oilers churned out (mostly) 465 total yards, including 396 rushing on 42 carries. Junior Tycen Sindlinger led the way with a career-high 169 on 21 carries and scored touchdowns on runs of 2, 23 and 33 yards.
Oil City opened with two of its linebackers at running back, the other being all-state defender Blake Stevens who ran hard eight times for 85 yards.
Junior Carter Thompson came off the bench to contribute 53 yards on seven tries, score TDs on runs of 5, 18 and 10 yards and kick five straight extra points. (Last year's placekicker, Landon Riley, was busy booming kickoffs.)
A freshman running back, Declan Cunningham, got into the scoring act late when he dashed 46 yards for the Oilers' final TD, with a pass from 6-3 junior Skylar Hanlon to Joey Palczer accounting for the PAT.
QB Bryce Marchinke, threw a 24-yard TD pass to Logan Heath in the midst of a 21-point first quarter and connected with Carter Bialo for a PAT that made it 14-0.
Marchinke also had a nice 28-yard run to set up Sindlinger's third touchdown, which put the mercy rule into effect.
The sophomore did throw two picks, one of which was kind of fluky.
And the Oilers had two interceptions of their own by Sindlinger and Heath off Warren's soph QB, Parker Kiser.
The Oiler defense was as stingy as ever, yielding 44 total yards, much of that coming against reserves on Warren's final possession. The 1-4 Dragons were stopped dead in their tracks most of the first half when they totaled minus 5 yards, including minus 23 rushing.
Soph Matthew Antrilli led Oiler tacklers with eight and Stevens added seven. Xander Piercy, who had a big game last week against Prep, left the game early with an injury. Plenty of players saw action and made stops. Noah Lucarelli had his usual smorgasbord of stats in various categories.
Oil City ended a three-game losing streak and evened its record at 3-3 with big road tests coming up against Grove City a week from today, and then Harbor Creek. After a week off, the Oilers end their eight-game schedule at home with Karns City -- which might be their biggest test of the last three games.​
With 36 tackles and nine TFLs, Jamarcus Cook has been steady on defense for the Oilers this year. (Malek photography)
Next up for the Oilers: Friday at Grove City
The Oilers have beaten Grove City the last two years, including a comfortable 28-10 in 2025, but it looks like it will be a tad tougher this time around.
The 5-1 Eagles already have a pair of 1,000 yard guys in quarterback Heath Hohman (passing) and running back Gavin Purdy, both sophomores.
Purdy (6-1, 210) ran for 147 yards in a 62-19 come-from-behind (believe it or not) 62-19 rout of Conneaut last week, pushing his season’s total to 1,112 yards and 18 rushing TDs. Hohman has thrown for 1,146 yards.
The Eagles’ only loss was to powerhouse Hickory, 36-12. Besides CASH, they’ve trounced Corry, Titusville and Ambridge, and survived Ft. LeBoeuf, 44-42.
While the Oilers have won the last two meetings, they trail 26-37-5 in the all–time series, thanks to nine- (1937-45) and seven-game (1958-64) losing streaks to the Eagles. The 1964 game is kind of fluky since Jim Shaughnessy was injured and barely played (like two carries) in the 13-7 loss that spoiled an unbeaten season for the Oilers.
The series, another on-again, off-again one, started in 1919 with Grove City blanking the Oilers, 13-0.
The game was streamed by exploreVenango, which honored junior Tycen Simdlinger (169 yards, three TDs) as Player of the game. Carter Thompson also scored three touchdowns and booted five XPs and all-state linebacker Blake Stevens ran hard for 85 more yards.
OCHS: 2 different players with 3 or more TDs in a game
Region 5 standings
Friday's Games
Karns City (6-0) at Ridgway (5-1)
Cathedral Prep at General McLane
Harbor Creek at Meadville
Titusville (2-3) at Conneaut (1-5)
Sharon (3-2) at Slippery Rock (3-2)
Seneca (2-3) at Fairview (3-2)
Union City (0-6) at Maplewood (5-1)
Saturday's Game
Iroquois (4-2) at Cambridge Springs (6-0)
​(Teams involving Oil City and Franklin schedules)
Photo by Christy Fackler
Caden Mincer still has a chance to break the Franklin school record for career rushing yardage. Ian Quarles, who played for the Knights for two seasons (1988-89) holds the mark with 3,089. Mincer saw limited action as a freshman, and since then has missed four games, which hasn't helped his cause.
3,089
THE WINS JUST KEEP ON COMING AT KIRTLAND
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 6-1 and on a collision course with another playoff berth, it would seem.
LaVerde's coaching career began in 2001 with a three-year stint at Franklin before he moved on to Kirtland.
He is 280-31 overall and 260-21 at Kirtland. He 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.
About this site
If you are from Anywhere, USA, and happened to stumble upon this site, Franklin and Oil City are about eight miles apart along Route 8 in Venango County, Pa. -- which is about halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie in the western part of the state.​
yardsandpoints.com (formerly venangofootball.com and then route8rivalry.com) covers the grid doings of Oil City and Franklin high schools in Venango County. Not only does it include the football histories of the two schools, which date back to 1896, but of (RIP) Venango Catholic/Chriistian/St. Joe, which dropped the sport in the 1990s. I've recently included more stuff on basketball as well as the other sports.​
You can say what you want about the caliber of football played in northwestern Pa. (few Division I players and state champs), but one thing you can't take away. These schools and their local playmates are old, old OLD. Lots of history here.
Former Derrick sports editor Penny Weichel is webmaster.​
Contact pennyweichel@gmail.com if need be.
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